What we're talking about 
Monday, December 3, 2012
The Melting Snowball Effect
Ice Loss at Poles Is Increasing, Mainly in Greenland
Greg Laden's Blog November 29, 2012
From NASA: PASADENA, Calif. – An international team of experts supported by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) has combined data from multiple satellites and aircraft to produce the most comprehensive and accurate assessment to date of ice sheet losses in Greenland and Antarctica and their contributions to sea level rise. In a landmark…
Shepherd et al.: Science 30 November 2012: Vol. 338 no. 6111 pp. 1183-1189 DOI: 10.1126/science.1228102: We combined an ensemble of satellite altimetry, interferometry, and gravimetry data sets using common geographical regions, time intervals, and models of surface mass balance and glacial isostatic adjustment to estimate the mass balance of Earth’s polar ice sheets. We find…
Channel Surfing
Life Science
Greg Laden's Blog
Regenesis: Taking over biology using readily available materials from your kitchen
I might be exaggerating slightly about the ready availability of the materials… Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves by George Church and Ed Regis looks like a futurist tome on what could happen when technology finally catches up with human imagination and everything changes. Except it isn’t. Most futurists are people with…
I’ve been interested in Animal Navigation for years. I’ve always been interested in things like orientation and maps and so on, but it was when I started working with the Efe Pygmies in the mid 1980s, and noticed that there were some interesting things about how they found their way around in the rainforest, that…
Researchers at Amgen in British Columbia and California have developed an antibody called mimAb1 that mimics the properties of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). Having a role in regulating fat and glucose metabolism as well as body weight made this particular growth factor a target for the treatment of obesity and diabetes. When administered to…
Physical Science
“A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.” -Henry David Thoreau Every day that we have free or leisure time, there’s this great conflict as to how we spend it:…
These three things are intimately connected. Well, OK, they’re not really connected at all, but all will be the subject of discussion on the next Skeptically Speaking. I believe Desiree will be wpeaking on Sunday, December 2nd with James Pinfold about Dark Matter … apparently there is new information bringing an explanation for it into…
Does grinding your own meat make a better burger? How does adding fat to your eggs create the perfect tender omelet? Why should you have patience before carving your roast? Discover the science behind everyday cooking with Christopher Kimball from America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated. Join us as we explore the fundamental science explaining…
Environment
Oh go on guess, who do you think it was. Well, you’re wrong: it was Piers Corbyn. To be fair to Piers, he doesn’t appear to use the “honour” himself, its been used for him on his signature to the recent OPEN CLIMATE LETTER TO UN SECRETARY-GENERAL: Current scientific knowledge does not substantiate Ban Ki-Moon…
That would have been the title of _Making Home_ except it is way, way too wordy, but that’s the gist of my book – that we don’t have a choice but to change our way of life, so we might as well find the best possible way to do it. The long version (and…
I probably won’t get to look at them until after Isaiah’s birthday and our Chanukah party next weekend, but the seed catalogs are piling up, and I’m starting to think about gardens again. I can’t wait to sink down into the couch with a stack of catalogs and dream. This was a tough year for…
Humanities
Beer & Vikings – of course I had to review this new Italian boardgame, the follow-up to 2011′s Sake & Samurai in the “Spirits & Warriors” series. Let me say at the outset that the game art shows little influence from actual Viking Period material culture and the text shows little influence from Old Norse…
I recently came across a reference to the total number of people killed for being Witches in Europe since the historically documented practice began in the early Middle Ages. (The idea of Witches is much broader than the European practice.) The number was in the tens of thousands. Looking at the reference for this in…
I have discussed rabies before. In Attack of the Hound of Malembi. Or, “Whose are these people, anyway?” I discussed a personal encounter with a rabid dog, which killed my cat and bit six friend. In Ode to Rocky I discuss an encounter with a cute little raccoon which probably did not have rabies, but…
Education
USA Science and Engineering Festival: The Blog
The Cat’s Meow: A feature by Festival Nifty Fifty Speaker Joe Schwarcz
Have you ever wondered why on some days cats lick themselves more vigorously? I suspect not. But their licking rate is indeed variable. And it just might have to do with the animal’s fear of getting an electric shock. Unfortunately for felines, cat fur loses electrons very readily, and therein lies a problem. Anytime a…
Researchers at Amgen in British Columbia and California have developed an antibody called mimAb1 that mimics the properties of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). Having a role in regulating fat and glucose metabolism as well as body weight made this particular growth factor a target for the treatment of obesity and diabetes. When administered to…
USA Science and Engineering Festival: The Blog
Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Benjamin Carson – World-Renowned Pediatric Neurosurgeon
For the full biography on the amazing Benjamin Carson visit our website: http://ow.ly/fIXdY
Politics
Despite carbon tax, Australia is still not in the Stone Age.
