http://www.scienceblogs.com A feed of all posts across all blogs in the ScienceBlogs network. en Copyright 2006-2010 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.32-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:46:02 -0500 Greg Laden none@example.com <p>It's alive!!!!! And, it's wallboard. </p> <p><iframe width="500" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qYoFQ6HU1Dk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/changing_the_rep_of_fungi_one.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uGltJA7fGOXJaMi6mZaSTBVrXbY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uGltJA7fGOXJaMi6mZaSTBVrXbY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uGltJA7fGOXJaMi6mZaSTBVrXbY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/uGltJA7fGOXJaMi6mZaSTBVrXbY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/GG6LEOWDX8A" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/GG6LEOWDX8A/changing_the_rep_of_fungi_one.php Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:46:02 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/changing_the_rep_of_fungi_one.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Dr. Dolittle none@example.com <p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/633px-Zebra_Botswana_edit02.jpg"><img alt="633px-Zebra_Botswana_edit02.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/assets_c/2012/02/633px-Zebra_Botswana_edit02-thumb-400x378-72518.jpg" width="400" height="378" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a><br /> Image: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Zebra_Botswana_edit02.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a><br /> The most recent issue of The Journal of Experimental Biology provides insight into why zebras have evolved stripes. Using a horse model, researchers have shown that horseflies find zebra stripes less attractive than homogeneous colors. It turns out that horseflies are attracted to linearly polarized light whereas the pattern of wide black and white stripes on zebras reflect different polarizations making them less attractive to the biting insects. </p> <p>Too bad mosquitoes are not attracted to light patterns. I would wear zebra-striped pajamas all summer long if they were. </p> <p><strong>Source:</strong><br /> Egri A, et al., Polarotactic tabanids find striped patterns with brightness and/or polarization modulation least attractive: an advantage of zebra stripes. Journal of Experimental Biology. J Exp Biol 215: 736-745, 2012. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/2012/02/why_zebras_have_stripes.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ktdvt-g5TmS3mncjSp7_3M6uQzI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ktdvt-g5TmS3mncjSp7_3M6uQzI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ktdvt-g5TmS3mncjSp7_3M6uQzI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/ktdvt-g5TmS3mncjSp7_3M6uQzI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/K1WCuKQ-u9k" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/K1WCuKQ-u9k/why_zebras_have_stripes.php Life Science Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:06:45 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/2012/02/why_zebras_have_stripes.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>From Kristin Montalbano: </p> <blockquote>Mark Twain once said, the Mississippi River is a "wonderful book with a new story to tell every day." Well, Nat Geo WILD spent an entire year exploring the length of North America's longest and greatest waterway in Wild Mississippi and we can tell you the man was NOT exaggerating. We gave a few of our favorite science, animal and nature bloggers the chance to check out the miniseries before it airs this Sunday - see what they had to say below:</blockquote> <p><a href="http://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2012/02/10/the-wild-mississippi-blog-carnival/">Check it out!</a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/more_mississippi_meanderings.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BvlZta4UOiAibY0P0OpVQoJDJv0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BvlZta4UOiAibY0P0OpVQoJDJv0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BvlZta4UOiAibY0P0OpVQoJDJv0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/BvlZta4UOiAibY0P0OpVQoJDJv0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/raSvuqIRHbw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/raSvuqIRHbw/more_mississippi_meanderings.php Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:19:37 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/more_mississippi_meanderings.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss John Dupuis none@example.com <p>Ok, so none of these realizations has actually ruined science fiction for me, but they are pretty funny nevertheless.</p> <p><strong><a href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-realizations-that-will-ruin-science-fiction-you/"><br /> 4 Realizations That Will Ruin Science Fiction for You</a></strong></p> <blockquote><strong>#4. Sci-fi Needs a Straight Man Like a Laurel and Hardy Routine</strong> <p>The bulk of the workload in writing science fiction/fantasy is creating your whole world from scratch. It's a hell of a lot of fun, but it also has some unique problems. Characters, by being from this world you've just hand-built, are naturally going to be referring to places and objects and sometimes even speaking in a language that is completely foreign to the reader. To deal with this issue as a writer, you can fill the narrative with clunky exposition, rabidly notate the entire thing and hope your readers like cross-referencing as much as they like space battles (not always a losing bet), or you can attempt to skillfully weave information and plot by virtue of your many practiced years in fiction.</p> <p>Or you could take the other option: Chuck a dumbass into your story who literally doesn't understand a thing, thus forcing all of the other characters to constantly stop and explain every aspect of the world to him. Like so:</p> <p>"General Klogg's Pogofighters are bouncing over the city walls! Quick, to the rhythm-cannons!" N-dah Gaim, robo-temptress of the Seventh Veil, screamed in alarm.</p> <p>"General who's whatfighters are doing huh now?" Biff Manface asked (manfully).</p> <p>"I forget, Manface, despite your chiseled jawline and just ... really, truly rockin' pecs (seriously, they're so, so good) ... that you are but a human, and a stranger to our lands. General Krogg is the former leader of Klogglandia's dancing warrior caste, you see, and his elite band, or 'crew,' of Krumping assassins have ..."</p> <p>And so forth.</p> <p>If you think that's a hack move that you, as a discerning reader, wouldn't tolerate, think again. It's been utilized in nearly every famous sci-fi work in history.</blockquote></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/friday_fun_4_realizations_that.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/01CxEsfe_EeZSZpbUPnVpLjmOXg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/01CxEsfe_EeZSZpbUPnVpLjmOXg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/01CxEsfe_EeZSZpbUPnVpLjmOXg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/01CxEsfe_EeZSZpbUPnVpLjmOXg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/lXAIt_l_kV8" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/lXAIt_l_kV8/friday_fun_4_realizations_that.php friday fun Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:30:59 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/friday_fun_4_realizations_that.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Tara C. Smith none@example.com <p>I <a href=http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2012/02/infectious_disease_epidemiolog.php">mentioned earlier in the week</a> that I had two pending announcements; now I can officially share the second. We're putting on an Emerging Infectious Diseases conference here in Iowa City April 27-8th, and the Keynote speaker will be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Ian_Lipkin">Ian Lipkin</a>, a world leader in the field of viral discovery and most recently, a consultant for <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/opinion/the-real-threat-of-contagion.html">the Stephen Soderbergh movie "Contagion."</a> </p> <p>For the conference itself, it will be a regular research conference in one sense (abstract submission, poster presentations), but much of it will be done in "unconference" format a la <a href="http://scienceonline2012.com/">ScienceOnline</a>. We're working on finishing the website etc. and that will be available soon, but in the meantime, I'd love it if those in the area could assist with word-of-mouth via <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/EID%20Conference%20Flyer%2010%20Feb%202012.pdf">this "save the date" flyer</a>. If you have any interest in helping out, suggesting session topics, or any general questions, feel free to pose them below. Looking forward to seeing some of you here in Iowa! </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2012/02/i_mentioned_earlier_in_the.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nzV18D9gl4qiAF_EAgNGcKumo5s/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nzV18D9gl4qiAF_EAgNGcKumo5s/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nzV18D9gl4qiAF_EAgNGcKumo5s/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nzV18D9gl4qiAF_EAgNGcKumo5s/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/m7_52gVpfrI" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/m7_52gVpfrI/i_mentioned_earlier_in_the.php Conferences and meetings Fri, 10 Feb 2012 14:25:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2012/02/i_mentioned_earlier_in_the.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss PZ Myers none@example.com <p class="lead">You will not escape the swarm.</p> <div class="captionedfigure"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/upload/2012/02/longfin.jpeg" width="500" height="376" alt="longfin.jpeg"/></div> <p>(via <a href="http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/photos/squid/#/squid02-longfin-squid_18210_600x450.jpg">NatGeo</a>)</p> <p style="text-align: right">(Also on <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/02/10/friday-cephalopod-numberless-hosts/">FtB</a>)</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/02/friday_cephalopod_numberless_h.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3euatqJYVRjd6wKTnzO2PII14R4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3euatqJYVRjd6wKTnzO2PII14R4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3euatqJYVRjd6wKTnzO2PII14R4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3euatqJYVRjd6wKTnzO2PII14R4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/cCAFcVFzCyw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/cCAFcVFzCyw/friday_cephalopod_numberless_h.php Cephalopods Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:47:47 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2012/02/friday_cephalopod_numberless_h.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>According to Rick Santorum, it is.</p> <p><iframe width="500" height="369" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Kr14jb-jds4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>Strange. </p> <p>Brad Johnson has context and analysis <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/02/10/422979/santorum-froths-at-cpac-facade-of-man-made-global-warming/">here</a>. </p> <p>I think Rick Santorum is trying to destroy America.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/is_climate_change_is_a_leftist.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hHnigp0bkJIP0WPEjYIez_-WetY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hHnigp0bkJIP0WPEjYIez_-WetY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hHnigp0bkJIP0WPEjYIez_-WetY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hHnigp0bkJIP0WPEjYIez_-WetY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/fauNhjbf7Jw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/fauNhjbf7Jw/is_climate_change_is_a_leftist.php Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:47:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/is_climate_change_is_a_leftist.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>A team of researchers based in Namibia, South Africa, Australia and the United Kingdom now report fossils from a Namibian deposit that seem to be animals and apparently date to about 760 million years ago. This extends the known time span of animals on the planet by about 17 percent....</p> <p><br /> <a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/02/oldest-animals-ever-discovered/">Read more</a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/oldest_animals_discovered_in_n.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UCKRtZbtOWkDXok1QuXVlML66cw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UCKRtZbtOWkDXok1QuXVlML66cw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UCKRtZbtOWkDXok1QuXVlML66cw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UCKRtZbtOWkDXok1QuXVlML66cw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/AotgMzLxJHE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/AotgMzLxJHE/oldest_animals_discovered_in_n.php Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:00:16 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/oldest_animals_discovered_in_n.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Jason Rosenhouse none@example.com <p>Over the last few days, there has been no shortage of crazed invective on the contraception issue from certain religious folks. For them, the notion that religious institutions providing public services ought to play by the same rules as everyone else constitutes tyranny. So we have Rick Santorum, for example, casually invoking images of the guillotine and the French Revolution. </p> <p>This is all just election-year grandstanding, of course. It is this year's Ground Zero Mosque. If this were February 2013, or if a Repeublican were President, we would not be hearing the usual bleats and howls from the right-wing outrage machine. As Rachel Maddow pointed out <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/10/rachel-maddow-cal-thomas-contraception_n_1267848.html?ref=media">on her show</a>, numerous Catholic universities and law schools already provide coverage for contraception, and some Republicans are on record in the past supporting this.</p> <p>With all the crazy talk out there, my nomination for the most utterly oblivious comment comes from Catholic blogger Edward Feser. <a href="http://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2012/02/contraception-subsidiarity-and-catholic.html">He writes:</a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2012/02/the_contraception_kerfuffle.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2012/02/the_contraception_kerfuffle.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XTj_ZlzOt3QRxkSJLXS3-056Jas/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XTj_ZlzOt3QRxkSJLXS3-056Jas/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XTj_ZlzOt3QRxkSJLXS3-056Jas/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/XTj_ZlzOt3QRxkSJLXS3-056Jas/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/iyQ16Sui4gA" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/iyQ16Sui4gA/the_contraception_kerfuffle.php Politics Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:19:12 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2012/02/the_contraception_kerfuffle.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Chad Orzel none@example.com <p>Prompted by a number of people using the phrase "vast majority" recently, I wonder where the line between "majority" and "vast majority" is. Thus, a poll:</p> <p><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/5930305.js"></script> <noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5930305/">What is the minimum level of support that constitutes a "vast majority"</a></noscript></p> <p>Assume for the sake of argument that the issue in question is a simple yes-or-no question, with only a small "no response/ don't know" fraction.</p> <p>If there are other classes of "majority" that you recognize, feel free to define them in the comments. The poll is just about the term "vast," though.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/language_and_statistics_poll_d.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UEL0U_Ss1zN0UGNyS8dhL-LVUMg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UEL0U_Ss1zN0UGNyS8dhL-LVUMg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UEL0U_Ss1zN0UGNyS8dhL-LVUMg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UEL0U_Ss1zN0UGNyS8dhL-LVUMg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/FdIZCsmoUhI" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/FdIZCsmoUhI/language_and_statistics_poll_d.php Humanities Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:18:44 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/language_and_statistics_poll_d.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Liz Borkowski none@example.com <p>The House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee has approved what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood calls "<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72369.html">the worst transportation bill I've ever seen during 35 years of public service</a>." LaHood spent 14 years in Congress, serving as a Republican representative from Illinois, and told Politico that Congress always came together in the past to support transportation, but HR 7 is the most partisan transportation bill he's ever seen.</p> <p>For the past 30 years, federal transportation legislation has allocated a small portion of the national gas tax to transit funding. Under the new five-year bill just passed by the House Committee, guaranteed funding for public transportation systems will disappear, and only roads will be ensured a steady stream of revenue. </p> <p>House Republicans seem to care more about drivers than transit riders, but they should remember something: public transportation also benefits people who don't use it.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/awful_house_transportation_bil.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/awful_house_transportation_bil.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TzaTEYKnlYDrlefqXwUFN9DJhGM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TzaTEYKnlYDrlefqXwUFN9DJhGM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TzaTEYKnlYDrlefqXwUFN9DJhGM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TzaTEYKnlYDrlefqXwUFN9DJhGM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/5zmCIaJSHb0" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/5zmCIaJSHb0/awful_house_transportation_bil.php Transportation Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:16:22 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/awful_house_transportation_bil.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Sharon Astyk none@example.com <p>I won't usually publish ID updates here, but I did want to remind everyone who wants to participate that this is going on - please feel free to jump in, post updates at your blog, on facebook or in the comments of the update threads (posted on Fridays) at www.sharonastyk.com. In the meantime, here's the first one:</p> <p>The weather of our discontent continues - weirdly warm for upstate NY in winter, plants and animals blooming or returning too early. The pussywillows have catkins, my elderberries have green buds, the daffodils are up and we saw a red-winged blackbird yesterday - all of which are signs of late-Marchness in upstate NY, here at the beginning of February. Mud season, usually a month from March to April, has been going on steadily since the hurricanes back in August.</p> <p>That said, even when you know it is a sign of wrongness, it is hard not to appreciate less wood burned, easier barn access and more days outside for the critters. The goats, unconcerned about climate change, do appreciate all the opportunities to follow me around and get in my way - everyone needs a dozen does to help them carry firewood (help here is defined as "stand in front of me and refuse to move, stick your face in the wood bin to check for any snacks left lying around, untie my shoelaces and then nibble my coat buttons), hay or water (tripping me while I'm doing the water is the little one's favorite game).