Society of Systematic Biologists

Today's Employment Situation report for November 2008 revealed that some 533,000 individuals are no longer counted as being employed on a non-farm payroll in the U.S. as compared to a month ago, after adjusting for seasonal factors. But what happens when you

Historical Perspective on the November 2008 US Job Losses at Live Granades : Well, that’s not good. The Department of Labor announced that there are 533,000 fewer US jobs in November than in October, which is the largest one-month drop since December of 1974, when the job numbers dropped by some 602,000.The BusinessWeek article

Offensive Christmas Ornament created by Seattle artist, Deborah Lawrence.Image: Deborah Lawrence. Seattle artist, Deborah Lawrence, was one of 370 artists who were given the honor of creating a Christmas ornament for the White House's official Christmas trees.

Seattle Artist's Christmas Ornament Banned from White House Tree at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) : Offensive Christmas Ornament created by Seattle artist, Deborah Lawrence.Image: Deborah Lawrence. Seattle artist, Deborah Lawrence, was one of 370 artists who were given the honor of creating a Christmas ornament for the White House's official Christmas trees.

A few days ago, I complained again about the relative lack of science books in the New York Times "Notable Books of 2008" list. Yesterday, one of the big stories was CNN axing its entire science unit, such as it was, which drew comments from lots of blogs (and

Boo on you, CNN at Pure Pedantry : CNN is shutting down their science-and-technology unit. Not that it was much of a unit considering there was only one reporter:CNN has decided to shutter its science and technology unit -- a move that will result in the loss of seven jobs including veteran

Another one bites the dust: CNN axes science team at The Island of Doubt : So last month its was the Forecast Earth gang at the Weather Channel. This week it's the science and technology team at CNN that gets the axe.I know that times are tough all over. I know it's hard to sell ads for science sections and programs. But it sure would

No more science on CNN! at A Blog Around The Clock : Oh, there was before? Anyway, the story that everyone on science blogs is talking about these days is that CNN has ditched their science and tech team. I was going to comment on it, but Chad puts it the best and there is no way I can best it. So go on over

Modern long distance romances and marriages are made easier by low cost communications options available. But wouldn't it be nice to be sexually intimate with your distant lover even when 3,000 miles away? 5,000? 10,000? A convincing illusion of long distance

Scientists Achieve Mental Body-Swapping at Slashdot: Science : SpaceAdmiral notes the news that scientists have succeeded in convincing experiment subjects that a mannequin's body is their own, and even feeling at home in the body of someone of the opposite sex. The effect could prove useful in virtual reality applications

My old home state, Washington (uh, I've got the right one, right? This isn't DC, I hope), is waging the war on Christmas, as is appropriate for one of the most godless states in the country. The FFRF has put up a sign nestled among the religious symbols at

The most wonderful time of the year! at Science, Shrimp, and Grits : You can’t get very far into December without hearing it. No, I’m not talking about Mannheim Steamroller. I’m talking about the opening shots of the WAR ON CHRISTMAS!Alongside a Nativity scene at the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington,

free speech begets free speech at decorabilia : ...by delivering a bouncing controversy in the middle of the marketplace of ideas.A protest, several counter-signs and a news conference are the latest in a flurry of activity spurred by a sign put up Monday by an atheist group in the Capitol building in Olympia.Members

Dienekes points to a study by Marieke van Leeuwen and colleagues, in which they assess the phenotypic correlation between IQ and brain volume in a sample of 9-year-old children. The correlation overall is between 0.2 and 0.33 for different components of brain

Brain volume and IQ in children at Dienekes' Anthropology Blog : Intelligence doi:10.1016/j.intell.2008.10.005 A genetic analysis of brain volumes and IQ in children Marieke van Leeuwen et al.AbstractIn a population-based sample of 112 nine-year old twin pairs, we investigated the association among total brain volume, gray

There are concerns that pressures on regulators to approve new drugs more quickly have reduced the focus on patient safety, and this problem is exacerbated by new efficiencies in drug marketing which can quickly expose large numbers of patients to unknown risks,

