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Botanical garden refugee camps for plants
Please understand that every botanist TPP knows would like to take measures to stop or reduce global warming. However, botanists are a pragmatic bunch and here is a news article about an endangered...
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L1448-MM: water in space
posted by @ulaulaman about #Astronomy: One of the most interesting research topics is the star formation. The high weigth chemistry elements could diffusein the universe only with the life cycle of the...
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USA's science in trouble
When so many of your elected representatives refuse to accept science as a very successful way of knowing how can it be anything of a surprise when science funding slumps? Here's a story about how bad...
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Citing and being cited
One of the problems we work on is the sequence specificity of the H. influenzae DNA uptake system. Over the past 10 years we've published 5 major studies of the uptake sequences in H. influenzae and...
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Poor Communication of Essentially Good Research
It is no surprise to see a press release on scientific research that inflates the conclusions of the study or its potential impact. But usually the basic biology is correct, not so with the press...
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Where have all the beetles gone, long time passing?
This year was a no-show year for Japanese beetles, a relatively new pest in our area. Flea beetles usually turn my potato's and eggplants' leaves into lace unless they are regularly dusted. Bean...
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12 Things I Found Exploring the California Seafloor (and You Can Too)
If for some reason you haven't been invited on a submersible ride-along, the next best thing is probably 340 miles' worth of raw video footage from the ocean floor. The U.S. Geological Survey just...
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Fall crops for the kitchen garden
Here's a practical advice posting for all of you not so experienced kitchen gardeners out there. Gardens are not almost done! Now is the time to plant some fall crops. Mostly these are like spring...
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Los Angeles anti-gardening statutes
What! Gardeners having to uproot fruit trees and garden plants because they violate a city statute? This is outrageous! Where is the problem? Oh, these gardens are along the parkway, and anything...
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TMI Friday: Discount Silicon Implants
This weeks unfortunate tale revolves around a 26 year old woman who turned up to Addenbrookes hospital, Cambridge in 1975 with a peculiar condition. The woman reported that for around 6 months , she...
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Arlington Texas doesn't like organic gardening or gardeners
The Garden of Eden organic gardeners were getting grief from the city of Arlington TX. They were cited for "grass that was too tall, bushes growing too close to the street, a couch and piano in the...
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Survey results
Here are the results of my survey on concerns about republication of CC-BY articles. I've put a screenshot of the survey questions below the graphs of the results. I discuss the implications in a...
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Survey results: what should be done about CC-BY reuse?
(As indicated in places below, I've later added points to this post as a result of ongoing Twitter discussions.) My first posts on this new problem reported that a for-profit publisher is editing and...
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Feeling really crappy
The semester begins on Monday, but that's not the reason TPP is ill. Friday was our last day without any classes or commitments for some time, so the afternoon was used for a field trip to find some...
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Friday Fabulous Flower - large-flowered yellow foxglove
The large-flowered yellow foxglove (Aureolaria grandiflora) is a hemiparasitic plants; it's green and photosynthetic and it's also a parasite on surrounding plants. This particular yellow foxglove...
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Survey results by author's number of publications
A Twitter discussion got us wondering whether author's opinions about CC-BY editing and republication would depend on the seniority of the author. Perhaps authors who had spent decades building their...
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#MicroTwJC Part 1: Pushing the envelope of Broad Sprectrum Antivirals
This week in Microbiology Twitter Journal Club, we will delve into the search for new weapons in our fight against viruses. This is going to be a two part analysis of the drug LJ-001. Today, we are...
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What makes a good math teacher?
Motivates students to learn by making the subject interesting;Is knowledgeable;Presents the material clearly;Is approachable and helpful;Is available to students;Is intellectually...
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Yponomeutoids and their Boring Larvae
...because some puns will never die.Larvae of the bird-cherry ermine moth Yponomeuta evonymella, from here. As noted in an earlier post, most people's perception of Lepidoptera, 'butterflies and...
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Horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad semester start
Today is a Monday morning in August of 2013. Your printer announces that it is out of toner as soon as you turn it on, this being as inconvenient a time as can be imagined. TPP is not looking and...
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