</p> <p>The calves and our buck goat who gave us four cryptorchid babies this year went to the butcher on Tuesday, so we were able to open up the fence and move the remaining couple of bucks down the hill with the does. The poultry (ducks and chickens) will move up to the barn that held the calves and bucks, for several reasons - first to get them further away from the house where they have been flying over the fence and trashing my perennials, and also because that gives us more space down the hill for goats. Moving everything around is a bit of pain, but well worth it. So was the baby beef operation we did this year - we are hoping to do more next year, since this was so successful. We are also debating buying a heifer calf to be raised up as a milker as well.</p> <p>Real seed starting (rather than the little bit of desultory stuff) commenced this week - early tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, flower and herbs that need a long season got started this week, along with some more things that require stratification. I also took geranium cuttings for spring as well - both brightly colored red, white and pink, and lemon and rose scented.</p> <p>I'm still pruning fruit trees, which I should have done earlier in the winter - normally early February isn't too late, but this isn't a normal winter. The goats and the rabbits have eagerly devoured our offerings.</p> <p>We had the first winter litter of rabbits when Marigold, one of our does kindled with 9 beautiful babies - this is the first time we've crossed our American Blues with the Cinnamons, and I'm anxious to see what color combinations we get, and also whether the Blue's faster rate of growth gets transmitted.</p> <p>A kind reader sent me a box of cloth diapers from her children (THANK YOU) and I'm expecting a few more, so I took the time to sort out what I'd saved from my own kids - it turns out that there was more than I thought that survived my children (and a lot of it had come from a friend of my mother's with twins, so more than my four) including some wool diaper soakers and a few precious wool covers - my favorites. I may knit a few other covers as well - but I'm glad to be able to cloth diaper again.</p> <p>The foster stash is in increasingly good shape - which is a huge relief. The main issue for me, given where we live, our one-vehicle situation, our ongoing schedules and Eric's work schedule is that I may have to go four or five days before I can go shopping for children's clothing, and yet the kids have to be dressed - and for visits or trips to synagogue, dressed fairly nicely. I think I can now do that for just about all sizes, which is a huge relief - after all, no one either wants, in a house full of 7-10 overstimulated kids to either take all the children to a store or worse, be the one stays home with them alone while the other goes shopping - this gives me the time and space to get everyone settled without dragging kids out all the time.</p> <p>We've managed to do almost all the major reorganization of the house, except for the garage (which will by necessity be done next week since we have to clean out the freezer in said garage to put the beef from butchering in). We've now got the door between the kitchen and dining room gated, so that we can use the wood cookstove while foster kids are at our place (previously we tried to gate around it, but really can't cook on it that way, so had just been only using the other stove). There is still cleaning, sorting and organizing in small places yet, but we're WAY ahead of what we've been. I suspect it will all go to pot when we finally get a large sibling group placement that stays, but at least we start ahead.</p> <p>I haven't done much on building up my pantry - actually, sort of the opposite, as we've been rearranging it, I've been working on us eating down some things. Still, the time to build on this will come.</p> <p>Skill-wise, the main thing I've been working on is figuring out whether couponing is worthwhile for us. I've never bothered much since we purchase so few things at the supermarket. Foster care, however, has changed some of that - besides the desire to sometimes offer familiar foods and snacks as kids transition to our home (we can work on food issues gradually, but comfort is the most important thing initially), we also now need more things like toothbrushes and toilet paper - and need toiletries that can go home or on to other placements with kids. I'm still not totally clear on whether this is worth doing for us generally - while using the occasional good coupon is always nice, serious couponing and sale shopping requires a. more driving (in some cases, Eric goes past some of the stores coming from work some days) and often the best savings are found in buying the smallest sizes, which increases net packaging. Still, I'm playing with running the numbers and seeing what we can make work for us within the bounds of our general environmental priorities.</p> <p>Best of all, we began the week with a lovely celebration of Tu'Bshevat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees. We ate fabulous things - including Key Lime pie (with limes brought back by a friend from a FL trip), Black Forest Cake (from cherries frozen over the summer by another friend), Banana Cream pie (from totally non-local bananas) and apricot-applesauce. It was wretched and delicious excess, and a lovely time was had by all. I celebrated the actual day by planting the seeds of some quinces and apples gone mushy to stratify. It may be too late (I planted others in the fall) but hope springs eternal, which is kind of the point.</p> <p>Ok, official results:</p> <p>Plant something - Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, Hawthorn, Quince and Witch Hazel, Coneflowers, Galliarda, Geraniums, Eryngium, Echinops, Basil, Dianthus, Alyssum, Parsley.</p> <p>Harvest something: Eggs, Milk, Beef and Chevon. Also fruit tree prunings for bunnies and goaties.</p> <p>Preserve something: Nope. Should can some applesauce from the soft apples, though.</p> <p>Waste Not: All the sorting out and organizing have been great - the kids are thrilled with the exciting "new" things we find in the back of the attic or in boxes, and we've managed to give away a lot of good stuff. Otherwise the usual composting and feeding wastes to various critters.</p> <p>Want Not: I can't take credit for the cloth diapers, but they were awesome! I am totally out of peanut butter (our dumpster diving friend and our foster son's WIC had us stocked for what seemed like eternity), so I need to add that. I also will need to buy apples pretty soon - my kids eat 5 - 7 apples a day, and we use them in cooking, but this year's supply didn't keep as well as usual due to the warm temperatures. We will buy a few bushels from the local coop.</p> <p>Eat the food - Nothing really new. We are eating the small hen turkeys we bought from a friend (we didn't do turkeys this past year for reasons that were really stupid ;-)) - at 13-14 lbs, they make two meals for a family of six straight and the one large pot of laotian chicken soup (basically chicken soup seasoned with lots of citrus juice and soy sauce and a bit of brown sugar, ginger, garlic and ciles until it is salty, hot, sweet and sour, and then with added onions, canned pineapple (if we have it), and I usually stir brown rice in. With a few extra ingredients, one chicken is 4-6 meals, depending on size and how many people are home. The apple-apricot sauce was also really fabulous - a bunch of apples, some dried apricots (about 5-1 proportions), a little apple cider and a splash of vanilla. You can add sugar if you want, but it doesn't need it. A hand blender, food mill or food processer all work equally well at smoothing it out if you want. Just cook until the apricots are very soft and the apples are applesaucy.</p> <p>Build community food systems: Not a thing</p> <p>Skill up: Aforementioned coupon research. That's about it.</p> <p>How about you? You can report here or just stick in a link to your blog!</p> <p>Sharon</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2012/02/independence_days_challenge_up.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/idoecn4O1Q2Cqn6wurRZN_GZ-MY/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/idoecn4O1Q2Cqn6wurRZN_GZ-MY/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/idoecn4O1Q2Cqn6wurRZN_GZ-MY/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/idoecn4O1Q2Cqn6wurRZN_GZ-MY/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/LdlQ3p1NWOs" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/LdlQ3p1NWOs/independence_days_challenge_up.php independence days challenge Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:02:46 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2012/02/independence_days_challenge_up.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Josh Rosenau none@example.com <p>Last week's all-consuming outrage was spurred by a new rule issued by the Obama administration requiring that all employers' health insurance plans cover birth control without a copay. Religious employers – especially Catholic groups – had asked for an exemption, and thought there was a wink-and-nod agreement that they'd get the exemption, but then they didn't. They didn't want to have to pay for birth control, even though many of these groups employ people outside their denomination (and thus aren't bound by outdated papal bans on birth control) or people who are part of the denomination but don't care about outdated papal bans on birth control.</p> <p>This morning, rumors swirled of a forthcoming "accommodation" from the administration, and <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/02/10/obama-to-cave-on-contraception-rule/?utm_source=dlvr.it&amp;utm_medium=twitter">some were prepared to declare it a loss, sight unseen</a>.</p> <p>But the actual policy announced seems satisfying to nearly everyone. <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/02/10/422863/contraception-accommodation-insurers-will-be-required-to-offer-contraception-coverage-free-of-charge/">ThinkProgress explains</a>:<br /> <blockquote>Under the new policy, “all women will still have access to free preventive care, including contraception,” no matter where they work.” However, if a nonprofit religiously affiliated organization like a Catholic college or hospital objects to offering birth control, the insurance company will be required to provide the coverage free of charge and the employer will not pay for it. Sister Carol Keehan, President of the US Catholic Health Association and Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards support the compromise, the administration officials said.</p> <p>…Insurance companies will be able to deliver birth control at no additional charge because the cost of contraception is far less than the costs associated with an unwanted pregnancy, the administration official explained. Therefore, “there is no extra premium” associated with the service.</p> <p>The new rule will also eliminate the one year implementation delay that was included in the original regulation, meaning that contraception without cost sharing will be available starting Aug. 1.</blockquote>Planned Parenthood and the nun who runs the Catholic hospitals' lobbying group probably don't agree on much, but they are both satisfied with this resolution. About the only people who aren't: wingnuts like Bryan Fischer, who <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/BryanJFischer/status/168022538151133184">declared on twitter</a>:<br /> <blockquote>WH "compromise" totally bogus. Now just tramples on religious liberty of insurance companies instead. It's a travesty.</blockquote>Now I know <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPQkd_AA6c">corporations are people, my friend</a>, but in what sense does a corporation have religion, let alone religious liberty? If he has to work that hard to find a problem with this policy, I think we can safely say that the President's skills at 11-dimensional chess are still sharp.</p> <p>But I understand why there was so much angst on progressive blogs and Twitter feeds this morning. So often, the White House has a habit of opening negotiations by giving away the store, or accepting a compromise that's too weak, or that fails to advance a progressive vision, or lay the foundation for future progressive victories. In many cases, I can see why those compromises were probably the best deal to be had, but it still leaves a bitter taste in progressive voters.</p> <p>In this case, they negotiated the politics cleverly by staking out a strong position to begin with, letting the conservative noise machine work itself into a tizzy, then announcing a compromise that takes nothing away from the people being insured, acknowledges the concerns of religious groups, and forces the conservatives to either make clear that they simply object to anyone having birth control at all, or to make arguments so absurd they can be ignored. I hope there's a broader political lesson here.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/tfk/2012/02/free_contraception_for_everyon.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/peGw8eK7OrqGwUAv7_6rxVv7OHg/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/peGw8eK7OrqGwUAv7_6rxVv7OHg/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/peGw8eK7OrqGwUAv7_6rxVv7OHg/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/peGw8eK7OrqGwUAv7_6rxVv7OHg/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/bSxp1Vl_GgU" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/bSxp1Vl_GgU/free_contraception_for_everyon.php Policy and Politics Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:48:48 -0800 http://scienceblogs.com/tfk/2012/02/free_contraception_for_everyon.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Carly O'Brien none@example.com <p><img alt="photo-LarryBock.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/photo-LarryBock.jpg" width="123" height="150" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /><br /> By Larry Bock<br /> Founder and organizer, <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/">USA Science & Engineering Festival</a></p> <p>It's both funny and remarkable how some of the most simple and natural acts we do each day are teeming in science.</p> <p>Take for example, the kiss.</p> <p>A kiss, especially a passionate one, sets off a cascade of emotions and chemical reactions in our brain and body that would surprise most of us if we knew the whole story.</p> <p>Well, just in time for Valentine's Day, <a href="http://sherilkirshenbaum.com/">Sheril Kirshenbaum</a>, science writer and author of the recent book, <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>T<em>he Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us</em></a></em>, sheds light on exactly what goes on biologically when we lock lips. Kissing basically "acts like a drug by stimulating the natural chemicals in our bodies, yet unlike other human behaviors, science has barely begun to put kissing under the microscope" to study this intriguing evolutionary behavior," says Sheril, who serves as director of the University of Texas Project on Energy Communication and appeared last year as a speaker at TEDGlobal 2011.</p> <p>This April, as a featured author at the <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/">USA Science & Engineering Festival Expo</a> and <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/">Book Fair</a> hosted by Lockheed Martin, she'll bring insight into the kiss by discussing her book, answering questions and sharing other information that research is revealing about the science of kissing. But in the meantime, for all you sweethearts out there, here's a timely message from Sheril to take to heart. She writes:</p> <p>On Valentine's Day, many of us will acknowledge those we love with chocolates, flowers, and cards. But the most meaningful messages will be exchanged without spending a dime: It's kisses that leave the most indelible impression of all.</p> <p>Our lips are packed with sensitive nerve endings so that even the slightest brush sends a flurry of information to our brains that often feels very good. Although we often don't think of them in this way, our lips are the body's most exposed erogenous zone. When they are involved in a passionate kiss, our blood vessels dilate as our brain receives more oxygen than normal. Our pulse quickens and our breathing can become irregular. Our cheeks flush as our pupils dilate causing many of us to close our eyes. Five of our 12 cranial nerves jump into action as we engage all of OUR senses in interpreting what's going on and anticipating what may happen next.</p> <p>When there's real chemistry between two individuals, a kiss sparks romance by triggering a cocktail of hormones and neurotransmitters that cascade through our bodies and brains. In this manner, locking lips serves as humanity's most intimate experience because it conveys more than our words can possibly express. It's nature's ultimate litmus test telling us when to pursue a deeper connection with someone special or to step back because we're incompatible with a partner. And understanding the science behind how this happens doesn't take any magic out of the moment. Instead, it provides a better understanding and appreciation of our ourselves and our relationships.<br /> <img alt="sheril.jpeg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/sheril.jpeg" width="150" height="150" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /><br /> Sheril is one of many intriguing authors who will take the public behind the mystery and wonders of science, engineering and technology April 28-29 at the <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/">Festival Expo and Book Fair</a> in Washington, D.C. (the nation's largest celebration of science and engineering). This free-of-charge weekend celebration, scheduled for the <a href="http://www.dcconvention.com/Visitors/DirectionsParking/GettingHere.aspx">Walter E. Washington Convention Center</a>, culminates a month-long series of Festival events which will be held nationwide to inspire the next generation of science and technology innovators. The<a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/"> Expo</a> allows kids, their families and others to participate in over 2,500 exciting, interactive activities and see more than 150 live performances by science celebrities, best-selling authors, explorers, innovative entrepreneurs and world-renowned experts.</p> <p>At the<a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/"> Expo's Book Fair</a>, visitors will get the chance to meet and hear some of the country's most intriguing authors who are regaling readers worldwide through their work. In addition to <a href="http://sherilkirshenbaum.com/">Sheril Kirshenbaum</a>, these include:</p> <p>--Astrophysicist and former NASA scientist <a href="http://jeffreybennett.com/">Jeffrey Bennett</a> who has not only authored best-selling college textbooks in astronomy, astrobiology and mathematics, but is also the author of the award-winning children's books such as, <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>Max Goes to the Moon</em></a>, <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>Max Goes to Mars</em></a> and <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>Max Goes to Jupiter</em></a>.</p> <p>--<a href="http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hmn/W07/feature1.cfm">Alfredo Quiñones</a>, esteemed neurosurgeon and neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University, who in his autobiography <em><a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors">Becoming Dr. Q</a></em>, tells the amazing story of how he rose from an impoverished background as an migrant worker to become one of the most renowned physicians in his field.</p> <p>>--<a href="http://robincookmd.com/">Robin Cook</a>, a physician and Naval officer, whose string of 30 best-selling books include such medically-based works as <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>Coma</em></a> and <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>The Year of the Intern</em>.</a></p> <p>--Harvard physicist <a href="http://www.physics.harvard.edu/people/facpages/randall.html">Lisa Randall</a>, whose works such as <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>Knocking on Heaven's Door</em></a> has made her among the most cited and influential theoretical physicists today.</p> <p>--Former NASA engineer <a href="http://www.homerhickam.com/">Homer Hickam</a>, whose autobiographical book, <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/authors"><em>Rocket Boys</em></a> formed the basis of the Hollywood movie <em>October Sky</em>.<br /> <img alt="seymour simon.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/seymour%20simon.jpg" width="150" height="150" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /><br /> --<a href="http://www.seymoursimon.com/">Seymour Simon</a>, whom the <em>New York Times</em> called "the dean of the [children's science] field," and is the author of more than 250 highly acclaimed science books, more than 75 of which have been named Outstanding Science Trade Books for Children by the National Science Teachers Association.