terrasig | June 15, 2006So, as a Sb newbie, I'm just figuring out the scheduling around here and saw that tomorrow's new 'Ask A ScienceBlogger' question has already been posted. Hence, I figured I should probably answer last week's question:
Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?
My SiBlings all took different approaches on this one, with some finding it a poor question because we already probably put a lot of thought into what we're working on now and stay in that area because we love it so much.
I took…
terrasig | June 15, 2006The ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose raise-money-to-help-science-classrooms-a-thon!
Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you're reading the blogs here, chances are you feel the same way.
A lot of us fell in love with science because of early experiences in school -- teachers who made science intriguing, exciting, maybe a little bit dangerous. But tightening budgets are making it harder and harder for public school teachers to provide the books, equipment, and field trips to make science come alive for kids.
DonorsChoose.org gives us…
terrasig | June 15, 2006Janet's post on The New York Times breast-feeding article reminded me that I had a related post in the hopper that I had drafted at the old blog back in May. I wrote it following PZ Myers' beautiful and scholarly repost from classic Pharyngula on the human breast milk and the origin of the word galaxy. As is all too common with me, my comments there were longer than most folks' blog posts, so I'll reproduce them here:
While reviewing the literature when my wife was breastfeeding, I was amazed to learn of the other beneficial compounds present in breast milk beyond the nutrients [Prof Myers]…
terrasig | June 13, 2006From USA Today, some interesting and sad news:
When a teenager in Jan Sigerson's office mentioned a "pharm party" in February, Sigerson thought the youth was talking about a keg party out on a farm.
"Pharm," it turned out, was short for pharmaceuticals, such as the powerful painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin. Sigerson, program director for Journeys, a teen drug treatment program in Omaha, soon learned that area youths were organizing parties to down fistfuls of prescription drugs.
I am now officially old. I thought I'd never say, "I remember when..."
Well, I remember when drinking PBR as a…
terrasig | June 12, 2006A renowned, non-profit curriculum development organization in Colorado Springs, CO, called BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) has developed for NIH three FREE teaching modules for middle school teachers. The first is called, "Doing Science: The Process of Scientific Inquiry," and helps students in grades 7-8 to develop and refine their critical-thinking skills. The complete press release and info on the two other modules is below the fold. BTW, have I mentioned that these modules are FREE?
I'm obviously committed to doing what I can to reverse the tide non-scientific intrusions…
terrasig | June 12, 2006Sb 2.0 pledgemaster Prof Janet Stemwedel (Dr Free-Ride) has set forth a meme for others to learn more about the new wave of ScienceBloggers. Quite interesting queries, and the last one makes me look forward to a SciBloggerCon (or YearlySB?) that is open to the general public.
I also appreciate that Janet asked about the nine non-SB blogs we read; the move to Sb has certainly been exciting but I hope all the e-hoopla isn't perceived as too incestuous or exclusionary. There are some really terrific science blogs that aren't here but should be...perhaps in version 3.0?
On to the meme, from…
terrasig | June 11, 2006Via Insider at Pharmagossip. This title was too good not to repost here and the story in Insider's post comes straight from a British Sunday paper.
Human papilloma virus, or HPV, is responsible for the majority of cases of cervical cancer. From the American Cancer Society website:
The disease kills more than 288,000 women worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization. In the US, cervical cancer is expected to strike more than 9,700 women in 2006, and kill about 3,700.
Religious conservative attempts to try and deny access to the newly-approved HPV vaccine might actually…
terrasig | June 10, 2006[A regular reader, SciMom at Doubleloop, thanked me for putting up this post on my old blog this past Wednesday. As I don't believe that any of my new SiBlings here covered the passing of this amazing scientist, I am reprinting it here for our new and more diverse audience.]
Cancer research and the cause of women in science and medicine lost a true leader and shining example last week with the passing of Dr Anita Roberts to gastric cancer. She was only 64.
From her Washington Post obituary:
Dr. Roberts, the 49th most-cited scientist in the world and the third most-cited female scientist,…
terrasig | June 9, 2006No surprise here: a highly-regarded climatologist declares that the Bush administration is "muzzling government scientists" and covering up the facts about global warming.
Warren Washington, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, said that Bush appointees are suppressing information about climate change, restricting journalists' access to federal scientists and rewriting agency news releases to stress global warming uncertainties.
"The news media is not getting the full story, especially from government scientists," Washington told about 160 people…
terrasig | June 9, 2006Welcome to the new home of Terra Sigillata, a blog dedicated to disseminating objective information on Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy, Pharmacy, the Pharmaceutical Sciences, and all aspects of medicines from the Earth.
More later on the theme of our discussions and links to classic posts.
I thought I'd start with a brief introductory essay on coming home, under the fold...
Seed Media Group, the host of ScienceBlogs, is located in the Flatiron District, 11 miles (18 km) from the town in northern New Jersey where I spent the first 17 years of my life. Growing up in the literal shadow of the…
terrasig | December 20, 2005If you Google, "Terra Sigillata," you'll get a number of hits for various clay pottery recipes. Very complicated stuff, requiring the use of a deflocculant to separate out large clay particles from the small ones. Terra sig, as it is known among pottery hipsters, is then used to coat finished pieces to produce a very smooth, high luster and waterproof finish.
What does this have to do with pharmacology and natural products?
Terra Sigillata literally means "sealed earth." In the common potter's vernacular, "seal" probably relates to the waterproof character of the product. But, in ancient…
terrasig | December 15, 2005OK, so I'm a latecomer to blogging.
I was also more than a week late for my own birth.
The blogging spark for me was an Aug 1 2005 article in The Scientist by David Secko. That's where I first learned of Derek Lowe over at In The Pipeline...and GrrlScientist, Pharyngula, BotanicalGirl, and, YoungFemaleScientist, among others. Secko's tagline was "Few scientists have caught onto the Internet's power of posting, commenting, and debating - where are the rest?"
IMHO, pardon the pun, I've always been a rather humble scientist. So I first ran "natural products," "pharmacology," and "pharmacognosy"…