Conspiracy Factory

Friday beautiful science

2009-05-29T17:45:00.001-07:00

This is the inside of the National Ignition Facility, a wicked cool new fusion research facility dedicated today. They've got FRICKEN' LAZER BEAMS! 192 of 'em.

Friday beautiful science

2009-05-22T17:50:00.001-07:00

In honor of the Hubble servicing mission:

Oh my...

2009-04-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

This is Conspiracy Factory business of the highest order. You can tell by the call for bookburning towards the end:

Miracle on 34th Street - or Merry Xmas

2008-12-28T09:13:00.000-08:00

I've been gone a while, I apologize to anyone who may have missed me. I've had a number of major life changes in the last few months, and I had a hard time deciding how to write about them. So I didn't.But it's the holiday, and I'm finding I have a little extra time in between cooking extravagant meals, and playing with my now near three year-old son. (Wow, he's nearly three already?!?) I

Reporters "skeptical". Bah.

2008-08-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

And CNN is supposed to be the "serious" news channel.

Friday beautiful science

2008-07-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

I was alerted about this image from Bad Astronomy. Check this out: It shows a ribbon of gas, compressed and glowing due to a shock wave that slammed into it. The shock came from Supernova 1006, a star that detonated 7000 light years away from us. This was not a massive star that exploded, but a low-mass white dwarf, the dense core left over when a star like the Sun runs out of fuel. Still, the

Friday beautiful science

2008-06-27T05:52:00.001-07:00

Today's Friday beautiful science comes from The Vector Site. They have a nice primer for young students on how evolution by natural selection works. One of the photos they show is of the leafy sea dragon. They look like kelp, but they're sea dragons. Look again?I've seen these in tanks at an aquarium before, and they are truly stunning to behold. As much as I hate to admit it, Wikipedia has

George Carlin, 1937-2008

2008-06-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

George Carlin died of a heart attack yesterday. He was 71.

Friday beautiful science

2008-06-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

Today's Friday beautiful science shows the construction of a Buckeyball in action. From the News Release: heating bends single-atomic-layer carbon sheets into nano bowls, and then adds more carbon atoms to the edge of the bowls until the formation of giant fullerenes — larger, less stable versions of the C-60 molecule. Continued application of heat reduces these fullerenes — “shrink-wrapping”

Don't let it happen again

2008-06-13T06:20:00.000-07:00

This gave me chills. Carl Sagan contemplates the possibility of the loss of past discoveries. While on the surface of it, it seems unlikely, and most people will say, "That could only happen in Islamic fundamentalist cultures", keep in mind that there are organizations here in the U.S. devoted to rolling back the Enlightenment.Hat tip: Pharyngula

Friday beautiful science

2008-06-13T06:07:00.000-07:00

Today's Friday beautiful science comes a bit late. It's a picture of the Phoenix lander, landing on Mars. Check it out: This amazing image was captured as Phoenix came in for its Mars landing on May 25, 2008. The HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed at Phoenix, which is seen here against the background of a 10-kilometer-diameter crater called Heimdall. The dramatic view makes

Sucked out into space!

2008-06-12T09:12:00.001-07:00

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Yum!

2008-06-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

Life changes

2008-05-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. I have become a paid shill of the biotech industry. This week I accepted a job at a biotech company in California, and will be leaving my post-doctoral position at a medical school. For the next few weeks posting will likely be lighter than normal, as I have to move my family across the country and get settled. I'm going to try to keep the Friday beautiful sciences coming

Science: You're doing it wrong

2008-05-29T11:37:00.001-07:00

Hat tip to Orac.

How big is big?

2008-05-27T14:23:00.000-07:00

This cool video shows size scales. It's a useful and entertaining description of powers of 10.As it turns out, we're very small...

87th Skeptics' Circle

2008-05-22T08:20:00.001-07:00

The 87th Skeptics' Circle is up at Action Skeptics. Go have a gander.

American Association for the Advancement of Science on Expelled

2008-05-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Folks may have already seen this statement about the Expelled movie, but here it is to reiterate the position of the American Association for the Advancement of Science:AAAS further decries the profound dishonesty and lack of civility demonstrated by this effort. The movie includes interviews with scientists who report that they were deceived into appearing as part of such a production, and

Friday beautiful science

2008-05-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been quiet for a while. Various personal issues have kept me fairly occupied (including flying out to California for a job interview at a biotech company).Today's Friday beautiful science is something I've lusted after ever since I first saw it. It's a 3-dimensional map of our best data about the Milky Way galaxy, mapped out in painstaking detail inside of a cube of glass. It's

Colbert in space.

2008-05-13T12:11:00.001-07:00

I have a job interview.

2008-05-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

And for what it's worth, I hope they have pizza. ;)

Where do they come from?

2008-05-05T10:25:00.001-07:00

As a funny aside post, I've been getting more visits lately. Really, in the last month, I've seen a pretty large increase in what has been otherwise a relative trickle of traffic, compared to some of my science blogging compadres.And where are these people headed? To this post. Yep, in the last month, 2/3 of my traffic is headed to my Leap Year Skeptics' Circle post. I admit, I was a little

Friday beautiful science

2008-05-02T07:29:00.001-07:00

Today's Friday beautiful science comes from a shot taken of a Saudi Arabian lava field from the International Space Station:Harrat Khaybar, Saudi Arabia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 16 crewmember on the International Space Station. The western half of the Arabian peninsula contains not only large expanses of sand and gravel, but extensive lava fields known as haraat (

Be mindful of a plant's dignity.

2008-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

This from Nature: The Swiss federal government's ethics committee on non-human biotechnology has mapped out guidelines to help granting agencies decide which research applications deeply offend the dignity of plants — and hence become unfundable. Ummm... dignity of plants? Oy. When I eat plants, do I offend their dignity? Although most people might be bewildered that a discussion on how to

Dishonesty from the producers of Expelled? Say it ain't so!!!

2008-05-01T06:59:00.001-07:00

Recently, someone tried to impersonate the Office of Research Integrity, a branch of the National Institutes of Health. They sent e-mails to the biology faculty of Vanderbilt University, expecting to be able to con them into seeing the creationist movie Expelled. Can you believe it? From the e-mail: Intelligent design is widely regarded as the idiot-savant stepchild of creationism. Well, I

Quote of the Day

2008-04-30T08:56:00.000-07:00

Yep, Ben Stein has finally jumped the shark. Just when you thought he couldn't get more ridiculous:Ben Stein: … Love of God and compassion and empathy leads you to a very glorious place, and science leads you to killing people.Wow. And I can hardly even remember the last time I killed anybody.Hat tip: Friendly Atheist.

Friday beautiful science

2008-04-25T07:46:00.000-07:00

Today's Friday beautiful science was inspired by the obituary of Edward Lorenz: In discovering “deterministic chaos,” Dr. Lorenz established a principle that “profoundly influenced a wide range of basic sciences and brought about one of the most dramatic changes in mankind’s view of nature since Sir Isaac Newton,” said a committee that awarded him the 1991 Kyoto Prize for basic sciences.Dr.

85th Skeptics' Circle

2008-04-24T12:34:00.000-07:00

The 85th Skeptics' Circle is up at Andrea's Buzzing About: Go have a gander.

Exposed: the great GM-food scare made up by the Independent

2008-04-24T07:49:00.000-07:00

The Independent recently published an article with the startling headline:Exposed: the great GM crops mythMajor new study shows that modified soya produces 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalentWow. That's a pretty bold statement. Let's look further into it, shall we? Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining

I don't support torture.

2008-04-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Friday beautiful science

2008-04-18T07:12:00.001-07:00

Today's Friday beautiful science is a shot of bacteria spreading across a petri plate, with false color added to make them more beautiful. This looks like a Bacillus mycoides type of growth, but I couldn't find the identity on the original website.Go on over to Eshel Ben-Jacob's website, where there are all kinds of beautifully rendered shots of bacterial growth.

Sexpelled!

2008-04-18T06:56:00.001-07:00

Quote of the Day

2008-04-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

MaryAnn Johanson:In a parallel universe even crazier than our own, Ben Stein is making a documentary about how the Nazis utilized the controversial theory of gravity to make bombs that fall from the sky to the earth, and so the theory of gravity must be wrong.

Just a theory

2008-04-16T09:07:00.000-07:00

Via freethoughtpedia.

On doubt.

2008-04-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

I am a scientist. I am unable to separate the doubting part of my scientist training from the rest of my daily life. Take this little anecdote:When my son was about 9 months old, Mrs. Factician was playing with some little plastic animals on the coffee table with him. When she said, "Where is the giraffe?" he reached for the giraffe. We were astounded (he was 9 months old, mind you, and

I care about your health

2008-04-15T08:05:00.001-07:00

And that's why I bring you this important health update, courtesy of Stephen Colbert.

What can one blogger do?

2008-04-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

Whenever I feel powerless to change anything, something like this comes along. I can help put Expelled high in the rankings. And get some real information out there. As Carl Sagan says:"Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time ... when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few

Friday beautiful science

2008-04-11T07:25:00.001-07:00

Today's Friday Beautiful Science is a photo of the moon Phobos. Phobos orbits Mars, and is orders of magnitude smaller than Earth's moon (compare Earth's moon at 3400 km in diameter to Phobos at 19-21 km in diameter). As you can clearly see in the photo, Phobos is not regularly shaped. From the Planetary Science blog: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter approached to within 6,800 kilometers (4,200

A creationist, a scientist and a lawyer walk into a bar...

2008-04-09T21:19:00.000-07:00

Go here for the punchline. This just cries out for massive linkage.

Quote of the Day

2008-04-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

" If you are in possession of this revolutionary secret of science, why not prove it and be hailed as the new Newton? Of course, we know the answer. You can't do it. You are a fake."-Richard Dawkinsh/t Pal MD

Waterloo!

2008-04-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

Expelled, the Musical is about to hit theaters! In theaters across the country! Well, in a few theaters. This has inspired creationist mathematician and philosopher William Dembski to fire up his prognostication machine!Hmmm... try these predictions on for size.A controversial documentary set for release nationwide April 18 could foster a cultural shift "equivalent to the fall of the Berlin

Westboro Baptist Church Rickrolled!

2008-04-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

The Westboro Baptist Church is a group of hatemongers, frequently written up by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They're quite a nasty group of folks. They show up at any prominent funerals, saying that the death of these people is due to America's tolerance of homosexuals. The odd part is that these hatemongers seem to not care whether the deceased people are homosexual or not. It just

Lab meeting

2008-04-01T07:57:00.001-07:00

So I just had lab meeting. A 5th year graduate student was presenting her work on mutational analysis of one of the proteins we study. An interesting lab meeting, but not normally noteworthy for the blog. (I reserve this blog for only the most important events in my exciting life - see Death Star Troofers, below).So I'm quietly enjoying my coffee, my mind wandering away from the introduction (

Goddidit!

2008-03-31T11:21:00.000-07:00

One of the predictions of creationism intelligent design is that the hand of God the intelligent designer will be found in creation in the Design.Well, I have finally found it. And wouldn't Behe be impressed, I found it in Plasmodium yoelli, a malarial parasite that infects rodents. Just like Craig Venter, who inscribed his name into the organism that he designed, God the Intelligent Designer

Friday beautiful science

2008-03-28T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today's Friday Beautiful Science comes from the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. They're genetically engineering mosquitoes, with the hopes of making a malaria resistant mosquito. See more pictures here.

83rd Skeptics' Circle

2008-03-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

This week's Skeptics' Circle is up at Mike's Weekly Skeptic Rant. Go have a gander, and win Ben Stein's Knickers!

Please, pretty please, read my blog?

2008-03-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

An Open Letter to PZ,I'm just begging for more traffic. It's worked for others, why not for me?

Deathstar Troofers Unite!