</p> <p>Experience these and other authors who never let us forget that, like the wonder of a kiss, science is indeed all around us. Join us in April at the <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/">Festival!</a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/2012/02/just_in_time_for_valentines_da.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wTNCM_XPwKuzvd8dc_q7ZBLCufE/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wTNCM_XPwKuzvd8dc_q7ZBLCufE/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wTNCM_XPwKuzvd8dc_q7ZBLCufE/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/wTNCM_XPwKuzvd8dc_q7ZBLCufE/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/rDGb6N-wdfs" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/rDGb6N-wdfs/just_in_time_for_valentines_da.php Festival Book Fair Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:00:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/2012/02/just_in_time_for_valentines_da.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Orac none@example.com <p><img alt="Classic Insolence logo" src="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/upload/2006/08/ClassicInsolence.jpg" width="200" height="150"; style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left"; /><em>Work called last night. (It happens.) Basically, I had two deadlines for two big things (finishing reviewing the grants assigned to me for study section and a major writeup for a project for my job). Unfortunately, both of them were today. I realized as I perused old posts that I hadn't reposted this one in over five years. So, unless you're a long time reader, it's definitely new to you. More importantly, it reminds me that I don't write about thins like this much anymore. Certainly I rarely do personal anecdotes or straight medical blogging much anymore. Maybe I should do more.</em></p> <p><br /> [<span style="font-weight: bold;">NOTE:</span> This story is loosely based on a real patient encounter from several years ago, but some details have been changed.]</p> <p>The patient list for the day had simply the words "abnormal mammogram" next to her name. That used to be the most common reason that of breast patients came to see me. They have their regular mammogram and are told by their primary care physician that it is abnormal. The next thing they know, they're sitting in one of my examining rooms. However, the patient list is quite brief. It's just meant to be a quick capsule of what patient has what basic complaint. These days, because at my current institution so many more practitioners order breast biopsies, most of the patients I see are already pre-diagnosed with breast cancer. Be that as it may, nothing on the list prepared me for the woman I greeted when I walked in the examination room.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/02/an_uncomfortable_question.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/02/an_uncomfortable_question.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IFW8hJWaZl0rPF0EoJSq3W0HZow/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IFW8hJWaZl0rPF0EoJSq3W0HZow/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IFW8hJWaZl0rPF0EoJSq3W0HZow/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IFW8hJWaZl0rPF0EoJSq3W0HZow/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/Anj8BkHHU-s" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/Anj8BkHHU-s/an_uncomfortable_question.php Medicine Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/02/an_uncomfortable_question.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Chad Orzel none@example.com <ul> <li><a href='http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/02/why_the_proponents_of_a_gay_marriage_ban_will_soon_be_speechless.single.html'>Why the Proponents of a Gay Marriage Ban Will Soon Be Speechless - Slate Magazine</a> <p>So there you have it: That's the best case that can be made against gay marriage. An appeals court dissent that rests on the premise that states needn't act rationally, or offer evidence of rationality, or even be rational in creating classifications, so long as someone publishes a study and someone else believes it. That's the best they've got, it seems. That is not legal argument or empirical evidence. It is the death rattle of a movement that has no legal argument or empirical evidence.</p></li> <li><a href='http://www.pantsareoverrated.com/archive/2011/10/11/hobbes-and-bacon-03-2/'>Pants are Overrated - Hobbes And Bacon 03</a> <p>I don't know what this is like at all. Nope. No way.</p></li> <li><a href='http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/16842/a-big-night-for-the-big-easts-best-rivalry'>A Big Night for the Big East's Best Rivalry - The Triangle Blog - Grantland</a> <p>There are upstate die-hards who still curse Sleepy Floyd's name, go into conniptions when they see a white hand towel, and recall every errant jumper that ever spun off the rims in the Carrier Dome. What I remember most are the players. There were Syracuse stars such as Pearl Washington, Derrick Coleman, Billy Owens, and Lawrence Moten. Georgetown's pantheon of heroes boasts names like Ewing, Mourning, Mutombo, and Iverson. But supporting characters were just as memorable. We rooted for local Orange products like John Wallace and Ryan Blackwell. We sneered at foes like Robert Churchwell and Irvin Church, both of whom seemed to spend a decade in Hoya colors. With the impending collapse of the Big East, Wednesday's game could be the last time the two teams play in the Carrier Dome.</p></li> </ul> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/links_for_2012-02-10.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IGyyt2bjwp1b5cuNI63-6jmglKs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IGyyt2bjwp1b5cuNI63-6jmglKs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IGyyt2bjwp1b5cuNI63-6jmglKs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/IGyyt2bjwp1b5cuNI63-6jmglKs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/wUCAOABn6qY" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/wUCAOABn6qY/links_for_2012-02-10.php Links Dump Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:41:54 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/links_for_2012-02-10.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss MarkH none@example.com <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Results_of_the_2012_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Republican_Party_presidential_primaries_results%2C_2012_%28corrected%29.svg/300px-Republican_Party_presidential_primaries_results%2C_2012_%28corrected%29.svg.png"></a> The states in Green have gone for Rick Santorum, who besides having a <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=santorum&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a"> a Google problem</a> also believes in one of the wackiest conspiracy theories there is - <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/santorum-calls-global-warming-hoax-suggesting-full-fledged-climate-conspiracy-theory">the climate change hoax.</a> That is, the belief that there is a shady group of Illuminati that have power over thousands of climate scientists from all over the world, and in their greed for sweet sweet grant money scientists uniformly falsify all their data to serve this power-hungry cabal. Is that an exaggeration? <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2012-02-07-global-warming-or-domination">Nope</a>, that's what people who believe in the "hoax" ascribe to (<a href="http://www.skepticalscience.com/david-evans-understanding-goes-cold.html">see skeptical science's thorough debunking of Evans here</a>). This is a more severe form of the denial by Newt or Romney, who claim "insufficient evidence", the more basic <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2007/05/impossible_expectations_and_mo.php">goalpost moving</a> of half-hearted global warming denialism.</p> <p>But now we have a full-blown global warming hoax-promoting conspiracy theorist picking up momentum to become a candidate for president. Should we be worried? <br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2012/02/a_global_warming_conspiracy_th.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2012/02/a_global_warming_conspiracy_th.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oOKht-chwwOCMOfbTUsk0QOcEb0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oOKht-chwwOCMOfbTUsk0QOcEb0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oOKht-chwwOCMOfbTUsk0QOcEb0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/oOKht-chwwOCMOfbTUsk0QOcEb0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/V6uRqm4KhGY" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/V6uRqm4KhGY/a_global_warming_conspiracy_th.php Global Warming Denialism Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:51:23 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2012/02/a_global_warming_conspiracy_th.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss none@example.com <p><br /> There are several signs o'doom for NASA bubbling up out there</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/catdynamics/2012/02/ominous_signs_for_nasa.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/catdynamics/2012/02/ominous_signs_for_nasa.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kORKWw28v4fviqmNg3rusm0lNSk/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kORKWw28v4fviqmNg3rusm0lNSk/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kORKWw28v4fviqmNg3rusm0lNSk/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/kORKWw28v4fviqmNg3rusm0lNSk/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/nIZGZGDrJs0" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/nIZGZGDrJs0/ominous_signs_for_nasa.php astro Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:32:47 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/catdynamics/2012/02/ominous_signs_for_nasa.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p><br /> A new multi-part special, <em>Wild Mississippi</em> will be first aired on February 12 at 6 Central on National Geographic Wild. I can't watch this when it is on because I don't get the channel on my TV, but I copped a review copy and have enjoyed it quite a bit. </p> <p>Here's the description of the first episode:</p> <blockquote>Nat Geo WILD travels to the starting point of the mighty Mississippi River -- Lake Itasca in Minnesota, where the 2,350-mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico begins. Harsh cannot begin to describe the winter in this region, where temperatures reach 33° below zero. Survival strategies are as numerous as the creatures that live here, such as beavers, bobcats and gray wolves. We'll capture migrating bald eagles as they prepare for the bitter cold and watch a pack of wolves hunt for deer and porcupine, beavers feverishly work to make dens, and the vole, a creature similar to a mouse, create tunnels beneath the snow to scavenge for food. It is truly a test of survival of the fittest in this freezing cold wilderness. </blockquote> <p>As you know I've written quite a bit about the upper Mississippi headwaters, the lakes, the birds, other things of nature (<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/notes_from_the_north_country/">Here are 40+ posts on the topic, go read them all now!</a>). Our cabin is on a lake that flows via various rivers and other lakes into the Mississippi just a few miles from its source at Itasca; The UMN research station is there and I used to go to an annual conference there (Julia and I have <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/05/the_first_fishing_opener.php">fond memories of our first trip</a>); Recently Amanda has been doing an annual New Graduate Student intake and demonstration thing for the Biology department (and I get to spend that weekend at the research station); I've actually done archaeology right on the lakeside, though it wasn't very interesting; And so on and so forth. </p> <p>The opening episode depicts, among other things, the very severe winters we get here in Minnesota, and I do not need to be redundant with that presentation, but I can point out a few exceptions to the rule. For instance, there was a nearly snow free year about 12 years ago or so, when I first moved to the area, and various conservation experts were concerned that all those animals that turn white during the winter were, well, not camouflaged. The white bunny rabbits were getting scarfed up by birds of prey and cats, and the white ermines were kind of obvious to their prey, and the white snowy owls were blindingly obvious. This year there's snow but not much, and it's not too cold. And the bobcat is moving north and inching out the lynx and some folks up north are starting to hunt the wolves again. The beavers are doing fine. Damn beavers. </p> <p>(Then there was the winter of year of <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/09/goldilocks_a_very_cold_winter.php">Goldilock,a Very Cold Winter Night, And a Strange Sense of Empty-ness</a> and the spring of <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/09/the_mystery_of_the_returned_ou.php">The Mystery of The Returned Outboard Motor</a>.)</p> <p>Do have a look at this post for a bit of history of Itasca: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/08/what_i_had_for_brunch_a_trip_t.php">What I had for brunch: A Trip to Bitch Lake</a>. That is not a profanity. It is a French word. Honest.</p> <p>The second hour is described as such:</p> <blockquote>It's been no ordinary winter. The Mississippi River reached extreme low temperatures, causing an unprecedented deep freeze. Now, spring is in bloom, with all the snow and ice from across the watershed melting, triggering a massive flood of biblical proportions. We'll see how the inhabitants adjust and fight to survive. In the north, the floodwaters bring a new quest for life. Carnivores use high waters to find meals, while a pair of bald eagles patrol the skies snagging small prey flushed out of the riverside. Coyotes also reap the rewards of the flood by preying on rodents and other small evacuees. Spring not only brings a new hunt for food, but babies also begin to make their debut, including wood ducklings that endure a 30-foot jump to find sanctuary in the high tide. Life is beginning to come back along the river as the weather heats up and brings a fresh start.</blockquote> <p>This is the time of year I wish no one would go to the North Country (except me) because it is when the migratory birds are establishing their nests, and there is a lot of movement among carnivores. Mink and otters have babies so their easier to spot and more likely to come around. If everyone were to stay away the environment would at least seem more pristine when late June and early July came around.</p> <p>Flooding on the Mississippi shares a characteristic with that on the Minnesota river (see <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2011/10/a_river_runs_by_it_children_gr.php">this post</a>) No matter how big the river gets and no matter how much water runs down it, from a certain point around the Twin Cities and on south, the river is always small compared to the Warren River, which formerly ran down the same channel, and was the largest river that ever existed anywhere, ever. (It drained Glacial Lake Agassiz.)</p> <p>The third hour, which I've not finished watching, focuses on the Delta:</p> <blockquote>Our romance with the Mississippi River heats up as we head south. The river joins with an even more flooded Ohio River to form a union of destruction that challenges man and wildlife. The water rises at a rate of two inches every hour. Those creatures that can flee, do as fast as they can. Trying to make a last-minute dash to safety, some wild hogs can't make it out. Wide waters force turtles to look beyond their normal sandy nesting grounds for places to lay their eggs, which become vulnerable to predators. Pelicans flock to the swarming fish and work together to round up dinner. And, by night, bats swoop in to collect moths, using their tails like a catcher's mitt to scoop up their prey. Not only animals, but people are also forced from their homes as the Mississippi River expands to more than 25 miles wide. The beautiful and dangerous Mississippi River is both a life giver and a life taker.</blockquote> <p>The bits I've seen are quite good and you'll enjoy it, I've never been to New Orleans, the nearby Bayou or the Delta, but one of these days I'm going to build myself a raft and head down there for the winter. </p> <p>(If you are looking for the videos, I've removed them because they were not behaving nicely!)</p> <p></p> <p><br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/wild_mississippi.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CBOkCeLRS-dn_hKz2TzmmEOI14Y/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CBOkCeLRS-dn_hKz2TzmmEOI14Y/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CBOkCeLRS-dn_hKz2TzmmEOI14Y/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/CBOkCeLRS-dn_hKz2TzmmEOI14Y/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/WnwZeT39LNM" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/WnwZeT39LNM/wild_mississippi.php Notes from the North Country Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:10:02 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/wild_mississippi.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Chad Orzel none@example.com <p>In a book that I read recently (either <a href="http://www.marthawells.com/cloudroads.htm"><cite>The Cloud Roads</cite></a> or <a href="http://www.marthawells.com/serpentsea.htm"><cite>The Serpent Sea</cite></a>-- I finished the first and immediately started the second), as some characters are traveling from one place to another, there's a passing mention that they weren't able to hunt at night because the moon wasn't out and it was too dark. Which sort of bugged me, and I was reminded of it tonight when I took Emmy out for our post-dinner walk-- it's very clear tonight, and a lot of stars were visible, even here in the light-polluted suburbs, but the moon wasn't up yet.</p> <p>And the thing is, while it's darker when the moon isn't out, it's not <em>really</em> too dark to see, because there are a whole lot of stars. This isn't that obvious if you live in a built-up area, but one time we went on a fishing trip up in the mountains in New Mexico, and it was really amazing just how bright the stars can be, if you're in a place with no clouds and no light pollution. A couple of times, I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (also, because the air mattress we were using had a leak, and would slowly deflate), and you really didn't need a flashlight-- just the stars provided plenty of light to see by.</p> <p>Of course, if there's thick cloud cover and no moon, and you're out in the middle of nowhere, it really is alarmingly difficult to see anything. But that's a function of the overcast skies, not the absence of the moon per se.</p> <p>I don't have a larger point to make here-- this is mostly to fill time while SteelyKid watches one more episode of Animaniacs before bedtime. But it's something that bugged me, and probably not all that many other people. This is the price of geekdom.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/random_note_that_wouldnt_bothe.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yLhJSoDyErtZ3odO7xL7YlrNc8I/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yLhJSoDyErtZ3odO7xL7YlrNc8I/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yLhJSoDyErtZ3odO7xL7YlrNc8I/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/yLhJSoDyErtZ3odO7xL7YlrNc8I/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/C33b7Ef4X6g" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/C33b7Ef4X6g/random_note_that_wouldnt_bothe.php Pop Culture Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:59:37 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/random_note_that_wouldnt_bothe.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ethan Siegel none@example.com <p><blockquote>"The phenomena of nature, especially those that fall under the inspection of the astronomer, are to be viewed, not only with the usual attention to facts as they occur, but with the eye of reason and experience." -<i>William Herschel</i></blockquote> We live in the most plentiful of scientific times, where the full extent of both our experience and understanding has expanded tremendously since the time of Herschel. You must remember that to Herschel, living in the 18^th century, there were but six known planets (including Earth) in the Solar System: Mercury through Saturn. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/orrery.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/orrery-thumb-500x375-72488.jpeg" width="500" height="375" class="inset" alt="orrery.