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gregladen | January 18, 2008Enjoy a little on-line learning....
This sounds like a young David Attenborough
[Thanks Marta!]
mikethemadbiologist | January 18, 2008Amanda Marcotte reminds us of the origin of the states' rights claim (italics mine):
For the slower (willfully and not) people out there, the rhetoric about protecting the innocent states from the all-powerful federal government--rhetoric that would have basically every stalwart Republican and Libertarian out there pumping his fist in solidarity--is referencing Alabama's "right" to prevent black people from voting, with violence if necessary.
It's important to have long memories, because the language about "small government" and "states rights" is with us today, and there's no reason to think…
cortex | January 18, 2008That, at least, is the consensus of a new paper in Neuropharmacology:
There is a general consensus that the effects of cannabinoid agonists on anxiety seem to be biphasic, with low doses being anxiolytic and high doses ineffective or possibly anxiogenic. Besides the behavioural effects of cannabinoids on anxiety, very few papers have dealt with the neuroanatomical sites of these effects. We investigated the effect on rat anxiety behavior of local administration of THC in the prefrontal cortex, basolateral amygdala and ventral hippocampus, brain regions belonging to the emotional circuit and…
cmcclain | January 17, 2008
At 00:48, video of the Japanese Spider Crab, or the Dead Man's Crab*, occurs and touted as the world's largest. But is it? Sure its big with a leg span that can reach several meters but it is all leg. Weight or mass wise, I would argue that the world's largest crab and modern arthropod is the Tasmanian Giant Crab.
*Called because its been seen scavenging on the bodies of the drowned
cmcclain | January 17, 2008A two-coloured lobster caught by Digby County (Nova Scotia) fisherman Edward Pothier. Tina Comeau photo
Lobster color derives from the presence of three different pigments: red, yellow, and blue. These colors typically mix to form a greenish-brown color. It is not uncommon to get a developmental error that inhibits the accumulation of red and yellow pigment, thus producing a blue lobster. Rarer is a two colored lobster. Because the two sides of lobster develop independently of each other an error can occur on one side an not the other. Most likely this occurs at a very early cell…
gregladen | January 17, 2008The Materials Research Society has an annual competition called "Science as Art." There are some pretty spectacular images on their web site, here.
Hat tip: Canned Platypus
pharyngula | January 17, 2008
Neil Shubin, recent guest on The Colbert Report, author of the cover story of this month's Natural History magazine, author of the newly released book, Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), and most significantly, well known scientist and co-discoverer of the lovely transitional fossil, Tiktaalik roseae, has made a guest post on Pharyngula, describing his experiences in preparing for appearing on television — it's good stuff to read if you're thinking of communicating science to the mass media, or if you're a fan of either…
sb admin | January 17, 2008Remember Julie MacDonald, the Department of Interior appointee with industry connections but no biology degree, who altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for endangered species? There are plenty of wildlife scientists who havenât forgotten about her or about the larger problem of the Bush administration meddling with environmental science, and two dozen of them descended on Capitol Hill last weekend to make their concerns known. The Washington Postâs Elizabeth Williamson explains:
Organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Endangered Species Coalition, the…
cmcclain | January 17, 2008This weeks Science offers commentary on the use of Ocean Iron Fertilization (OIF) to mitigate rising carbon dioxide levels. The author list is a dream team of ocean productivity experts who know what they are talking about. The 1 page commentary is chock-o-block full of great quotes.
The efficacy by which OIF sequesters atmospheric CO2 to the deep sea remains poorly constrained, and we do not understand the intended and unintended biogeochemical and ecological impacts. Environmental perturbations from OIF are nonlocal and are spread over a large area by ocean circulation, which makes long…
cortex | January 17, 2008Economists parse the stats and find the correlation:
We find that college football games are associated with sharp increases in crime. For instance, assaults increase by about 9% when a community hosts a college football game, vandalism increases by about 18%, and DUIs increase by about 13%. We also find evidence that upsets result in larger increases in crime than games that do not produce an upset. For instance, an upset loss at home is associated with a 112% increase in assaults and a 61% increase in vandalism. We discuss these results in the context of psychological theories of fan…
petnoyer | January 17, 2008Deep-water formation is one of the most fascinating aspects of global thermohaline circulation. Deep-water doesn't form only at the poles, though, as cold water sinks below warm. Subtropical Underwater, for example, is formed in the central Atlantic where the difference between evaporation and precipitation is highest. Dense, high salinity water sinks down to about 500m before spreading into the bathyl zone of the Caribbean Sea. So, you should ask yourself, where's my deep water coming from? And, how is it effecting my local shrimp fishery? Read the open-access, full-text article here at…
grrlscientist | January 17, 2008tags: Gerty Cori, 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, glycogen metabolism, USPS commemorative stamps
A stamp featuring Biochemist Gerty Cori, who together with her husband won a Nobel Prize in 1947 for discovering how the body processes glycogen. Chemists found a small flaw in the drawing of the "cori ester" molecule, a derivative of glycogen discovered by Gerty, but the US Postal Service will issue the stamp anyway, in March.
Image: United States Postal Service [post box sized view].
cortex | January 17, 2008I'm definitely ready for the writer's strike to be over. I actually watched two hours of American Idol last night. I haven't watched many of these pre-competition shows before, when Paula, Randy and Simon sit through the auditions of strangers off the street, but I couldn't help but notice that the show seemed to feature some mentally ill and mentally handicapped people. The performers were both incredibly sincere and unbelievably bad , which was supposed to create some comic relief. The joke got old pretty quickly, though.
I'm obviously not a doctor, but it seemed a little cruel to feature…
petnoyer | January 17, 2008A French court ruled that Total oil, the cargo owner in a 1999 oil spill that polluted 400km of coastline, is partially responsible for damages to the environment. The court faulted Total for "carelessness" in leasing the 23-year-old Maltese-registered vessel Erika, which had sailed under eight names and numerous owners. Despite the ship's certification, the tanker bore "suspect shadowy zones of substantial corrosion," the court said.
Also convicted were Italian company Registro Italiano Navale, which inspected the vessel; the ship's Italian owner, Giuseppe Savarese; and Antonio Pollara,…
grrlscientist | January 16, 2008So where have I been all day? In short, I wasted a perfectly good day of internet connectivity so I could go to the hospital -- not as a patient nor as an emergency arrival, although the day was such an abortion that it is surprising that I didn't end up in the psych ER after all was said and done. No, I was there for just one reason: to see my psychiatrist who would then refill my prescription.
This is how my day went.
0600: I am awake, listening to NPR. It's dark. My parrot pals are still asleep.
0700: Get up, take a shower, wash my hair, and feed my birds their gourmet meals of fruits,…
pharyngula | January 16, 2008Here's an interesting twist of view: comparing the perspectives of a Law (Paul Davies) and Chaos (yours truly*) and applying the ideas to chess. Even in a relatively simple system where all the rules are fixed and known, is there an orderly, formulaic solution to the problem?
*There is a reason my oldest son is named Alaric, and why there is a shrine to Arioch in the infernal pit in the subbasement.
sb admin | January 16, 2008by Susan F. Wood, PhDÂ
We are excited to be starting up a new research project here at the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy: Scientists in Government: An Examination of their Rights and Responsibilities in Civil Society.  The goal of this initiative is to provoke and shape the public discussion about the rights and responsibilities of government scientists, as part of the larger effort to ensure that government uses the best science to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of Americans.Â
We are looking for a research associate/qualitative researcher who will lead…
cortex | January 16, 2008My recent article in Seed is now online. Here is the nut graf:
The current constraints of science make it clear that the breach between our two cultures is not merely an academic problem that stifles conversation at cocktail parties. Rather, it is a practical problem, and it holds back science's theories. If we want answers to our most essential questions, then we will need to bridge our cultural divide. By heeding the wisdom of the arts, science can gain the kinds of new insights and perspectives that are the seeds of scientific progress.
The article was really an extension of the argument I…
cortex | January 16, 2008I was talking to a neuroscientist the other day and he started complaining about fMRI studies. They are too easy, unreliable, etc. (This is a surprisingly common complaint among neuroscientists who rely on the techniques of molecular biology.) But then he asked me a question that I couldn't answer. "Tell me one brain imaging study," he said, "that was really, truly surprising? You get lots of studies showing that the DLPFC is important for deliberate reasoning or that the amygdala responds to negative stimuli, but is that surprising?" He went on to note that, while fMRI studies have certainly…