2008-03-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

Deathstar troofers: We’ve all heard the “official conspiracy theory” of the Death Star attack. We all know about Luke Skywalker and his ragtag bunch of rebels, how they mounted a foolhardy attack on the most powerful, well-defended battle station ever built. And we’ve all seen the video over, and over, and over, of the one-in-a-million shot that resulted in a massive chain reaction that not just

Death strike to my naiveté

2008-03-22T07:04:00.000-07:00

I don't like to think of myself as naive. Who does? But this has been an eye opener for me.When I first started following the evolution/creationism 'debate', I thought that the creationists were merely mistaken. I was raised a Christian, and while my immediate family aren't biblical literalists, many of my aunts and uncles are. I understand these people. I was raised as one of them. And I

Expelled, the musical!

2008-03-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, this deserves all kinds of linkage. It contains humiliation! Armed guards! Nazis! (No, really, it contains Nazis. Well, it contains footage of Nazis). The makers of the pseudo-scientific "Expelled" movie tossed PZ Myers out of the movie (and he's even a subject in the movie!). Or, rather, they Expelled him. Oh the irony! Very funny! Read it! Link it! This deserves to be widely

Friday beautiful science

2008-03-21T06:10:00.001-07:00

Okay, I've been doing a lot of astronomy photos for my Friday's, but it's only because those damn astronomers have been pumping out all kinds of great photos. This photo comes from the Cassini probe. From the Jet Propulsion Lab: Cassini's March 2008 flyby of Enceladus was designed to directly investigate the ongoing plume activity at the moon's south pole, but the path of the spacecraft

Friday beautiful science

2008-03-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Today's Friday beautiful science comes from an 5200-year old Assyrian bowl, with the oldest known moving animation: The artefact bears five images depicting a wild goat jumping up to eat the leaves of a tree, which the members of the team at that time had not recognised the relationship between the pictures.Several years later,Iranian archaeologist Dr Mansur Sadjadi, who became later appointed

Science is a crazy business.

2008-03-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

What a strange business this is: We stay in school forever. We have to battle the system with only a one in eight or one in ten chance of getting funded. We give up making a living until our forties. And we do it because we want to help the world. What kind of crazy person would go for that?Nancy Andrews, M.D., Ph.D.Dean, Duke University Medical SchoolVia Orac, I learned of this new lobbying

82nd Skeptics' Circle.

2008-03-12T20:30:00.001-07:00

The 82nd Skeptics' Circle is up at Happy Jihad's House of Pancakes. Go take a gander.

Sex Conspiracy!

2008-03-12T08:42:00.001-07:00

political statement?Originally uploaded by kerusdotorg Okay, this isn't really relevant, but it made me laugh, and is in reference to the Larry Craig scandal.(Cue Eliot Spitzer jokes for fair and balanced joking).(Edited for clarity).

John McCain is anti-science.

2008-03-10T10:37:00.000-07:00

I wrote last week how John McCain has no plan for science. This week, we discover via the Washington Post that he points to basic science studies as a waste of money: The federal government, he declares with horror and astonishment, has spent $3 million to study grizzly bear DNA. "I don't know if it was a paternity issue or criminal," he jokes, "but it was a waste of money."Head over to the

Oklahoma turns to relativistic, post-modern theocracy

2008-03-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

The Oklahoma state legislature is in the process of passing a bill that codifies a student's right to remain ignorant - so long as they have a religious reason for doing so.From ERV:The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in homework and in other ways without being penalized. If a student’s religious

Teach the controversy!

2008-03-10T06:03:00.001-07:00

It's a conspiracy!

Friday beautiful science

2008-03-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

Today's Friday beautiful science is us. Here's a shot of our tiny little planet, as seen from Mars. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HIRISE) is orbiting Mars: Launched in August 2005, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) is flying onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission. HiRISE will investigate deposits and landforms resulting from geologic and

If McCain wins, science loses.