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://danieldendy.blogspot.com/2010/11/orrery.html">Daniel Dendy</a>.) </p><p>While each of these classical, wandering objects can easily be seen with the naked eye under the right conditions, the <i>seventh</i> planet, Uranus, was not discovered until 1781, by William Herschel himself. Under the right dark sky conditions, Uranus is just <i>barely</i> visible to the naked eye, right at the limit of human vision. Unless you know where to look at any given time, it's very unlikely you'll see it. </p><p>But if you take a look at the sky just after sunset, <i>tonight</i>, you'll be in for a remarkable treat. <b>Particularly</b> if you live in the Americas. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/tonight_sunset.jpg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/tonight_sunset-thumb-500x312-72490.jpg" width="500" height="312" class="inset" alt="tonight_sunset.jpg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.stellarium.org/">Stellarium</a>.) </p><p>As you may have noticed, looking towards the southwest portion of the sky just after sunset, there are two very bright objects hovering above the horizon. Venus, the brightest object (other than the Moon) in the night sky, follows the Sun into the west, while Jupiter (the second brightest) lags behind by a few hours. </p><p>Up at my latitude (about 45 degrees North), this is what clear skies will look like around 6:00 PM. But wait just a bit longer -- maybe a half-hour -- and darkness sets in, allowing the light from those distant orbs in the night sky to dominate. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/tonight_six_thirty.jpg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/tonight_six_thirty-thumb-500x312-72492.jpg" width="500" height="312" class="inset" alt="tonight_six_thirty.jpg"/></a></center> <p>To your naked eye, Venus will still shine more brightly than any other object. It will be a few hours before the Moon comes up and a few hours before Venus falls down below the horizon. But coming closer to Venus than any other time this year is the planet Uranus, and those of you in the Americas will get to see it near its closest approach, right around 7:00 PM Pacific time. </p><p>Have a pair of binoculars languishing somewhere at home? Break them out, and point it towards Venus. If you let your eyes get adapted to the dark, even if you have relatively urban skies, here's what you're likely to see. </p><center><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/venus_Uranus_binocs.jpg" width="500" height="332" class="inset" alt="venus_Uranus_binocs.jpg"/></center> <p>In addition to the bright disk of Venus, you're likely to see a small point of light a small distance away from it. While it may appear to be a faint star or a small moon, it's <i>neither</i>. Venus has no moons of its own, and there are no stars anywhere near that magnitude in this region of the sky. What you're seeing, <b>billions of miles away</b>, is the planet Uranus! </p><center><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/Uranus_for_Venus_panel.jpeg" width="500" height="361" class="inset" alt="Uranus_for_Venus_panel.jpeg"/></center> <p>(Image credit: Bob King, retrieved from <a href="http://astrobob.areavoices.com/2009/01/20/a-remote-planet-within-your-grasp/">Astro Bob</a>.) </p><p>The bright, consistent disk of the planets make this a sight visible to many even in light-polluted regions. Unlike looking for a galaxy, nebula, or other extended object, <i>everyone</i> should give this a try. And for those of you with even a small telescope, you are in for a treat. Normally, Uranus is very difficult to find. But tonight, it will be separated from Venus by less than the angular size of the Full Moon! If you can find Venus in your telescope, you're not only likely to find Uranus, too, but to see that <b>it is a disc</b>, not just a point! </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/venus_uranus_2.jpg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/venus_uranus_2-thumb-500x312-72496.jpg" width="500" height="312" class="inset" alt="venus_uranus_2.jpg"/></a></center> <p>For a size comparison -- how big are these disks relative to the full Moon -- I give you <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Comparison_angular_diameter.svg">this chart</a>, modified from Peter Freiman's original. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/visual%20acuity.jpg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/visual%20acuity-thumb-500x505-72498.jpg" width="500" height="505" class="inset" alt="visual acuity.jpg"/></a></center> <p>The planet Uranus is a sight that most people never get to see in their lifetimes, but if you've got clear skies and you're in the Americas, don't miss your chance to hunt for it tonight! </p><p>And I should make this clear: <b>this is one night only!!!</b> </p><p>Venus moves somewhat rapidly across the sky, at least in astronomical terms. While tonight, it will be separated from Uranus by maybe half the size of the full Moon (around 0.3 degrees), by tomorrow at the same time, it will be <i>more than two full Moons away</i>! </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/tomorrow_uranus_venus.jpg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino/tomorrow_uranus_venus-thumb-500x312-72500.jpg" width="500" height="312" class="inset" alt="tomorrow_uranus_venus.jpg"/></a></center> <p>(Venus and Uranus' separation, at 6:09 PM on February 10, 2012 from Portland, OR.) </p><p>This close dance of Venus and Uranus is a rare one, and it's rarer still that they occur when both planets are in prime viewing location in the early evening. </p><p><b>Tonight</b>: one night only, it's Venus and Uranus, together in the sky. Don't miss it!<p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8U_ahN4VId8stxcsuoG44fMEAJc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8U_ahN4VId8stxcsuoG44fMEAJc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8U_ahN4VId8stxcsuoG44fMEAJc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8U_ahN4VId8stxcsuoG44fMEAJc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/5mWWTW4mHK4" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/5mWWTW4mHK4/hey_america_break_out_the_bino.php Astronomy Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:07:08 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/02/hey_america_break_out_the_bino.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss The Pump Handle none@example.com <p>by Elizabeth Grossman</p> <p>The news of increased hiring in the <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm">January jobs report</a> has been greeted as a sign that the US might finally be emerging from the Great Recession. But a look at the kind of hiring that's been on the rise over the past few years raises important questions about the changing nature of the relationship between workers and employers - questions that have serious implications for occupational health and safety as well as workers' financial security. <br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/day-to-day_labor_the_hazards_o.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/day-to-day_labor_the_hazards_o.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/e_CloA5YcL791HXfsn-jgl7Kgms/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/e_CloA5YcL791HXfsn-jgl7Kgms/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/e_CloA5YcL791HXfsn-jgl7Kgms/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/e_CloA5YcL791HXfsn-jgl7Kgms/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/RZFIS0YFX48" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/RZFIS0YFX48/day-to-day_labor_the_hazards_o.php Occupational Health & Safety Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:08:03 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/day-to-day_labor_the_hazards_o.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Jeff none@example.com <p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/assets_c/2012/01/Giants_Redskins_Dec_18_2011-71994.php" onclick="window.open('http://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/assets_c/2012/01/Giants_Redskins_Dec_18_2011-71994.php','popup','width=3264,height=1952,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/assets_c/2012/01/Giants_Redskins_Dec_18_2011-thumb-3264x1952-71994.jpg" width="500" height="300" alt="Giants_Redskins_Dec_18_2011.jpg" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a><br /> MetLife Stadium: NY Giants vs. Washington Redskins, Dec. 18, 2011 (my own photo.)</p> <p>This may be a sign of football withdrawal syndrome, but the day after the NY Giants won the Super Bowl I was searching for 2012 season tickets (more on that later.) I was reminiscing about last December when I took my son to his first professional football game at MetLife stadium. It was a bright, freezing cold day and the stadium was packed with more than 80,000 fans. The NY Giants were having a bad day battling the Washington Redskins; several times the announcer excitedly reported "Touchdown!" followed quickly by taking it away due to a penalty.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/2012/02/from_woeful_series_to_super_bo.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/2012/02/from_woeful_series_to_super_bo.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p7H-ki8TyIaZ14tYaHgc2LjzBPI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p7H-ki8TyIaZ14tYaHgc2LjzBPI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p7H-ki8TyIaZ14tYaHgc2LjzBPI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/p7H-ki8TyIaZ14tYaHgc2LjzBPI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/gjqE8BBh2Cc" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/gjqE8BBh2Cc/from_woeful_series_to_super_bo.php Advertising/Marketing Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:58:31 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/deanscorner/2012/02/from_woeful_series_to_super_bo.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>When I was a kid, I saw a photograph in an old Life magazine of a man standing on the ice somewhere in the Arctic, and a killer whale breaking trough the ice, much of the whale's body out of the water, a very short distance from the man. The whale was so close to the man that it was hard to say if the wincing expression on his face was due to being splashed with cold seawater or the thought that he was about to be ruthlessly mauled and eaten by the most vicious and dangerous creature on Earth.</p> <p>Those were the days...</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/02/what-inuits-taught-scientists-about-killer-whales/">Go read my latest post at Surprising Science. </a>You might be surprised! </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/traditional_inuit_knowledge_me.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/f_WWgKIuLO8lkDUy0_2qUXoFcyU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/f_WWgKIuLO8lkDUy0_2qUXoFcyU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/f_WWgKIuLO8lkDUy0_2qUXoFcyU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/f_WWgKIuLO8lkDUy0_2qUXoFcyU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/GoFwsjS-AF4" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/GoFwsjS-AF4/traditional_inuit_knowledge_me.php Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:59:03 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/traditional_inuit_knowledge_me.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss ERV none@example.com <p>Even though <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/erv/xmrv/">XMRV has joined the choir invisible</a> (rather than the list of human pathogens), scientists all over the world have still been publishing on it. Some of these studies were started before XMRVs demise, some were initiated to figure out how/why XMRV died, and some were done just to be on the safe side.</p> <p>BUT, lots of stuff has been published recently, and some readers have asked me for an update.</p> <p><strong>1. XMRV is a lab artifact. Nature cant make it.</strong><br /> We already knew that XMRV was the result of a recombination event between two mouse endogenous retroviruses, called 'Pre-XMRV-1' and 'Pre-XMRV-2':<blockquote><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21628392">Recombinant Origin of the Retrovirus XMRV</a></blockquote>Well, crap! Yeah, it happened in the lab, this time... but could it have occurred naturally in nature? Infected people just via a common house or field mouse?</p> <p>No.<blockquote><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22031947">Characterization, mapping, and distribution of the two XMRV parental proviruses.</a></blockquote>These folks looked for Pre-XMRV-1 and -2 in 48 laboratory mouse variants and 46 kinds of 'wild' mice. While there are wild mice that have Pre-XMRV-1, or Pre-XMRV-2, none have <i>both</i>. You need <i>both</i> to make XMRV. The only mice with <i>both</i> Pre-XMRVs are three kinds of lab mice: Hsd nude, NU/NU, and C57BR/cd.</p> <p><br /> XMRV is from the lab, not nature.</p> <p><br /> <strong>2. XMRV isnt infecting humans. Like, <em>at all.</em> Anywhere.</strong><br /> Fine, XMRV was created in the lab. But that doesnt mean it couldnt have <i>escaped</i> the lab, and entered the human population. An obvious place you could look for this kind of 'jail-break' would be in scientists/technicians who work with lab mice:<blockquote><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22212105">No evidence of cross-species transmission of mouse retroviruses to animal workers exposed to mice.</a></blockquote>The title of this article is kinda a spoiler... but none of the 43 animal workers had any signs of XMRV infection. Well, thats not true. They had <em>one</em> person who was un-reproducibly positive via PCR, who also was not positive via immunoblot. But functionally, no one was 'XMRV positive'.</p> <p><br /> So the XMRV-->humans event might not have happened via direct contact in the lab. Maybe it was in VACCINES or some other governmental mind-control apparatus. We should look in the general population:<blockquote><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22239212">Development and application of a high-throughput microneutralization assay: lack of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus and/or murine leukemia virus detection in blood donors.</a></blockquote>They looked at blood donors from the Reno/Tahoe area (<a href="http://www.wpinstitute.org/">heh</a>/<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Peterson_%28physician%29">heh</a>) for antibodies capable of neutralizing XMRV. 6.5% could, kinda-ish, but when that sera was further investigated, none of the neutralization was XMRV specific, nor was there any evidence of XMRV genome.</p> <p><br /> Maybe it is inappropriate to look for XMRV in healthy blood donors. Maybe you only 'see' XMRV when a patients immune system is compromised, like in HIV/AIDS:<blockquote><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22282703">Prevalence of XMRV Nucleic Acid and Antibody in HIV-1-Infected Men and in Men at Risk for HIV-1 Infection.</a></p> <p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21672082">Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus is not found in peripheral blood cells from treatment-naive human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients.</a></blockquote>Yet again, XMRV is not found in immunocompromised individuals, like HIV/AIDS patients, even in the absence of anti-retrovirals.</p> <p></p> <p><strong>3. XMRV doesnt even want anything to do with primates. Certainly not humans.</strong><br /> While HIV-1 is (relatively) 'new' to humans, retroviruses are not 'new' viruses. They have been around for millions and millions of years. That means that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_queen_hypothesis">via The Red Queen</a>, we have evolved all kinds of defenses against retroviruses, like <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2010/01/epigenetics_is_not_magic.php">epigenetics</a>, <a href="http://www.google.com/cse?cx=017254414699180528062%3Auyrcvn__yd0&q=tetherin+site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fscienceblogs.com%2Ferv%2F&sa=Search#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=tetherin%20site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fscienceblogs.com%2Ferv%2F&gsc.page=1">tetherin</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM5">Trim5</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APOBEC">APOBEC</a>, etc.</p> <p>XMRV does not now how to deal with <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2011/02/xmrv_and_human_pbmcs_do_not_wa.php">human APOBEC</a>. Or <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21325416">rhesus macaque APOBEC</a>. Or, apparently, pig-tailed macaque APOBEC.<blockquote><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22238316">Restricted Replication of Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus in Pigtailed Macaques.</a></blockquote>XMRV isnt in the human population, in part, because XMRV does not know how to deal with primate APOBEC.</p> <p><br /> So, there it is. A current update on the science of XMRV. <a href="http://youtu.be/lRwAYhm7R-8">It still dead.</a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2012/02/xmrv_update_the_science.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YeD6iiL_E7to0jHAfS4emZKey0I/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YeD6iiL_E7to0jHAfS4emZKey0I/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YeD6iiL_E7to0jHAfS4emZKey0I/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/YeD6iiL_E7to0jHAfS4emZKey0I/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/eOfswc0MFfE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/eOfswc0MFfE/xmrv_update_the_science.php Virology Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:47 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2012/02/xmrv_update_the_science.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Celeste Monforton none@example.com <p>New Yorkers, the nation and the world lost a dedicated physician and worker advocate this week with the passing of Stephen M. Levin, 70, from cancer. Dr. Levin was a professor of preventative medicine at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and most recently, a prominent figure fighting for a long-term program to identify and treat individuals who worked or volunteered at the post-9/11 World Trade Center site.</p> <p>As the <em>New York Daily News</em> <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/dr-stephen-levin-dead-cancer-article-1.1019463?localLinksEnabled=false">reports</a>, Levin watched as first responders worked in the poisonous cloud of dust in 2001 at the World Trade Center site. <blockquote> "The city Health Department rebuffed his pleas to issue warnings and an alert to area physicians. So, with Mount Sinai colleagues, he mapped out a plan of treatment for the sick who soon began showing up."</blockquote></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/remembering_stephen_m_levin_md.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/remembering_stephen_m_levin_md.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nAKwiq7XQcI8Qz926bICcCqLSwQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nAKwiq7XQcI8Qz926bICcCqLSwQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nAKwiq7XQcI8Qz926bICcCqLSwQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/nAKwiq7XQcI8Qz926bICcCqLSwQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/c4SgX_pTxTw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/c4SgX_pTxTw/remembering_stephen_m_levin_md.php Asbestos Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/remembering_stephen_m_levin_md.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>There is a learning technique pioneered in language studies by Pimsleur which makes sense: You learn a word (or some other thing) and over time forget it, and the "forgetting curve" is steep. But, if you re-encounter that same information while the curve is descending you learn it again and the descent into nothingness is shallower. Encounter it again and the line flattens out. This is why if you take a Pimsleur language course, they tell you to NOT study ahead; You are to use each module daily, not skipping a day and not doing two modules in one day. Very nice idea but not mathematically rigorous.</p> <p>But now we have this:</p> <blockquote>A dilemma faced by teachers, and increasingly by designers of educational software, is the trade-off between teaching new material and reviewing what has already been taught. Complicating matters, review is useful only if it is neither too soon nor too late. Moreover, different students need to review at different rates. We present a mathematical model that captures these issues in idealized form. The student's needs are modeled as constraints on the schedule according to which educational material and review are spaced over time. Our results include algorithms to construct schedules that adhere to various spacing constraints, and bounds on the rate at which new material can be introduced under these schedules.