http://www.scienceblogs.com A feed of all posts across all blogs in the ScienceBlogs network. en Copyright 2006 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.261 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:06 -0500 Coturnix none@example.com <p><span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><img alt="OpenLab logo.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/OpenLab%20logo.jpg" width="448" height="73" class="mt-image-none" style="" /></span></p> <p><b>Reminder: Deadline is November 30th at midnight EST!</b></p> <p>Here are the submissions for OpenLab 2009 to date. As we have surpassed 440 entries, all of them, as well as the "submit" buttons and codes and the bookmarklet, are under the fold. You can buy the <a href="http://www.lulu.com/content/631016" target="_blank" title="">2006</a>, <a href="http://www.lulu.com/content/1869828" target="_blank" title="">2007</a> and <a href="http://www.lulu.com/content/6110823" target="_blank" title="">2008</a> editions at Lulu.com. Please use <a href="http://openlab.wufoo.com/forms/submission-form/" target="_blank" title="">the submission form</a> to add more of your and other people's posts (remember that we are looking for original poems, art, cartoons and comics, as well as essays):</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/11/the_open_laboratory_2009_-_the_48.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/11/the_open_laboratory_2009_-_the_48.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/IveQnv59ykA" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/IveQnv59ykA/the_open_laboratory_2009_-_the_48.php OpenLab09 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:48:06 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/11/the_open_laboratory_2009_-_the_48.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Katie Thompson none@example.com <p>A clip from Werner Herzog's <em>Encounters At The End Of The Earth</em>:<br /> <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OlrcbKlW4Tw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OlrcbKlW4Tw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></p> <p>Here's what they look like:<br /> <span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Weddell_seal1.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/Weddell_seal1.jpg" width="763" height="510" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></span><br /> Richard warms up:<br /> <span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><img alt="32.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/32.jpg" width="640" height="427" class="mt-image-center" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" /></span></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2009/11/psychedelic_waddell_seals.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/2a2wOSEBLAs" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/2a2wOSEBLAs/psychedelic_waddell_seals.php waddell seal Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:43:19 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2009/11/psychedelic_waddell_seals.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Tim Lambert none@example.com <p>Ian Plimer responds to criticism with by calling his critics names and failing to address their arguments. In an <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8356000/8356114.stm#emp_8356369">interview on BBC Radio 4</a>, Plimer spouts his usual outrageous falsehoods:</p> <blockquote> <p>"We cannot stop carbon emissions because most of them come from volcanoes."</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/index.php">Not</a> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/illconsidered/2006/02/volcanos-emit-more-co2.php">true</a> -- even Martin Durkin's <em>Swindle</em> retracted this one.</p> <p>And when the interviewer brought up Michael Ashley's <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/ian-plimer-heaven-and-earth/story-e6frg8no-1225710387147">devastating review of <em>Heaven and Earth</em></a>, we got this:</p> <blockquote> <p>Plimer: "When you look at my critics -- they are people who are rent seekers. They have everything to gain by continuing the process of frightening people witless, by following the party line, ..."</p> <p>Interviewer: "Do you say that they are deliberately fraudulent?"</p> <p>Plimer: "Well I'm saying that they are taking advantage of the current situation. Now that's understandable. In previous times people have got wonderful research grants in a war against cancer and they achieved a lot of money for that. Now we have a war against climate change and there is huge number of people out there that have their careers staked on it and are beneficiaries from this process. And Michael Ashley is one of those."</p> </blockquote> <p>Actually, <a href="http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~mcba/">Ashley is an astronomer</a> and his career is not staked on climate change research at all. It is symptomatic of Plimer's approach that he didn't bother to check this and just made things up.</p> <p>And notice how Plimer is now sounding like a cancer quack. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/02/moving_on_to_cancer_quackery.php">Compare</a>:</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/11/plimer_calls_his_critics_rent-.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/11/plimer_calls_his_critics_rent-.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/GQhJ7sXTYEY" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/GQhJ7sXTYEY/plimer_calls_his_critics_rent-.php Plimer Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:11:15 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2009/11/plimer_calls_his_critics_rent-.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>I don't believe this for a second:</p> <blockquote>This symbol is stylized et, Latin for "and." Although it was invented by the Roman scribe Marcus Tullius Tiro in the first century B.C., it didn't get its strange name until centuries later. In the early 1800s, schoolchildren learned this symbol as the 27th letter of the alphabet: X, Y, Z, &. But the symbol had no name. So, they ended their ABCs with "and, per se, and" meaning "&, which means 'and.'" This phrase was slurred into one garbled word that eventually caught on with everyone: ampersand.</blockquote> <p>I wish it were true, because then<a href="http://www.neatorama.com/2007/07/09/the-origin-of-everyday-punctuation-symbols/"> all the other things at this site</a> would be true as well, and that would be cool. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/shifty_origin_of_the_ampersand.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/MCTtfW3JBak" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/MCTtfW3JBak/shifty_origin_of_the_ampersand.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:54:22 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/shifty_origin_of_the_ampersand.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ethan Siegel none@example.com <p><blockquote>Professor Hubert Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all. <br>Fry: Oh. What's it called now? <br>Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Urrectum. Here, let me locate it for you. <br>Fry: No, no, I, I think I'll just smell around a bit over here.</blockquote> Too bad that Futurama's <a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=156616&title=smelloscope">smell-o-scope</a> doesn't actually exists. </p><center><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks/Smelloscope.JPG.jpeg" width="512" class="inset" title="What does your galaxy smell like?" alt="Smelloscope.JPG.jpeg"/></center> <p>Why is it too bad? Because space is filled with many different types of atoms, including Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, and Hydrogen: the elements essential to terrestrial life. In space, these sometimes appear in isolation, they sometimes appear in toxic combinations (like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_cyanide">hydrogen cyanide</a>), and they sometimes appear as simple organic molecules, like sugars, alcohols, and esters. (Amino acids may yet be there, but we haven't discovered them yet!) </p><p>But earlier this year, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/apr/21/space-raspberries-amino-acids-astrobiology">astronomers turned their telescopes</a> towards the galactic center, and looked at the dust cloud <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_B2">Sagittarius B2</a>, which looks like this. (And click it to enlarge.) </p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks/phot-24e-09-fullres.jpg"><center><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks/phot-24e-09-fullres.jpg" width="500" class="inset" title="A pretty spectacular view, isn't it?" alt="phot-24e-09-fullres.jpg"/></center></a> <p>(Image credit: <a href="http://www.eso.org/gallery/v/ESOPIA/Nebulae/phot-24e-09-fullres.tif.html">ESO</a>.) Sagittarius B2 is less than 400 light years from the galactic center. They found over 50 chemical compounds there, but one of the most interesting? <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_formate">Ethyl formate</a>, which we typically form on Earth by reacting ethyl alcohol (the alcohol found in wine, beer, and liquor) with formic acid (which is commonly produced by ants and bees). The chemical compound is pretty simple, and looks like this: </p><center><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks/800px-Ethyl-formate-3D-balls.png" width="500" class="inset" title="Ethyl formate: not just for Earthlings anymore, is it?" alt="800px-Ethyl-formate-3D-balls.png"/></center> <p>Yes, it's an organic molecule, but we produce these in space all the time. What's particularly interesting about Ethyl Formate? It's what gives Rum its smell, and give Raspberries their flavor! </p><center><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks/bacardi-raspberry-mojito.jpg" width="500" class="inset" title="I couldn't find an image with both rum and raspberries, but raspberry-flavored rum?" alt="bacardi-raspberry-mojito.jpg"/></center> <p>And that's at least, partially, what our galaxy smells like! Any Andromedans out there reading this? We smell like Raspberries and Rum! I have no idea what you smell like, but in comparison, I bet you stink compared to us! </p><center><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/upload/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks/milkyway_cobe.jpg" width="500" class="inset" title="The Milky Way: smelling awesome since April of 2009!" alt="milkyway_cobe.jpg"/></center> <p>So the next time someone wonders what space smells like, you can not only tell them, you can tell them where to go to smell it!</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/j61U6tkJjUE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/j61U6tkJjUE/your_galaxy_stinks.php Galaxies Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:16:51 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2009/11/your_galaxy_stinks.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss David Dobbs none@example.com <div class="posterous_bookmarklet_entry"> <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote">Is this the foreshadowing of a highly unethical marketing practice? Marketing based on MAO-A genotype, as determined from mailed-in credit card applications and payments? Credit card companies will have in-house labs to extract DNA from stamps and envelope flaps (Sinclair &amp; McKechnie, 2000; Ng et al., 2007).