ScienceBlogs

A year ago I took a look at the surrounding landscape here at Sb, investigating which of the blogs were active – defined as which ones had seen an entry during the month up to 24 Jan '15. Now I've looked at the month up to 17 Jan '16. The result isn't great. Four blogs have gone quiet and one has re-awoken, bringing the total down to 16. Not one new blog has been added to the roster in the past year. You may wonder what the Sb Overlords are thinking about this. I sure do. Here are the currently active ScienceBlogs (apart from the one you're reading). Check them out and drop them a few…

I'm not a big blog reader, sad to tell, and I have almost no insight into what's going on elsewhere in the science blogosphere including ScienceBlogs. But a few days ago I got curious about what the network I'm on is like these days, and I did some investigating. I was surprised by what I found. In the following, when I talk about active blogs, I mean blogs that have seen an entry in the past month. On 24 January, ScienceBlogs had only 19 active blogs.* Eleven of these opened in 2006, Sb's first year. The network had no less than 112 inactive blogs, most of which started after 2006. This…

So, as you may or may not have noticed, ScienceBlogs has gotten a makeover. If you read via RSS, you might not notice anything, but if you come to the blog itself, you'll see a new look. The previous three-column layout is gone, and posts on the front page now show only short excerpts and "featured" images. This makes us look more like the blogs at National Geographic, the new Corporate Masters (for a good while now, actually, but they only just did the redesign). On the back end, we've changed from Movable Type to WordPress, which will take a little getting used to, but which lots of people…

There's a great post at NeuroDojo on the Heffernan business this weekend, and what the take-away ought to be: Yeah, let's criticize that she didn't get past the first impression of science blogs. We should expect Heffernan to look before leaping - she writes for the Times, after all, which still has a certain reputation as a paper of record and quality. But let's not pretend that her impression ain't shared by anyone else. For instance, she took heat for recommending a climate denialist blog. But that's not the first time that blog got recommended by people who ought to know better. That…

tags: ethics, journalistic ethics, PepsiCo Food Frontiers blog, advertorial, ScienceBlogs, Seed Media Group, Adam Bly I am greatly saddened to be able to tell you finally that my friend and colleague -- no, former colleague -- Bora Zivkovic, is leaving ScienceBlogs for good. I suspected and then knew for the past week and a half that this was coming, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I am deeply, deeply upset. So upset that I am really not able to talk about it. But in short, Bora is like a brother to me and since I've no family to speak of (until a few short months ago, when my real-…

tags: ethics, collective action, Science Bloggers Union, ScienceBlogs, Seed Media Group, Adam Bly Migration #2 (1995) Fine art quilt by Caryl Bryer Fallert. [Hand dyed, machine pieced, appliqued, and quilted 100% cotton fabric, 80/20 cotton/poly batting] Collection of The National Quilt Museum of the United States. I have been trying to write this blog entry for several days now. I've actually written it a couple dozen times but I have deleted every one so far. But even though it's difficult to write, this is something I need to tell you, dear readers, even if my attempt at an explanation…

In regards to the recent PepsiCo blog situation (you know the one I mean), I wasn't going to say much. First, because Chad did a good job at expressing my views (without me even telling him ). Second, I am just happy to be at ScienceBlogs - I had been kicked off two servers and had to hitch a ride on a friend's server (thanks Bill) before arriving here. Some other bloggers, were a little more put out. Now I understand why. I came to this understanding by doing a thought experiment. What if it wasn't PepsiCo that paid for a sponsored blog? What if instead it was ESPN's Sport Science? I…

Please redirect your browsers to Culture Dish's new home, where we've just put up the inaugural welcome post.  There you will find an RSS to subscribe to so you can follow Culture Dish wherever it goes next (which we very much hope you'll do).