</blockquote> <p><a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/6/1868.full">The paper is here</a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/how_to_improve_learning.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_BV5G3uxdluCea6NEQ4agWsEtH0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_BV5G3uxdluCea6NEQ4agWsEtH0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_BV5G3uxdluCea6NEQ4agWsEtH0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/_BV5G3uxdluCea6NEQ4agWsEtH0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/XsaDXp2DbbI" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/XsaDXp2DbbI/how_to_improve_learning.php Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:58:07 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/how_to_improve_learning.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss John Dupuis none@example.com <p>Come work instead of me!</p> <p>Below is a posting for a 3-year contractually limited appointment in my unit. I'm chair of the search committee, so feel free to ask away with any questions about the position. I'll answer them to the best of my ability given the limitations of being on the committee.</p> <p>As it happens, I'll no longer be the department head of Steacie Science & Engineering Library during the three year period of the appointment. For the first year, the successful candidate will be replacing me while I do a one-year acting Associate University Librarian appointment. The second year, I'll be back at Steacie but no longer as department head (my term is up) and the position will be replacing one of my colleagues while he is on sabbatical. The third year will be replacing me during my sabbatical.</p> <p>Here's <a href="http://webapps.yorku.ca/academichiringviewer/viewposition.jsp?positionnumber=1302">the posting</a>:<br /> <blockquote><strong>Position Rank: </strong>Contractually Limited Appointment<br /> <strong>Discipline/Field:</strong> Science Librarian<br /> <strong>Home Faculty:</strong> Libraries<br /> <strong>Home Department/Area/Division:</strong> Steacie Science and Engineering Library<br /> <strong>Affiliation/Union: </strong>YUFA<br /> <strong>Position Start Date:</strong> July 1, 2012<br /> <strong>Position End Date:</strong> June 30, 2015<br /> </p> <p>Science Librarian Contractually Limited Appointment</p> <p>York University Libraries seek a self-directed and public service-oriented Science Librarian based in the Steacie Science & Engineering Library.</p> <p>York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada's most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 62,000 students, faculty and staff, as well as 240,000 alumni worldwide. York's 10 Faculties and 28 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries.</p> <p>The Science Librarian will be responsible for faculty liaison, collection development and the delivery of information literacy programs for assigned disciplines and will participate in research consultations and outreach activities to departments and research centres. Responsibilities include selection of information resources, collection management and evaluation in such fields as engineering, computer science, mathematics, kinesiology and science and technology studies. He/she will work individually and as part of a team to develop and provide reference services and information literacy programs to York's community of users taking full advantage of the online learning and web environments. She/he will also participate in project and committee work for York University Libraries and the University. Some evening and weekend work is required.</p> <p>Steacie Science and Engineering Library is one of four libraries within York University Libraries. The Steacie Science and Engineering Library attracts a half million visitors a year and provides specialized resources, and reference and information literacy sessions to the science, engineering, and health programs of York University. The Library takes pride in its extensive information literacy program and online learning support initiatives. Four full-time librarians and seven full-time support staff are currently based in the Steacie Science & Engineering Library.</p> <p>Qualifications:<ul><br /> <li>An ALA-accredited MLS or equivalent.<br /> <li>Educational background or library experience relevant to the physical sciences, engineering, mathematics or computer science.<br /> <li>Knowledge of science and technology literature and reference resources, and awareness of emerging trends in scholarly communication.<br /> <li>Understanding of concepts, goals, and methods of information literacy instruction.<br /> <li>A potential for excellence in teaching and an ability to teach in a variety of settings and formats.<br /> <li>Demonstrated expertise with online content management platforms such as WordPress or LibGuides.<br /> <li>Strong client-centred service philosophy and evidence of professional initiative and leadership.<br /> <li>Ability to handle multiple responsibilities and projects concurrently.<br /> <li>Strong written and oral communication skills.<br /> <li>Ability to work effectively and collegially with a diversity of colleagues and clients.<br /> <li>Interest in research and professional development</ul></p> <p>This is a 3-year, contractually-limited appointment with the designation of Adjunct Librarian and is appropriate for a librarian with up to three years of post-MLS experience. Librarians and archivists at York University have academic status and are members of the York University Faculty Association bargaining unit (http://www.yufa.org/). Salary is commensurate with qualifications. The position is available from July 1, 2012. All York University positions are subject to budgetary approval.</p> <p>York University is an Affirmative Action Employer. The Affirmative Action Program can be found on York's website at www.yorku.ca/acadjobs or a copy can be obtained by calling the affirmative action office at 416-736-5713. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents will be given priority. Temporary entry for citizens of the U.S.A. and Mexico may apply per the provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).</p> <p>York University's resources include centres relating to gender equity, race and ethnic relations, sexual harassment, human rights, and wellness. York University encourages attitudes of respect and non-discrimination toward persons of all ethnic and religious groups, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.</p> <p>Deadline for the submission of applications is March 30, 2012. Applications should include a covering letter that relates qualifications to the requirements of the position, a current curriculum vitae, and the names and contact information of three referees. Applications should be sent to:</p> <p>Chair, Steacie Librarian Appointment Committee<br /> York University Libraries<br /> 310 Scott Library<br /> 4700 Keele Street<br /> Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3<br /> Fax: 416-736-5451<br /> Email: yulapps@yorku.ca</p> <p>Applications should be sent by mail, or by email or fax with a hardcopy following.<br /> </p> <p><strong>Posting End Date:</strong> March 30, 2012</blockquote></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/job_posting_science_librarian.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3Y672NtoiWWKyrH7KqW73hNMh_E/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3Y672NtoiWWKyrH7KqW73hNMh_E/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3Y672NtoiWWKyrH7KqW73hNMh_E/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/3Y672NtoiWWKyrH7KqW73hNMh_E/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/nctpspt1QDE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/nctpspt1QDE/job_posting_science_librarian.php job Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:28:34 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/job_posting_science_librarian.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p><a href="http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/02/09/official-mn-among-10-states-to-get-no-child-waiver/">My State</a> is better than <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/about.php#YourState">your state</a>! (Or Province or District.) </p> <p>The No Child Left Behind Law, for better or worse, is a Federal program to make states to a better job in education. It is a fairly specific plan. But many states came up with their own plans which are different, yet in some cases, still considered effective. A state can apply for a waiver of the NCLB regulations if they have come up with an alternative that is as good or better.</p> <p>The Federal government is reported to be prepared to grant waivers to ten states and they are, alphabetically: Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee. New Mexico also applied for a waiver but will not receive one, but may manage to do so with a few changes that are currently in negotiation. A majority of other states, DC, and Puerto Rico plan to seek waivers as well. </p> <p>Republicans seem ready to fight this granting of waivers to states, which is interesting (but unsurprising) because Republicans are all about States Rights. I assume that the Republican resistance to this has to do with their dislike of anything Obama does, and I attribute this to a combination of Partisan politics and racism.</p> <p>It will be interesting to see how the Republican governors of Florida, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee, react to their compatriot's lack of support for their state's waivers. </p> <p>For the NEA's take on this,<a href="http://www.nea.org/home/NoChildLeftBehindAct.html"> click here.</a> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/ten_states_will_get_no_child_l.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-MLk-bATltumG4jj4QkGiqo638/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-MLk-bATltumG4jj4QkGiqo638/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-MLk-bATltumG4jj4QkGiqo638/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/k-MLk-bATltumG4jj4QkGiqo638/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/StFvt1waMe4" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/StFvt1waMe4/ten_states_will_get_no_child_l.php Education Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:48:42 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/ten_states_will_get_no_child_l.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss John Dupuis none@example.com <p>Walter Isaacson's book on Apple founder & CEO <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451648537/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451648537">Steve Jobs</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1451648537" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> is a fairly long book. It's not exactly a thriller either, especially since I know how it ends. As a result it took me a while to plow through it. I tended to read it in bursts of 40 or 50 pages over a few days then maybe put it aside for a while.</p> <p>As a result, I ended up reading a bunch of other auto/biographical works at the same time. And there are some interesting parallels.</p> <p>Ozzy Osbourne's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006G7Y7GY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006G7Y7GY">I Am Ozzy</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B006G7Y7GY" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> and Tony Iommi's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0306819554/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0306819554">Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0306819554" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> are both great books. Like Jobs they are deranged lunatics who somehow managed to find a way to turn their obsessions into a career. Iommi in particular, the driven, somewhat cold, productive one, seems like an interesting guy to contrast with Jobs. I also read the new graphic novel biography of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1596432594/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1596432594">Richard Feynman</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1596432594" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> (<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2011/11/reading_diary_feynman_by_jim_o.php">review</a>), another creative non-conformist, a guy who definitely found his own driven way in life. And oddly, the whole bunch of them are practical jokers. Who knew?</p> <p>And right now I've just started Frank Brady's new bio of Bobby Fischer, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307463915/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0307463915">Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - from America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307463915" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> with Christopher Hitchens' <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/044654034X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=044654034X">Hitch-22</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=044654034X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> high on the to-read list. In some ways, Fischer and Jobs seem closest in personality among all the people I've read about recently. Obsessed, driven, hard-working, prickly, deranged (Fischer way more than Jobs, of course), people that were both incredibly easy to love while at the same time incredibly hard to like. HItchens and Jobs also had fierce, uncompromising, "I'm right you're wrong" mindsets that set them apart from others.</p> <p>So, I like books about nutjobs. So what?</p> <p>Yeah, nutjob. Steve Jobs was one. A brilliant, one of a kind person but not exactly an easy man to like, even if he seemed very easy to love.</p> <p>And this is the story you get in Isaacson's biography. It's definitely<a href="http://scripting.com/stories/2011/10/27/theJobsBook.html"> not a "technical biography"</a> in any sense. It's not a business biography either, really. The focus isn't so much on Apple or Apple products, and if that's what you're looking for, this isn't the book. Very much like Isaacson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743264746/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0743264746">Einstein bio</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0743264746" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> (<a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2011/04/from_the_archives_einstein_his.php">review</a>), it's really journalistic, focusing on what happened, when and to whom. Like I said at the beginning, there's not the narrative or intellectual drive that a different book could have had, but we have what we have.</p> <p>Which isn't to say that I didn't ultimately enjoy the book. I did, very much so. In fact, I often found Jobs' oddball story oddly touching. So often he seemed to want to be a better father or brother or husband, but somehow managed to turn away. And perhaps the touching part of it was that this man who was so hard to like was able to sustain those loving relationships, to have the love reflected back to him that he found so hard to show to others. And the love came not just from people close to him but from complete strangers all over the world.</p> <p>This is one of those books where I took pages and pages of notes while I was reading it, almost planning out a detailed, analytical review with a detailed summary of the main events and the salient points. Where I was going to draw some larger lesson for libraries and science out of the lessons of Steve Jobs' life.</p> <p>But that's not going to happen. Somehow this seems a better book to review impressionistically. There have been tons of more detailed reviews and there's no shortage of information on Jobs' personal and business lives, both positive and negative. If those are what you are looking for, I'll leave it up to you to find it.</p> <p>But maybe a quote or two to finish:<br /> <blockquote>When I went to Pixar, I became aware of a great divide. Tech companies don't understand creativity. They don't appreciate intuitive thinking, like the ability of an A&R guy at a music label to listen to a hundred artists and have a feel for which five might be successful. And they think that creative people just sit around on couches all day and are undisciplined, because they've not seen how driven and disciplined the creative folks at places like Pixar are. On the other hand, music companies are completely clueless about technology. They think they can just go out and hire a few tech folks. But that would be like Apple trying to hire people to produce music. We'd get second-rate A&R people, just like the music companies ended up with second-rate tech people. I'm one of the few people who understands how producing technology requires intuition and creativity, and how producing something artistic takes real discipline. (p. 397)</blockquote></p> <p>And,<br /> <blockquote>Some people say,"Give the customer what they want". But that's not my approach. Our job is to figure out what they're going to want before they do. I think Henry Ford once said,"If I'd asked customer what they wanted, they would have told me, 'faster horse!" People don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why I never rely on market research. Our task is to read things that are not yet on the page. (p. 567)</blockquote></p> <p>A couple of lessons worth learning?</p> <p>I usually end these reviews with an idea of what kinds of library collections I think the book in questions would be appropriate for. In this case, it's simply a case that any library that serves an adult reading audience would do well to get this book. I'm sure even many high school or middle school libraries would find this book has some takers.</p> <p><br /> <blockquote>Isaacson, Walter. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451648537/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451648537">Steve Jobs</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1451648537" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. 630pp. ISBN-13: 978-1451648539</blockquote></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/reading_diary_steve_jobs_by_wa.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/shXurVJr42lEzM6Y9LExMwGRZEo/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/shXurVJr42lEzM6Y9LExMwGRZEo/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/shXurVJr42lEzM6Y9LExMwGRZEo/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/shXurVJr42lEzM6Y9LExMwGRZEo/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/AR7krWoyqSc" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/AR7krWoyqSc/reading_diary_steve_jobs_by_wa.php book review Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:07:10 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/reading_diary_steve_jobs_by_wa.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Chad Orzel none@example.com <ul> <li><a href='http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679260/why-the-planet-doesn-t-care-about-your-eco-friendly-lifestyle'>Why The Planet Doesn't Care About Your Eco-Friendly Lifestyle | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation</a> <p>Co.Exist:What does the average environmentalist get wrong? Wagner: Environmentalists, all too often, think that the best way to go about solving the problem is to get everyone to do as they--we, I included--do. I don't eat meat. I don't drive. But individual do-gooderism won't solve global warming. And it may actually be counter-productive, for two reasons. First, there's a well-documented psychological phenomenon called "single-action bias." You do one thing, and you move on. You carry your groceries home by foot, in a cotton canvas bag, and you think that single act of environmental kindness makes up for other sins.</p></li> <li><a href='http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/48567'>Physicists create new slow-light technique - physicsworld.com</a> <p>A physical phenomenon that is widely used to slow and store pulses of light in clouds of atoms has been seen for the first time in a system of nuclear-energy levels. The breakthrough has been made by a team of physicists in Germany that has seen evidence for the phenomenon, known as electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), as X-rays pass through nanometre-scale layers of iron. The researchers think their method, which is also the first to achieve EIT using just two energy levels rather than the usual three, could lead to the development of devices for controlling X-rays, which is currently very tricky to do.