north carolina
clock | October 26, 2008As a follow-up to the yesterday's press release, Dr. Manzoor Bhat and Joseph Piven, M.D., researchers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill who use the Drosophila model system to study neurexin and its implications in the development of autism, have now released the video response - well worth watching:
clock | October 23, 2008The W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology at North Carolina State University (which includes students, faculty and staff from Departments of Biology (formerly Zoology, my own Department), Genetics and Entomology) is a group I called home for a large chunk of my own graduate experience. Every year, on top of monthly discussion meetings for members, they organize other interesting events, including this one, coming up in two weeks:
The W. M. Keck Center for Behavioral Biology at North Carolina State University announces its 2008 Professional Development Workshop:
Publishing and Communicating…
clock | October 18, 2008Joe Killian is a reporter for Greensboro News&Record. Friday, he went to a Sarah Palin rally at Elon University and filed a report from there for his newspaper.
But he also got assaulted - the first reporter so far - and then blogged about the incident.
Pam has more details.
Joe lived through the ordeal and joined us all at ConvergeSouth for a while.
More local discussions here, here, here and here.
clock | October 18, 2008I am back from the 4th ConvergeSouth, the do-not-miss Greensboro conference about the Web, blogging, journalism and community (and the model/inspiration for our own science blogging conferences, including the third one) . Big kudos to Sue Polinsky, Ed Cone and the cast of thousands for putting together the meeting again, making it better and better every year. And of course, thanks to Dave Hoggard for hosting the legendary BBQ with (even more legendary) banana pudding.
I rode to Greensboro with Kirk Ross and came back home with Anton Zuiker, having interesting conversations with each.
Dave…
clock | October 18, 2008Scoble goes for a walk through Rep.Brad MIller's precinct, canvassing the neighborhood and talking about politics:
clock | October 17, 2008Back from ConvergeSouth. Energized but exhausted. Time for bed. Forgot I had a camera with me so I only had one picture taken - this one, with Robert Scoble and myself, trying to make the FriendFeed logo with our fingers:
More ConvergeSouth microblogging on FriendFeed can be found here.
clock | October 12, 2008Every year, when I go to ConvergeSouth (and I still need your help with my session this year), I look forward to seeing again some of my good blogospheric friends. And somewhere very, very high on the list of people I am most excited about seeing again, are Dan and Janet, journalists and bloggers from South Carolina who are regular, annual participants there.
Their blog Xark has been one of my regular reads for a few years now. So, I was astonishingly flattered when I went there the other day and saw my own face on top of the page! Yikes! What have I done?
Oh, Xarkers just thought they…
clock | October 12, 2008The future of newspapers is bleak, but there are three saving strategies: 1) hyperlocal papers will beat the big city, state, national and international papers, 2) telling the truth instead of false equivalence will foster reader loyalty, and 3) the print-to-web mode of thinking will be replaced by web-to-print, community-driven model.
Carrboro Citizen is an examplar of all three strategies. If you know that Carrboro is tiny, you already see how hyperlocal it is. If you have read it for a while, you know that they do not do the dreaded he-said-she-said tired, old schtick - they tell is at it…
clock | October 6, 2008From SCONC:
Tuesday, Oct. 14
6 to 8 p.m.
SCONC monthly meeting - Whither (wither?) Science Journalism
Durham science journalist Cathy Clabby, formerly of the N&O now of American Scientist, discusses the sorry state of her craft in U.S. newspapers and magazines and shares some of the new venues that journalists are finding to publish their work. NC Biotech Center, #15 Alexander Drive, RTP. Congressional Room. Please rsvp@ncbiotech.org
clock | October 5, 2008Are you registered? Do you know where to vote? You can find information and register (if you are not) here (this is an Obama site, but it works for everyone):
Can I vote early in person?
One-Stop Early Voting in North Carolina starts on Thursday, October 16 and lasts until Saturday, November 1. Find your Early Vote location.
You can register and vote at the same time during One-Stop Early Voting. You cannot register to vote on election day, November 4.
Where do I go on November 4?
Soon you will be able to enter your address and find the polling location that's closest to you.
We can let you…
clock | October 3, 2008From Sigma Xi:
Greetings everyone. We meet again at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in RTP to hear NCSU associate professor James Bonner discuss "Emerging Nanotechnology: A New Risk Factor for Lung Diseases?" As you know, the commercial use of nanomaterials has outpaced scientific assessments of any potential health or environmental risks. Jamie Bonner is one of the scientists working to catch up.
Sigma Xi's Pizza Lunch speaker series is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes (free to forward this message to anyone you would like to be included). RSVPs are…
clock | October 3, 2008Apparently yes: Freshwater Farm Ponds Turning into Crab Farms:
North Carolina's native blue crab population has been at historic lows since 2000. Dr. Dave Eggleston, director of NC State's Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) and professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, looked at various methods for helping the population recover. He hit upon a solution which not only reduces pressure on existing crab populations, but also benefits farmers looking to diversify their crops: using irrigation ponds on farms to grow blue crabs.
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Eggleston and…
clock | October 3, 2008Lots of stuff happening locally at Community Cartographies Convergence:
OCTOBER 16: DURHAM, 5:30pm-7:00pm
Talk by Berkeley-based radical cartographer Trevor Paglen at the Center for Documentary Studies, Duke University
in conjunction with the Visiting Artists Series of Duke's Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, and the 2008 Conference 'Scenes of Secrecy'
OCTOBER 17: DURHAM, 7pm-10pm
Evening refreshments at Golden Belt for open studios and mapping exhibitions on Durham's traditional '3rd Friday of the month' celebration.
OCTOBER 18: DURHAM
North Carolina Counter Cartographies…
clock | October 3, 2008Wow! Six of my DonorsChoose projects - Science Laboratory Kits, Who Gives A Hoot!, No More Worksheets!, Vroom! Vroom! Forces and Motion, What's the weather for today? and Math Mania have now been fully funded!
Unfortunately, not by my readers.... (pout)
If this keeps happening I'll add some more projects. All for science/math teaching projects in schools in low-income areas of North Carolina.
Your turn...
clock | October 2, 2008Great article in Carrboro Commons today - I know because I'm in it! The concepts of 'work' and 'office' are changing and those in the information economy are starting to adapt to the new world:
Creative Coworking offers a new dynamic:
"People left the office and cubicle and they say, 'OK, I'm going to break out.' ... So you start doing that. You work at home. You want to get something better than the couch, so you get a table. ... You start creating an office in a spare bedroom. That works great for a while," Russell said.
"Then you get a little bored, and your spouse is like, 'Why haven't…
clock | October 1, 2008You may have noticed, all around Scienceblogs.com, that we have started our traditional annual fundraiser - helping fund science and math projects in schools around the country, mainly focusing on schools in low-income areas where most of the students get free lunches and there is not much support for "extras" which should be normal part of every school - the basic supplies for math and science instruction.
I am right now having a technical problem with my side-bar widget, which I will install as soon as I can. But in the meantime, check out the Scienceblogs.com leaderboard, and pick some of…
clock | October 1, 2008Chapel Hill, NC - September 24, 2008 - Mac McCorkle, Political Consultant for Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue and 2008 Democratic Nominee for Governor, will be speaking on behalf of the Lt. Governor on October 6, 2008 at Town Hall Grill in Chapel Hill as part of the Village Voice political forum.
Town Hall Grill, located in Southern Village in Chapel Hill, N.C., launched the bipartisan community issues forum, "The Village Voice," in June and has featured political candidates William (BJ) Lawson, Republican candidate for U.S. House District 4 and Ellie Kinnaird, six-term NC State Senator,…
clock | September 30, 2008If you came to either the first or the second Science Blogging Conference (or both) you may remember that, among other goodies in your swag bag, you also got a copy or two of Inside Duke Medicine, the employee publication for the Duke University Health System.
And, you may remember it looked kind of....soooo last century ;-)
Furthermore, it had its publishing model backwards - it was Print-to-Web, i.e., the well-crafted articles were first printed in hardcopy and then posted online almost as an after-thought.
Well, that model does not work, so Duke got smart and hired a visionary - Anton…
clock | September 27, 2008I should have gone. Greensboro is barely an hour from here. If I did, I would have heard this:
clock | September 24, 2008Since BlogHer cancelled several parts of their Fall Tour, including the one in Greensboro, this does not mean that you go home on Friday night after ConvergeSouth as there WILL be a Saturday program, says Sue.