<sup style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">1</sup><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 153);"> </span> Taking it one step further, entire marketing campaigns will be tailored to specific markers in an individual’s genome.<sup style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 51, 153);">2</sup><p />Is this what it’s coming to? Not so fast. Are there any limitations in the findings of <a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=1457224">De Neve and Fowler (2009)</a>? There are many!!</blockquote> <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://neurocritic.blogspot.com/2009/11/genomarketing.html">neurocritic.blogspot.com</a></div> <p>Vintage Neurocritic here. Gotta see it.</p></div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via web</a> from <a href="http://daviddobbs.posterous.com/the-neurocritic-genomarketing">David Dobbs's Somatic Marker</a> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/neuronculture/2009/11/the_neurocritic_genomarketing.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/hvvqv61eUgQ" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/hvvqv61eUgQ/the_neurocritic_genomarketing.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:33:02 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/neuronculture/2009/11/the_neurocritic_genomarketing.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>What are they up to? </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/mormons_support_gay_rights_leg.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/mormons_support_gay_rights_leg.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/1sm2-WpSGGI" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/1sm2-WpSGGI/mormons_support_gay_rights_leg.php GLBTA Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:32:19 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/mormons_support_gay_rights_leg.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Janet D. Stemwedel none@example.com <p>Chalk dust thigh: </p> <p><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/upload/2009/11/ChalkdustThigh.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="ChalkdustThigh.jpg"/></p> <p>Indeed, this was the state of my pants after I walked partway across campus from my classroom to my office, so the level of chalk dust had decreased from its maximum level when I snapped this picture. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2009/11/one_of_the_reasons_i_prefer_a.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/oFdSRLqxV6k" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/oFdSRLqxV6k/one_of_the_reasons_i_prefer_a.php Personal Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:31:03 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2009/11/one_of_the_reasons_i_prefer_a.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss PalMD none@example.com <p>There's a number of dangers in carrying an analogy too far. One situation may be <i>analogous</i> to another without being <i>identical</i>, or they may not in fact be analogous at all. Forgetting this principle can get you into a wee bit of trouble. </p> <p>To formalize it a bit, just because you think "A" resembles "B", and "B" has property "P" does not mean that "A" also has property "P". It may be that "A" is not quite enough like "B" to share all of its properties. </p> <p>But a weak analogy can't stop a weak but persistent mind. Dana Ullman, Hahnemann's cognitively-impaired bulldog, has given us <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-ullman/when-militarism-invades-m_b_352676.html" rel="nofollow">a fantastically weak analogy </a>with which he tries to delegitimize all of modern medicine (to be replaced by...what? That is his second logical fallacy: if "A" is bad, that does not mean "B" is better, a sort of <em>non sequitur</em> in which he asserts that modern medicine is bad and therefore magic is better). </p> <p>Rather than drag you through a complete <i>fisking</i> of the piece, I'll lay it out for you: doctors live by a military model in which arbitrarily-defined "enemies" (diseases) are blasted indiscriminately causing grave collateral damage. He goes on to explain how dissenters are quashed by being labelled as (gasp!) "unscientific". </p> <p>Some of his brilliant flashes of insight include this:</p> <blockquote>Doctors may even be able to go the next step and surgically remove a symptom or an obstructive agent, but the assumption that removing a single symptom or pathological agent will create health is both simplistic and incorrect. </blockquote> <p>In other words, removing an inflamed appendix doesn't create total health and is therefore irrelevant---this one's a "Nirvana fallacy": because medicine isn't perfect, it is therefore wrong in its entirety. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/whitecoatunderground/2009/11/doctors_are_just_like_military.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/whitecoatunderground/2009/11/doctors_are_just_like_military.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/2Imv8ptxEcU" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/2Imv8ptxEcU/doctors_are_just_like_military.php Absurd medical claims Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:09:37 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/whitecoatunderground/2009/11/doctors_are_just_like_military.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Eric Michael Johnson none@example.com <div class="center"><img class = "inset" src="http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa144/Primate_bucket/SwineFlu.jpg" width="350"></div> <p>Here I am getting the H1N1 vaccine. With a four-month-old infant I am in the high-risk group that <a href="http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ccom/flu/">Health Canada recommends</a> should receive an earlier dose as flu season kicks in. After all of the concern about debilitating side effects or even getting the virus from the vaccine (which would be impossible), I can report that I only experienced a brief feeling of light headedness and a mild headache. </p> <p>However, the latter may have been produced by the headline I saw that business executives on Wall Street got access to the limited supply of the vaccine ahead of many health clinics.</p> <p>According to the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125746918136732473.html">Wall Street Journal</a>:</p> <blockquote>Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Citigroup Inc. are among several large New York City employers that got doses of the H1N1 vaccine, which remains in short supply as the new flu virus continues to spread and manufacturers struggle to produce ample stocks of vaccine quickly.</blockquote> <p>But wait, according to FOXNews, the H1N1 vaccine is worse than swine flu itself? What's going on here?<br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries/2009/11/i_just_got_the_swine_flu_vacci.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries/2009/11/i_just_got_the_swine_flu_vacci.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/aSyGBjETyek" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/aSyGBjETyek/i_just_got_the_swine_flu_vacci.php Medical Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:05:25 -0800 http://scienceblogs.com/primatediaries/2009/11/i_just_got_the_swine_flu_vacci.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>This is outrageous. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/misogynist_republicans_silence.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/misogynist_republicans_silence.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/xIrYoQ27G9o" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/xIrYoQ27G9o/misogynist_republicans_silence.php Republicans Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:59:58 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/misogynist_republicans_silence.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>The final of four guest posts by Jim Hall, of the freeDOS project is available for your considered attention at Collective Imagination: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/collectiveimagination/2009/11/jim_hall_transitions_in_an_ope.php">Jim Hall: Transitions in an open source software project</a></p> <p>Oh, and I should tell you that some interesting things are going to be happening at <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/collectiveimagination/">Collective Imagination Blog</a> (not that it has not already been interesting!). You'll see on Monday (for starters). </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/managing_an_opensource_softwar.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/KGFH8MavNSk" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/KGFH8MavNSk/managing_an_opensource_softwar.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:50:02 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/managing_an_opensource_softwar.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Dave Munger 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_mid.png" style="border:0;"/></a></span><img class="inset right" src="http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/upload/2009/11/belsky1.jpg" width="250" height="177" alt="belsky1.jpg"/>When we were getting ready to have our first child, I decided that I would quit my job, work out of home as a freelancer, and take care of our baby while Greta finished graduate school. </p> <p>That worked well for about two years, but by the time Nora was born, we decided to hire a part-time nanny so I could finish a degree of my own. When Nora was one and Greta and I were starting new jobs in a new state, both kids entered full-time day care, and that was our child-care arrangement until they started kindergarten.</p> <p>Naturally, at every step along the way, we wondered whether we were making the right parenting decisions. We liked their nanny and their day-care center, but wouldn't it be better for the kids to be cared for full-time by their own parents? At that time, there wasn't a whole lot of research pointing one way or another. The definitive child-care study can probably never be done: Families would have to be randomly assigned to day-care centers or parent care for years, and then the impact of the assignments wouldn't be known until the children reached adulthood. Even then, you wouldn't know if the effects were due to particular parenting or day-care practices, or to the day-care versus parent-care assignment.</p> <p>Realistically, the next best thing you can do is to follow children from birth to adulthood, and see if kids who happened to have been placed in day care (or with nannies, or grandparents, or some other arrangement) ended up better- or worse-off than those cared for by their mothers. Indeed, such a study was launched by the National Institute of Child Health and Development in the early 1990s. The results have been gradually trickling in as the children in the study aged. The most recent installment, published in 2007, covers kids through the sixth grade.