</p></li> <li><a href='http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/7552952/two-days-dumpuary-#8212-one-money-chipwrecked-grey-how-go-14-movies-48-hours-going-insane'>Two days in Dumpuary -- 'One for the Money,' 'Chipwrecked,' 'The Grey,' and how to go to 14 movies in 48 hours without going insane - Grantland</a> <p>Grantland editor Robert Mays loves going to the movies. January and February, or Dumpuary, as we've dubbed the post-holiday, pre-Oscar period when Hollywood disposes of its least promising fare, is a terrible time to see movies. And so, in an attempt to break him the way Kevin Spacey broke that fat guy who loved spaghetti in Se7en, we asked him to spend two consecutive days at the biggest multiplex we could find, seeing everything they had to offer, from the moment they opened to the minute they closed. This is his viewing journal.</p></li> <li><a href='http://thedailywh.at/2012/02/07/photo-of-the-day-20/'>Photo of the Day [UPDATED] - The Daily What</a> <p>President Obama looks on in amazement as 14-year-old Joey Hudy demonstrates his Extreme Marshmallow Cannon at today's White House Science Fair. UPDATE: Now with video goodness, courtesy of Barack Obama's Tumblr:</p></li> <li><a href='http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/16389/the-disturbing-anti-animal-nickname-trend-in-the-nfl-playoffs'>The Disturbing Anti-Animal Nickname Trend in the NFL Playoffs - The Triangle Blog - Grantland</a> <p>C. In the past five years, no team with an animal nickname has won the Super Bowl. The odds against this are astronomical. There's only a 3 percent chance it would happen, given a random sample. And that random sample wouldn't include men like Peyton Manning. D. In that same time period, only two animal teams even reached the Super Bowl. They both lost. One, the Arizona Cardinals, lost in mysterious last-minute fashion, and the Saints resorted to trickery to beat the Colts. Both results are more than a little suspicious. E. In the 32 playoff games pitting an animal team against a nonanimal team, the nonanimals are 20-12. Again, the success rate is unrealistic for a random sample. If you're looking at the real world, on the other hand, humans are typically far more successful than animals, a few shark attacks aside.</p></li> <li><a href='http://jaycaspiankang.tumblr.com/post/17212804261/jeremy-and-jin'>Hollywood is New Jersey with Celebrities | Jeremy and Jin</a> <p>The only stories that might make [Asian-Americans] pause and reconsider the paradigm of endings are the ones that provide us with an alien set of destinations--the stand-up comedian, the police chief, the mass murderer, the potential first round pick in the NBA Draft. In other words, those stories that belong to other races. The lineage of Jeremy Lin isn't found in racial pie charts or in the history of unlikely minorities in big-time sports. Yao, Ichiro, Wat Misaka and Eugene Chung are not his context. Neither is Hines Ward. Instead, to understand Jeremy Lin, we must look to Jin, the diminutive Chinese emcee from Jackson Heights who, for seven weeks, dominated the Battle Stage on BET's 106th and Park.</p></li> </ul> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/links_for_2011-02-09.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GuGWwT1KOWthRx2wLgCGeFntbAI/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GuGWwT1KOWthRx2wLgCGeFntbAI/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GuGWwT1KOWthRx2wLgCGeFntbAI/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/GuGWwT1KOWthRx2wLgCGeFntbAI/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/D3Mb1jWgFR8" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/D3Mb1jWgFR8/links_for_2011-02-09.php Links Dump Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:24:19 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/links_for_2011-02-09.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>The Russian probe destine for the Mars system never made it out of Earth Orbit and recently crashed back into Planet Earth. Why did the rocket ship fail? There has apparently been a lot of obfuscation of what caused this disaster, but now there is some better information. It may have been caused by a computer programming error.</p> <p>From <a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/programming-error-doomed-mars-probe.html">Irene Klotz at Discovery News</a>:</p> <blockquote>In a report to be presented to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin on Tuesday, investigators concluded that the primary cause of the failure was "a programming error which led to a simultaneous reboot of two working channels of an onboard computer," the Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti reported. </blockquote> <p>Though it may have been more complicated than that, and partly due to inadequate electronic parts in the computer, according<a href="http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003361/"> The Planetary Society</a>. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/why_did_phobos-grunt_fail.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8K9eTPQ9SfZvTiN6jTegzD3NeZQ/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8K9eTPQ9SfZvTiN6jTegzD3NeZQ/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8K9eTPQ9SfZvTiN6jTegzD3NeZQ/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/8K9eTPQ9SfZvTiN6jTegzD3NeZQ/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/I0vkHc6HH2M" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/I0vkHc6HH2M/why_did_phobos-grunt_fail.php Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:40:02 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/why_did_phobos-grunt_fail.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Orac none@example.com <p>There are times when I want to fall down on my knees and give thanks for certain cranks. I mean, where would my blogging material come from, were it not for antivaccine loons, quacks, cranks, creationists, and animal rights terrorists providing me with an unending stream of blog fodder? Were they all to disappear, I'd be reduced to blogging about puppies or music or something, and, trust me, you wouldn't want that. Of course, my readership would flee me faster than a advocates of gay marriage flee the Republican Party; so I guess it wouldn't matter. I know which side my bread is buttered on; you come for the Insolence, both Respectful and not-so-Respectful, and hopefully you get some education about science, medicine, and critical thinking as a byproduct. Fortunately, my blogging proclivities based on what I like to write about line up rather well with what my readers seem to like read. I suppose there's some circular logic in there somewhere.</p> <p>Be that as it may, today I'm giving thanks for the antivaccine propaganda blog Age of Autism and one of its bloggers, Julie Obradovic for giving me an utterly irresistable bit of material that I rather suspect you'll find just as amusing as I did. Of course, what made her post so irresistible to me is the very reason she's not going to be very happy with me if she sees this post. Not that I care much, I just find it amusing. You see, Julie Obradovic really, <em>really</em>, <em><strong>really</strong></em> doesn't like being called "antivaccine," as in hates it so much that she wrote a post bout how much she hates it and considers it a horrific injustice and wants to convince you that she and the merry band of antivaccine propagandists over at AoA aren't anti-vaccine after all. Yes, it's the old antivaccine trope, "I'm not 'antivaccine'; I'm a vaccine safety advocate," and it comes in the form of a post entitled <a href="http://www.ageofautism.com/2012/02/the-trouble-with-the-anti-anti-vaccine-movement-how-they-hijack-the-issue-distort-the-facts-and-tota.html" rel="nofollow">The Trouble with the ANTI "Anti-Vaccine" Movement: How They Hijack the Issue; Distort the Facts; and Totally Miss the Point</a>. Not content to turn the antivaccine whining up to "10," Obradovic turns it up to "11" with 11 things she finds really, really wrong with those of us who stand up for vaccine science against the likes of AoA.</p> <p>It's truly hilarious reading. Well, hilarious and sad at the same time.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/02/yes_virginia_there_is_an_antivaccine_movement.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/02/yes_virginia_there_is_an_antivaccine_movement.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lKi5ql95OY0ZI6cXBX69kj1cbxM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lKi5ql95OY0ZI6cXBX69kj1cbxM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lKi5ql95OY0ZI6cXBX69kj1cbxM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/lKi5ql95OY0ZI6cXBX69kj1cbxM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/bfnz3Hf6X54" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/bfnz3Hf6X54/yes_virginia_there_is_an_antivaccine_movement.php Medicine Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:00:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2012/02/yes_virginia_there_is_an_antivaccine_movement.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ethan Siegel none@example.com <p><blockquote>"It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years to make the stars and planets, but five billion years to make man!" -<i>George Gamow</i></blockquote> Let's pretend that, for all of our history on Earth, we had never once bothered to look up with any instruments beyond what our own eyes could offer. Imagine that all the technology we'd have would be the same -- telescopes, electronics, GPS, etc. -- as would our fundamental scientific knowledge -- Einstein's General Relativity, the Standard Model of Particle Physics, etc. -- but we had just never bothered to turn our attentions toward the Universe beyond our sphere of Earthly concern. (I know, I know, you can't even imagine. But <i>imagine</i>!) </p><p>What would we find, today, if we turned our attention upwards <i>for the first time ever?</i> </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/venus-pacific-levelled.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/venus-pacific-levelled-thumb-500x312-72460.jpeg" width="500" height="312" class="inset" alt="venus-pacific-levelled.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://home.comcast.net/~milazinkova/Fogshadow.html">Mila Zinkova</a>.) </p><p>Up in the night sky, we'd find some different classes of objects. Some wouldn't twinkle, ever, under any atmospheric conditions. These objects -- the Moon, satellites, and the planets -- we could easily see, with a telescope, had <b>large angular sizes</b> and <b>big, identifiable parallaxes</b>, allowing us to determine their actual size and their distance from us. These would be the objects within our own Solar System. </p><p>There would also be stars, in a variety of colors, temperatures, sizes, and distances. We would quickly discover the relationship between the distance to a star and its apparent brightness, and how that was related to its <i>intrinsic</i> brightness. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/549776main_pia14095-43_946-710.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/549776main_pia14095-43_946-710-thumb-500x375-72462.jpeg" width="500" height="375" class="inset" alt="549776main_pia14095-43_946-710.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/pia14095.html">NASA / JPL - Caltech</a>.) </p><p>We'd slowly start to -- with lots of observing targets and time -- learn the science of astronomy. We'd learn about different star types, including main-sequence stars, red giants, variable stars like Cepheids and RR Lyrae stars, and stars that went nova or even supernova! </p><p>Armed with the knowledge of what's in our Solar System and of the stars that lie beyond it, we'd have a strong base for peering beyond, into the rest of the Universe. So that finally, when we looked up at the third type of object in the night sky -- the extended nebulae -- we'd be ready to learn lots of interesting things about them. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/heic0619a.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/heic0619a-thumb-500x805-72464.jpeg" width="500" height="805" class="inset" alt="heic0619a.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic0619a/">NASA, ESA and Jesús Maíz Apellániz</a>.) </p><p>How old are these young star clusters? With an understanding of stars, we can tell you. How far away are these nebulae and supernova remnants? By understanding individual stars and the distance/brightness relationship, we can tell you. And finally, what about these faint, fuzzy blobs and spirals in the sky? Just what are they? </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/potw1017a.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/potw1017a-thumb-500x516-72466.jpeg" width="500" height="516" class="inset" alt="potw1017a.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1017a/">ESA/Hubble, NASA and H. Ebeling</a>.) </p><p>At this point in time, we can resolve <i>individual stars</i> inside many of them, and find that unlike the stars in our own galaxy -- which are hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of light years away -- these objects are <b>millions</b> of light-years distant. In other words, they are <i>island Universes</i>, or galaxies entirely separate from our own! </p><p>This might seem like the most obvious thing in the world today, but consider that this was not known until <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/06/the_last_100_years_1929_hubble.php">less than a century ago</a>. And while you were making these measurements of <i>distances</i> to these galaxies, you might have noticed something else. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/H_K_redshift.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/H_K_redshift-thumb-500x549-72470.jpeg" width="500" height="549" class="inset" alt="H_K_redshift.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: retrieved from <a href="http://astro.wku.edu/astr106/Hubble_intro.html">Western Kentucky University</a>.) </p><p>These galaxies were not just very <i>distant</i>, but the light coming from them was also <b>redshifted</b>. When objects move towards or away from you, the frequency of the light gets shifted towards the blue or red end (respectively) of the spectrum, with the faster motions corresponding to a swifter velocity. According to general relativity, the expansion (or contraction) of spacetime could cause the same type of red (or blue) shift of the light. </p><p>What you'd find, when you looked out at <i>all</i> of the galaxies you could see, would've been something remarkable. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/F3.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/F3-thumb-500x376-72468.jpeg" width="500" height="376" class="inset" alt="F3.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/101/1/8/F3.expansion">R. P. Kirshner, 2003</a>.) </p><p>You'd find that the <i>more distant a galaxy was from you</i>, on average, the <i>more redshifted its light was</i>! You'd notice that this was virtually independent of direction on the sky, and that -- excepting the fact that there was a "scatter" of a few hundred to maybe a thousand km/s -- this was a Universal relation, extending for not just millions <b>but billions</b> of light years! </p><p>From this alone, you could draw a few different conclusions depending on how you interpreted your data, such as: <ul><li>the Universe was such that we were at the center, at rest, and that objects were moving away from us, with further objects moving away faster,</li> <li>light was getting tired, and that the further away a light-emitting object was, the more energy it lost, shifting further into the red end of the spectrum, or</li> <li>the Universe was expanding under the rules of General Relativity, and that the galaxies' light shifted deep into the red because of the Universe's expansion.</li></ul> If this last option were true, we'd have a very interesting picture of the Universe's history. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/age_of_the_universe.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/age_of_the_universe-thumb-500x386-72472.jpeg" width="500" height="386" class="inset" alt="age_of_the_universe.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/resources/illustrations/cosmic_timeline.html">NASA / CXC / M. Weiss</a>.) </p><p>We'd have a Universe that was expanding, that was smaller, denser, and (because of how wavelengths/frequencies work) <i>hotter</i> in the past. Which means we'd have a Universe that was expanding, diluting, and cooling today. </p><p>This "model" of the Universe is one you might recognize: this is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang">the Big Bang</a> picture of the Universe! If this were true, you'd ask yourself, what <i>else</i> would we expect to be the case? </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/2df_slice_blue_big.gif"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/2df_slice_blue_big-thumb-500x299-72486.gif" width="500" height="299" class="inset" alt="2df_slice_blue_big.gif"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.roe.ac.uk/~jap/2df/">2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey</a>.) </p><p>If we looked into the past, we'd expect that the Universe would have been more uniform, with fewer large galaxies and fewer giant clusters of galaxies. After all, if the Universe has been around for a finite amount of time, and gravity attracts things over time, the structure that existed billions and billions of years in the past should consist of smaller galaxies that are less clumped together than the ones that exist today. </p><p>In other words, the Universe should have been <i>more homogeneous</i> in the past. We also said that the Universe should have been hotter in the past! What does that mean? </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/Ionization.gif"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/Ionization-thumb-500x294-72474.gif" width="500" height="294" class="inset" alt="Ionization.gif"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: retrieved from the <a href="http://www.plasma.inpe.br/LAP_Portal/LAP_Site/Text/Variety_of_Plasmas.htm">Ministry of Science and Technology in Brazil</a>.) </p><p>It means, at some point, the average temperature/energy of a photon in the Universe should have been so high that neutral atoms -- the stuff that makes up everything we know on Earth -- would not have been able to form! A hot, ionized plasma is all that should have been around, as every time an atomic nucleus tried to capture an electron, a photon should have come along and blasted it apart. So at some point, the Universe should have been filled with a hot, dense plasma. (Which we know -- by the way -- is <i>opaque</i>, or not transparent, to light! <b>Remember this!!!</b>) </p><p>But we can go back even further! Imagine a time that was even hotter and denser than when this plasma existed, to a time where it was so hot that even <b>protons</b> and <b>neutrons</b> -- the constituents of atomic nuclei -- would be blasted apart by the scorching hot radiation of the Universe! </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/deuterium_bottleneck.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/deuterium_bottleneck-thumb-500x176-72476.jpeg" width="500" height="176" class="inset" alt="deuterium_bottleneck.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: me, modified from <a href="http://aether.lbl.gov/www/tour/elements/early/early_a.html">Lawrence Berkeley Labs</a>.) </p><p>At some point, the lightest elements in the Universe would have been unable to form. These are some of the consequences of this Big Bang model of the Universe, and these are theoretical predictions <i>that we can test</i>! </p><p>How's that? </p><p>Each of these events will leave observable signatures behind. If we start out in a hot, dense, roughly uniform state and come forward in time, we can <i>predict</i> what we should see today based on the Big Bang model of the Universe! Let's start at the beginning and come forward. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/BBNS-vs-t-75rc.gif"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/BBNS-vs-t-75rc-thumb-500x311-72478.gif" width="500" height="311" class="inset" alt="BBNS-vs-t-75rc.gif"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/BBNS.html">Ned Wright</a>.) </p><p><b>The light elements</b>: as the Universe expands and cools from an incredibly hot, dense state, eventually it will cool enough that the protons and neutrons, left over from an even hotter, denser state, will fuse together into the light elements deuterium, tritium, helium-3, helium-4, lithium-6, lithium-7, and beryllium-7. The only parameters that determine how much of these light elements get created are the <b>ratio of photons to protons+neutrons</b>. Because we know the particle physics behind it, we can know how much helium-4, helium-3, deuterium, lithium, etc., should be left over from the Big Bang, dependent only on that one, measurable parameter. If we can find some <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2011/11/found_the_first_atoms_in_the_u.php">pristine gas from the early Universe</a>, all of these elements should exist in those predicted abundances. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/hubble.png"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/hubble-thumb-500x417-72480.png" width="500" height="417" class="inset" alt="hubble.png"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: COBE / FIRAS, retrieved from <a href="http://quarknet.fnal.gov/eeu/index.html">Fermilab</a>.) </p><p><b>The leftover radiation from the Big Bang</b>: better known as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background_radiation">Cosmic Microwave Background</a>! Because the hot plasma was opaque to light, we can't see all this radiation from the Big Bang until these neutral atoms form. But once these neutral atoms form, that leftover radiation from the Big Bang should not only stream directly to us, it should come to us practically uniformly in all directions, with a predictable, blackbody spectrum stretched by the expansion of the Universe. (Note that the other, above explanations for redshift -- including tired light -- do <i>not</i> give the proper spectrum!) </p><p>The discovery of this leftover radiation and the accurate measurement of its spectrum led, historically, to the acceptance of the Big Bang, as no other model of the Universe explains this observation, the abundance of the light elements, and the redshifts of the distant galaxies simultaneously. But there is one more great observation we can make. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/sim3dnew.png"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/sim3dnew-thumb-500x324-72484.png" width="500" height="324" class="inset" alt="sim3dnew.png"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/galform/data_vis/">V. Springel at Max-Planck-Institute at Garching</a>.) </p><p><b>The Large-Scale Structure of the Universe</b>: from the earliest stars and galaxies to modern times, from isolated dwarf galaxies to humongous clusters and superclusters, some of which have behemoth galaxies maybe 100 times the mass of the Milky Way inside of them, we should find larger, clumpier structure in the Universe today and more sparse, uniform structure in the past. </p><p>And we do! <b>To <i>all</i> of it: WE DO!</b> </p><p>And that's what the Big Bang is. That's how we'd figure it out today, and that's how we figured it out historically. And -- this is important, detractors and skeptics -- <i>it isn't everything</i>. </p><center><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/CompositionCosmos_550.jpeg"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners/CompositionCosmos_550-thumb-500x382-72482.jpeg" width="500" height="382" class="inset" alt="CompositionCosmos_550.jpeg"/></a></center> <p>(Image credit: Composition of the Cosmos, retrieved from the <a href="http://www.lsst.org/lsst/public/dark_energy">LSST</a>.) </p><p>It doesn't tell you exactly how much structure you have in the Universe and on what scales; you need a set of initial fluctuations for that, and that's what <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/01/the_greatest_story_ever_told_-.php">inflation gives you</a>. It doesn't tell you exactly how the Universe has expanded over its history; you need to know how much total matter and dark energy are in the Universe for that, which is something the Big Bang doesn't predict for you. (You might <i>assume</i> that there isn't any dark energy, and that all the matter is normal -- protons, neutrons, and electrons -- but that would be awfully presumptive of you!) It doesn't tell you how the structure the Universe contains evolves over time; you need dark matter in addition to normal matter to get that right. And it doesn't tell you about the pattern of fluctuations you should see in the nearly-perfectly-uniform microwave background: you need inflation, dark matter, and dark energy for that. (Incidentally, the same amounts and types that the other measurements told you that you'd need, but that's a story for another time!) </p><p>But you mustn't <i>deny</i> the Big Bang because it couldn't predict those things. Those things <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/06/your_theory_doesnt_do_everythi.php">went beyond the scope</a> of the Big Bang. The Big Bang knows what to do with them if you put them in, but just like <i>any</i> theory, it can't do everything by itself. But that's what the Big Bang is, that's how it works, and that's how we know <i>it's right</i>. </p><p>Any questions?</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/luTb7HvAkVuJUc-f5aiParl_U4w/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/luTb7HvAkVuJUc-f5aiParl_U4w/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/luTb7HvAkVuJUc-f5aiParl_U4w/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/luTb7HvAkVuJUc-f5aiParl_U4w/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/fEpR5VLEE7c" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/fEpR5VLEE7c/the_big_bang_for_beginners.php big bang Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:07:09 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2012/02/the_big_bang_for_beginners.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss none@example.com <p>but now I hope to see one:</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/catdynamics/2012/02/i_have_never_seen_a_purple_squ.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/catdynamics/2012/02/i_have_never_seen_a_purple_squ.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qZRT2pxBINUlHNX6NUhIh6FqSAs/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qZRT2pxBINUlHNX6NUhIh6FqSAs/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qZRT2pxBINUlHNX6NUhIh6FqSAs/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/qZRT2pxBINUlHNX6NUhIh6FqSAs/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/Mb4Xe0BL5gM" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/Mb4Xe0BL5gM/i_have_never_seen_a_purple_squ.php random Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:59:37 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/catdynamics/2012/02/i_have_never_seen_a_purple_squ.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Tim Lambert none@example.com <p>Over at the Monthly, Robert Manne <a href="http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog-lord-monckton-and-future-australian-media-robert-manne-4575">writes about Monckton's plan for a super-rich person to establish a Fox News for Australia</a>. I thought we already had that in <em>the Australian</em>.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2012/02/robert_manne_on_moncktons_plan.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2012/02/robert_manne_on_moncktons_plan.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WmrLI_y8GMQJdz95EvZSCeZhWas/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WmrLI_y8GMQJdz95EvZSCeZhWas/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WmrLI_y8GMQJdz95EvZSCeZhWas/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WmrLI_y8GMQJdz95EvZSCeZhWas/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/eL_RCNlNnOo" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/eL_RCNlNnOo/robert_manne_on_moncktons_plan.php Monckton Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:52:45 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2012/02/robert_manne_on_moncktons_plan.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>... well, not really, but ...</p> <p>No matter how interesting the big expensive science NASA does is, or how important the work is to understanding our planet and solar system or figuring out important problems, nothing is as cool as seeing your own house on a satellite photograph, as it were:</p> <blockquote>The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing the three-petal lander of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about two miles to the east. <p>Another recent image from HiRISE, taken on Jan. 26, 2012, shows NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander and its surroundings on far-northern Mars after that spacecraft's second Martian arctic winter. Phoenix exceeded its planned mission life in 2008, ending its work as solar energy waned during approach of its first Mars winter.</blockquote></p> <p>Here's the Spirit Lander:</p> <p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/assets_c/2012/02/621709main_pia15038-full_full-72457.php" onclick="window.open('http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/assets_c/2012/02/621709main_pia15038-full_full-72457.php','popup','width=500,height=650,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0'); return false"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/assets_c/2012/02/621709main_pia15038-CLOSEUP-thumb-500x650-72454.jpg" width="500" height="650" alt="621709main_pia15038-CLOSEUP.jpg" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a><br /> <em>Click to see a much larger image for context.</em></p> <p><a href="http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA15039">And here's a picture of the Phoenix Mars Lander. </a> </p> <p>These photos were taken by HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. </p> <p><a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-037&cid=release_2012-037">More details here. </a><br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/even_better_than_science.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RotR58MYhJYIg2YfrRkbVmtmaXc/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RotR58MYhJYIg2YfrRkbVmtmaXc/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RotR58MYhJYIg2YfrRkbVmtmaXc/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RotR58MYhJYIg2YfrRkbVmtmaXc/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/ACL6c9LJugk" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/ACL6c9LJugk/even_better_than_science.php Cosmos Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:05:23 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/even_better_than_science.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>The following is a short version of the litany of global warming denialists' current rhetoric:</p> <ul> <li>"Current pause in global warming"</li> <li>"lack of global warming for well over 10 years now."</li> <li>"There is no credible (statistically significant) data that says global warming is occurring"</li> <li>"fifteen years of warming, then fifteen of cooling"</li> <li>"The last decades "rate of warming" is flat."</li> <li>"Forget global warming...no warming in 15 years."</li> </ul> <p>Are these things true? </p> <p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2012/02/05/global-warming-has-stopped-how-to-fool-people-using-cherry-picked-climate-data/">Here's Peter Gleick's take on it. </a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/has_global_warming_stopped.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Sft_aFdrkfYuQzNoVEHvHrbV978/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Sft_aFdrkfYuQzNoVEHvHrbV978/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Sft_aFdrkfYuQzNoVEHvHrbV978/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Sft_aFdrkfYuQzNoVEHvHrbV978/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/xWq38GcIc-o" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/xWq38GcIc-o/has_global_warming_stopped.php Global Warming Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:32:17 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/has_global_warming_stopped.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss John Dupuis none@example.com <p>Another list for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.</p> <p>Every year for the last bunch of years I've been linking to and posting about all the "year's best sciencey books" lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year. </p> <p>All the previous 2011 lists are <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/best_science_books_2011/">here</a>.</p> <p>This post includes the following: <a href="http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/czbook2011/">The Top Cryptozoology Books of 2011</a>.</p> <ul><li><strong>The Species Seekers: Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth</strong> by Richard Conniff <li><strong>When Bigfoot Attacks</strong> by Michael Newton <li><strong>Tracking Bigfoot</strong> by Donald Wallace and Lori Simmons <li><strong>In Search of Sasquatch </strong>by Kelly Milner Hall <li><strong>Weird Waters: The Lake and Sea Monsters of Scandinavia and the Baltic States</strong> by Lars Thomas and Jacob Rask <li><strong>The Water Horses of Loch Ness</strong> by Roland Hugh Watson <li><strong>Loch Ness, Nessie & Me</strong> by Tony Harmsworth <li><strong>Strange Monsters of the Pacific Northwest</strong> by Michael Newton <li><strong>Monsters of Wisconsin: Mysterious Creatures in the Badger State</strong> by Linda S. Godfrey <li><strong>Monsters of Illinois: Mysterious Creatures in the Prairie State</strong> by Troy Taylor <li><strong>The Mystery Animals Of The British Isles: Gloucestershire and Worcestershire</strong> by Paul Williams <li><strong>The Mystery Animals of the British Isles: The Northern Isles</strong> by Glen Vaudrey <li><strong>The Cryptid Creatures of Florida</strong> by Scott Marlowe and Charlie Carlson <li><strong>Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast</strong> by Jay M. Smith <li><strong>The Werewolf Book</strong> (2nd Edition) by Brad Steiger <li><strong>Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore </strong>by Benjamin Radford <li><strong>Searching for Sasquatch: Crackpots, Eggheads, and Cryptozoology </strong>by Brian Regal <li><strong>Tracking the Man-beasts: Sasquatch, Vampires, Zombies, and More</strong> by Joe Nickell <li><strong>Owlman </strong>by Jonathan Nola <li><strong>The Inhumanoids</strong> by Barton Nunnelly <li><strong>Scattered Skeletons in our Closet</strong> by Karen Mutton <li><strong>Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter</strong> by Josh Gates</ul> <p>I'm always looking for recommendations and notifications of book lists as they appear in various media outlets. If you see one that I haven't covered, please let me know at jdupuis at yorku dot ca or in the comments.</p> <p>I am picking up a lot of lists from <a href="http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2011/11/online_best_of_7.html">Largehearted Boy</a>.</p> <p>The summary post for 2010 books is <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2011/02/best_science_books_2010_the_to.php">here </a>and all the posts for 2010 can be found <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/best_science_books_2010/">here</a>. For 2009, it's <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2010/03/best_science_books_2009_top_bo.php">here</a> and <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/best_science_books_2009/">here</a>.</p> <p>For my purposes, I define science books pretty broadly to include science, engineering, computing, history & philosophy of science & technology, environment, social aspects of science and even business books about technology trends or technology innovation. Deciding what is and isn't a science book is squishy at best, especially at the margins, but in the end I pick books that seem broadly about science and technology rather than something else completely. Lists of business, history or nature books are among the tricky ones.</p> <p>And if you wish to support my humble list-making efforts, run on over to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3321372011&ref_=amb_link_358205062_4&_encoding=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957">Amazon</a><img src="https://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=ur2&o=1" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />, take a look at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451648537/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=confofascieli-20&linkCode=as2&camp=217145&creative=399373&creativeASIN=1451648537">Steve Jobs</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=confofascieli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1451648537&camp=217145&creative=399373" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> and consider picking that one up or something else from the lists.</p> <p>(Dear FSM, I'm finally coming to the end of this. Just a few more posts to go, now that I'm getting back to it.)<br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/best_science_books_2011_crypto.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WpSqTGiuvBdMjGshWX1TjwbXz0c/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WpSqTGiuvBdMjGshWX1TjwbXz0c/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WpSqTGiuvBdMjGshWX1TjwbXz0c/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/WpSqTGiuvBdMjGshWX1TjwbXz0c/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/a-xS-jaIa3U" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/a-xS-jaIa3U/best_science_books_2011_crypto.php best science books 2011 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:05:21 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2012/02/best_science_books_2011_crypto.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Dr. Dolittle none@example.com <p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/ibis-mummies-scanned-snails-stomachs-ct_48426_600x450.jpg"><img alt="ibis-mummies-scanned-snails-stomachs-ct_48426_600x450.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/assets_c/2012/02/ibis-mummies-scanned-snails-stomachs-ct_48426_600x450-thumb-400x284-72452.jpg" width="400" height="284" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></a></p> <p>The image above shows a mummified ibis from ancient Egypt that was packed with snails after death. Other mummified ibises were found packed full of grains or small fish. These findings are the first evidence that the ancient Egyptians provided these birds with food for the afterlife. To read more and see the amazing images, visit <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/pictures/120207-egypt-bird-mummies-snails-fed-science-ibis-ancient/#/ibis-mummies-scanned-snails-stomachs-3d-snail_48423_600x450.jpg">National Geographic's Daily News</a>. <br /> <strong><em><br /> Source:</em></strong><br /> <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/02/pictures/120207-egypt-bird-mummies-snails-fed-science-ibis-ancient/#/ibis-mummies-scanned-snails-stomachs-3d-snail_48423_600x450.jpg">National Geographic Daily News</a></p> <p>Image from the Daily News: Andrew Wade and Yale Peabody Museum (item ANT.006924.004)</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/2012/02/birds_fed_snails_for_the_after.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hN4RSbi9tsgMMFYjm21fVrYSHEw/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hN4RSbi9tsgMMFYjm21fVrYSHEw/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hN4RSbi9tsgMMFYjm21fVrYSHEw/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/hN4RSbi9tsgMMFYjm21fVrYSHEw/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/6WSmDL0fR88" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/6WSmDL0fR88/birds_fed_snails_for_the_after.php Life Science Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:36:50 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/lifelines/2012/02/birds_fed_snails_for_the_after.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Celeste Monforton none@example.com <p>The <em>Boston Globe's</em> Megan Woolhouse <a href="http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-05/business/31024755_1_unlicensed-contractors-safety-violations-subcontractors/3">reported earlier this week</a> on a civil lawsuit against construction contractors and Walmart for the wrongful death of Romulo de Oliveira Santos, 47. The Brazilian immigrant and a crew of other workers were assigned to tear down the ceilings and walls on the night of September 8, 2008 at a Walmart in Walpole, Massachusetts. The workers weren't made aware of the live electrical wires, and Santos was electrocuted and fatally burned. Woolhouse writes the victim's family seeks: <blockquote> "$5 million in damages from Walmart and two subcontractors, alleging the conditions that led to Santos' electrocution are part of a pattern of unsafe practices at Walmart construction sites, including the hiring of unlicensed contractors and so-called straw men to obtain local permits." <br /> </blockquote>It's a legal strategy to hold the global retail giant responsible for the actions of its construction contractors. The case is being heard in a Massachusetts Superior Court.