SAN FRANCISCO — More than 100 million Americans watched Sunday’s Super Bowl, but here at Wired.com, a couple dozen of our readers can probably brag they had the strangest viewing experience. They were strapped up with sensors that measured their body’s physiological reactions to what was happening during the game and commercials. With the help of Boston-based research firm Innerscope, we converted Wired’s cafeteria into a makeshift sports bar complete with 6 HDTVs gathered from around the office and of course, Beer Robot and greasy pizza. Participants in the study had…
Selected by 2020science
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Wired Science
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A Peek at Wired’s Ultra Geeky Super Bowl Party
9 Feb 2010 | 11:03 am -
Fastest Wings on Earth Show Extremes of Sexual Selection
9 Feb 2010 | 10:43 amWith feathers that resonate at precisely 1,500 hertz, the male club-winged manakin is perhaps the bird world’s most perfectly tuned example of sexual selection. By pinning down the frequency, researchers have completed a long investigation into the bird’s sonic physiology and showed just how far some guys go to impress the ladies. “The fundamental anatomy of the wings has been completely reworked to play a sound for courtship,” said Cornell University ornithologist Kim Bostwick, who describes the wings in a paper published Monday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. -
Stunningly Preserved 165-Million-Year-Old Spider Fossil Found
8 Feb 2010 | 10:11 pmScientists have unearthed an almost perfectly preserved spider fossil in China dating back to the middle Jurassic era, 165 million years ago. The fossilized spiders, Eoplectreurys gertschi, are older than the only two other specimens known by around 120 million years. The level of detail preserved in the fossils is amazing, said paleontologist Paul Selden of the University of Kansas and lead author of the study appearing Feb. 6 in Naturwissenschaften. “You go in with a microscope, and bingo! It’s fantastic.” The fossils were found at a site called Daohugou in Northern China… -
Audio: DIY Recordings of Awakening Sun
8 Feb 2010 | 12:20 pmAs the sun emerges from a long lull in activity, the star’s emissions in the radio band of the spectrum have also picked up. And from a shed on three acres of land outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft is making recordings of them available for download. “The Sun has become hyper-dynamic the past few days,” Ashcraft wrote on his website Sunday, along with links to four “specimens” of radio bursts, as he calls them. The sun is crackling with solar flares now as a very large sunspot continues to circle our star. The recent solar… -
Ultra-Precise Quantum-Logic Clock Trumps Old Atomic Clock
5 Feb 2010 | 3:13 pmScientists have built a clock which is 37 times more precise than the existing international standard. The quantum-logic clock, which detects the energy state of a single aluminum ion, keeps time to within a second every 3.7 billion years. The new timekeeper could one day improve GPS or detect the slowing of time predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. “It could it be a real contender for the next frequency standard, or next timekeeper,” said physicist Chin-wen (James) Chou of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, lead author of a study…
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Scientific American
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NASA Readies a Satellite to Probe the Sun, Inside and Out
9 Feb 2010 | 10:00 amNASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is what might be called a satellite for the information age. It is designed to provide scientists who study the sun with a torrent of data--the space agency says the observatory will return 150 million bits of data about Earth's host star per second, or about 1.5 terabytes per day. [More] -
What Happens in the Amygdala... Damage to Brain's Decision-Making Area May Encourage Dicey Gambles
9 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amImagine you've lost your job. You have some money saved, and a chance to double it with a gamble. But if you lose the bet, you'll forfeit everything. What would you do? [More] -
Python Predation: Big snakes poised to change U.S. ecosystems
9 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amBrought to the U.S. as pets, Burmese pythons have made headlines with their uncontrolled spread in the Florida Everglades and willingness to challenge alligators for the position of top predator. A report released by the U.S. Geological Survey last fall delivered more bad news: two other constrictor species, also former pets, are thriving in the area, and six others could pose similar threats. Researchers fear that reproductive populations could spread and eat native animals into extinction.The new interlopers--northern and southern African pythons, reticulated pythons, boa constrictors and… -
Distracted Customers' Wait Times Fly
8 Feb 2010 | 9:05 pmYou know what it’s like. Sit chatting with a friend, and the hours can zip by. But once someone puts you on hold [audio: bad on-hold music] or makes you wait in line, each second feels interminable. But Dan Zakay of Tel Aviv University has some tricks for businesses to keep waiting customers happy. He published the psychology research in the journal NeuroQuantology . [More] -
The Advantages of Being Helpless
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmAt every stage of early development, human babies lag behind infants from other species. A kitten can amble across a room within moments of birth and catch its first mouse within weeks, while its wide-eyed human counterpart takes months to make her first step, and years to learn even simple tasks, such as how to tie a shoelace or skip a rope, let alone prepare a three-course meal. Yet, in the cognitive race, human babies turn out to be much like the tortoise in Aesop’s fable: emerging triumphant after a slow and steady climb to the finish. As adults, we drive fancy sports…
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SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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Seed's Daily Zeitgeist
9 Feb 2010 | 8:43 amSeed's Daily Zeitgeist The awesome power of science journalism (source: NY Times) After tracking the New York Times’ list of most e-mailed articles for more than six months, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found to their surprise that lengthy, challenging science articles were consistently more popular than articles on the Times home page. The reason, they posit, is readers’ desire to share material that inspires awe. Meet the elusive and majestic oarfish (source: BBC News) Oarfish, bizarre ribbon-like marine fish that can grow to lengths of 17 meters, are usually… -
The Matthew Effect
9 Feb 2010 | 6:27 amWhen it comes to scientific publishing and fame, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. How can we break this feedback loop? -
Seed's Daily Zeitgeist
8 Feb 2010 | 12:21 pmSeed's Daily Zeitgeist Radiation oncologists respond to newspaper injury investigation (source: New York Times) A sobering investigative report from the New York Times on radiation overdoses in cancer treatments has prompted the American Society for Radiation Oncology to produce a new quality assurance plan. Obama Administration launches Climate.gov (source: NOAA) The federal government has a number of branches, organizations, and advocates that speak on climate change, from the Department of Energy to the Environmental Protection Agency. Now, a joint project of the Department of Commerce and… -
Illuminating Dark Economies
8 Feb 2010 | 6:18 amMeasuring economic activity from outer space is a new frontier in the struggle to quantify humanity’s impact on the natural world. -
Seed's Daily Zeitgeist