</p> <p>The study follows over 1,000 children who were randomly selected on their day of birth from ten U.S. hospitals. Researchers checked in intermittently with the families over the next dozen years, assessing both their family situation and the child care provided. Then when the kids entered school, they tracked their progress, got teacher reports on their social behavior, and continued to monitor the quality of their parenting (in addition to whether the kids were in after-school care programs).</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/11/the_long-term_effects_of_day-c.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/11/the_long-term_effects_of_day-c.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/qTtOcnenXII" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/qTtOcnenXII/the_long-term_effects_of_day-c.php Research Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:31:41 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2009/11/the_long-term_effects_of_day-c.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Razib Khan none@example.com <p><a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/nidal_hasans_weapons.php">Greg Laden</a> vs. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/builtonfacts/2009/11/re_nidal_hasans_weapons.php">Matt Springer</a>. Here are some <a href="http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2009/11/headline-roundup-1.html">Nadal Hasan headlines</a> (via <a href="http://isteve.blogspot.com/2009/11/major-hasan-headlines.html">Steve</a>).</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2009/11/nidal_hasan_guns.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/Ia8bSmDYpcY" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/Ia8bSmDYpcY/nidal_hasan_guns.php Culture Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:21:02 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2009/11/nidal_hasan_guns.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>Starring Jabba the Rush<br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/the_gop_vs_michael_steele.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/the_gop_vs_michael_steele.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/nMQ29thg-XU" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/nMQ29thg-XU/the_gop_vs_michael_steele.php Republicans Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:42:52 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/the_gop_vs_michael_steele.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss William M. Connolley none@example.com <p><a href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/muddying-the-peer-reviewed-literature/">RC</a></p> <p><a href="http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2009/11/response-to-gavin-schmidt-on-klotzbach.html">RP jr</a>.</p> <p>Need I say more, guv?</p> <p>See also: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2009/10/oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dea.php">4</a>, <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2009/10/oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dear.php">3</a> and probably others.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2009/11/oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dea_1.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/7xH4d40-_9A" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/7xH4d40-_9A/oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dea_1.php climate communication Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:36:20 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2009/11/oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dear_oh_dea_1.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss SciWo none@example.com <p><img class="inset" align = "left" alt="swblocks.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman/swblocks.jpg" width="69" height="41" />From the mailbag:</p> <blockquote>I have a Masters in Biology (from a 5 year BS/MS program) and for the past 4 years I've been working as a lab manager/technician. I have my own research project(s) in addition to keeping track of ordering/equipment maintenance/mouse breeding/etc. All-in-all it's a sweet gig and I could see myself doing this or something similar for most of my career. The problem is that there seems to be this culture in biology that one has to get a PhD, and my competitive side kind of feels the need to get one mostly just to show that I can. My practical side can't figure out why it would be worth taking a pay cut for 5+ years of extra stress just to continue doing what I'm already doing. I have no desire to run my own lab, and have little desire to teach. <p>So on to the concrete questions:</p> <p>What doors does a PhD open up aside from running a lab and teaching?</p> <p>What can I do without a PhD?</p> <p>How does one generally go about choosing a PhD project (assuming I do decide to get one)? The answer I generally get for this last one is to read about the research that other labs are doing and that I will "know it when I see it." But given the large number of labs at even a modest sized university, this is a very daunting task.</blockquote></p> <p>Dear _____,</p> <p>Wow. Great questions. I think the first paragraph really contains the meat of the matter: if you are happy where you are, should you get a PhD just to prove you can? </p> <p>No.</p> <p>You sound happy. I have friends with MS degrees with jobs like the one you describe, and they are happy 8+ years on. As you say, you've found a sweet gig where you can see yourself staying. Why put yourself through the economic and academic hardship of a PhD, just to prove to a nebulous someone that you can do it? The scientific culture is also about macho masochism and no matter what you do, there will always be someone who is doing more...better...faster than you. So if you are happy, stay put.</p> <p>But.</p> <p>You are asking. Which means you are thinking about it. Maybe you are happy where you are...but you are the one who really wants something more than your current sweet gig for the next 30 years. We are conditioned through school to always be climbing upward and I think it can be disconcerting to find yourself in a job where there aren't obvious opportunities for advancement.</p> <p>So.</p> <p>I'd spend some real time reflecting on what you really want from your life and career and exploring the various options you have with an MS if you decide to move on from your current position. I'm a geoscientist, not a bio-med type, so I really can't help you with specifics. (That's my duck around your question on "What can I do without a PhD?")</p> <p>If...</p> <p>you do decide to pursue a PhD, make sure that you and your advisor are clear about your non-academic career plans and that he or she is supportive of you. One place to start with searching out alternative careers is with books like "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/PhD-Not-Enough-Survival-Science/dp/0201626632">A PhD Is Not Enough</a>" and with "<a href="http://alternative-scientist.blogspot.com/">The Alternative Scientist</a>" blog and those of its contributors. Katie at Minor Revisions writes a wonderful candid and metaphor-filled look at life in a <a href="http://minorrevisions.blogspot.com/">bio-related industry job</a>.</p> <p>Yes.</p> <p>Your friends are right. Read, ask around, attend conferences until you find the specific field that really, really excites you. You are going to need that excitement to get through ~5 years of the most frustrating and thrilling work you've ever done. But, maybe your friends didn't tell you this....you need to find an advisor whose mentoring style works for you. Is she hands-on or hard to track down? Does she expect 80 hour weeks 52 weeks per year? Are her students happy? Are her graduates successful in <em>getting the sort of jobs you want to get when you are done</em>? </p> <p>Readers, what say you?</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman/2009/11/ask_sciencewomen_if_im_happy_w.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/D6qM6q_8MJw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/D6qM6q_8MJw/ask_sciencewomen_if_im_happy_w.php ask sciencewomen Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:27 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman/2009/11/ask_sciencewomen_if_im_happy_w.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Mike none@example.com <p>Of course, we all 'know' that the only women who get abortions are sluts, but what never ceases to amaze me is how ignorant pro-illegal, unsafe abortion proponents are about biology (let's not even get start on the ridiculous notion that sperm and ova are 'dead'). <a href="http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/11/09/will-stupak-amendment-force-women-whove-miscarried-lose-insurance-coverage-i-think-so">The recent Stupak-Pitts amendment doesn't appear to allow women who have a dead fetus to get an abortion</a> (italics mine):</p> <blockquote>By broadly writing in that insurers can chose whether or not to cover "abortion services," pro-life amendments don't just affect their intended victims -- women seeking a way out of an unwanted or medically harmful pregnancy. They also affect another group of victims -- women whose pregnancies have already ended but have not yet miscarried. <p>I'm one of those women, and this past Halloween I had what the hospital officially termed an "abortion."</blockquote></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/11/the_biological_ignorance_of_st.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/11/the_biological_ignorance_of_st.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/ybYsjYOcIMA" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/ybYsjYOcIMA/the_biological_ignorance_of_st.php Civil Liberties Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:30:24 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/11/the_biological_ignorance_of_st.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Orac none@example.com <p>Over two weeks ago, I wrote a <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/10/when_methodolatry_strikes_over_h1n1_influenza.php">rather withering assessment</a> of a truly bad article published by one of my favorite magazines, a magazine to which I've subscribed continuously since the mid-1980s. I'm referring, of course, to Shannon Brownlee's and Jeanne Lenzer's execrable article about the H1N1 vaccine entitled <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911/brownlee-h1n1">Does the vaccine matter?</a></p> <p>I have been surpassed.</p> <p>I say that because Mark Crislip has written what is to my mind the very best fisking of Brownlee and Lenzer's article I have yet come across, entitled <a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=2495">Yes, But. The Annotated <em>Atlantic</em></a>. Stick a fork in Brownlee and Lenzer. They're done.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/11/one_more_rebuttal_to_brownlee_and_lenzer.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/PzxhMidFW6U" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/PzxhMidFW6U/one_more_rebuttal_to_brownlee_and_lenzer.php Medicine Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:15:02 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/11/one_more_rebuttal_to_brownlee_and_lenzer.