</p> <p><br /> I couldn't help but notice the reference to OSHA's investigation of Mr. Santos' death. Woolhouse indicates that Walmart was not sanctioned by OSHA, but reported that two firms hired by Walmart to perform the work received OSHA citations. Marcy Goldstein-Gelb of the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (<a href="http://www.masscosh.org/">MassCOSH</a>) told the <em>Globe</em> reporter how this case illustrates the deficiency in our worker safety regulatory system, where contractors are sanctioned, but their corporate clients are not held accountable. <br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/unpaid_osha_penalties_in_fatal.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/unpaid_osha_penalties_in_fatal.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xi4_AQFvHwvbNUhXqkwmKIWUWZ0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xi4_AQFvHwvbNUhXqkwmKIWUWZ0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xi4_AQFvHwvbNUhXqkwmKIWUWZ0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/Xi4_AQFvHwvbNUhXqkwmKIWUWZ0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/ap92s0Os474" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/ap92s0Os474/unpaid_osha_penalties_in_fatal.php Legal Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2012/02/unpaid_osha_penalties_in_fatal.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>Rumors have been in the air for days, but we now think it confirmed that Russian Scientsts have penetrated the liquid part of Antarctica's Lake Vostok. The lake has been frozen over for something like 20 million years. Certainly there was life in it at the time. Is any of it still there? Has something new evolved? Just as interesting is question of paleoclimate data preserved, we hope, in the sediments at the bottom of the lake. The top section of the lake's bottom probably contains sediments that have formed over the last 20 million years, in the ice-bound southern lake, but below that will be sediments reflecting the regional and global biological conditions and climate for a long period of time before ice-over. </p> <p>The upper sediment will come from erosion from the lake's sub-ice shoreline, mostly chemical in nature, settling of the finest of clays that would have been in the water at the time the ice covered the lake, but mostly, I suspect, a combination of re-settled light minerals moved by currents that may or may not have been operating there and biological materials from whatever may or may not have been living in the water.</p> <p>BBC broke the news (more or less) with this:</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/breatkthrough_at_lake_vostok.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/breatkthrough_at_lake_vostok.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cu-kYt3e_sOMYuB2-hwTh_jl5mU/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cu-kYt3e_sOMYuB2-hwTh_jl5mU/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cu-kYt3e_sOMYuB2-hwTh_jl5mU/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/cu-kYt3e_sOMYuB2-hwTh_jl5mU/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/YdL_ycKC2jw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/YdL_ycKC2jw/breatkthrough_at_lake_vostok.php Earth Science Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:55:50 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/breatkthrough_at_lake_vostok.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p><iframe width="500" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Reimvk8D2Ho" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>Obama instantly reacts by hiring his new science advisor! </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/cannon_fired_in_white_house.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/I1EfjjCYWxeAaFbvXWP464X5I-8/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/I1EfjjCYWxeAaFbvXWP464X5I-8/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/I1EfjjCYWxeAaFbvXWP464X5I-8/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/I1EfjjCYWxeAaFbvXWP464X5I-8/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/_fML40p7Gjo" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/_fML40p7Gjo/cannon_fired_in_white_house.php Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:51:34 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/cannon_fired_in_white_house.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p><span style="float: left; padding: 5px;"><a href="http://www.researchblogging.org"><img alt="ResearchBlogging.org" src="http://www.researchblogging.org/public/citation_icons/rb2_large_gray.png" style="border:0;"/></a></span>If all the water currently trapped in all the glaciers across the entire world melted, the sea level would rise far more than most people imagine. Almost everyone living anywhere in the world at an elevation of below about 500 feet with a direct drainage to the sea would be directly affected; The sea level rise itself might be a bit over 300 feet, but oceans tend to migrate horizontally when they rise onto previously uninnundated land surfaces. So if you lived at 500 feet above sea level in most of Maine, you'd have a much shorter walk to the rocky shoreline, but if you lived at 500 feet across much of the Gulf Coast it would only be a matter of time until the eroding sea cliff reached you incorporated you into the offshore sediments.</p> <p>Having said that, Anthropogenic Global Warming has resulted in only modest sea level rise to date, and it is at this point probably true that warming of the ocean causing thermal expansion has been at the same level of magnitude (or greater) than seas rising because of the influx of melted glacial water. </p> <p>The problem is, it is very difficult to measure either sea level rise or ice loss very accurately, for a number of reasons. But there is a saving grace. Or should I say, GRACE. GRACE is a NASA project; Twin satellites measure changes in the Earth's gravity field in such a way that it is possible to identify changes in the distribution of water. <a href="http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/overview.html">From the GRACE overview statement: </a><br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/melting_ice_and_sea_level_rise.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/melting_ice_and_sea_level_rise.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V8-gfmQLRPxwHT0DKHsy64H5YZM/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V8-gfmQLRPxwHT0DKHsy64H5YZM/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V8-gfmQLRPxwHT0DKHsy64H5YZM/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/V8-gfmQLRPxwHT0DKHsy64H5YZM/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/0B5vi1u34Qw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/0B5vi1u34Qw/melting_ice_and_sea_level_rise.php Earth Science Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:40:56 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/melting_ice_and_sea_level_rise.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Tara C. Smith none@example.com <p>Have two awesome announcements that I've been waiting to share. One will still have to wait a few more days as we're finalizing some details, I can now let you know that I just started a new position as an <a href="http://zombieresearchsociety.com/advisory-board">Advisory Board member</a> of the <a href="http://zombieresearchsociety.com/archives/9778">Zombie Research Society</a>. It's a pretty cool group, including THE <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Romero">George Romero</a> (Zombie Godfather); <a href="http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/">Daniel Drezner</a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Theories-International-Politics-Zombies-Drezner/dp/0691147833">Theories of International Politics and Zombies</a>, and <a href="http://www.stevenschlozman.net/">Steven Schlozman</a>, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zombie-Autopsies-Secret-Notebooks-Apocalypse/dp/0446564664/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1">The Zombie Autopsies</a>. Plus a bunch of other white guys. </p> <p><img src="http://zombieresearchsociety.com/wp-content/themes/zombieresearch/lib/scripts/thumb.php?src=http://zombieresearchsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/tara-smith.jpg&w=950&h=365&zc=1&q=100" height="182" width="475" /img></p> <p>So, why do something like this? Zombies obviously are huge in pop culture, and typically "zombieism" is caused by some kind of transmissible infectious agent. As such, it's a good way to talk about infectious diseases in a more lighthearted and fun manner. The <a href="http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/">CDC already took advantage of this</a> with their popular "Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse" page, while Robert Smith? <a href="http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/Zombies.pdf">demonstrated the utility of using a zombie outbreak</a> to model infectious diseases. I think there's more to be explored and am looking forward to the journey. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2012/02/infectious_disease_epidemiolog.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/g3IvBs7tk2WsRdUsil9v0D38Za4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/g3IvBs7tk2WsRdUsil9v0D38Za4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/g3IvBs7tk2WsRdUsil9v0D38Za4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/g3IvBs7tk2WsRdUsil9v0D38Za4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/hVtA1eW8gUo" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/hVtA1eW8gUo/infectious_disease_epidemiolog.php Humor Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:25:00 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/2012/02/infectious_disease_epidemiolog.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss ERV none@example.com <p>Are you freaking kidding me???<blockquote><a href="http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/indiana/village-visitors-may-have-been-exposed-to-measles">Super Bowl Village visitors on Friday may have been exposed to measles</a></p> <p>Tuesday night, the state Department of Health confirmed they have requested information from county health departments as part of an investigation into a report that a person who has been diagnosed with measles attended the festivities Friday.</p> <p>According to the Super Bowl Host Committee, 200,000 people were at Super Bowl Village on Friday. At the free concerts late Friday night, 35,000 people were gathered to see LMFAO's performance. It is still unclear what time the ill person visited downtown Indianapolis.</blockquote></p> <blockquote><a href="http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/local/hamilton_county/possible-measles-cases-upped-to-four">Possible measles cases upped to four</a> <p>Health department officials had originally alerted doctors to two possible cases of the highly-contagious virus on Monday. On Wednesday, the department said there are two confirmed cases of measles in Hamilton County and two probable cases in Boone County.</blockquote></p> <blockquote><a href="http://www.wibc.com/news/Story.aspx?ID=1651803">Thousands Exposed To Measles In Super Bowl Village </a> <p>Two teenage children exposed thousands of people to a highly contagious disease.</p> <p>State Health Commissioner Dr. Gregory Larkin says the teens developed measles and visited Super Bowl Village in Indianapolis last week. <u><em><strong>He says they were not vaccinated against the disease.</strong></em></u></blockquote>Party rock is in the HOUUUUUUSE toniiiiiight! Everybodys gonna go home with measles!!!!!</p> <p><br /> ...</p> <p><em><strong>FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU... !!!!!!!!</strong></em><br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2012/02/measles_at_the_super_bowl.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EakJ8d97fo3ZFrF9VohRJCh_ln0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EakJ8d97fo3ZFrF9VohRJCh_ln0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EakJ8d97fo3ZFrF9VohRJCh_ln0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/EakJ8d97fo3ZFrF9VohRJCh_ln0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/iwpwBWNH9YE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/iwpwBWNH9YE/measles_at_the_super_bowl.php Vaccines Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:18 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2012/02/measles_at_the_super_bowl.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Chad Orzel none@example.com <p>Through a weird quirk of scheduling, I haven't actually taught the intro modern physics course since I started writing pop-science books about modern physics. So, this week has been the first chance I've really had to use material I generated for the books to introduce topics in class.</p> <p>In the approximately chronological ordering of the course, we're now up to the late 1800's, and the next book we're talking about is <cite>Einstein's Clocks, Poincar$eacute;'s Maps</cite>, which talks about how Einstein and Henri Poincar&eacute; were (arguably) influenced by developments in timekeeping as they looked for the theory that became Special Relativity. </p> <p>This is a much more academic book than the previous readings, and as such has really long chapters and sections. To space things out a little bit (giving them more time to read), and to give them a better idea of what relativity is about (which I think is helpful when reading Galison's discussion), I've spent the last two classes talking about relativity. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/upload/2012/02/course_report_a_brief_history/020612Notes.pdf">Monday's lecture</a> introduced Special Relativity and spacetime, and <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/upload/2012/02/course_report_a_brief_history/020812Notes.pdf">today's lecture</a> introduced the Equivalence Principle and general relativity. Those slides are a little short on words because I was largely copying figures from the book, and because I'm trying to generate less wordy PowerPoints as a general matter. They should give you the right basic idea, though, and if you want more explanation, well, you can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/How-Teach-Relativity-Your-Dog/dp/0465023312">pre-order <cite>How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog</cite></a> (or enter our <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/how_to_teach_relativity_to_you_1.php">Photoshop contest</a>)...</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/course_report_a_brief_history_3.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/course_report_a_brief_history_3.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TB1IJj8479uBKFQPJBCtY7Ijif4/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TB1IJj8479uBKFQPJBCtY7Ijif4/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TB1IJj8479uBKFQPJBCtY7Ijif4/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/TB1IJj8479uBKFQPJBCtY7Ijif4/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/Mz4_HmDfwdA" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/Mz4_HmDfwdA/course_report_a_brief_history_3.php Course Reports Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:24:29 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2012/02/course_report_a_brief_history_3.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>At the moment, the Wandering Albatross of the Southern Ocean is getting a free ride; Changes in wind patterns due to Global Warming seem to enhance the efficiency of foraging of this pelagic bird. However, as Global Warming continues, this rare case of a positive benefit of anthropocentric climate change will probably reverse. Climatic hormesis, as it were. </p> <p><a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2012/02/the-wandering-albatross-and-global-warming/">Read More.</a></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/global_warming_affects_albatro.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RlP3ZtxadGWWDEPJrvrYJzKA8L0/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RlP3ZtxadGWWDEPJrvrYJzKA8L0/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RlP3ZtxadGWWDEPJrvrYJzKA8L0/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/RlP3ZtxadGWWDEPJrvrYJzKA8L0/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/2EpAQ_R7GW0" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/2EpAQ_R7GW0/global_warming_affects_albatro.php Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:18:26 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/global_warming_affects_albatro.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p><iframe width="500" height="284" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yg54Tp85S-Y" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>Actually, they can't, but they're having fun. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/chemists_can_dance.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/m3LCb2EgYG_7OMdKOSjk49vjNso/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/m3LCb2EgYG_7OMdKOSjk49vjNso/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/m3LCb2EgYG_7OMdKOSjk49vjNso/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/m3LCb2EgYG_7OMdKOSjk49vjNso/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/fwL610xTbM8" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/fwL610xTbM8/chemists_can_dance.php Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:07:04 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2012/02/chemists_can_dance.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Carly O'Brien none@example.com <p><img alt="Sean Connolly.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/Sean%20Connolly.jpg" width="150" height="99" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" /> By Sean Connolly<br /> <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/bookfair/">Festival Featured Author</a></p> <p>What a difference a digit makes! There I was preoccupied with making my own eggnog, checking page proofs, and <em>It's a Wonderful Life</em> on television. Then along comes January 1, and with it that odometer switch from "1" to "2" at the end. Suddenly 2012 is this year. </p> <p>And this year means a trip to DC in late April for the <a href="http://www.usasciencefestival.org/">USA Science and Engineering Festival</a>. A festival appearance gets us authors out of our garrets, blinking as we meet the real people out there. And it's those real people--particularly the young ones--who make it all so much fun.<br /> <img alt="Sean Connolly Book.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/Sean%20Connolly%20Book.jpg" width="87" height="150" class="mt-image-right" style="float: right; margin: 0 0 20px 20px;" /><br /> I can draw them into my world of bad puns ("science friction," "give peas a chance") but also into the wider world of science. And on "Pi Day" (March 14) this year, Workman will publish <em>The Book of Perfectly Perilous Math: 24 Death-Defying Challenges for Young Mathematicians</em>. </p> <p>Writing it has given me the chance to replace those old "two trains leave Chicago" word problems with challenges that have real bite. Speaking of which, if one vampire drinks the blood of two humans at each Full Moon, turning them into vampires, how long will it take for Washington to be populated by vampires (and don't say it is already)?<br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/2012/02/festival_featured_author_sean.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><p style="margin-top: 20px; padding-top: 5px; border-top: 1px solid #ccc;"> Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/bookclub/?utm_source=rssTextLink"><em>Inside the Outbreaks</em> on the ScienceBlogs Book Club</a> </p> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/mNce4A3j5n_ogFkorVWX4S6suFA/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/mNce4A3j5n_ogFkorVWX4S6suFA/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/mNce4A3j5n_ogFkorVWX4S6suFA/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/mNce4A3j5n_ogFkorVWX4S6suFA/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/Cx6Ur41BogU" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/Cx6Ur41BogU/festival_featured_author_sean.php Festival Book Fair Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:30:21 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/usasciencefestival/2012/02/festival_featured_author_sean.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss