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Molecular Biology: Not So Sexy Science
A couple of things recently have got me thinking. Following the success of BBC Stargazing Live, @xtaldave on Twitter jokingly suggested the BBC should commission Molecular Biology Live. There followed...
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Wicked plants this way come
The Phactor gets many unusual requests, and this morning in my favorite coffee shop, the lovely Jessica says she wishes to construct a display of "wicked plants", and asks me for ideas. Wicked can...
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Evolutionary Road: Runoff Breeds Super Salamanders
There's no comic-book hero I know of whose origin story begins, "I was lying in a swampy forest when suddenly, some dirty water trickled onto me."* But with roads and traffic crisscrossing their...
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Conflicted - Annoying spammer vs. botanical outreach
The Phactor likes to promote botany to the point of near obsession; it's a life work. And naturally TPP embraces new techonology whole-heartedly (not really), but realistically you have to consider...
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Do women matter in childbirth?
Image in public domain.The news this past week was full of stories about home birth--they're on the rise in the US, even though rates remain comparatively tiny, and a home birth advocate in Australia...
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More UK mumps outbreaks in Glasgow, Scotland.
Typical mumps swelling. I've written about this a lot - which isn't all that surprising given that our lab is one of a handful working on the virus - but mumps has struck again, this time raising it's...
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Timing of the Earliest Known Feathered Dinosaurs
Edging a bit closer...... Liu, Y.-Q., Kuang, H.-W., Jiang, X.-J., Peng, N., Xu, H., and H.-Y. Sun. 2012. Timing of the earliest known feathered dinosaurs and transitional pterosaurs older than the...
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Friday Fabulous Flower - a Gesneriad
Almost didn't get to a fabulous flower today what with so many things to get ready for next week. With the days getting longer, the glasshouse collection is looking a bit livelier, and at least one...
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Write Up Mode : Activate !
Use Thundershock you Fool! Books are weak to Electric ! It's over, and I'm overwhelmed. I've finished my last set of experiments. My feelings upon leaving the lab are difficult to sum up. There is so...
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Simply being near a church makes people more hostile to outsiders
Priming studies (in which you plant thoughts or topics in people's minds without their being aware of it) typically take place in laboratories. But you can get the same effects in the real world too....
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In Memoriam
With great consternation I heard about the sudden and tragic death of Dr. Lorenz Keim. I meet him on various field trips and respected him as enthusiastic geologist and able lecturer, dedicated to the...
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Botanical stalker-spammer
Oh, we plant lovers get a certain satisfaction from recognition, but at times it can get a bit creepy. So what to make out of Steve Bowen, the recent stalker/spammer of plant bloggers? Where does he...
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Indiana's clumsy attempt at theocracy
An edible FSM Those state legislators are meddling with science again. This time it's Indiana, trying to promote their religious views in public schools by dictating what science teachers will teach....
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Why Super Bowl Advertisers Want a Close Game
While Americans gather around the nachos today to find out whether the Patriots beat the Giants and how much clothing Danica Patrick wears in her GoDaddy spot, advertisers will have their fingers...
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Book review: Philip Anderson's "More and Different"
The Nobel Prize-winning physicist Philip Warren Anderson is one of those rare species - a scientist who is not only world-class in his own field but who seems capable of saying something interesting...
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Brown Ticks
Brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus, from here. In an earlier post on this site, I gave a brief overview of the hard ticks, those lovable suckers of blood and (often) vectors of disease. Today,...
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Don't just focus on bats and their viruses
Spot the bat I just wanted to alert people to this opinion piece on an Australian website discussing the role that bats play in harboring deadly viruses. This isn't an ordinary piece, it was written...
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What's lurking in the tomato ketchup?
Turkey breasts, Cucumbers, Korma sauces and now.. Watermelons! It seems no food is safe when it comes to microbial contamination. Barely does a month go by without a contaminated food source lurking...
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ADHD risk and general anesthesia: What does the study really tell us?
Via Wikimedia Commons. This image is a gross misrepresentation ofthe real disability that is ADHD. But it was public domain, so I used it.Recent headlines inform us that researchers have identified a...
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Pond landscaping - glorious quillworts
One of the side benefits of pond renovation is you have new spaces to landscape, and this includes aquatic plants. So JFTHOI the Phactor has decided to include a pot of quillwort, Isoetes. This...
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