2008-03-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

I'm a post-doctoral fellow at a large medical school in the U.S. I'm looking for a 'permanent' position for me to conduct research. These positions largely don't exist.The National Institutes of Health (NIH) are the largest organization for funding basic biomedical research in the United States. If you want basic research done, these are the folks who pay for it. The NIH budget hasn't been

Friday beautiful science

2008-02-29T05:38:00.001-08:00

Today's Friday beautiful science is a shot of a fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) larva trapped in a water droplet. From the Nature website: This image of a live Drosophila larva in a water droplet has won the photographic competition that forms part of celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). Winner Robert Markus, of the

Quote of the Day

2008-02-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

via Bug Girl's Blog: “Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.”-Terry Pratchett, HogfatherMy own thoughts are that a career in science is a lot like heroin. It's sure a lot of fun, but it fucks you up pretty royally.For more, see Bug Girl's Post that Academia is a Cult.

A Leap Year Skeptics' Circle

2008-02-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

It's late at night, and dark. The scene is a little different than the last time a Skeptics' Circle was hosted by the Conspiracy Factory. Oh yes, it's rather a lot different.A few days after the lunar eclipse, the day before February 29th, is the perfect day to observe some evil. You're hidden in the bushes, in the dark. Peeking over the hill in front of you, you can see a small group forming

Skeptics' Circle reminder

2008-02-26T12:34:00.000-08:00

A reminder to folks that I'm hosting the Skeptics' Circle this week. Please send your best skeptical posts of the last 2 weeks to me (factician at gmail period com) with the words "Skeptics Circle" in the subject line. If I get your posts before 6 p.m. ET on February 27th, I will do my best to include it.

Friday beautiful science

2008-02-22T09:54:00.001-08:00

Today's Friday beautiful science is another shot of Mercury from the Mercury Messenger. The Planetary Society has an awesome blog where they describe this shot: MESSENGER took this photo of Mercury as it departed from its first flyby at 19:59:41 on January 14, 2008 UTC. The image contains two craters with dark halos, which may indicate that Mercury's surface is layered, with different

I must blog!

2008-02-20T05:26:00.000-08:00

xkcd nails it again.

81st Skeptics' Circle Submission Request

2008-02-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

Rumor has it that some homeopathy ninjas have kidnapped Sam Wise of Sorting out Science. Or perhaps it was some reiki master that blasted him with the powers of the universe. Whatever it was, apparently he is unable to host the next Skeptics' Circle, so we at the Conspiracy Factory have stepped out of the shadows, and taken on the mantle of the 81st Skeptics' Circle. Hopefully we can put

No one reads Uncommon Descent?

2008-02-15T07:19:00.000-08:00

ERV has said in the past that no one reads Uncommon Descent, the blathering creationist website of creationist William Dembski.Well, turns out there's some good stuff to be read there, if only by the sockpuppets from AtBC:Thank you, Dr. Dembski. You are without peer when it comes to The Argument Regarding Design.Fabulously well done! Head over there and read the confessions of a sockpuppet.

Friday Beautiful Science

2008-02-15T06:35:00.001-08:00

Horrible mutant lovecraftian lemonOriginally uploaded by stevelewalready Check out this cool lemon: infected by [Eriophyes] sheldoni, the citrus bud mite.The photographer called it a Horrible mutant lovecraftian lemon.I'm not sure I'd agree with the horrible part. Well, the mutant part is wrong, too (they're developmentally messed up, not genetically messed up). For more cool Lovecraftian

Neil de Grasse Tyson!

2008-02-14T14:08:00.000-08:00

Who am I kidding? Let's just turn this site into a Colbert fansite...

Another anniversary.

2008-02-14T11:12:00.001-08:00

Today is the second birthday of my son. The poor guy will some day have to purchase gifts for his girlfriend/wife on his birthday. But for now, it's his birthday. This morning I asked him if he knew what day it was, and he said "My birthday!". "How old are you?" I asked. "ONE!""No," I said, "You're two today. Today is your birthday.""ONE!"Mrs. Factician and I tried to work it out with him,

80th Skeptics' Circle

2008-02-14T10:42:00.000-08:00

The Valentine's edition of the Skeptics' Circle is up at Bug Girl's Blog. Go have a gander.