5 Feb 2010 | 12:18 pmSeed's Daily Zeitgeist The study of networks meets the study of ecosystems (source: e360) In his latest piece for e360, Carl Zimmer delves in the science of networks and how it can be applied to understanding the resilience of natural systems. Infoviz: Graffiti trends in college bathrooms (source: Inkling) A longitudinal study of graffiti in the UChicago library bathrooms shows that chemistry is both loved and loathed. But for tiramisu, and religious fundamentalists, the data are different. A mathematical mandala appears for the first time in nature (source: PLUS) A mysterious symmetrical…
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New Scientist
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What the LHC could find at half-power
9 Feb 2010 | 10:22 amNext week engineers will begin preparing the machine to run at half its maximum energy – so what can a half-power collider find? -
Today on New Scientist: 9 February 2010
9 Feb 2010 | 10:00 amToday's stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: the hunt for the world's missing whales, how bright the stars really are, and how to make your food more filling -
Airliner landing gear not fit for all emergencies
9 Feb 2010 | 8:45 amAn investigation into an airliner brought down by ice in its fuel tank has thrown up a design problem that may affect many aircraft -
Complex smells make food more filling
9 Feb 2010 | 7:41 amFood that incorporates more complex aromas appears to make you feel more full -
Software photo-doctor fixes up bad photos
9 Feb 2010 | 7:01 amA tool that knows what makes a good photo subtly tweaks and moves elements of a bad snap to make it more aesthetically pleasing
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Discovery News Top Stories
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Thousands of Dinosaur Tracks Discovered in China
9 Feb 2010 | 9:27 amOver 3,000 dinosaur tracks have been discovered in a gully at Zhucheng, China, according to a recent AFP report. I haven't seen any journal studies yet on this find, but it certainly sounds like one of the largest collections of ... -
Mid-Atlantic Bracing for Another Major Storm
9 Feb 2010 | 8:46 amPowerful winds and heavy snow are expected to hit the eastern U.S. by this evening. -
Antibiotics Inhibit Plant Growth
9 Feb 2010 | 4:23 amA common antibiotic that can be found in wastewater reduces the ability of plant leaves to capture sunlight. -
NASA Launches Private Firms into Space Race
9 Feb 2010 | 4:00 amAstronauts may be hitching rides on commercial spaceships by 2014. -
Evidence of Liquid Water on Saturn's Moon Enceladus
9 Feb 2010 | 2:50 amEnceladus' icy plumes glow as the small moon passes in front of the sun from Cassini's point of view in 2007 (NASA) Saturn's moon Enceladus contains a large body of water under its surface, new research has confirmed. This has ...
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SciGuy
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NASA chief seeks new exploration ideas; "No holds barred."
9 Feb 2010 | 5:18 amNASA administrator Charles Bolden laughed when I asked him about the possibility of a one-way mission to Mars, so I don't think it's necessarily on the table. But he did acknowledge that people with ideas about where and how the... -
Heat, humidity & humor: Your weekly weather
8 Feb 2010 | 6:33 amWelcome to your Monday morning weather update in which I'll attempt to sum up the immediate past, present and future of weather on the bayou. Below find a look ahead a look at a possible freeze, and an extended outlook... -
Endeavour ascends successfully to orbit
8 Feb 2010 | 1:37 amIn what may be the final night launch of a space shuttle, Endeavour made a picturesque launch against a black Florida sky Monday morning. The launch came after mission managers' concerns about the weather dissipated as did a low-level cloud... -
Tracking the second attempt to launch Endeavour
7 Feb 2010 | 7:00 pmAfter Sunday morning's scrub of Endeavour, NASA will try again to get the shuttle into orbit early Monday at 3:14 a.m. CT. With just five flights remaining in the shuttle program, the space agency is counting on Endeavour to deliver... -
Endeavour launch attempt scrubbed due to weather
7 Feb 2010 | 1:43 amNASA's attempt to fly Endeavour failed this morning because low clouds around the launch site were too thick to allow the vehicle to safely ascend to orbit. The 13-day mission to deliver to large new components the International Space Station...
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NYT: Environment
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Skeptics Find Fault With U.N. Climate Panel
9 Feb 2010 | 8:56 amRajendra K. Pachauri and the U.N. panel he leads face accusations of scientific sloppiness and conflicts of interest. -
U.S. Officials Plan $78.5 Million Effort to Keep Dangerous Carp Out of Great Lakes
8 Feb 2010 | 10:45 pmAddressing a threat that has grown increasingly tense throughout the Midwest as genetic material from the fish was found in Lake Michigan. -
Researcher on Climate Is Cleared in Inquiry
7 Feb 2010 | 6:27 pmAn academic board has largely cleared Dr. Michael E. Mann of misconduct arising from the unauthorized release of more than 1,000 e-mail messages. -
Whaler and Activist Ship Collide Off Antarctica
6 Feb 2010 | 11:05 pmThe anti-whaling ship the Bob Barker and a Japanese harpoon boat collided in the icy waters off Antarctica in their second major clash this year. -
Hawaii Senate Says Cutting Back on Paper Has Saved $1.2 Million
6 Feb 2010 | 4:04 pmBy eliminating the use of millions of sheets of paper, the lawmakers said they saved more than 800 trees.
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ScienceNOW
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Australia, Antarctica Linked by Climate
Carbon dioxide emissions could be leading to record drought and snowfalls [Read more] -
How Cancer Wreaks Havoc on Bone
Insulin-like hormone sends bodies' own bone-eating cells into overdrive [Read more] -
Teamwork Tackles Larger Protein Structures
Experiments and computer modeling provide an advance in solving protein structures [Read more] -
Can Thin Mountain Air Make You Slim?
High living--in the topographical sense--causes weight loss, a study suggests [Read more] -
Better to React Than to Act
Legendary quantum physicist's speculations about Westerns inspire discovery about reaction speed [Read more]
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Reuters: Science News
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Study shows why it is so scary to lose money
9 Feb 2010 | 10:50 amWASHINGTON (Reuters) - People are afraid to lose money and an unusual study released on Monday explains why -- the brain's fear center controls the response to a gamble. -
Scientists find gene variant link to aging cells
9 Feb 2010 | 6:07 amLONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have found specific genetic variants which may explain why some people age earlier than others and say their findings have important implications for understanding cancer and age-related diseases. -
Shuttle Endeavour blasts off for space station
8 Feb 2010 | 6:29 amCAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Endeavour bolted off its seaside launch pad in Florida on Monday, carrying six astronauts on a voyage to install the last two main pieces of the International Space Station. -
Arctic climate changing faster than expected
5 Feb 2010 | 4:32 pmWINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Climate change is transforming the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance of sea ice, scientists said on Friday in giving their early findings from the biggest-ever study of Canada's changing north. -
Russian cargo ship docks at International Space Station
4 Feb 2010 | 10:14 pmMOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian cargo ship delivered food, water, fuel and other supplies to the International Space Station on Friday, space officials said.