Today ScienceBlogs launched a new sponsored blog, Food Frontiers. The sponsor is PepsiCo. Here's the description of what the blog is going to be about from its inaugural post by Sb overlord Evan Lerner: On behalf of the team here at ScienceBlogs, I'd like to welcome you to Food Frontiers, a new project presented by PepsiCo. As part of this partnership, we'll hear from a wide range of experts on how the company is developing products rooted in rigorous, science-based nutrition standards to offer consumers more wholesome and enjoyable foods and beverages. The focus will be on innovations in…

A few weeks ago Peter wrote about the Acai Berry Scam, and reader izzlecanoe made an interesting comment: But I do find it annoying that alongside your posts are advertisements for the very products you are exposing. Can science blogs be persuaded not to allow advertising from such woo pushers. She was seconded by Jim Purdy: Those phony ads are infuriating. And it's even more disappointing when they appear often on many of my favorite news sites. When a news site carries lying advertisements, it takes away from the credibility of their news stories. Annoying and infuriating indeed.  Peter…

tags: ScienceBlogs, National Geographic, news I have friends at National Geographic, so I was most pleased to read early this morning (last night, USA time), that ScienceBlogs and National Geographic have teamed up to provide outstanding science and nature content to the public! I am sure it has not been a mystery to any of you that ScienceBlogs and National Geographic share the same ultimate mission: to cultivate widespread interest in science and the natural world. Starting today, SB-NG will work together to advance this common mission by providing new content, applications, and…

ScienceBlogs has indulged in a variety of online experiments to help make science and scientists more accessible to the public. On one hand, many scientific fields are complex and difficult to explain to the public, but on the other hand, scientists possess a lot of practical knowledge and skills that are useful to the public and, if asked, they can help the public think creatively and proactively about the many problems that face modern society. In my opinion, one of the best of these online experiments is the fledgling blog, Revolutionary Minds Think Tank. Besides having lots of fun blog…

After much agony and angst, it seems that the yesterday's upgrade of the Scienceblogs' site code was successful. Comments and blog entries are publishing as they should and with little wait time, so it appears that this was successful, thanks to the wonderful IT Systems consultant, who was hired to solve our problems! If you experience any problems, please do post about them here and be sure to tell me which browser you were using (we are noticing differences based on which browser and which browser version being used), the time (EDT) that it happened, what you were trying to do and what…

Due to our incredibly crappy economy, there has been a change in the advertising policies at ScienceBlogs recently. Which leads me to ask, what do you think of those Russian Brides ads that are popping up here recently? I ask because I think they are incredibly tacky, offensively sexist and worse, I wonder if "Russian brides" aren't somehow tied in with human trafficking? Does anyone else know about the human trafficking angle, or can you point me in the direction of information related to the Russian Brides racket and human trafficking? I'd appreciate your comments about the ads, since I've…

Annually focusing on a different discipline, the Nobel Laureates meet in Lindau (Southern Germany). This year's meeting is going to be about chemistry and we, the editors of ScienceBlogs.de will be covering all events along with seven blogging scientists. Although there will of course be lots of articles in German, we also launched an English section of the blog in which the most interesting articles will be translated - may the readers of this site forgive occasional bumpiness in our language skills. As mentioned earlier here, PZ Myers will also attend the conference. The main topic of this…

Poor, poor Ida, Or: "Overselling an Adapid" Physics in Star Trek Online social networking isn't for everyone Decoding the brain's response to vocal emotions Philosophy and evolution

Physics, Tolkien, and the Bomb Obesity - A new study and what it means to be a "healthy weight" Could Food Shortages Bring Down Civilization? The Social Ramifications of Volcanism Why don't we finish the human genome first?

The universal grammar of birdsong is genetically encoded The Physics of Rapunzel Cognitive Control Is Improved By Taking A Step Back - Literally Maccarone and cheese Einstein! Why Swine Flu Is Resistant to Adamantane Drugs

Just though readers might be interested to know that we have a a non-Icelandic astrophysicist at ScienceBlogs now. Also, ScienceBlogs now has a photolog manned by a rotating crew. If you're not on a Lynx browser it might be worth your time.

Woot! Mrs. Pontiff's entry into the Scienceblogs pie competition is the winner! Mrs. Pontiff is on a role. This year we decided not to buy each other gifts for Valentines day. So instead of buying a gift, Mrs. Pontiff entered a photo contest from a flower company and won me some beautiful flowers. We need to plan our trip to Las Vegas immediately. Thanks to all who voted and to the dog for not jumping up and eating the pie off the table. And a special shout out to Bacon, is there anything it can't do? Lisa: I'm going to become a vegetarian Homer: Does that mean you're not going to…