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Andrew Gelman none@example.com <p>A reporter contacted me to ask my impression of <a href="http://noosphere.princeton.edu/papers/pdf/GCP.Events.Mar08.prepress.pdf">this article</a> by Peter Bancel and Roger Nelson, which reports evidence that "the coherent attention or emotional response of large populations" can affect the output of quantum-mechanical random number generators.</p> <p>I spent a few minutes looking at the article, and, well, it's about what you might expect. Very professionally done, close to zero connection between their data and whatever they actually think they're studying.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/appliedstatistics/2009/11/some_esp-bashing_red_meat_for.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/appliedstatistics/2009/11/some_esp-bashing_red_meat_for.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/EydYuOKqDrI" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/EydYuOKqDrI/some_esp-bashing_red_meat_for.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:40:19 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/appliedstatistics/2009/11/some_esp-bashing_red_meat_for.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Jason Rosenhouse none@example.com <p>Here's a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111116943.html?hpid=topnews&sid=ST2009042801406">delightful article</a> from the <i>Washington Post</i>:</p> <blockquote> The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care. <p>Under the bill, headed for a D.C. Council vote next month, religious organizations would not be required to perform or make space available for same-sex weddings. But they would have to obey city laws prohibiting discrimination against gay men and lesbians.</p> <p>Fearful that they could be forced, among other things, to extend employee benefits to same-sex married couples, church officials said they would have no choice but to abandon their contracts with the city.</p> <p>&ldquo;If the city requires this, we can't do it,&rdquo; Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said Wednesday. &ldquo;The city is saying in order to provide social services, you need to be secular. For us, that's really a problem.&rdquo; <br /> </blockquote></p> <p>Actually the city is saying that if you receive public money you can not discriminate against homosexuals. But I appreciate the clear implication that religion and anti-gay animus go hand in hand. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2009/11/religion_and_gay_rights.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2009/11/religion_and_gay_rights.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/zbz89PmUpCQ" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/zbz89PmUpCQ/religion_and_gay_rights.php Religion Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:11:07 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2009/11/religion_and_gay_rights.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss William M. Connolley none@example.com <p><i><a href="http://climateprogress.org/2009/11/11/solar-energy-trumps-coal-caldeira-study/">The color of solar cells -- and their short energy payback -- are trivial factors when considering the huge climate benefit they provide in avoiding the release of CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels. That was a central point I made when I broke the story on the error-riddled book Superfreakonomics...</a></i></p> <p>Really? No: <a href="http://climateprogress.org/2009/10/12/superfreakonomics-errors-levitt-caldeira-myhrvold/">what JR actually said</a> was:</p> <p>"Here are the howlers in that paragraph for the record::</p> <p>1. they aren't bloack, they are blue,<br /> 2. their efficiency may be higher than 12%,<br /> 3. The biggest howler... What was the absorbtivity or emissivity of the material that the panel covered up,<br /> 4. Unparseable. Read it yourself."</p> <p>He later posted an update, after John O'Donnell pointed out that the major error is CO2. <a href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/10/an-open-letter-to-steve-levitt/">RC also made the same point</a>. I'm not sure what the exciting "exclusive new analysis" is supposed to be, either. It looks like it covers the same ground as the RC post. But the factors that Romm has now, correctly, realised are trivial are the very ones he was promoting as major errors before.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2009/11/revisionism_with_romm.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/djEBVQJ504U" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/djEBVQJ504U/revisionism_with_romm.php climate snarking Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:57:22 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/stoat/2009/11/revisionism_with_romm.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Martin R none@example.com <p><em>Aard</em> enjoys complimentary subscriptions to a number of popular archaeology magazines from which I learn a lot before passing them on to the Fisksätra public library. Here are my favourite stories from three recent issues that have crossed my current-reading shelf.</p> <p><em>Current Archaeology</em> 234, Sept.<ul><li>Figures <a href="http://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/galloping-down-the-centuries-new-light-on-britains-chalk-cut-hill-figure.htm">cut into chalk hillsides</a> in Britain, such as the Uffington horse (6 pp.).</ul></p> <p><em>Current Archaeology</em> 236, Nov.<ul><li>A huge 7th century <a href="http://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/trophies-of-kings-the-staffordshire-hoard.htm">gold and silver hoard</a> found recently in Staffordshire. Excellent pix! I haven't blogged about this since it's been all over the mainstream news and I had little to add. (10 pp.)<br /> <li>A <a href="http://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/water-power-in-medieval-greenwich.htm">London tide mill</a>, sturdily built in the 1190s and well preserved in the river sediments, its great wheel partly still in place (6 pp.).</ul></p> <p><em>Archaeology</em> Nov/Dec.<ul><li>A <a href="http://www.archaeology.org/0911/abstracts/storm_god.html">Bronze Age temple</a> under the Citadel of Aleppo in Syria (6 pp.).<br /> <li>A 5th century burial with <a href="http://www.archaeology.org/0911/abstracts/korea_iron_man.html">full scale armour for man <i>and horse</i></a> in South Korea (4 pp.).<br /> <li>Archaeologists studying the <a href="http://www.archaeology.org/0911/abstracts/homeless.html">camps of today's homeless Americans</a> (2 pp.).</ul><p><i>[More blog entries about <a href="http://www.technorati.com/tags/archaeology" rel="tag">archaeology</a>; <a href="http://bloggar.se/om/arkeologi" rel="tag">arkeologi</a>.]</i><br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2009/11/recent_archaeology_mags.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/Udx-qfT7B2U" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/Udx-qfT7B2U/recent_archaeology_mags.php Archaeology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:35:29 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2009/11/recent_archaeology_mags.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss PZ Myers none@example.com <p class="lead">About 2&frac12; years ago, I <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/07/the_neoceratodus_campaign.php">highlighted the environmental threats to the Australian lungfish</a>, in particular the planned construction of a dam that would destroy their habitat.</p> <p>To my surprise, <a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/garrett-decision-to-stop-dam-lauded-as-a-triumph-20091111-i9zx.html">Australian environmentalists won this battle</a>!</p> <blockquote><p>The proposed $1.8 billion Traveston Dam in Queensland has been quashed to protect endangered species, including Mary River turtle and cod, after a landmark decision by the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett. </p><p> In explaining his decision yesterday Mr Garrett said the dam would have ''serious and irreversible effects'' on threatened species - which also include the Australian lungfish and the southern barred frog - and he had no option but to reject it.</p></blockquote> <p>It's a little discombobulating&mdash;they actually made a good decision to protect some unique biology? The cynic in me says there has to be some other reason, too, but I'll take it.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/good_news_for_neoceratodus.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/8MD6yNXo6lo" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/8MD6yNXo6lo/good_news_for_neoceratodus.php Organisms Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:17:46 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/good_news_for_neoceratodus.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Coturnix none@example.com <p><a href="http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/"><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/scienceonline2010logoMedium.jpg"></a></p> <p>A record number of bloggers from scienceblogs.com are coming to the meeting - I have already introduced a bunch of them. Here are a few more, and that's still not all of them.</p> <p>As you know you can <a href="https://mistersugar.wufoo.com/reports/scienceonline2010-look-whos-coming/" target="_blank" title="">see everyone who's registered</a> for the <a href="http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/" target="_blank" title="">conference</a>, but I highlight 4-6 participants every day as this may be an easier way for you to digest the list. You can also look at the <a href="http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/Program/" target="_blank" title="">Program</a> so see who is doing what.</p> <p><b>Sandra Porter</b> is a microbiologist and molecular biologist. She produces educational materials and bioinformatics tools at <a href="http://www.digitalworldbiology.com/dwb/Home.html" target="_blank" title="">Digital World Biology</a>, she <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/digitalbio/" target="_blank" title="">blogs</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/digitalbio" target="_blank" title="">tweets</a>. At the conference, Sandy will co-moderate the session "Citizen Science and Students".</p> <p><b>Ed Yong</b> is a freelance science writer, the information officer at Cancer Research UK, a <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/" target="_blank" title="">blogger</a> and a <a href="http://twitter.com/edyong209" target="_blank" title="">twitterer</a>. At the conference, Ed will co-moderate the session "<a href="http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/Rebooting_Science_Journalism/" target="_blank" title="">Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web</a>".</p> <p><b>Katie Thompson</b> is a graphic designer, a graduate of University of Alabama in both pure mathematics and English. She blogs on <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/" target="_blank" title="">Zooillogix</a>.