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NYT > Technology
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Findings: Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It’s Awesome
9 Feb 2010 | 11:00 amA University of Pennsylvania study found that readers of news in print and online had more exalted tastes than might be expected. -
Foursquare Signs a Deal With Zagat
9 Feb 2010 | 10:44 amFoursquare, the hip social network whose software is on the phones of many young urbanites, is branching out. -
More on Online Language Learning
9 Feb 2010 | 10:38 amIn addition to the online language learning programs discussed in a recent Times article, here are several more that may be of interest. -
Samsung Gets the Amoled Out
9 Feb 2010 | 10:36 amReports are that the Korean brand will bring devices with AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) displays to market in the next year. -
App of the Week: Weather for Everyone
9 Feb 2010 | 10:34 amThe Weather Underground mobile Web site works on most any Web-enabled phone, and on a smartphone you can set it up to work like an app.
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Scientific American
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NASA Readies a Satellite to Probe the Sun, Inside and Out
9 Feb 2010 | 10:00 amNASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory is what might be called a satellite for the information age. It is designed to provide scientists who study the sun with a torrent of data--the space agency says the observatory will return 150 million bits of data about Earth's host star per second, or about 1.5 terabytes per day. [More] -
What Happens in the Amygdala... Damage to Brain's Decision-Making Area May Encourage Dicey Gambles
9 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amImagine you've lost your job. You have some money saved, and a chance to double it with a gamble. But if you lose the bet, you'll forfeit everything. What would you do? [More] -
City Dwellers Drive Deforestation in 21st Century
8 Feb 2010 | 12:01 pmGlobally, roughly 13 million hectares of forest fall to the blade or fire each year. Such deforestation has long been driven by farmers eking out a slash-and-burn living or loggers using new roads to cut inroads into pristine forest. But now new data appears to show that, at least for the first five years of the 21st century, big block clearings that reflect industrial deforestation have come to dominate, rather than smaller-scale efforts that leave behind long, narrow swaths of cleared land. [More] -
Researchers Identify Genetic Variant Linked to Faster Biological Aging
8 Feb 2010 | 11:45 amThere's no right answer when someone asks you: " How old do you think I am ?"Faced with such a dilemma, most of us aim low--erring on the side of flattery rather than honesty. But the truth is, accurately guessing someone's age is a difficult task, perhaps best left to amusement park workers and street performers. [More] -
CERN Gears Up Its Computers for More Atom Smashing
8 Feb 2010 | 7:00 amA deluge of high-energy physics data is headed toward servers in Geneva, Switzerland, later this month. That's because the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) now says it plans to restart its Large Hadron Collider (LHC) soon for a run that could last as long as two years at a collision energy of seven TeV (tera–electron volts, 3.5 TeV per beam). As CERN ramps up the world's most powerful particle accelerator to operate well beyond its previous best performance , the lab's computer systems must likewise be tuned so they can properly capture and analyze all of this new…
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Eurekalert
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Low forms of cyclin E reduce breast cancer drug's effectiveness
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmOverexpression of low-molecular-weight (LMW-E) forms of the protein cyclin E renders the aromatase inhibitor letrozole ineffective among women with estrogen-receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancers, researchers from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in Clinical Cancer Research. -
Caltech neuroscientists discover brain area responsible for fear of losing money
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmNeuroscientists at the California Institute of Technology and their colleagues have tied the human aversion to losing money to a specific structure in the brain -- the amygdala. -
Animals cope with climate change at the dinner table
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmProfessor Yoram Yom-Tov of Tel Aviv University's Department of Zoology has been measuring the evolving body sizes of birds and animals in areas where climate change is most extreme. In higher latitudes, Professor Yom-Tov has identified a pattern of birds getting smaller and mammals getting bigger. The change, he hypothesizes, is likely a strategy for survival. -
One-third of antimalarial medicines sampled in 3 African nations found to be substandard
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmThe first results from a large-scale study of key antimalarial medicines in ten Sub-Saharan African countries reveal that a high percentage of medicines circulating on national markets are of substandard quality and thus may contribute to the growth of drug-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum, the most virulent form of malaria. -
Antiretroviral therapy associated with increase in pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmIn PLoS Medicine this week a study conducted in a multi-country HIV treatment program in sub-Saharan Africa has found that pregnancy rates increase in HIV-infected women after they start antiretroviral therapy.
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NYT: Personal Tech
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Video Game Review | Dante’s Inferno: You Read It in Class; Now You Can Play It on Your Console
9 Feb 2010 | 8:08 amDante’s Inferno, the video game, is more reminiscent of the God of War games than it is of the “Divine Comedy,” the epic poem that inspired it. -
Super Bowl XLIV Apps to Load Before Kickoff
8 Feb 2010 | 1:16 pmThis Super Bowl weekend, whether you are rooting for the New Orleans Saints or that other team, there is a dog pile of apps to can enhance the game. -
For iPhone Users, TV Over 3G
8 Feb 2010 | 11:50 amAT&T has cleared Slingbox to transmit your home TV signal over the 3G network, providing TV without a Wi-Fi connection. Now it needs Apple's approval. -
More on Online Language Learning
6 Feb 2010 | 10:21 amIn addition to the online language learning programs discussed in a recent Times article, here are several more that may be of interest. -
The Cost of a $499 iPad: $290
6 Feb 2010 | 10:16 amIf a 43 percent profit margin sounds about right to you, then Apple Computer has priced its new iPad tablet fairly.
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Popular Science - SciTech
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To Deter Plague of Bark Beetles, A Boombox Blasting Bug Sounds
9 Feb 2010 | 10:44 amBark beetles plague the forests of Canada so furiously you'd think rivers of blood and the death of the firstborn would follow hot on their heels. So far, no one has stopped the beetle rampage that has destroyed 33 million acres of trees in British Columbia. However, scientists at Northern Arizona University (NAU) may have devised a way to turn back the beetle tide using sound recordings. Like Nevada residents tried last year, the NAU scientists started by blasting rock music and backwards recordings of Rush Limbaugh (presumably because playing the Rush Limbaugh recordings forward is a… -
Marijuana Research Offers New Hope For Male Birth Control Pill
9 Feb 2010 | 9:59 amThe male birth control pill has lingered for years tantalizingly just out of reach, in the realm where rumor meets science. Recently developed hormonal and mechanical contraceptives never found an audience, serving only to highlight the absence of a male pill. Now, an examination of how smoking pot lowers fertility may make the male pill more than a persistent rumor. Writing in last week's issue of the journal Cell, University of California, San Francisco, researcher Yuriy Kirichok revealed a new link between bong hits, a protein called Hv1, and the ability of sperm to swim. Hv1 activates in… -
California Utilities to Store Off-Peak Power In Blocks of Ice
9 Feb 2010 | 7:46 amIt seems like a perennial story in the Golden State: the temperatures go up, air conditioners across the state kick into high gear and power utilities simply can't keep up. Now, a group of Southern California utilities plans to combat the state's searing summers with ice, building a 53-megawatt distributed energy storage project that will lock away off-peak cooling power for use during the sweltering mid-day peak. During those peak consumption hours -- generally from noon to 6 p.m. -- the albatross around the neck of power utilities is air conditioning units, which all tend to kick on more or… -
The Quest to Read the Human Mind
9 Feb 2010 | 7:09 amIf a few very smart neuroscientists are right, with enough number crunching and a powerful brain scanner, science can pluck pictures-and maybe one day even thoughts- directly from your brain It's after dark on a warm Monday night in April, and I'm lying face-up in a 13-ton tube at the Henry H. Wheeler, Jr. Brain Imaging Center at the University of California at Berkeley. The room is dimly lit, and I am alone. A white plastic cage covers my face, and a blue computer screen shines brightly into my eyes. I'm here because a neuroscientist named Jack Gallant is about to read my mind. He has given… -
By Stimulating Stem Cells, Bioactive Nanogel Regenerates Cartilage in Joints
8 Feb 2010 | 12:24 pmThe body is a resilient biological structure, but there's one thing medical science, an increasing number of Baby Boomers, and the majority of professional athletes will all tell you: Take care of your joints, because once you burn up the cartilage you started with, you're not getting any more. But a breakthrough by Northwestern University scientists will now allow adult joints to naturally grow new cartilage for the very first time. Unlike bone, muscle and other tissues in the body, cartilage that is damaged or worn away over time does not regenerate itself. The cartilage you have when you…
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Wired Top Stories
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Shock and Awe: Viral News Is Good News
9 Feb 2010 | 10:10 amThe way I see it, the perfect popular news story has at least one of the following elements: blaming Barack Obama, hating Sarah Palin, or sex. If someone wrote an article called "Obama to blame for sex that made Sarah Palin stupid," it would probably break the internet. But, according to a new study, I might be wrong. -
Why the Army Doesn't Train on XBoxes
9 Feb 2010 | 7:32 amRight now, every military command post and every training center is packed with PCs. In the future, many of those machines might be replaced with game consoles - if the armed forces can ever work out their disagreements with the console-makers. -
Austrian iPad Will Be Subsidized With Contract
9 Feb 2010 | 6:19 amAccording to iPhone blog TamsIJungle, Hutchison Telecom in Austria will be selling the iPad at a steep discount if you sign up for a two year contract. -
Stunningly Preserved 165-Million-Year Old Spider Fossil Found
9 Feb 2010 | 5:50 amPaleontologists have uncovered fossils in China from a family of spiders that has never been found there before. And the amazingly detailed specimens are 120 million years older than any others from the family. -
Apple Store Is Back Online. Little To See Here.
9 Feb 2010 | 5:33 amThe Apple Store was down this morning. And since this is Apple, one of the high-tech universe's favorite parlor games began: What's really going on?! As it turns out, not much, unless you're in the market for some new photo editing and organization software.
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NYT: Front Page
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Expecting a Greek Bailout, Stocks Rise
9 Feb 2010 | 11:28 amStocks climbed on hopes that European officials would move to rescue Greece from its debt troubles. -
Obama Urges Setting Aside 'Petty Politics'
9 Feb 2010 | 11:22 amThe president stopped into the White House briefing room to talk about his meetings with leaders of both parties. -
In Move to Contain Crisis, Toyota Details Hybrid Recall
9 Feb 2010 | 11:19 amThe worldwide recall will affect about 437,000 hybrid vehicles, including the 2010 Prius, according to the company’s filing. -
Iran Unleashes Wave of Arrests of Dissidents, Analysts Say
9 Feb 2010 | 11:19 amIranian security officials were believed to have arrested as many as 1,000 people in the past two months, a rights group said. -
Iran Is Said to Begin Nuclear Enrichment
9 Feb 2010 | 11:15 amBrushing aside international threats of stricter sanctions, Iran reportedly began enriching its uranium on Tuesday.
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Mashable!
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Google Buzz: The Official Demo [VIDEO]
9 Feb 2010 | 11:08 amGoogle has just unveiled its latest attempt to become more relevant in the social media space: Google Buzz. The product is integrated within Gmail and will be rolled out gradually to all of the webmail service’s users over the next few days.We’re still digesting all of the implications of Buzz (and will have more coverage throughout the day), but in the meantime, here’s the two-minute demo of the product in action both on the Web and via mobile that Google showed off during today’s press conference:What are your initial reactions? Another soon-to-be-forgotten Google social product? A… -
BREAKING: Google Goes Social with Google Buzz
9 Feb 2010 | 10:21 amIt’s official: Google has just announced Google Buzz, its newest push into the social media foray. This confirms earlier reports of Gmail integrating a social status feature.On stage revealing the new product was Bradley Horowitz, Google’s vice president for product management. While introducing the product, Mr. Horowitz focused on the human penchant for sharing experiences and the social media phenomenon of wanting to share it in real time. These two key themes were core philosophies behind Google Buzz.“It’s becoming harder and harder to find signal in the… -
Facebook Kills Lexicon, Focuses on Analytics for Page Admins
9 Feb 2010 | 10:20 amFacebook has removed its Lexicon analytics app, blogger Steve Rubel noticed last night.Don’t know what Lexicon was? That’s OK, a lot of people didn’t; it was announced very quietly, but it was a neat tool. You could use Lexicon to see how frequently, and when, certain terms were trending in status updates, just like you can use Google Trends to do the same with search terms.For example, our own Stan Schroeder was a bit perplexed a couple years back when the word “sex” had a massive spike in usage on May 30, 2008. It was the launch day of the Sex and the City… -
7 Ways to Promote Your Offline Event Using Social Media
9 Feb 2010 | 10:10 amSusan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an internet marketing firm. She blogs at The Marketing Eggspert Blog, and teaches marketing courses at Marketing EggSchool. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.We all know about Tweetups and online events, but what about events that you didn’t specifically invite the Twitterati to attend? Conferences, meetings and parties are all events that might not have started online, but which can definitely benefit from online promotion and mention.Leverage your offline event with some smart social media marketing. Here are… -
WordPress To Posterous Users: Graduate to a Full Blog
9 Feb 2010 | 9:57 amIn an effort to remind you that WordPress can be just as flexible and e-mail-friendly as Posterous, the company has released a Posterous importer for users who want to “graduate” from the mini-blogging site to “a full blog with the features, flexibility and reliability of WordPress.com.”The new WordPress.com utility can be found via the Tools section within the Dashboard. All that’s required to run the import is your Posterous host name, user name and password, and it can import all of the following: posts, tags, comments and images.On the flip side, Posterous…
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Tech Policy
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Featured Advertiser
4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm -
Museums
4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pm"JOSEF ALBERS: INNOVATION AND INSPIRATION" More than 60 works by the German-born American artist, who examined the nuances of perception through the use of optical illusions, Thursday through April 11 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Seventh Street and Independence Avenue SW. Open daily... -
Fairfax County crime report
3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmThe following incidents were recently reported by the Fairfax County Police Department. For more information, call 703-246-2253. -
Google to enlist NSA to help it ward off cyberattacks
3 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmThe world's largest Internet search company and the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization are teaming up in the name of cybersecurity. -
After Toyota recall, investigators look for faults in electronic throttles
2 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmFederal regulators have launched an inquiry into whether engine electronics caused vehicles to accelerate unexpectedly as legislators and experts on Tuesday cast doubt on Toyota's explanation of its "runaway cars."
