clock | October 17, 2007Nobel Prizes are not the only awards given in Stockholm these day. Karolinska Institute also gives an annual Lennart Nilsson Award for photography. This year's prize has just been announced and I am happy to report that the recepient is a friend of mine (and Scifoo camper), Felice Frankel for her amazing science photography. From the Press Release:
Felice Frankel, a scientific imagist and researcher at Harvard University's Initiative in Innovative Computing, has been named the recipient of the 2007 Lennart Nilsson Award. Frankel was sited for creating images that are exquisite works of art…
clock | October 17, 2007There are 94 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 94 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we'll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Rachael Clemens is a PhD student in the School of Information and Library Science. Oh, and she is also a blogger.
Christina Whittle…
clock | October 17, 2007Some Tropical Birds Depend Completely On Army Ants To Flush Out Prey:
In the jungles of Central and South America, a group of birds has evolved a unique way of finding food -- by following hordes of army ants and letting them do all the work.
Bone Structure 'Vastly Different' Than Previously Believed:
Researchers have discovered that the structure of human bones is vastly different than previously believed -- findings which will have implications for how some debilitating bone disorders are treated.
Ear Infection Superbug Discovered To Be Resistant To All Pediatric Antibiotics:
Researchers…
clock | October 16, 2007I'm the one who has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.
- Jimi Hendrix
clock | October 16, 2007As last week's Journal Club on PLoS ONE has been a success (and no, that does not mean it's over - feel free to add your commentary there), we are introducing a new one this week!
Members of the Potsdam Eye-Movement Group have now posted their comments and annotations on the article Parts, Wholes, and Context in Reading: A Triple Dissociation.
You know your duty: go there, read the paper, read what the group has already posted in their commentary, register, and add your own comments and questions. Rate the article. If you blog about it, send your readers to do the same. If your blogging…
clock | October 16, 2007There are 21 new articles published tonight on PLoS ONE. As always, read, rate, comment, annotate, volunteer to do a Journal Club, and, if you blog about it, send trackbacks....Here are my picks:
A Televised, Web-Based Randomised Trial of an Herbal Remedy (Valerian) for Insomnia:
To combat the symptoms of insomnia, many people resort to non-prescribed herbal remedies such as valerian. In this randomised trial, the authors recruited 405 participants through a televised Norwegian health program and found only moderately beneficial effects of valerian on people with insomnia. However, the…
clock | October 16, 2007Kate reviews the latest paper by Ellen Ketterson et al. and since she did it so well, I decided not to do it myself, as it comes too close to my own stuff...
Mountain Top Removal? See why this is not a good idea.
Two conservatives, two views on environmentalism (and no, I will not go into details why I disagree with both of them):
The Embrace of Environmentalism Will Be the Doom of Traditional Religion
Interview with Seymour Garte, Author of Where We Stand
The Mystery of the Sleepy Teenager - pay attention!
Raleigh News & Observer covers the local angle on the story about queen honeybee…
clock | October 16, 2007
Fish Get Insomnia, Eyes Wide Open, Say Sleep Researchers:
Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have hooked a fish that suffers from insomnia in their quest to understand the genetics behind sleep disorders.
Ugly Duckling Mole Rats Might Hold Key To Longevity:
Who would have thought that the secrets to long life might exist in the naked, wrinkled body of one of the world's ugliest animals? Probably not many, but current research may be leading seekers of the Fountain of Youth to a strange little beast -- the naked mole rat.
Note: I think blind mole rats are beautiful.…
clock | October 16, 2007If you come here from the front page of Scienceblogs, you have probably noticed some changes. Instead of ten, there are now eight channels, and the latest 4 (instead of 3) posts in each category are highlighted. If you check the channels on the left side-bar you will see that the landing pages of each channel are now much more exciting! See, for instance, the Life Science page - it is not just a simple aggregator any more - there is a daily quote from a reader comment (the main quote on the front page is going to continue to be from one of us bloggers), a pretty picture of the day, and more…
clock | October 16, 2007Today, Harvard has launched a new website - HarvardScience - showcasing the depth and breadth of science, medicine, and engineering at all of Harvard's schools and affiliated hospitals:
The site provides a comprehensive resource for anyone interested in science in general, and particularly what's happening at Harvard in the sciences and engineering.
clock | October 16, 2007Attention! How your brain manages its need to heed:
Two perennial polarities beloved by brain geeks -- networks versus modules and top-down versus bottom-up attention -- get linked in this week's essay, in which UC Berkeley's Mark D'Esposito reviews an imaging study of how monkeys use their brains to direct their attention. The results, suggests D'Esposito, add threads to vital strands of neuroscientific thought.
clock | October 16, 2007When I went to the Lawrence Hall of Science with Janet, I wore a PLoS T-shirt, of course. The volunteer at the museum, a high school student (you can see her here attaching a harness on Janet), saw my shirt and said "PLoS! Awesome!"
I asked her how she knew about it and why she seemed to like it so much and she told me that they use it in school all the time because it is full of cool information, it is free to read and free to use in presentations and such. Obviously, for her and similar students, the material in scientific papers does not go over their heads, no matter how dry the…
clock | October 16, 2007There are 95 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 91 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we'll cap at about 230). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Sarah Wallace is a senior at Duke, majoring in public policy and global health. She spent last summer doing research in Chernobyl,…
clock | October 15, 2007Perhaps you did not like the shirt. Or do not care for the mug. But if you qualify for one of the prizes by donating to a Scienceblogs challenge on DonorsChoose, you may get a much more appropriate piece - a wall clock:
clock | October 15, 2007Testosterone Turns Male Junco Birds Into Blustery Hunks -- And Bad Dads:
The ability to ramp up testosterone production appears to drive male dark-eyed juncos to find and win mates, but it comes with an evolutionary cost. Big fluctuations in testosterone may also cause males to lose interest in parenting their own young, scientists have learned.
Blind To Beauty: How And Where Do We Process Attractiveness?:
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but according to research conducted by a UBC medical student, eye candy fails to find a sweet tooth in patients with a rare disorder.
After Drought…
clock | October 15, 2007Monday - the day for checking in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine for the newest published articles. And there is some good stuff:
Characterization of Sleep in Zebrafish and Insomnia in Hypocretin Receptor Mutants
Sleep disorders are common and poorly understood. Further, how and why the brain generates sleep is the object of intense speculations. In this study, we demonstrate that a bony fish used for genetic studies sleeps and that a molecule, hypocretin, involved in causing narcolepsy, is conserved. In humans, narcolepsy is a sleep disorder associated with sleepiness, abnormal dreaming, and…
clock | October 15, 2007Oekologie #10 is up on Laelaps.
Boneyard #7 is up on Microecos
Mendel's Garden: Halloween Edition is up on Discovering Biology in a Digital World
The Accretionary Wedge #2 is up on All of My Faults Are Stress Related
Four Stone Hearth XXV - 1st Anniversary Edition - is up on Remote Central
Grand Rounds Vol 4:4 are up on NY Emergency Medicine
Carnival Of The Green #99 is up on Ethical Junction
clock | October 15, 2007Just watching someone give a talk is often not enough to remember it later. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. And certainly, seeing is believing. But, this presentation is impossible to forget, even if one would rather not remember it so vividly. Oh, and it was absolutely NSFW!
Obligatory Reading of the Day.
clock | October 15, 2007Yes, I'll try to be there in about an hour, if the system stops freezing on me, or if I do not get delayed by copulating with a furry kangaroo or something...
Bertalan is live-blogging the event!