</p> <p><b>Brian Switek</b> is a freelance science writer, as student at Rutgers University, a blogger on <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/laelaps/" target="_blank" title="">Laelaps</a> and <a href="http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/dinosaur/" target="_blank" title="">Dinosaur Tracking</a> and a <a href="http://twitter.com/laelaps" target="_blank" title="">twitterer</a>. At the conference, Brian will co-moderate the session "<a href="http://www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/From_Blog_to_Book/" target="_blank" title="">From Blog to Book: Using Blogs and Social Networks to Develop Your Professional Writing</a>".</p> <p><b>Blake Stacey</b> is a physicist, a <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/sunclipse/book.php" target="_blank" title="">science fiction writer</a>, and a <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/sunclipse/" target="_blank" title="">blogger</a>. At the conference, Blake will co-moderate the session "Connections with mathematics and programming through modeling".</p> <p><b>Chris Rowan</b> is a geologist at the University of Edinburgh, a <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/highlyallochthonous/" target="_blank" title="">blogger</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/Allochthonous" target="_blank" title="">twitterer</a>. At the conference, Chris will co-moderate the session "Earth Science, Web 2.0+, and Geospatial Applications".<br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/11/scienceonline2010_-_introducin_13.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/v9Ccw-bOnyY" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/v9Ccw-bOnyY/scienceonline2010_-_introducin_13.php SO'10 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:10:20 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/clock/2009/11/scienceonline2010_-_introducin_13.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>Below the fold owing to adult themes. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/white_mans_world_locally_made.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/white_mans_world_locally_made.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/kEgSlFLHDS8" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/kEgSlFLHDS8/white_mans_world_locally_made.php Featured Artist Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:04:27 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/white_mans_world_locally_made.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss PZ Myers none@example.com <p class="lead">This is not too surprising: Cincinnati fanatics and kooks were so threatened by a billboard that said, "Don't believe in god? You are not alone" that they made <a href="http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Godless-Billboard-Moved-After-Threats/W0iGN9STXUW0m6VF2g2Xeg.cspx">violent threats that led to the billboard being taken down</a> and <a href="http://unitedcor.org/20091112.htm">relocated</a>.</p> <p>Cincinnati is Ken Ham country; you don't see atheists sending in threats to get his billboards taken down. We'd rather see <a href="http://www.unicornmuseum.org/">new billboards go up in reply</a>.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/intolerance_in_cincinnati.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/-hW26AxzC3I" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/-hW26AxzC3I/intolerance_in_cincinnati.php Godlessness Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:03:18 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/intolerance_in_cincinnati.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>The man owned a virtual arsenal of firearms and ammunition, which was ineffectively secured. So it was fairly easy for his son, Tim, to arm himself and kill 15 people before turning a weapon on himself. </p> <p>Subsequent to this horrific act, regulations have been rewritten to allow authorities to inspect gun collections in private homes, unannounced, to make sure they are secured properly. And now, charges are about to be filed against the gun-owning father. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/gun_enthusiast_to_be_prosecute.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/gun_enthusiast_to_be_prosecute.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/vQvtZd0QH64" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/vQvtZd0QH64/gun_enthusiast_to_be_prosecute.php Gun Ownership Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:49:28 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/gun_enthusiast_to_be_prosecute.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss PZ Myers none@example.com <p class="lead">The man who slaughtered 13 unarmed people in Fort Hood, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was clearly mentally ill, and should have been treated and cared for <i>before</i> he snapped and went on a rampage. Unfortunately, there's another factor that seems to be getting minimized in the press accounts: he was also a member of an Abrahamic death cult. <a href="http://www.centerforinquiry.net/news/cfi_releases_statement_from_ibn_warraq_in_response_to_fort_hood_tragedy/">Ibn Warraq has come out with a strong statement on the Islamic terrorism that motivated the attacks</a>.</p> <blockquote><p>It is time to abandon apologetics, and political correctness. Not all Muslims are terrorists. Not all Muslims are implicated in the horrendous events of September 11, 2001 -- or of November 5, 2009. However, to pretend that Islam has nothing to do with 9/11 or the Fort Hood massacre is willfully to ignore the obvious. To leave Islam out of the equation means to forever misinterpret events. Without Islam, the long-term strategy and individual acts of violence by Osama bin Laden and his followers make little sense. Without Islam, the West will go on being incapable of understanding our terrorist enemies, and hence will be incapable to deal with them. Without Islam, neither is it possible to comprehend the barbarism of the Taliban, the position of women and non-Muslims in Islamic countries, or -- now-- the murders attributed to Major Hasan.</p></blockquote> <p>Religion is not a mitigating factor. It is not an excuse or a defense. it is not a sacred principle that must not be questioned. Too often, it has a complex <i>causal</i> relationship to evil.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/cfi_on_the_fort_hood_murders.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/CgqovVj-wVo" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/CgqovVj-wVo/cfi_on_the_fort_hood_murders.php Politics Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:20:10 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/cfi_on_the_fort_hood_murders.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss PZ Myers none@example.com <p class="lead">Wow. I thought our local vets were petty when they <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/we_have_a_military_based_on_ch.php">threatened to yank scholarships if they weren't allowed to lead prayers in public schools</a>, but now someone has topped them. Who, you may wonder? As if you couldn't guess, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111116943.html?hpid=topnews">the Catholic Church leads the way in small-minded extortion</a>.</p> <blockquote><p>The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.</p></blockquote> <p>The Catholic Church weighs the lives of tens of thousands of sick, homeless people against the chance to slap down the dignity of gay people again, and <i>obviously</i> the most important thing is to make sure the primacy of heterosexuality is preserved.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/catholic_priorities_must_be_ma.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/6NURwsBwPzE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/6NURwsBwPzE/catholic_priorities_must_be_ma.php Religion Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:57:41 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/catholic_priorities_must_be_ma.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Janet D. Stemwedel none@example.com <p>There is a <a href="http://www.propublica.org/feature/reinstein-seroquel-astrazeneca-chicago-1111">story posted at ProPublica</a> (and co-published with the <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-drugs-seroquel-reinsteinnov11,0,6067737.story"><em>Chicago Tribune</em></a>) that examines a particular psychiatrist who was paid by a pharmaceutical company to travel around the U.S. to promote one of that company's antipsychotic drugs. Meanwhile, the psychiatrist was writing thousands of prescriptions for that same antipsychotic drug for his patients on Medicaid.</p> <p>You might think that there would be at least the appearance of a conflict of interest here. However, the psychiatrist in question seems certain that there is not:</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2009/11/how_to_eliminate_any_possible.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2009/11/how_to_eliminate_any_possible.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/xMpIBPIl4Vg" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/xMpIBPIl4Vg/how_to_eliminate_any_possible.php Current events Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:47:09 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2009/11/how_to_eliminate_any_possible.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss PZ Myers none@example.com <p class="lead">Sometimes I find it hard to believe how callous these conservative politicians can be. The governor of Rhode Island has just <a href="http://newsblog.projo.com/2009/11/ri-gov-carcieri-vetoes-domesti.html">vetoed a bill that would have allowed a same-sex partner to make funeral arrangements for a dead partner</a>. So imagine this: someone wracked with grief at the loss of someone to whom they had committed a substantial part of their life now gets to also be told that they are locked out of the responsibility of taking care of anything to do with the funeral ceremony. How degrading and insensitive; how vile and intrusive.</p> <p>Shame on Governor Carcieri. It takes a real man to kick the heart-broken and bereaved at the moment of their deepest hurt, and Carcieri has arranged to do it over and over again for years to come.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/dont_die_gay_in_ri.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/0YjqnomHQ8M" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/0YjqnomHQ8M/dont_die_gay_in_ri.php Equality Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:43:58 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/11/dont_die_gay_in_ri.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss John Dupuis none@example.com <p>As usual, some interesting stuff from the <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=5297820&isYear=2009">December 2009 issue of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine</a> (v3i2).<br /> <ul><li><a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5297835&isnumber=5297820">Capturing young womens' imagination: Welcome to the Wii generation of Nerd Girls</a> by various<br /> <li><a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5297837&isnumber=5297820">Revolutions and Remembrances: Engineering as a bond for diverse groups</a> by Marimuthu, R.