Is faster better? at PharmaGossip : There are concerns that pressures on regulators to approve new drugs more quickly have reduced the focus on patient safety, and this problem is exacerbated by new efficiencies in drug marketing which can quickly expose large numbers of patients to unknown risks,

Sorry to have been off-duty recently...real life intervened with a vengeance. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will allow a class-action lawsuit to proceed against the Vatican: A US appeals court has

Friday Hope Blogging at Bouphonia : Sorry to have been off-duty recently...real life intervened with a vengeance. I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals will allow a class-action lawsuit to proceed against the Vatican: A US appeals court has

 NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage This Hubble image focuses in on  the globular cluster M13. Click on  the picture for a zoomable view. Astronomers are offering a double dose of cosmic ornaments for the holiday, in the form of stunning images

Taking a long weekend ... at SciGuy : To get ready for Christmas. Anyway, while I'm gone, enjoy the following photo of a "snow globe." Actually, it's a photo of some of the hundreds of thousands of stars in the globular cluster M13. Globular clusters are large, tightly...

The vast amounts spent globally on health care do not seem to translate into access for many patients, quality care, and improved outcomes. The US, in particular, spends huge amounts, now more than $2 trillion a year, without getting universal access, or superb

Gene Expression Can Predict the Survival of Lymphoma Patients at Highlight HEALTH : A study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine identified sets of genes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma that influence the effectiveness of chemotherapy [1]. Researchers found that the tumor microenvironment, consisting of non-cancerous

New Options for Treating Low Libido in Post-Menopausal Women at GNIF Brain Blogger : Testosterone levels in women decline with age, beginning in the late reproductive years. This can lead to a decrease in sexual desire and satisfaction. However, to date, there are few treatment options for this condition. Most studies and treatment options

Salt and Lead at The Frontal Cortex : Nicholas Kristof has an important column on the link between iodized salt and IQ in developing countries:Almost one-third of the world's people don't get enough iodine from food and water. The result in extreme cases is large goiters that swell their necks,

Those interested in the struggles against infusion of Intelligent Design Creationism into public schools, have followed, with great interest, the highly publicized trial in Dover, PA a couple of years ago. At the end of it, Judge Jones not just made the right

Judge John Jones interview at Mystery Rays from Outer Space : After the Dover trial of Intelligent Design,1there was a fair bit of talk about Judge John Jones, who made the decision that “Intelligent Design” is not science and should not be taught in school science classes. It was clear from the decision itself

Yesterday's blog about Who says Java is not fast?!? caused quite some feedback (thanx to all commenters!) with several good points. Of course, a table like that in the cinfony paper (see also the comments in the blogs by Noel (the author) and Rich). Many things

Who says Java is not fast?!? at chem-bla-ics : While performance tests actually show that for even core numerical calculations Java is at par with C in terms of speeds, and sometimes even hits Fortran-like speeds, people keep think that Java is not fast. I only invite you to test that yourself.Meanwhile,

Open Benchmarks for Cheminformatics at Depth-First : Yesterday's post on cheminformatics benchmarking generated a number of interesting comments, both here and on a similar article posted to Egon Willighagen's blog.One thing the discussion highlights is the need for a suite of benchmarks specifically aimed at

Cheminformatics Benchmark Project #1 at chem-bla-ics : Yesterday's blog about Who says Java is not fast?!? caused quite some feedback (thanx to all commenters!) with several good points. Of course, a table like that in the cinfony paper (see also the comments in the blogs by Noel (the author) and Rich). Many things

Figure 1 (Young et al., 2008). This x-ray image illustrates 3 metal staples embedded in the hand of a teenage girl.Self-Embedding Disorder appears to be a newly-coined term1 described in a press release issued by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA):Radiologists

Deliberate self-harm by insertion of foreign bodies into the forearm at The Neurocritic : OR: Why is the RSNA Makin' Stuff Up?First, we had the latest new scourge among teenage girls, as featured in yesterday's post:Self-Embedding Disorder appears to be a newly-coined term described in a press release issued by the Radiological Society of North

Self-Embedding Disorder and Removal of Soft Tissue Foreign Bodes at The Neurocritic : Figure 1 (Young et al., 2008). This x-ray image illustrates 3 metal staples embedded in the hand of a teenage girl.Self-Embedding Disorder appears to be a newly-coined term1 described in a press release issued by the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA):Radiologists

The movie “Milk” opened last weekend. It tells the story of Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay politicians in the United States. Although I have not seen the movie, without a doubt the story of Harvey Milk is a tragedy of epic proportions.