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Washington Post: Front Page
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Federal Reserve hopes clear exit strategy will boost market confidence
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmWhen you've flooded the economy with trillions of dollars, mopping up is no easy task. -
State Farm says it first warned safety agency about Toyota accelerators in 2007
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmThe nation's largest auto insurer alerted federal safety regulators on numerous occasions starting in 2007 about a rise in reports of unexpected acceleration in Toyotas, according to the insurer, State Farm. -
Region rushes to prepare for another shot of winter weather
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmSnowplow crews were ordered to continue working round-the-clock to open thousands of untouched neighborhood streets before turning to meet an ominous new winter storm on Tuesday. -
John Murtha dies; longtime congressman was master of pork-barrel politics
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmRep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), a Vietnam War veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died Monday at Virginia Hospital Center. The 19-term lawmaker died from complications of gallbladder surgery. He was 77. -
After D.C. snowstorm, sidewalk-clearing rules and etiquette fall short
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmMo Fogarty and her boyfriend, Michael Ronquillo, delirious about a casual Monday, suddenly stepped onto a gnarly patch of snow and ice along Adams Morgan's busiest walkway. Fogarty went down.
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Metamodern
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Exploiting strong, covalent bonds for self assembly of robust nanosystems
5 Feb 2010 | 11:37 pm“Porous, Crystalline, Covalent Organic Frameworks”Côté et al. Atomically precise self-assembly of complex structures can be engineered by providing for multiple binding interactions that Cooperate to stabilize the correct configuration, in a thermodynamic sense, and Do not stabilize any other configuration, in a kinetic sense Roughly speaking, in the correct configuration, the parts fit together to allow all the binding interactions to operate simultaneously, and the system doesn’t get stuck in other configurations. It’s easy to see how weak interactions and cooperative binding can… -
Self assembly and nanomachines: Complexity, motion, and computational control
28 Jan 2010 | 12:50 pmA commenter on the previous post raised several important issues, and my reply grew into this post. The comment is here, and my reply follows: @ Eniac — Thanks, you raise several important questions. Regarding readiness to build extended, self assembling structures, yes, I think that the existing fabrication abilities (that is, the range of molecular structures that can be synthesized) are now more than adequate. The bottleneck is design software, including the development of rules that adequately (not perfectly) predict whether a given design satisfies a range of constraints. These include… -
Self-assembling nanostructures: Building the building blocks
25 Jan 2010 | 1:05 amDiverse components This post is prompted by a set of interrelated advances in chemistry that hold great promise for advancing the art of atomically precise fabrication. In this post, I’ll describe an emerging class of modular synthesis methods for making a diverse set of small, complex molecular building blocks. The road to complex self-assembled nanosystems starts with stable molecular building blocks, and the more choices, the better. Self-assembly and the folding of foldamers are similar processes: They work when parts fit together well, and in just one way. Having building blocks to… -
Boronate esters, Suzuki coupling, self-assembly, design software, etc.
24 Jan 2010 | 3:16 am… + 2 H2O, reversibly I’ve been exploring some recent developments in chemical synthesis and self-assembly that suggest attractive possibilities for engineering robust self-assembling molecular systems. Boronate esters are involved in two ways. Two days ago, I sat down to write about this, but then I read further into the literature, and learned substantially more. Yesterday, another cycle of the same. There’s entirely too much relevant information and progress. Maybe tomorrow. -
Why fusion won’t provide power
19 Jan 2010 | 6:56 pmThe greatest problem with fusion power is rarely mentioned and not on the research agenda. When I discussed it earlier, in “Fusion Power: A New Way to Boil Water”, I hadn’t seen this (quietly damning) report, which I think is worth quoting: Issues and R&D needs for commercial fusion energy An interim report of the ARIES technical working groups July 2008 From the introduction: The goal of this activity is to provide guidance to the fusion energy sciences community based on industry requirements… Buried among the discussions of plasma physics, neutron fluxes, and a host of…
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TreeHugger
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Ford Unveils Electric Version of Transit Connect Utility Van
9 Feb 2010 | 11:36 amPhoto: Ford The Business World Needs Electric Vehicles Too Ford has just unveiled the electric version of its award-winning Transit Connect utility van in Chicago, and it's not just a "maybe far in the future" announcement. Transit Connect Electric vans should be in the hands of customers "later this year", says Ford, though full volume production is only scheduled for 2011....Read the full story on TreeHugger -
Sen. DeMint: DC Snow Is Revenge on Gore
9 Feb 2010 | 11:18 amSen. Jim "Health Care will be Obama's Waterloo'' DeMint of South Carolina is once again making his state proud by posting on his Twitter account the following: "It's going to keep snowing in DC until Al Gore cries 'uncle'". Classy, Senator, real classy. It's to be expected that climate change skeptics and deniers would use any strange weather to back up their case that climate change is a hoax, but this is beyond the pale. It does snow in February in DC, Senator. You've been in DC long enough to have realized this. ...Read the full story on TreeHugger -
Today on Planet 100: Facebook's Dirty Secret (Video)
9 Feb 2010 | 10:58 am -
Why Are So Many Paul Rudolph Buildings Being Torn Down?
9 Feb 2010 | 10:15 amBonnie Alter While out running in Sanibel Island, Florida, passing monster house after monster house, I came upon a small, lovely gem of modern architecture by the side of the road. It took about three seconds (google "small, modern, sanibel) to determine that it was the Walker Guest House by Paul Rudolph, a regular on TreeHugger. One of his first commissions, the 24' square house has lift-up panels connected to 77 pound round counterweights, giving it the nickname the "cannonball house." More to follow after I tour it on Friday, but it clearly shows all those things I love about Paul Rudolph… -
TreeHugger's Best of Green 2010: Now Calling for Nominations
9 Feb 2010 | 9:03 amDo you know of a green person, product, company, event, or concept that deserves to be lauded for the positive environmental change it has enacted? Let us know! In TreeHugger's second annual Best of Green Awards, we're looking to bestow top honors on the people, places, and things that are helping move sustainability into the mainstream. Last year, we awarded more than 170 prizes across eight general themes. This year, we're asking for your help making some of the selections. Let us know who you think should be nominated for a Best of Green Award. Then we'll ask for your hel...Read the full…
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New Scientist - The Human Brain
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Giving the 'unconscious' a voice
3 Feb 2010 | 2:00 pmIt is now possible to communicate with people who seem to be in a vegetative state, by tapping into their brain activity -
'Imaginary rabbit' breaks out of the body
3 Feb 2010 | 9:22 amA classic tactile illusion can spread to objects outside the body, suggesting our brain's body map is more malleable than once thought -
'Imaginary rabbit' illusion breaks out of the body
3 Feb 2010 | 9:18 amA tactile illusion can spread to objects outside the body, suggesting our brain's body map is more malleable than once thought -
Matthieu Ricard: Meditate yourself better
3 Feb 2010 | 12:00 amThe Buddhist monk explains how meditation improves mind and body alike, and how altruism could transform economics -
Draw! The neuroscience behind Hollywood shoot-outs
2 Feb 2010 | 4:01 pmIn Hollywood westerns, the bad guy always draws first, but gets shot. Niels Bohr had a theory to explain why, and it's now been tested
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Scientific Blogging
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Broken Hearts: Not Just Fodder For Songwriters
9 Feb 2010 | 8:15 amIf you feel like you have an achy breaky heart, you may not be imagining things. "Broken hearts" are indeed real, although in the medical community they go by the much less lyrical name of stress (tako-tsubo) cardiomyopathy. A recent article in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology described stress (tako-tsubo) cardiomyopathy as "a rapidly reversible form of acute heart failure reported to be triggered by stressful events and associated with a distinctive left ventricular (LV) contraction pattern." Oooh, romantic. Shakespeare couldn't have written it better. read more -
Music, Not Xbox, May Be To Blame For Teenagers' Headaches
8 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmAccording to a study of 1025 13-17 year-olds, gaming, texting, or staring at the TV for hours on end are unlikely to cause headaches in adolescents, but listening to one or two hours of music every day may do the trick. The study appears this week in BMC Neurology. The researchers interviewed 489 teenagers who claimed to suffer from headaches and 536 who said they did not. When the two groups were compared, no associations were found for television viewing, electronic gaming, mobile phone usage or computer usage. read more -
Earlier Springs May Throw Nature Out Of Step
8 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmA collaborative study involving scientists from 12 UK research institutions, universities and conservation organizations suggests that the trend towards earlier UK springs and summers has been accelerating. The study, published recently in Global Change Biology, is the most comprehensive and rigorous assessment so far of long-term changes in the seasonal timing (phenology) of biological events across marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments in the UK, the authors say. read more -
Most Smokers Quit 'Cold Turkey', Researchers Say
8 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmDespite the over-promotion of nicotine replacement therapies by drug companies and anti-tobacco activists, the most successful method used by ex-smokers is unassisted cessation, according to a new policy forum in PLoS Medicine. In the article, researchers from the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, Australia take a critical look at most tobacco control campaigns, which emphasize that serious attempts at quitting smoking must be pharmacologically or professionally mediated. read more -
Bullet-Shaped Virus Could Help Treat Cancer
8 Feb 2010 | 10:00 pmVesicular stomatitis virus, or VSV, has shown the potential to serve as an anti-cancer agent, exercising high selectivity in killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells, and as a potent vaccine against HIV. But in order for the necessary genetic modifications to occur, scientists must have an accurate picture of the virus's structure. While three-dimensional structural information of VSV's characteristic bullet shape and its assembly process has been sought for decades, efforts have been hampered by technological and methodological limitations. read more
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Wash Post Technology
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The iPad to be a late bloomer
9 Feb 2010 | 11:01 amIt already seems like Apple's iPad is a disappointment after spending weeks as the obsession of many tech writers and bloggers -
Capitals continue to reach out to fans through social networking
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmCapitals owner Ted Leonsis is hoping the social media strategy his team has moved toward in recent years will pay off in expanding the club's popularity and engagement with fans. -
Voxiva launches U.S. text service to aid pregnant women
8 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmA D.C.-based mobile technology firm is behind a new government effort to educate and encourage healthy habits in pregnant women. -
New at the Top: Tekedra M. Jefferson, AOL
7 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmI worked at a real estate law firm as a student in high school. It was very stressful but it piqued my interest in law and, when I went to college in the District, I used the city as my university. I did internships with companies that lobbied on the Hill, researched papers at the Library of... -
Apple iPad's rejection of Adobe Flash could signal the player's death knell
6 Feb 2010 | 9:00 pmWith most other companies, this would have looked like a sloppy oversight: Two weeks ago, a presenter showing off a new computer allowed the audience to see that it couldn't display a Web page's Adobe Flash content.
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Huffington Post: The Green Blog
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Lynn Englum: The Natural Disaster Response Divide
9 Feb 2010 | 11:33 amWhile much of the domestic dialogue surrounding climate change focuses on curbing pollution and transitioning to clean sources of energy, this debate fails to address another concern critical to the issue of climate change -- preparing for the inevitable consequences of a changing climate. This aspect is frequently absent from the debate. Even farther removed from the discussion are the specific vulnerabilities facing developing countries like increases in water shortages, prolonged droughts, more severe storms, floods and disease. The horrifying aftermath from Haiti's earthquake is a stark… -
Erik Rothenberg: DO OUR GOALS MATCH OUR VALUES IN HAITI?
9 Feb 2010 | 11:10 amThe National Nurses Union has nearly 12,000 volunteer nurses trying to get to Haiti to assist the doctors already there. Frustratingly, although they have valid travel documents, they are being denied entry due to a mess of bureaucratic red tape both in the U.S. and Haiti. In the meantime, the U.S. has "militarized the relief effort" sending about 16,000 troops to the country. What's wrong with this picture? While there is a good argument to be made for ensuring security in places where there is a disaster, our government seems to have framed the relief effort by placing greater value on… -
Jerry Cope: Bob Barker Rammed by Japanese Whalers; Interview with Captain Paul Watson of the Steve Irwin
9 Feb 2010 | 10:58 amFor the past six years, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) under the leadership of Captain Paul Watson, has launched an annual campaign in the Southern Ocean to prevent the Japanese Whaling fleet from killing whales. Every year, the Japanese send a fleet of ships to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary to kill and process for human consumption a large number of whales using a loophole in the International Whaling Treaty which allows for "scientific research." This year the Japanese fleet has added security forces, ships and planes dedicated to tracking the Sea Shepherds location, and… -
David Roberts: The Hidden Costs and Benefits of Things We Take for Granted: A Response to Raj Patel
9 Feb 2010 | 10:56 amCrossposted from grist.org.Raj Patel has an interesting list of “things that aren't as cheap as you think,” with an always-welcome reminder that many industries and social practices have costs that don't appear in the sticker price. These “externalities” are offloaded to the public; they represent, in effect, enormous subsidies. Free marketeers hate market-distorting subsidies, right?For the most part it's a great list. To make it perfect I'd remove one and add one.First, remove No. 5. Google, and the internet more generally, has actually prevented more carbon… -
Phineas Baxandall: In The Public Interest: What's Next for High-Speed Rail?
9 Feb 2010 | 8:10 amLast month the nation learned that 31 states will receive one-time high-speed rail stimulus grants totaling $8 billion. But what happens next? The last time our country sought to achieve a national infrastructure vision was in the 1950s. Roadways between cities at the time were haphazard and largely mud or gravel. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had seen the future in the German autobahn and set out to construct a national network of limited-access highways connecting major American cities. It took over three decades of sustained investment to complete that vision. The result was "the greatest…
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Sciencebase Science Blog
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Nerdy passwords, secure and memorable
9 Feb 2010 | 5:45 amWARNING: Do not simply use the formula of a common chemical without obfuscating it in some way. It could be dictionary cracked very easily if you do. Coming up with a secure password that cannot be bruteforce or dictionary attacked but that is easy to remember is quite troubling. So, here’s the nerdiest approach yet. Think of a compound, any compound, but preferably one with which you are familiar. If you’re in science, then you could pick a compound associated with your research thesis or perhaps the medication you needed to get through the viva. Now, work out, or look up, its… -
How to get your fill of Sciencebase goodness
5 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amDo you lie at wake at night worrying that you might have missed the latest words of wisdom on Sciencebase? Are you concerned that a new post might have published that you desperately wanted to comment on and now it’s too late? Well…fear not. There are so many ways to connect with Sciencebase and sibling sites Sciencetext Tech Talk and the SciScoop Science Forum that you really can rest easy. On Facebook – become a Sciencebase fan and you get to read the headlines from SB, ST, SC and more as they appear. You can also comment right there and then without having to hop back and… -
Making carbon dioxide useful
4 Feb 2010 | 9:00 amMy SpectroscopyNOW column is now live. This week self-perception, trapping and using carbon dioxide, cosmic coronene, mopping up radioactive caesium, photosynthesis and magic spectral lines: Red lenses – US scientists have used MRI to show that apparently the less you use your brain’s frontal lobes, the more you perceive your behaviour through rose-tinted spectacles. They publish details in the February issue of the journal NeuroImage. Carbon dioxide trap and drop – The reduction of greenhouse gas carbon dioxide to a useful chemical industry feedstock material, carbon… -
Science based risk assessment
3 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amAsk people why the enter the lottery and they will usually tell you that “you’ve got to be in it to win it”. As far as it goes that’s true, but it still doesn’t get around the odds of you picking the right numbers being vanishingly (although not quite homeopathically) small at 14 million to 1 against for 6 numbers from a 1-49 selection. Compare their feelings about their chances of winning the lottery to succumbing to the toxic effects of their favourite tipple or a disease triggered by dietary whim and they may well respond, that such problems are more likely to… -
Early Valentine’s Alchemist
2 Feb 2010 | 5:00 amThe Alchemist this week learns of a golden opportunity to make a fundamental industrial feedstock, ethylene, from natural gas, rather than oil. In microfluidics, a droplet of acid finds its way out of a maze, while an accidental mineral could become the material of choice for magnetic tunnel junctions. In the zone between chemistry and physics, German researchers have discovered a new way to produce free electrons, which might help explain biological radiation damage, and in health PFOA emerges as a risk factor for thyroid problems. Finally, more than half a million small molecules have found…
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Wired Science
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A Peek at Wired’s Ultra Geeky Super Bowl Party
9 Feb 2010 | 11:03 amSAN FRANCISCO — More than 100 million Americans watched Sunday’s Super Bowl, but here at Wired.com, a couple dozen of our readers can probably brag they had the strangest viewing experience. They were strapped up with sensors that measured their body’s physiological reactions to what was happening during the game and commercials. With the help of Boston-based research firm Innerscope, we converted Wired’s cafeteria into a makeshift sports bar complete with 6 HDTVs gathered from around the office and of course, Beer Robot and greasy pizza. Participants in the study had… -
Fastest Wings on Earth Show Extremes of Sexual Selection
9 Feb 2010 | 10:43 amWith feathers that resonate at precisely 1,500 hertz, the male club-winged manakin is perhaps the bird world’s most perfectly tuned example of sexual selection. By pinning down the frequency, researchers have completed a long investigation into the bird’s sonic physiology and showed just how far some guys go to impress the ladies. “The fundamental anatomy of the wings has been completely reworked to play a sound for courtship,” said Cornell University ornithologist Kim Bostwick, who describes the wings in a paper published Monday in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. -
Stunningly Preserved 165-Million-Year-Old Spider Fossil Found
8 Feb 2010 | 10:11 pmScientists have unearthed an almost perfectly preserved spider fossil in China dating back to the middle Jurassic era, 165 million years ago. The fossilized spiders, Eoplectreurys gertschi, are older than the only two other specimens known by around 120 million years. The level of detail preserved in the fossils is amazing, said paleontologist Paul Selden of the University of Kansas and lead author of the study appearing Feb. 6 in Naturwissenschaften. “You go in with a microscope, and bingo! It’s fantastic.” The fossils were found at a site called Daohugou in Northern China… -
Audio: DIY Recordings of Awakening Sun
8 Feb 2010 | 12:20 pmAs the sun emerges from a long lull in activity, the star’s emissions in the radio band of the spectrum have also picked up. And from a shed on three acres of land outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft is making recordings of them available for download. “The Sun has become hyper-dynamic the past few days,” Ashcraft wrote on his website Sunday, along with links to four “specimens” of radio bursts, as he calls them. The sun is crackling with solar flares now as a very large sunspot continues to circle our star. The recent solar… -
Ultra-Precise Quantum-Logic Clock Trumps Old Atomic Clock
5 Feb 2010 | 3:13 pmScientists have built a clock which is 37 times more precise than the existing international standard. The quantum-logic clock, which detects the energy state of a single aluminum ion, keeps time to within a second every 3.7 billion years. The new timekeeper could one day improve GPS or detect the slowing of time predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity. “It could it be a real contender for the next frequency standard, or next timekeeper,” said physicist Chin-wen (James) Chou of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, lead author of a study…
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NYT > Science
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Findings: Will You Be E-Mailing This Column? It’s Awesome
9 Feb 2010 | 11:00 amA University of Pennsylvania study found that readers of news in print and online had more exalted tastes than might be expected. -
Skeptics Find Fault With U.N. Climate Panel
9 Feb 2010 | 8:56 amRajendra K. Pachauri and the U.N. panel he leads face accusations of scientific sloppiness and conflicts of interest. -
Thirty Knots, With the Wind at Your Wings
9 Feb 2010 | 8:48 amThe sailboats competing in the America’s Cup are the fastest ever built but about as delicate as a house of cards. -
Personal Health: Less Invasive Hip Surgeries Make Inroads
9 Feb 2010 | 7:26 amOrthopedic surgeons across the country are using techniques for hip replacement that reduce complications and speed recovery in patients. -
Update: Recovery Matches a Marathon Operation
8 Feb 2010 | 11:49 pmAfter a surgeon removed a huge cancerous tumor from his abdomen, Robert Collison, 59, spent eight weeks in the hospital with infections and other complications.
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BBC News Player | Sci-Tech
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Internet safety for five-year-olds
9 Feb 2010 | 12:13 amChildren as young as five are being targeted in a new online safety campaign by the UK body charged with protecting children from abuse. -
Prof Watson on climate science
8 Feb 2010 | 4:45 amChief Scientist at the Department for the Environment, Professor Robert Watson on the science of climate change. -
ClickBits: Tech talk with LJ Rich
5 Feb 2010 | 1:26 pmLJ Rich takes a sideways look at the week's tech stories. This week's episode features pole-dancing robots, tablet wars and Lego-lovers. -
US pandas arrive in China
5 Feb 2010 | 3:07 amTwo young giant pandas born in the US have completed their journey to Chengdu in China. -
How 3D rugby is filmed
5 Feb 2010 | 2:55 amSee how the 6 Nations match between England and Wales at Twickenham on Saturday 6 February will be filmed in 3D.
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Science Magazine
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[News of the Week] U.S. Budget: Science Spared From Domestic Spending Freeze—for Now
Despite his pledge to freeze domestic discretionary spending in an attempt to shrink a $1.6 trillion deficit, President Barack Obama has asked Congress to boost science spending next year across the federal government.<br><br>Author: Jeffrey Mervis -
[News of the Week] U.S. Budget: Obama Shakes Up Satellite Programs For Clearer Picture of Earth
More money to study climate change is a central element in the president's 2011 budget, and much of that science will be done in orbit.<br><br>Author: Eli Kintisch -
[News of the Week] Research Facilities: New Korean Science City Caught in Political Crossfire
Plans for a new $34 billion Korean science city inched forward last week when the South Korean administration unveiled enabling legislation that will eventually go to the National Assembly.<br><br>Author: Dennis Normile -
[News of the Week] Scientific Publishing: Publications and Expats Warn Of Russia's Dangerous Decline
Last week, information provider Thomson Reuters released an analysis* of worldwide scientific publications that shows that Russia's research output has continued to slide since the demise of the Soviet Union.<br><br>Author: Daniel Clery -
[News of the Week] ScienceInsider: From the Science Policy Blog
ScienceInsider has analyzed the Administration's budget proposals for individual agencies in a series of postings throughout the week, among other stories.
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ScienceBlogs : Combined Feed
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#scio10 aftermath: some thoughts on "An Open History of Science". [Adventures in Ethics and Science]
9 Feb 2010 | 11:03 amHere are some of the thoughts and questions that stayed with me from this session. (Here are my tweets from the session and the session's wiki page.) The session was led by John McKay and Eric Michael Johnson. John posted the text of his presentation and Eric posted his presentation a la YouTube. I'm going to take this as permission to skip doing a proper recap here. Instead, I'm going to write about the big ideas this session raised for me. First, I'm struck by how easy it is for those of us who were trained to do science to know very little about where scientific practices come from --… -
Creationists are *WEIRD* [erv]
9 Feb 2010 | 11:00 amLook, I like weird people. Goth kids. Sci-fi geeks. Language nerds. Weird people are far more interesting than, say, the 'normal' people that get cast for shows like 'The Bachelor': Generic Human #231975, Generic Human #576930, Generic Human #750193, bleh. But theres a whole different level of weird, and that level is 'Creationist'. Example: Remember that guy, that Creationist that branded kids in his Ohio classroom? Had a whole system of weird signals and words and stuff he was brainwashing kids with? Yes, that was weird, but now weve reached a level of weird only Creationists can hope to… -
Predictable People are Predictable [Science After Sunclipse]
9 Feb 2010 | 10:37 amJeffrey Shallit calls our attention to the recent antics of Suzan Mazur, a journalist well-known among science bloggers for, well, getting everything wrong. I particularly liked this part of Mazur's tale of dark conspiracies controlling science from smoke-filled rooms: Open-access scientific publishing, however, is proving useful to a degree in leveling the playing field so that independent scientists have a shot at being published and cited. As the kids say these days, "LOLWUT?" Open Access is about lowering financial and legal barriers for readers, not reducing the standards or even… -
Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be [Pharyngula]
9 Feb 2010 | 10:03 amPeople keep asking me for books on evolution for their kids, and I have to keep telling them that there is a major gap in the library. We have lots of great books for adults, but most of the books for the younger set reduce evolution to stamp collecting: catalogs of dinosaurs, for instance. I just got a copy of a book that is one small step in filling that gap, titled Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) by Daniel Loxton. It's beautifully illustrated, and the organization of the book focuses on concepts (and misconceptions!) of evolution, explaining them… -
Father and Mother and Uncle John...: Tribalism and a Place at the Table [Casaubon's Book]
9 Feb 2010 | 10:00 amThis morning, during school time, Isaiah asked me just how many Aunts and Uncles he had. Asked to clarify what the parameters of the question were, Isaiah asked me how many people he would call by the title "Aunt" or "Uncle." Which led me to do some quick addition - and to a number that came out above 70. Now Eric and I don't have that many siblings. In fact, I have two sisters, and until into adulthood, Eric was an only child. Nor do my parents make up for it at the great-level - each of them had one brother. So how on earth do I get 70 aunts and uncles for my kids? Me, Eric and the boys…
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PHD Comics
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02/05/10 PHD comic: 'Cecilia in Thesisland, Pt. 4: Follow the Wait Habit'
7 Feb 2010 | 1:20 pmPiled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Cecilia in Thesisland, Pt. 4: Follow the Wait Habit" - originally published 2/5/2010 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE! -
02/03/10 PHD comic: 'Cecilia in Thesisland, Pt. 3: To be sure, this is generally what happens when you think'
5 Feb 2010 | 9:01 amPiled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Cecilia in Thesisland, Pt. 3: To be sure, this is generally what happens when you think" - originally published 2/3/2010 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE! -
02/01/10 PHD comic: 'Cecilia in Thesisland, Pt. 2: Down the raw bit code'
2 Feb 2010 | 10:49 pmPiled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Cecilia in Thesisland, Pt. 2: Down the raw bit code" - originally published 2/1/2010 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE! -
01/29/10 PHD comic: 'Cecilia's Adventures in Thesisland, Pt. 1'
30 Jan 2010 | 9:35 pmPiled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Cecilia's Adventures in Thesisland, Pt. 1" - originally published 1/29/2010 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE! -
01/27/10 PHD comic: 'Procrastigal son'
28 Jan 2010 | 11:26 pmPiled Higher & Deeper by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com title: "Procrastigal son" - originally published 1/27/2010 For the latest news in PHD Comics, CLICK HERE!