<br /> <li><a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5297827&isnumber=5297820">Women to Watch: Putting Students First: Furse finds the fun in teaching</a> by Prives, L.<br /> <li><a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5297829&isnumber=5297820">Changing the tide of forecasts</a> by Wax, H.<br /> <li><a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5297830&isnumber=5297820">Bringing water to the world: Rural Bangladesh Tackling Clean Water Challenges</a> by Taylor, M.<br /> <li><a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=5297832&isnumber=5297820">An eye for detail: Chen Focuses on Optic Nerve Regeneration</a> by Prives, L.</ul></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2009/11/ieee_women_in_engineering_maga.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/jN4KJw5SEuA" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/jN4KJw5SEuA/ieee_women_in_engineering_maga.php literature roundup Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:23:05 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2009/11/ieee_women_in_engineering_maga.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Wes Dodson none@example.com <p><span class="mt-enclosure mt-enclosure-image" style="display: inline;"><img alt="lion.jpg" src="http://scienceblogs.com/seed/metastasis.jpg" width="200" height="200" class="inset" style="" /></span>Sometimes, present circumstances can belie the uncertainty of the future. On Not Exactly Rocket Science, Ed Yong discusses experiments on "restraint bias" which show that many people overestimate their powers of self-control. He notes that "we're generally bad at predicting the future," arguing that those who feel the strongest are the most likely to risk temptation and defeat. On Respectful Insolence, Orac critiques the latest "kerfuffle over screening for cancer," which questions the value of routine screening. While early detection may seem like a no-brainer for an improved prognosis, the equation is more complicated and the margins slimmer than one might think. Greg Laden also warns in his blog against mistaking the present trend for the bigger picture. While swine flu may be peaking, he says, it's no time to let down our guard. In other words, once the cop car passes, "don't just wander blissfully out into the middle of the street like it is all over, because you will be flattened by the firetruck that you illogically assume is not coming next."</p> <p>Links below the fold.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2009/11/the_buzz_now_and_later.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2009/11/the_buzz_now_and_later.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/dYOjMH0Ogcg" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/dYOjMH0Ogcg/the_buzz_now_and_later.php Psychology Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:16:28 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2009/11/the_buzz_now_and_later.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ed Yong none@example.com <p class=" "><span>How would you fancy a holiday to Greece or Thailand? Would you like to buy an iPhone or a new pair of shoes? Would you be keen to accept that enticing job offer? Our lives are riddled with choices that force us to imagine our future state of mind. The decisions we make hinge upon this act of time travel and a new study suggests that our mental simulations of our future happiness are strongly affected by the chemical dopamine. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical that carries signals within the brain. Among its many duties is a crucial role in signalling the feelings of enjoyment we get out of life's pleasures. We need it to learn which experiences are rewarding and to actively seek them out. And it seems that we also depend on it when we imagine the future. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span><a href="http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/~tsharot/">Tali Sharot</a> from University College London found that if volunteers had more dopamine in their brains as they thought about events in their future, they would imagine those events to be more gratifying. It's the first direct evidence that dopamine influences how happy we expect ourselves to be. </span> </p> <p class="center"><img class="inset" src="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/upload/2009/11/travels_with_dopamine_the_chemical_that_affects_how_much_ple/Boat.jpg" alt="Boat.jpg" height="159" width="500" /> </p> <p class=" "><span>When we learn about new experiences, neurons that secrete dopamine seem to record the difference between the rewards we expect and the ones we actually receive. In encoding the gap between hope and experience, these neurons help us to repeat rewarding actions. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>This was clearly demonstrated in 2006, when Mathias Passiglione showed that people's ability to learn about rewards <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2636869/">could be improved</a> by giving them a drug called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-DOPA">L-DOPA</a>. It's a precursor to dopamine, a sort of parent molecule that can increase the concentrations of its offspring. Passiglione asked volunteers to learn links between different symbols and different financial rewards. He found that under the influence of L-DOPA, they were better at picking the symbols that earned them the most cash. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>Passiglione's study was important, but his volunteers were forced to make a fairly artificial choice between two virtual symbols in a constrained lab setting. What happens in real life, when choices are complex and our decisions hinge on our ability to think about the future? </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>To answer that, Sharot recruited 61 volunteers and asked them to say how happy they'd feel if they visited one of 80 holiday destinations, from Greece to Thailand. All of the recruits were given a vitamin C supplement as a placebo and 40 minutes later, they had to imagine themselves on holiday at half of the possible locations. After this bout of fanciful daydreaming, they had to take another pill but this time, half of them were given L-DOPA instead of the placebo. Again, they had to imagine themselves in various holiday spots. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>The next day, Sharot brought the volunteers back. By this time, they would have broken down all the L-DOPA in their system. She asked them to choose which of two destinations they'd like to go to, from the set that they had thought about the day before. Finally, they rated each destination again. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>By the end of the experiments, they perceived their imaginary holidays to be more enjoyable if they had previously thought about the locations under the influence of L-DOPA (while vitamin C, as predicted, had no effect). The implication is clear: think about the future with more dopamine in the noggin and you'll imagine that you have a better time. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>Critically, this wasn't because they were feeling happier <em>in the actual moment</em>. All the recruits filled in questionnaires about their emotional state every time they took a pill and these revealed that the dopamine boost didn't actually affect the present state of mind. All it did was change their predictions of their <em>future</em> state of mind. These happier predictions affected their choices too - more often than not, they chose to travel to destinations that they had envisioned through dopamine-tinted goggles. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>How dopamine has its way is unclear. Sharot suggests that it could boost how much we want something when we imagine it. Its effects could also tie into its role in learning. When we imagine the future, this chemical strengthens the link between what we think about and any feelings of enjoyment we might gain from it. This model fits with the fact that some neurons in the striatum become more active the more pleasure we expect from an experience. </span> </p> <p class=" "><span>Either way, it's clear that our knowledge of dopamine's myriad roles is just beginning. Broadening that knowledge is important for understanding our own behaviour, which, as Sharot says, "is largely driven by estimations of future pleasure and pain". </span> </p> <p class="center"><img class="inset" src="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/upload/2009/11/travels_with_dopamine_the_chemical_that_affects_how_much_ple/Dopamine-graphs.jpg" alt="Dopamine-graphs.jpg" height="376" width="500" /> </p> <p class=" "><strong><span>Reference: Current Biology </span></strong><span>10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.025</span> </p> <p><strong>More on Sharot's work and dopamine:&nbsp;</strong> </p> <p><strong></strong> </p> <ul> <li><a id="a087535" href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/10/911_memories_reveal_how_flashbulb_memories_are_made_in_the_b.php">9/11 memories reveal how flashbulb memories are made in the brain</a></li> <li><a id="a132596" href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/10/the_neuroscience_of_optimism_-_how_the_brain_creates_a_rosy.php">The neuroscience of optimism - how the brain creates a rosy outlook</a></li> <li><a id="a087867" href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/10/impulsive_minds_are_primed_for_drug_addiction.php">Impulsive minds are primed for drug addiction</a></li> <li><a id="a127246" href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/07/why_information_is_its_own_reward_-_same_neurons_signal_thir.php">Why information is its own reward - same neurons signal thirst for water, knowledge</a></li> <li><a id="a078380" href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2008/06/the_wasp_that_walks_cockroaches.php">The wasp that walks cockroaches</a></li> </ul> <p>&nbsp; </p> <p>&nbsp; </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/travels_with_dopamine_-_the_chemical_that_affects_how_much_p.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/travels_with_dopamine_-_the_chemical_that_affects_how_much_p.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/OuPSCnyC0zU" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/OuPSCnyC0zU/travels_with_dopamine_-_the_chemical_that_affects_how_much_p.php Neuroscience Thu, 12 Nov 2009 12:00:40 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2009/11/travels_with_dopamine_-_the_chemical_that_affects_how_much_p.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>Matt Springer is LIVID with my commentary on gun control. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/builtonfacts/2009/11/re_nidal_hasans_weapons.php">Go read his post here</a> and say something nice in the comment section to make him feel better. </p> <p>Mike Dunford has further comments on this issue as well, and as has been happening all along (since the Ft. Hood news broke) Mike is adding important information regarding the setting of this catastrophe, bringing his military base experience to the table. <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2009/11/gun_control_the_military_and_n.php">Have a look at his post. </a></p> <p>And, I'm going to take this moment to make my key points once more because the gun nuts, I mean gun "enthusiasts" continue to get it all wrong:</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/more_discussion_on_the_hasan_s.