Markopoulou: Time is Fundamental, Space is Not at Guide to Reality : The Foundational Questions Institute has run an essay contest on "The Nature of Time" and received a wide variety of responses. These come from well known physicists, other academics, and amateurs alike. Because of time contraints I've only read a few, beginning

Ponca City, We love you writes "Powerful telescopes in Hawaii and Spain are using 'light echoes' from the original supernova explosion that have bounced off dust in the surrounding interstellar clouds to identify the precise type of supernova that Tycho Brahe

What Tycho Saw at The Speculist : It's a little bit of time travel and a whole lot of cool astronomy:Ancient Supernova Explosion Glimpsed AnewA supernova explosion first seen from Earth 436 years ago has come back to life for astronomers in a time-travel-like astronomical twist.By observing

It seems intuitive that better rested physicians equates to better patient care. Surgeon Pauline Chen takes a look at the repercussions of further limiting work-hours, saying "even the best attempts at cure do not come without strings attached."There's something

The consequences of limiting resident work-hours at Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog : It seems intuitive that better rested physicians equates to better patient care. Surgeon Pauline Chen takes a look at the repercussions of further limiting work-hours, saying "even the best attempts at cure do not come without strings attached."There's something

Stphane Goldstein, Radicalism and data, Research Information Network blog, undated but recent. Greetings from Edinburgh, where I'm attenting the 4th International Digital Curation Conference [December 1-3, 2008]. ... I was struck in particular by a number of

Quick update from International Digital Curation Conference at Science in the open : Just a quick note from the IDCC given I was introduced as “one of those people who are probably blogging the conference”. I spoke this morning giving a talk on Radical Sharing - Transforming Science? A version of the slides is available at slideshare.

Nicholas Wade (a friend of mine's Dad actually) was on the Colbert Report talking about cloning wooly mammoths. Colbert asks the obvious question: why don't we just staple shag carpeting to an elephant?Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this

Meanwhile, in mammoth land at archy : Over the last few months I've neglected woolly mammoth news because I was distracted by the election and my mother's health. It's time to get back to work.Nicholas Wade was on the Colbert Report talking about cloning woolly mammoths. Colbert asked the obvious

BioMed Central has joined HIFA2015 as a supporting organisation, declaring our support for the HIFA2015 goal.HIFA2015 (Health Information For All by 2015) was launched in October 2006, and as an organization aims to ensure that by 2015, every person worldwide

More on BioMed Central at Open Access News : Dick Kaser, BioMedCentral The Case in Point for Open Access, Infotoday Blog, December 4, 2008. If there is a poster child for Open Access publishing, it would appear to be BioMedCentral (BMC) ...When I met with [BMC's] Bryan Vickery and Marianne Haska in their

BMC joins Health Information For All at Open Access News : BioMed Central has joined HIFA2015 (Health Information For All by 2015) as a supporting organization. HIFA2015's goal statement is, "By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider."

This week's citation classic is A.S Sarabhai, A. O. W. Stretton, S. Brenner and A. Bolle. 1964. Colinearity of the gene with the polypeptide chain. Nature 4914:13-17. Following Crick and Watson's... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full

This Week's Citation Classic at Sandwalk : John Dennehy (The Evilutionary Biologist) has posted "This Week's Citation Classic."1 The classic paper demonstrated back in 1964 that the gene and the protein it encodes are colinear [This Week's Citation Classic]. Remember, this was before DNA sequencing