milhayser

ScienceBloggers liked Avatar, but that hasn't stopped them from picking the science apart from the science fiction. On The Scientific Indian, Selva wonders how communication between the humans and their avatars could take place inside the "vortex," when all other kinds of transmission are…

On the first day of Christmas, one might gift his or her true love with a certain bird in a certain fruit tree...unless one's true love is geology. On Highly Allocthonous, Chris Rowan runs down a seasonal list of twelve geologic features, forms, and phenomena that interest him more than drummers…

With the new year hot out of the gates, ScienceBlogs wishes everyone a wonderful 2010. Dr. Isis on On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess shares a study with us waistline watchers, comparing two approaches to calorie reduction. One group of overweight individuals consumed 25% fewer calories…

Galileo transformed Western knowledge, but the Catholic Church vehemently opposed his "heretical" heliocentric observations. Inspired by author Thomas Dixon, ScienceBloggers debate whether the Church's beef with Galileo was motivated by political power or by the competing principles of science…

Although it is illegal to sell in most states, raw milk is gaining popularity as claims about its healthfulness multiply. Proponents of raw say the heat of pasteurization destroys beneficial enzymes and probiotic bacteria, while homogenization damages the natural structure of milk. Sharon Astyk…

Racists often cite IQ as a genetically determined trait, attempting to justify and promote their supremacist attitudes. Even if IQ tests do not favor specific cultural or educational standards, is intelligence coded in our genes, or related to the color of our skin? Greg Laden answers an…

On Collective Imagination, Joe Salvo declares the Information Age is done for, writing: "a period of history can be characterized by the dominant technology that separates the leaders from the followers." He believes humanity has approached a tipping point where the separation between leaders and…

If you've got a great idea, and you like money, here's your chance to win: Carbon14, (www.c14time.com), a new outdoor and active lifestyle brand, is celebrating the launch of its three new lines of watches--AIR, WATER, and EARTH--by hosting a competition that will award $50,000 to one deserving…

Yesterday was the winter solstice, meaning the sun concluded its six-month southward course and seemed to "stand still" before beginning its journey north. Of course, this being a heliocentric neighborhood, the tilt, orbit, and rotation of Earth are what really move the sun through the sky. But…

Erik Klemetti on Eruptions solicits your suggestions for the titular honor: 2009 is almost over and it has been quite a busy year, volcanically speaking. This is not to say that is was anomalously volcanic - more that many of the volcanic events captured the media's attention. I'll be putting…

The climate summit in Copenhagen came to a tenuous conclusion on Friday, as five nations pulled a non-binding "agreement" from thin air. This agreement recognizes the threat of rising temperatures and pledges financial aid for developing countries, but sets no emission guidelines and is not…

Darren Naish inspects "trace fossils" on Tetrapod Zoology, geologic records of footprints and other indentations left behind by animals. Although these telltale signs can "provide excellent information on behaviour and lifestyle," it can sometimes be hard to tell what kind of creature made them…

On Casaubon's Book, Sharon Astyk raises her hackles at the sight of Monsanto, a company which over the last century has churned out artificial sweeteners, sulfuric acid, myriad plastics, herbicides such as DDT, the pernicious defoliant Agent Orange, bovine growth hormone, PCBs, and other chemical…

As we shiver in the northern hemisphere, holiday cheer isn't the only thing in the air—there are also flu, cold, and other contenders just waiting to hit a mucous membrane. Revere questions H1N1 terminology on Effect Measure, citing "10,000 deaths, 47 million infections and over 200,000…

With medical marijuana now legal in thirteen states, and President Obama's Attorney General advising Feds not to waste resources on users in compliance with state law, the tide of tetrahydrocannabinol seems to be on the rise. On The Scientific Activist, Nick Anthis reports that the American…

On Aardvarchaeology, Martin Rundkvist tells us that the Geminid meteor shower is peaking tonight, so if you've got any wishes on the back burner, now's your chance to make them. Of course these shooting "stars" are really bits of extinct comet 3200 Phaethon's "sandy exhaust trail" burning up in…

'Tis the season, time for many of us to eat as much as we swore we wouldn't. But before you cozy up beside the fire with a pound of chocolates and a quart of egg nog, see if these articles won't sate your appetite. First, on Casaubon's Book, Sharon Astyk cites a recent statistic that America…

Tensions are mounting in Copenhagen over the so-called "Danish text," a draft agreement that would allow developed countries such as the United States and China to emit nearly twice as much carbon per capita as "third world" or developing countries. Meanwhile, scrappy island nation Tuvalu stood…

Benjamin Cohen of The World's Fair tells us he's "moving on to Blogger Emeritus status." I am ending my tenure here at The World's Fair, the blog Dave and I started back in June 2006. I'll finish up and sign off for good by the end of the month. Between now and then, I'll be posting my top ten…

Last month, lawmakers in Ontario, Canada introduced legislation that would award prescription rights to graduates of two naturopathic schools. Should students subject to different educational standards be granted the same powers of prescription? On Terra Sigillata, Abel Pharmboy calls it…

Last month the US government released new guidelines for breast cancer screening mammography, a revision which Orac writes has "shaken my specialty to the core." For most women, the guidelines now recommend beginning biennial screenings at age fifty, instead of annual screenings at age forty.…

After nearly five years online and two years with us here at ScienceBlogs, ScienceWoman is stepping away from the fray to focus on "Peace and Joy" for 2010. This will be my last post as SciWo or ScienceWoman. I've come to peace with the realization that blogging as SciWo is no longer a source of…

A potentially historic climate change conference began in Copenhagen Monday and will run for the next two weeks as leaders and diplomats from around the world attempt to reach an agreement about global warming. Meanwhile, the stolen emails of Climategate are still making some headlines, but why?…

Two of our resident bloggers show their faces on Bloggingheads.tv, in an in-depth video interview on the subjects of science, evolution, and group selection. If the entire 66-minute video is too long for you, there are links to shorter segments with specific topics. You can see more of David…

A raging ERV says we could see this coming in April, when the wife of 400-million-dollar contributor T. Boone Pickens wanted to bar the veterinary school at Oklahoma State University from receiving funds. Ms. Pickens cited the cruel treatment of dogs—doomed shelter animals who were apparently…

On Wednesday, the NIH approved thirteen new embryonic stem cell lines for federally-funded research, with ninety-six additional lines still under review. These new approvals come as a direct result of the "Obama administration's new rules on federal funding for stem cell research, which reversed…

When it comes to human nature, everyone's an expert—so let's argue about it, shall we? On Cognitive Daily, Dave Munger reviews an investigation into the truly fairer sex which suggests that "men are more tolerant of their friends' failings than women." Not convinced? Then counter your intuition on…

In the nearly thirty years since AIDS was first diagnosed, the disease has killed tens of millions of people, and more than 33 million are currently infected with HIV worldwide. Although recent UN reports show the number of new infections is falling, AIDS remains a major global issue. So take…

Listen up, procrastinators—Coturnix reminds us on A Blog Around the Clock that we only have until the stroke of midnight to submit the best blog entries of the year to OpenLab 2009. He writes "we are looking for original poems, art, cartoons and comics" as well as essays. You can see which posts…

Last week, hackers pulled a data heist on the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia, releasing thousands of stolen documents and emails that purportedly exposed a scientific conspiracy to fabricate evidence of global warming. Climate change skeptics dug into the data with forks…