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/more_discussion_on_the_hasan_s.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/lwIqIDLJYSE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/lwIqIDLJYSE/more_discussion_on_the_hasan_s.php Gun Ownership Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:43:58 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/more_discussion_on_the_hasan_s.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss David Dobbs none@example.com <div class="posterous_bookmarklet_entry"> <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote"><div class="entry"><p><img class="attachment wp-att-19803 alignleft" src="http://www.pharmalot.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/us-soldiers-afghan.jpg" height="78" alt="us-soldiers-afghan" width="121" />Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, has asked the Pentagon for info on how many troops in war zones have been prescribed antidepressants while they were deployed. Cardin sent a letter Tuesday to US Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressing concern about how antidepressants are being administered troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.</p> <p>Cardin wants to determine if the Defense Department is prescribing antidepressants appropriately and is concerned about any connection between the meds and suicide rates among troops. In October, for instance, 16 active-duty US soldiers killed themselves, bringing the total number of active-duty suicides in 2009 to 134. At this rate, the number of 2009 suicides will eclipse last year's total of 140 - the highest yearly number of suicides in Army history. Cardin also notes the rate of active-duty suicides is greater than that of the US population, although he doesn't question the "long-term efficacy" of the drugs.</p></div></blockquote><div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://www.pharmalot.com/2009/11/senator-wants-pentagon-to-review-antidepressants/">pharmalot.com</a></div> <p>Most soldier/vet suicides get blamed on PTSD. This overlooks a couple important things: </p><p>1. Depression and drinking problems are both more common than PTSD is, even among combat vets, and have a more robustly established and higher suicide risk. </p><p>2. As the story above notes, antidepressant use among younger people, especially if not monitored closely, is shown to carry a significant suicide risk. </p><p>Cardin's effort is an attempt to address the second problem. This is a good example of how reflexive diagnoses, as PTSD has become for any combat veteran (and sometimes even prospective combat veterans -- i.e., troops preparing to deploy), can do harm. They can lead you to ignore other possible causes of the symptoms on display.</p></div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via web</a> from <a href="http://daviddobbs.posterous.com/senator-wants-pentagon-to-review-antidepressa">David Dobbs's Somatic Marker</a> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/neuronculture/2009/11/senator_wants_pentagon_to_revi.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/AUW1gd1L3A4" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/AUW1gd1L3A4/senator_wants_pentagon_to_revi.php Brains and minds Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:36:12 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/neuronculture/2009/11/senator_wants_pentagon_to_revi.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Chad Orzel none@example.com <p>An indignant SteelyKid says "What do you mean I can't go to day care? I'm perfectly healthy!"</p> <p><img src="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/upload/2009/11/thursday_baby_blogging_111209/sm_week66.jpg" width="500" height="675" alt="sm_week66.jpg"/></p> <p>She is, indeed, doing much better. Last night, I wasn't sure you'd get any Baby Blogging at all, because snot and fever don't make for a photogenic baby. She's waddling around in more or less her usual state at the moment, though, and has decided that if she can't go to day care, she'll climb into my lap and learn about photography:</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2009/11/thursday_baby_blogging_111209.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2009/11/thursday_baby_blogging_111209.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/F32dT0Ji-Yw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/F32dT0Ji-Yw/thursday_baby_blogging_111209.php Personal Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:29:28 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2009/11/thursday_baby_blogging_111209.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p>No, don't go, stay! The NAME of the language is go. </p> <p>Which was a poor choice of name because it will be very hard to google "go." In fact, Google won't let you google "go" by default because it is one of the SLWs (stupid little words) that Google prefers to pretend does not exist (I assume, possibly wrongly). And the true irony is that go, the language, is Google's new language!</p> <p>Anyway... </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/a_no_open_source_computer_lang.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/a_no_open_source_computer_lang.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/f5mPpkF1vAE" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/f5mPpkF1vAE/a_no_open_source_computer_lang.php OpenSource Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:02:42 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/a_no_open_source_computer_lang.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss James Hrynyshyn none@example.com <p>A fascinating paper about to be published in Geophysical Review Letters compares the number of record highs and lows at temperature stations across the U.S. since the 1940s. The authors found that we're getting more record highs and fewer record lows, in a pattern that yet again confirms that climatologists know what they're talking about. They also extrapolate that trend into the future, with some interesting results, but first let's deal with the past.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/islandofdoubt/2009/11/record_high_and_low_temps_an_i.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/islandofdoubt/2009/11/record_high_and_low_temps_an_i.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/hqcG22e88PY" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/hqcG22e88PY/record_high_and_low_temps_an_i.php climate Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:52:07 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/islandofdoubt/2009/11/record_high_and_low_temps_an_i.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Chad Orzel none@example.com <p>The always interesting Timothy Burke has a <a href="http://weblogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/2009/11/11/if-you-must/">good post about PowerPoint in classes</a>, spinning off a <a href="http://blog.carolynworks.com/?p=154">student complaint</a>. I've been lecturing with PowerPoint-- my own slides, not something sent to me by a textbook company-- since day one, so of course I have opinions on the topic.</p> <p>For the most part, Burke's points on the pros and cons of PowerPoint are excellent. There's one motive for using PowerPoint that he leaves out, though, and it's slightly at odds with the rest of the advice.</p> <p>One of the nice things about PowerPoint is that it can be used to provide a record of the lecture, for the sake of students who missed class for some valid reason (the current wave of "Influenza Like Illness," for example), or for those who missed something in the notes. For this to work, though, there has to be enough information in the slides for them to stand on their own, without the professor explaining them. But, as Burke notes, the best slides rely more on images or other media than on explanatory text. Making slides that can be read later that aren't stultifying when used in class is a difficult balancing act.</p> <p>I struggle with this myself, so I don't have any brilliant advice to offer. My ideas of what makes a good PowerPoint lecture have definitely evolved over time, though, as I found when I taught our first-year seminar this term for the first time in three years, using slides that I initially made eight years ago (I used a lot more text back then than I do now).</p> <p>It's a hard problem, and there's no single solution. But it's something to keep in mind when thinking about the proper role of presentation tools in academia.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2009/11/text_death.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/klLCrMKs2jY" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/klLCrMKs2jY/text_death.php Academia Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:28:12 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/principles/2009/11/text_death.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss David Dobbs none@example.com <div class="posterous_bookmarklet_entry"> <blockquote class="posterous_long_quote">Hardly a day passes without yet another breathless declaration in the popular press about the relevance of neuroscientific findings to everyday life. The articles are usually accompanied by a picture of a brain scan in pixel-busting Technicolor and are frequently connected to references to new disciplines with the prefix "neuro-". Neuro-jurisprudence, neuro-economics, neuro-aesthetics, neuro-theology are encroaching on what was previously the preserve of the humanities. Even philosophers - who should know better, being trained one hopes, in scepticism - have entered the field with the discipline of "Exp-phi" or experimental philosophy. Starry-eyed sages have embraced "neuro-ethics", in which ethical principles are examined by using brain scans to determine people's moral intuitions when they are asked to deliberate on the classic dilemmas. Benjamin Libet's experiments on decisions to act and the work on mirror neurons (observed directly in monkeys but only inferred, and still contested, in humans) have been ludicrously over-interpreted to demonstrate respectively that our brains call the shots (and we do not have free will) and to point to a neural basis for empathy.</blockquote> <div class="posterous_quote_citation">via <a href="http://newhumanist.org.uk/2172/neurotrash">newhumanist.org.uk</a></div> <p>Ray Tallis talks trash to neurotrash who talk too much neuro. Suggested read; good for all your neuromatter.</p></div> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via web</a> from <a href="http://daviddobbs.posterous.com/raymond-tallis-trashtalks-some-neurotrash">David Dobbs's Somatic Marker</a> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/neuronculture/2009/11/raymond_tallis_trashtalks_some.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/1-qXZIq842Y" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/1-qXZIq842Y/raymond_tallis_trashtalks_some.php Culture of science Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:03:36 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/neuronculture/2009/11/raymond_tallis_trashtalks_some.