Creationist breaks another commandment

2008-02-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

Bill Dembski, creationist-at-large, has broken yet another biblical commandment: Exodus 20:17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's."Turns out, Dembski has coveted his neighbor's ass. Or rather, he's coveted Richard Dawkins' rather large

Who would you take money from?

2008-02-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

One of my recent commenters brought up the spectre of tainted research dollars: "Doctors have been critical of [Edith London's] research and the fact that she accepts money from Philip-Morris."Does this matter?As an introduction, I'm a research scientist. I've pointed that out on numerous times in my blog. I'm a post-doc, and I'm currently looking for a permanent position. I'm keeping my

Hollow Earthers.

2008-02-06T17:08:00.001-08:00

From Cectic.

Happy Blogoversary to me!

2008-02-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

Today is the Conspiracy Factory's 1st birthday.If you'll indulge me, here are a few of *my* favourite posts from the last year:On Quacks and CancerA Rushing River of StupidColony Collapse DisorderAn Anecdote about AnecdotesI am the Pinnacle of Evolution!Pseudo-intellectual, John TierneyBanned!Fake Acupuncture - As Good as the Real Thing!Photosynthetic Worms!and the one that actually got me some

Animal rights nuts strike again

2008-02-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

Animal rights nuts left an incendiary device on the front steps of Edythe London this morning. It lit, damaging her home:The device was placed this morning on the front porch of a house owned by Edythe London, FBI officials in Los Angeles said.London, a professor of psychiatry and bio-behavioral sciences and of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA,

Joshua Lederberg, molecular biology pioneer

2008-02-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

Joshua Lederberg, a bacterial geneticist, died on Saturday. This guy had a huge influence on my field, discovering that bacteria can exchange genetic materials. Indeed, he and his ex-wife developed the now classical technique of "replica-plating" that allows screening of hundreds of thousands of bacterial isolates (believe me, I've done it!). From the New York Times obituary:Donald Kennedy, the

Friday beautiful science

2008-01-25T06:05:00.001-08:00

Today's Friday beautiful science comes from the Mercury Messenger mission: One week ago, the MESSENGER spacecraft transmitted to Earth the first high-resolution image of Mercury by a spacecraft in over 30 years, since the three Mercury flybys of Mariner 10 in 1974 and 1975. MESSENGER's Wide Angle Camera (WAC), part of the Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), is equipped with 11 narrow-band color

Supernatural? Really?

2008-01-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

What is peer review, really?

2008-01-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

I am currently writing a manuscript for publication in a peer-reviewed molecular biology journal. And I’m hating it (just a little). Hopefully I’ll have this out of my hair in just a few more weeks. But it occurred to me, not all of my readers are scientists (indeed, based on the commenters alone, I would say that only a few of my readers are scientists). It occurs to me that not all of my

Friday beautiful science

2008-01-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

Today's Friday beautiful science comes from the TaMaRa lab (the lab of Francois Taddei, Ivan Matic and Miro Radman). They've worked on a lot of different projects, but these photos are intended to demonstrate that bacterial colonies are not made up of homogeneous cells. The first photo is of:Cells expressing RFP undert rpoH and YFP under rpoS-dependent promoters.That is, they have RFP (red

Scientists for better PCR

2008-01-16T12:21:00.000-08:00

Classic.

National Academies and Evolution

2008-01-04T07:57:00.000-08:00

The National Academies of Science of the US has just released yet another report about evolution. Keep in mind here, the National Academies members are the best scientists in the world. You get invited to join the National Academies after a long and distinguished career as a scientist. Their reports tend to be on the heavy side.This report is written for regular folks. It's an introduction to

Cancer cured!

2008-01-03T13:56:00.001-08:00

From Ataraxia.

77th Skeptics' Circle

2008-01-03T06:53:00.001-08:00

The 77th Skeptics' Circle is up at White Coat Underground. Go take a gander.

Bad talks

2008-01-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Friday Beautiful Sciences of 2007

2007-12-28T07:31:00.000-08:00

Everyone is making lists for 2007, and I thought I would too. Here's a list of my favourite Friday beautiful science posts of 2007. In particular, I'd like to take issue with Phil Plait's (of Bad Astronomy) statement: Astronomy is arguably the most beautiful of the sciences. I’m biased, of course, but it’s nearly impossible to gaze upon a picture of a galaxy, a moon, a nebula, and not see in

Jon Swift Best of 2007

2007-12-27T10:22:00.001-08:00

Jon Swift has made a best of 2007 blog post. I'm delighted that he included my entry.Thanks, Jon.

Secular charity

2007-12-22T07:14:00.001-08:00

One other issue that comes up this time of year is charitable giving, whether it be due to Christmas or the fact that the tax year is coming to a close. If I may be so bold, I'd like to suggest a few secular charities that are worthy of your support, and that my wife and I support:1:PLoS. These people tirelessly support open-access of scientific research, both in their own journals and as

Medical myths

2007-12-21T07:49:00.000-08:00

Medical myths exposed the Guardian! (I confess, I believed the last one):Everyone must drink at least eight glasses of water a dayThis advice is thought to have originated in 1945 from the Nutrition Council in the US, which suggested people needed to consume 2.5 litres of water a day. But Vreeman said the water contained in food, particularly fruit and vegetables, as well as in milk, juice,

76th Skeptics' Circle

2007-12-21T07:08:00.000-08:00

The 76th Skeptics' Circle is up at Aardvarchaeology. Go check it out.

Friday beautiful science

2007-12-21T07:00:00.001-08:00

Today's Friday beautiful science comes from the Sandia National Labs. It's a simulation of the meteorite impact in Russia in the early part of the 20th century. This new simulation allows all kinds of predictions about the size and shape of the impacting object, and allows us to predict the frequency of such events: The stunning amount of forest devastation at Tunguska a century ago in

For the geek in your life.

2007-12-19T08:55:00.001-08:00

It's down to the wire for last minute Christmas shopping. I have a few recommendations for you, if you're like me and have let things go to the last minute. In the beautiful coffee-table science book category we have:Fantastic evo/devo photos. This is one I put on my own Christmas list, and hope to find under the tree on Tuesday:-----This is one that we have at home already. Beautiful, though

Do sciences start first as "proto-sciences"?

2007-12-19T07:30:00.001-08:00

A quote from The Design Matrix:I should make it explicitly clear from the start that I did not write this book to help those seeking to change the way we teach science to our kids. I do not argue that design deserves to be known as science. At best, Intelligent Design may only be a nascent proto-science [my bold] and thus does not belong in the public school curriculum.Proto. i.e. primordial.

Evolution unmasked!

2007-12-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

Gil Dodgen, creationist cdesign proponentist public intellectual, unmasks evolution for what it is:So, are those of us with no formal academic background in evolutionary biology (or, poor me, with no college academic background outside of foreign language, literature, and music) automatically disqualified from making challenges and asking hard questions? Some would say yes; I say no. Spotting a

Wasting time before the holidays

2007-12-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

This Traveler IQchallenge is brought to you by the Web's Original Travel Blog I scored an travel IQ of 113 with 381720 points. How did you do?

The Design of Life - by William Dembski

2007-12-15T15:06:00.001-08:00

Intelligent design is not creationism.

2007-12-14T19:25:00.000-08:00

Or, in the words of William Dembski, world-famous intelligent design proponent:Interviewer: Does your research conclude that God is the Intelligent Designer?Dembski: I believe God created the world for a purpose. The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God.Ouch. Dr. Dembski, isn't there a commandment in there that you've been breaking? Cause you told me it wasn't

Friday beautiful science

2007-12-14T19:13:00.000-08:00

Today's Friday beautiful science is a 3-D image taken by the JAXA moon satellite that I'm clearly so enamored of. The photos are taken using 2 cameras aboard the satellite that are angled differently at the surface of the moon, and they have a resolution of 10m.Clearly, another fantastic photo of the surface of the moon.