From the moment I learned about the impending “fiscal cliff,” I was skeptical. Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) recently wrote in an email blast with a subject line “An Artificial Crisis” something that should be shared widely. Washington and the talk shows are captivated by talk of the “fiscal cliff”: the combination of automatic spending cuts…
Or, maybe just waiting for a pin to drop, to break the silence? Bill Prendergast at Minnesota Progressive Project has floated an interesting, if somewhat complicated, hypothesis. He notes that Michel Bachmann has been very silent, out of the news, since the election which is now (though it seems like yesterday) nearly a month in…
Medicine
Sometimes when a study comes out that I’m very interested in blogging about, I don’t get around to it right away. In the blogging biz, this sort of delay is often considered a bad thing, because blogging tends to be very immediate, about being the firstest with the mostest, and the moment to strike and…
Researchers at Amgen in British Columbia and California have developed an antibody called mimAb1 that mimics the properties of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). Having a role in regulating fat and glucose metabolism as well as body weight made this particular growth factor a target for the treatment of obesity and diabetes. When administered to…
On Pharyngula, PZ Myers deconstructs the hypothesis of two physicists who show an undue enthusiasm for biology. They claim cancer is caused by cells regressing from their modern, multicellular functionality to a “proto-metazoan” lifestyle of largely uncoordinated growth. Myers says their is no plausible avenue for such atavism, writing “you can’t take one of your…
Brain & Behavior
Whoever thought that a brain-attacking fungus might actually be good for you? This particular type of fungus, cordyceps, is known for attacking and killing caterpillars and can be found in the mountains of Tibet. Touted as a cure for various ailments including cancer, asthma, and erectile dysfunction, it is sold in Chinese markets as the…
Exploring reliable links between work and depression, which is a significant health and economic burden for individuals as well as society, is somewhat murky. But a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health used two analytic strategies to address such criticism.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a Ride!’” -Hunter S. Thompson For those of you who’ve never…
Technology
Researchers at Amgen in British Columbia and California have developed an antibody called mimAb1 that mimics the properties of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). Having a role in regulating fat and glucose metabolism as well as body weight made this particular growth factor a target for the treatment of obesity and diabetes. When administered to…
Whoever thought that a brain-attacking fungus might actually be good for you? This particular type of fungus, cordyceps, is known for attacking and killing caterpillars and can be found in the mountains of Tibet. Touted as a cure for various ailments including cancer, asthma, and erectile dysfunction, it is sold in Chinese markets as the…
If you are thinking about starting a blog, you should first watch this episode of the PBS TV Kids Show, “Arthur” in which Muffy decides to start a blog, and all hell breaks loose. If you spend any time at all on the blogsophere, you will find this episode both familiar and frightening. The point…
Information Science
Another list for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure. Every year for the last bunch of years I’ve been linking to and posting about all the “year’s best sciencey books” lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year. All the previous 2012 lists…
Confessions of a Science Librarian
Around the Web: The dismal state of Canadian science journalism, What matters and what doesn’t in academia and more
Out of sight, out of existence: How lack of public awareness hurts Canadian science Outcry Grows Over Canadian Govt’s Undermining of Climate Science What matters and what doesn’t: open thoughts on academia Stop the silence, and some suggested reading (more about the state of academia) Changing Culture in Higher Education Personal Editorial: Managing High Potential…
Confessions of a Science Librarian
Around the Web: Publisher push-back, Mobile vs. Social, Killing the term paper and more
50 Shades of Grey in Scientific Publication: How Digital Publishing Is Harming Science and the response Dr. Fields at the Huffington Post is wrong on open access and another Great Expectations For Scientific Publication: How Digital Publishing Is Helping Science Open access: why academic publishers still add value and the response Academic publishers need better…
Jobs
Exploring reliable links between work and depression, which is a significant health and economic burden for individuals as well as society, is somewhat murky. But a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health used two analytic strategies to address such criticism.
Visiting Astrobiology Chair in DC: research and engagement. Applications and nominations are open for the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology. “Established in the Fall of 2011, the Blumberg Astrobiology Chair is a distinguished senior position at the Library’s Kluge Center. The incumbent conducts research at the intersection between the science of…
New faculty positions in multiple science and engineering disciplines, including astronomy, emphasizing computational analysis and data mining. Penn State is embarking on a transformative cluster hiring initiative in cyberscience – computation- and data-enabled science and engineering – to lead through cyber-enabled innovation in interdisciplinary research. This cross-college endeavor will coordinate multiple faculty appointments to develop…