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Mike none@example.com <p>It's not as bad as <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/10/instead_of_using_public_funds.php">the Great Brooklyn Tampon Shortage</a>, but it's just become a lot harder to study marine viruses. There are two basic ways to figure out how many viruses are in a given sample, such as a milliliter of seawater. One method is to mix a bacterial (or algal) cell with a certain amount of seawater and look for plaques--holes in the lawn:</p> <p><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2642/4096336573_fc396d49c7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="M._smegmatis_plaque" /><br /> <b>(from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:M._smegmatis_plaque.jpg">here</a>)</b></p> <p>The number of plaques equals the number of viruses.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/11/the_great_viral_filter_shortag.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/11/the_great_viral_filter_shortag.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/8X01hCmTNcM" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/8X01hCmTNcM/the_great_viral_filter_shortag.php The War on Science Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:02:54 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist/2009/11/the_great_viral_filter_shortag.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss "GrrlScientist" none@example.com <p><span style="font-size: 10px">tags: <a target="window" href="http://technorati.com/tag/birds" rel="tag">birds</a>, <a target="window" href="http://technorati.com/tag/mystery+bird" rel="tag">mystery bird</a>, <a target="window" href="http://technorati.com/tag/bird+ID+quiz" rel="tag">bird ID quiz</a></span></p></p> <div class="centeredCaption"> <p><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2785/4096992021_0309baf466.jpg" width="500" height="400" /></p> <p>[Mystery bird] photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]</p> <p>Image: <a target="window" href="http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/">Joseph Kennedy</a>, 3 November 2009 [<a target="window" href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2785/4096992021_2a8beca2c9_o.jpg" width="800" height="640" />larger view</a>]. </p> <p>Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400. </p> </div> <p><span style="color: red; font-size: 14px">Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. </span><br /> </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/11/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_406.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/11/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_406.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/7dHRrfPFU1s" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/7dHRrfPFU1s/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_406.php Mystery Birds Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:59:04 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2009/11/todays_mystery_bird_for_you_to_406.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Mike Dunford none@example.com <p> ScienceBloggers Greg Laden and Matt Springer have both weighed in on the weapons used by Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. Matt disagrees with the basic gun control argument that <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/is_the_nra_partly_responsible.php">Greg initially raised</a>, but focused primarily on <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/builtonfacts/2009/11/re_nidal_hasans_weapons.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&amp;utm_medium=rss">correcting some factual errors</a> that Greg made <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/nidal_hasans_weapons.php">in a later post</a>. Unfortunately, Matt seems to have some incorrect assumptions about firearm availability on military installations. He also seems to have missed at least one important factual point about the firearms that were used in the shooting. </p><p> Matt starts off quite badly, at least from the perspective of the facts on the ground: </p><blockquote> If my fellow SB friend Greg wants to spin the Ft. Hoot shooting as a cause for gun control then frankly there's pretty much nothing further to say. You'd think a @#$% major in the @#$% army on a @#$% army base just might not have been terribly inconvenienced in procuring weaponry even if every civilian gun in the hemisphere vanished in a puff of sunshine and wishful thinking. But I was going to leave it alone, assuming that that particular point makes itself. </blockquote><p> First of all, the military tries hard - and usually succeeds - in keeping tight control over military weapons of all kinds. When not in use, weapons are kept under lock and key, and only certain people have access to them. Hasan did not have access to so much as a sidearm at the time of the shootings. This was undoubtedly one of the main reasons that he bought his own weapons. </p><p> By the way, I would expect that when the court-martial papers are drawn up, Hasan will be facing some weapons charges. He was almost certainly in violation of the regulations that cover the ownership of personal weapons by soldiers, carrying personal weapons on base, transporting personal weapons onto the base, and probably a few other things for good measure. </p><p> And, believe me, there are regulations that cover ownership of personal firearms by soldiers and on base. If Nancy Pelosi were to propose a national firearms law that mirrors the military's regulations tomorrow, it's entirely possible that the entire senior leadership of the NRA would suffer collective apoplexy. </p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2009/11/gun_control_the_military_and_n.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2009/11/gun_control_the_military_and_n.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/ONCr8h5lqMg" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/ONCr8h5lqMg/gun_control_the_military_and_n.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:53:42 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/authority/2009/11/gun_control_the_military_and_n.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ed Brayton none@example.com <p>And there's just one obvious thing to say:</p> <p>He's ready for his closeup, Mr. Murdoch.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/lou_dobbs_quits_cnn.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/fpsX26qnvMw" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/fpsX26qnvMw/lou_dobbs_quits_cnn.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:37:49 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/lou_dobbs_quits_cnn.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ed Brayton none@example.com <p>My colleague Spencer Ackerman <a href="http://michiganmessenger.com/30012/by-pete-hoekstras-2006-logic-he-might-be-trying-to-help-al-qaeda">pokes fun</a> at Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan over his release of classified information concerning whose communications are being intercepted by the NSA. </p> <blockquote>Check out Rachel Maddow going hard on Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) for publicly revealing that the U.S. intelligence community is intercepting the communications of al-Qaeda-sympathetic cleric Anwar Aulaqi, a former U.S. preacher now in Yemen whom Fort Hood murder suspect Nidal Malik Hasan apparently contacted before the shooting.</blockquote> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/hoekstra_helps_al_qaeda.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/hoekstra_helps_al_qaeda.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/ri2MSyqSyIg" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/ri2MSyqSyIg/hoekstra_helps_al_qaeda.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:30:01 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/hoekstra_helps_al_qaeda.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ed Brayton none@example.com <p>Two soldiers from Tennessee <a href="http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2009/11/8/soldiers_claim_war_zone_contractors_exposed_them_to_toxins">have filed suit</a> against Kellogg, Brown and Root, a Haliburton subsidiary, for the use of burn pits on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. The soldiers claim that they were exposed to toxic material being burned in those pits and have serious health problems as a result. They are also seeking class action status for the suit to involve other soldiers exposed to those burn pits.</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/soldiers_sue_haliburton_over_t.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/soldiers_sue_haliburton_over_t.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/eI0kX4LeeXI" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/eI0kX4LeeXI/soldiers_sue_haliburton_over_t.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:23:03 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/soldiers_sue_haliburton_over_t.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Ed Brayton none@example.com <p>After reporting innumerable instances of prosecutorial misconduct around the country, I finally have one from Michigan to report. And to make it even more juicy, it involves sex. And it took place in Holland, one of the most religiously conservative towns in the country (this place just recently allowed people to mow their lawns on Sunday). The Grand Rapids Press <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/11/holland_prosecuting_attorney_f.html">reports</a>:</p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/prosecutorial_misconduct_in_mi.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the rest of this post...</a> | <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/prosecutorial_misconduct_in_mi.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/_ItDrtCb8bM" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/_ItDrtCb8bM/prosecutorial_misconduct_in_mi.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:16:05 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/11/prosecutorial_misconduct_in_mi.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss Greg Laden none@example.com <p><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EDHdrvneskE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EDHdrvneskE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></p> <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/i_wish_for_a_time_when_we_stop.php#commentsArea?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss">Read the comments on this post...</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~4/_MtKa3wDQn0" height="1" width="1"/> http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ScienceblogsCombinedFeed/~3/_MtKa3wDQn0/i_wish_for_a_time_when_we_stop.php Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:13:14 -0500 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/11/i_wish_for_a_time_when_we_stop.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss