Clik here to view.
Twirl-a-squirrel
Isn't that nice, a bird feeder that really amuses your squirrels. The inventor of the Twirl-a-squirrel is an early nominee for my person of the year. Now can we get one that fits around plants?...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The man who made it possible
There's a nice set of articles in this week's Nature celebrating the birth centenary and work of a man whose work underlies almost all of modern life - Alan Turing. Considering the complete...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Can a pill take away the desire for religion?
Well yes it can - in a manner of speaking. Today's study is one that was actually published in 2010, and has been languishing in my files. I just rediscovered it! It's one of a trio from Aaron Kay and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Athyrididae: Spiralia and Lamellae
A specimen of the Devonian Athyris fultonensis photographed by Kentuckiana Mike. This specimen has part of the shell broken away to expose the calcified spiralium underneath. The Athyrididae were a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Play the Oldest New-World Game of Pictionary
Take a good look, because this may be the oldest piece of art in the Americas. Archaeologists say it's also our earliest drawing of a human. Of course, when your Pictionary partner has been dead for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who just added another annual ring?
This is ever so slightly belated, but Mondays are busy days, so hopefully Dr. Chips will forgive me for being late in wishing him another happy birthday. In his honor my botany class studied secondary...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Flowering shrubs - the intelligent, tasteful, moral choice
"I feel quite comfortable saying that unless your garden is filled with flowering shrubs, your taste, intelligence, and probably your morals are highly suspect." So reads the advertisement that just...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Diverse New Microvertebrate Assemblage from the Late Triassic of North Carolina
Heckert, A. B., Mitchell, J. S., Schneider, V. P., and P. E. Olsen. 2012. Diverse New Microvertebrate Assemblage from the Upper Triassic Cumnock Formation, Sanford Subbasin, North Carolina, USA....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Offense taken: autism, emotion, and packs of neurons
Cupcakes are grand, but they are unlikely to drive significant social change.Via Wikimedia Commons.I edit scientific papers for a living, some of which overlap with the social sciences and the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The right questions about modeling in drug discovery
There's been a fair bit of discussion recently about the role of modeling in drug design, and as a modeler I have found it encouraging to see people recognize the roles that modeling to varying extents...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Blogging the Origin: Chapter I: Variation Under Domestication
This has been a long time coming and Darwin's birthday and the anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species have come and gone. Despite all the other things I'm trying to do, I've missed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
March 2012 Desktop Calendar
This is the moss Anacamptodon splachnoides. I just love the sound of that name! You can read more about this species in two earlier posts (Post #1 here & Post #2 here). With snow on the ground...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Science in India: Moon shot or bust?
This week's issue of Science has a special set of articles on science in India which highlights both the pitfalls and promises for the future of science in that country. There are lots of interesting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy Birthday AbC!!
Angry by Choice first came online 5 years ago today. After two years of going solo, AbC joined the FoS collective. The number of hits has been creeping up since that time and for the first time broke...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Windy day blues
Yesterday was a terribly windy day even by the standards of the upper midwest where it's almost always windy thus explaining all those hundreds of wind turbines standing only a few miles outside our...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Berry-go-round #49
Bora over at Blog around the clock did a great job of rounding up a bunch of plant related blogs even though February was a shortish, but slightly longer this leap year, month. It does my heart good...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Davy Jones has stopped Monkeeing around
The Phactor was never a Monkees fan, too bubble gum, too cutesy, too lame, but for a reason that will shortly be revealed, he knows the words to almost all of their songs. You see my dear departed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
We need all the support we can get
I rarely 'reblog' but these are powerful words from Seth's blog. They deserve your attention. Society changes when we change what we're embarrassed about. In just fifty years, we've made it shameful...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A new way to look for life on other planets
One of the fundamental properties of light is its polarization which refers to the spatial orientation of the electric and magnetic fields constituting a light wave. There are many fascinating facts...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Your Sense of Sight Helps You Smell
Imagine the smell of an orange. Have you got it? Are you also picturing the orange, even though I didn't ask you to? Try fish. Or mown grass. You'll find it's difficult to bring a scent to mind...
View Article