Culture
amillikan | March 6, 2009The third edition of The Open Laboratory 2008, a compilation of the best science-related blog posts of last year, is now available for purchase in the Lulu Marketplace. The book was started by ScienceBlogger Bora Zivkovic in 2006 as a way to lend credibility to the new media form of blogging and package it in a way that is accessible both online and off. "This book was produced communally with people submitting over 800 posts, other bloggers reading and judging them, bloggers editing them, bloggers designing the cover and typeset, and bloggers publishing it - Yes We Can!" Bora said in an…
sheril | March 6, 2009On Monday, I'm delighted to be attending a panel discussion in honor of the 2009 International Women's Day celebrations! This global holiday celebrates the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future. Here in NYC, the World Policy Institute, the Women's Leadership Initiative at Demos, and The American-Scandinavian Foundation have organized:
The Hillary Effect: How Will the Secretary of State Change the Status of Women Worldwide?
Though Mrs. Clinton is the third female US Secretary of State, some think that her appointment could herald a new chapter…
razib | March 5, 2009Awesome chart from Calculated Risk:
Blue = current Bear Market
Gray = Great Depression Bear Market
Check out Google Trends for "Great Recession."
edyong | March 5, 2009The nice thing about writing features is that they're often solicited miles in advance so I can write something, totally forget about it and then be surprised when I open my weekly copy of New Scientist to find my name in a byline.
This week's issue has a feature by me entitled "Beyond east and west: How the brain unites us all" (I like the title; I didn't write it).
Following the piece I wrote on FOXP2, this is another of those "the media says this, but here's what's really going on" pieces. It's an exploration of the supposed cultural differences between East Asians and Westerners in the…
razib | March 4, 2009The author of Liar's Poker sure can write prose. Michael Lewis' massive article on Iceland is very interesting, and sheds light on a general phenomenon with a specific example.
sheril | March 4, 2009Guest post by Brian Hare, Evolutionary Anthropologist at Duke University
Last month, a 200 pound male chimpanzee named Travis mauled a woman outside the home where he has been living with his owner Sandra Herold. Charla Nash was nearly killed by Travis and now has life changing wounds to her face while Travis was stabbed by his owner with a butcher knife and shot dead by the police.
Was this incidence preventable or just a freak accident? Should chimpanzees and other primates be kept as pets? What is the effect of the primate pet trade not only on the welfare of these "pets" but on their…
sheril | March 3, 2009I LOVE all things space--arguably more than the next girl. For years I wanted to be an astrobiologist. Infinite possibilities and the ultimate opportunity to explore the unknown. And it's no secret to readers that I adore Carl Sagan and Cosmos, which fostered a love and appreciation of science in so many of us.
All I'm saying is, just perhaps--for the time being--we might be better off spending the kind of figures currently invested in large scale BIG 'what if?' projects on more proximate concerns. No doubt the mission of Kepler is really cool, but why rush to search for planets like…
razib | March 2, 2009The answer to the question in the title is no doubt multifactorial. Here are a few possible reasons:
1) Fewer numbers of Muslims proportionately
2) A more diverse population of Muslims, so reducing synergy between ethnicity and religion
3) An immigration policy which has resulted in a foreign-born population with higher educational qualifications than the native population, ergo, lack of synergy between socioeconomic deprivation and religion
4) America's more receptive attitude toward immigrants
5) America's economic system which has a "fluid" labor market, allowing newcomers to break into…
sheril | March 2, 2009
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Monday, with the Dow and S&P 500 falling to 12-year lows after insurance company American International Group's huge quarterly loss added to worries about the financial sector and the economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost almost 300 points, or 4.2% to end at 6763.29, its lowest point since April 25, 1997.
While I hoped this email from last September was hyperbole, today I'm less certain. The world has changed, but I remain hopeful that with the right direction, we may yet recover.
razib | March 2, 2009Thabet points me to this interactive map which breaks down attitudes to Creationism in the United Kingdom by region. Refreshingly the sentiment in favor of Creationism is far lower than the United States. Below the fold I've reformatted the data for easier viewing and comparison.
Below is a map with the regions labeled. Wales is blue because it is the only region where theist evolution is plural majority (all other areas have atheistic evolution as the majority position).
What's going on here? Wales & Northern Ireland fit our expectations as relatively more religious regions within…
amillikan | March 2, 2009Come one come all! February is Black History Month, and to celebrate the diversity in science professions, DNLee from the blog Urban Science Adventures! has arranged a blog carnival titled 'Diversity in Science.' Many ScienceBloggers and other major contributors in the science blogosphere are enthusiastically supporting this blog carnival and have authored a plethora of posts. "There are a wealth of interesting blog posts, covering a broad swath of both semi-historical figures and current inspirational ass kickers," said ScienceBlogger DrugMonkey, who contributed four posts to the festivities…
sheril | March 2, 2009Picture it. A bridge in Connecticut, January 2004. Having left New York at 4:30 am, I settled into my Honda hoping to reach Maine before nightfall. The first couple hours were uneventful until... suddenly the wheel locked, the brakes failed and my car spun haphazardly across three lanes to face oncoming traffic. Yet somehow, we didn't suffer a scratch between us.
I was lucky, and I want to encourage readers in the northeast to keep black ice in mind as you brave the roads this morning. And since this is scienceblogs, what causes the slippery stuff anyway?
Black ice is ice that forms…
razib | February 28, 2009There are nearly 500 complete responses to the survey from last week. Here's a CSV file of the results. Below the fold are the frequencies as well as N's. I might report some trends in the data, but a lot of it is predictable. People who only read ScienceBlogs GNXP are way more liberal than those who do not.
Reads....
Only GNXP ScienceBlogs
Only GNXP Classic
Both
No Answer
1.83
2.08
2.87
Far Left
13.76
4.17
2.87
Left
28.44
5.56
11.48
Center Left
16.51
10.42
15.31
Center
8.26
6.94
11.00
Center Right
2.75
10.42
11.00
Right
1.83
13.19
10.05
Far Right
0.92
9.03
5.74…
razib | February 27, 2009Matt Yglesias says:
There's no denying that this is a pretty amusing poster. Still, it reminds me that I think the film engaged in a bit of revisionism when it portrayed the Autobots as humanoid-shaped robots capable of change into cars and trucks and so forth. My understanding from my childhood is that we should think of them as car-shaped robots capable of changing into humanoid-shaped ones. After all, they're called autobots, like automobiles. Their essential property is their car-ishness.
No surprise that Matt is being ahistorical, and relying on analysis of terminology, instead of…
sheril | February 26, 2009Well, it was a long time coming. Between the myriad of diet plans on television, magazines, online, and everywhere, someone was bound to finally come up with conclusive evidence on what works and how to make sense of all the (excuse the term) dietary diarrhea. No doubt, you've also noticed that low-fat, high fiber, extra protein, pills, germs, and steel floods every sensory organ we have on a hourly basis.
Personally, I've never been all that interested in skinny, but healthy suits me just fine. I'm not one for regiments or counting calories, but do give thought to what I consume and prefer…
razib | February 25, 2009How bank bonuses let us all down:
...Because banking is not about true risks but perceived volatility of returns: you earn a stream of steady bonuses for seven or eight years, then when the losses take place, you are not asked to disburse anything. You might even start again, after blaming a "systemic crisis" or a "black swan" for your losses. As you do not disgorge previous compensation, the incentive is to engage in trades that explode rarely, after a period of steady gains.
...
If capitalism is about incentives, it should be about true incentives, those resistant to blow-ups. And there…
razib | February 25, 2009Mark Chu-Carroll has an excellent smack-down, Financial Morons, and Quadratics vs. Linears. Mark notes:
There's one minor problem with that argument: it doesn't work. A couple of weeks ago, some idiot at JP Morgan circulated a chart that was supposed to summarize just how bad the financial disaster has been. The chart circulated for a couple of weeks - bounced from mailbox to mailbox, sent from one financial genius to another.
Only the chart was blatantly, obviously, trivially wrong, and anyone who had the slightest damned clue of the assets those businesses managed - i.e., the kind of thing…
sheril | February 25, 2009
Readers at The Reef Tank were interested to learn more about marine science, so I was happy for the opportunity to chat with Ava earlier this week. As I explained during our conversation, aquariums need not be detrimental to biodiversity when managed responsibly. I suspect most people enjoy the hobby because they are also fascinated by and appreciative of the marine realm... a sentiment we ought to encourage if we plan to save oceans. An excerpt of our interview:
How did you get started in marine biology and why did you pick it as your study of choice? Was it about marine biology that got…
sheril | February 24, 2009
The United States faces enormous challenges in a troubled climate, but I think we just witnessed President Barack Obama officially usher in a new golden age for American politics.
razib | February 24, 2009Daniel Gross of Slate has a piece up, Dumb Money: The villains of the financial catastrophe aren't criminals. They're morons. I just love the use of the term "morons." As Gross notes though there was plenty of g to go around, but that didn't prevent moronic behavior. But, I do think it is worth considering whether the behavior was really that stupid. After all it isn't as if wizards of high finance are going to go through the same sort of crash toward subsistence or penury of middle class borrowers who recklessly increased consumption during the bubble years. Remember that the individuals…