Blog of the Week:
Musings of a Dinosaur is a blog written by a physician, family practitioner, Lucy E. Hornstein, author of the book Declarations of a Dinosaur: 10 Laws I’ve Learned as a Family Doctor. Having a small general family practice is different from beeing a specialist in a large hospital. Approach to patients is different. The way one runs the business is different. The thoughts about electronic medical records (a frequent topic of the blog) are different. A valuable perspective, wry and funny and insightful.
Top 10:
Maxwell’s demon goes quantum, can do work, write and erase data by Matthew Francis:
At any temperature above absolute zero, particles in a system move randomly, an effect known as thermal fluctuation. The random character of the fluctuations means they cannot be put to work in a mechanical sense (the measure of the energy unavailable for work is called entropy). 19th century physicist James Clerk Maxwell proposed a tiny intelligent “demon” that could harvest the thermal fluctuations to restore their usefulness; later work in the 20th century showed that the demon itself would have entropy, which would keep the thermodynamic books balanced.
Interesting by Shara Yurkiewicz:
I pull up a test result for my patient, and the senior resident standing behind me lets out an excited squeal. I ve never seen the imaging come back positive for this, she says. Our two-week-old infant, who already has a rare infection, also has a rare associated structural abnormality. It s not benign, but it is fixable. The fix usually requires surgery. As we walk over to the patient s room to update her mother, my senior gushes about the zebra that was uncovered on the ultrasound. She asks me if I m excited. I dunno, I mutter, which is somewhat more diplomatic than my disgust that she is. Her kid has to get surgery now.
The world s smallest fly probably decapitates really tiny ants by Ed Yong:
…Even though flies as a group aren t exactly giants, the new species was around half the size of the previous smallest species. Brown named it Euryplatea nanaknihali after Nanak Nihal Weiss, a young boy from Brown s home town in Los Angeles. Weiss is an entomology fanatic and Brown hopes that the name will help to keep his interest for years to come….
Creationists and Climate Skeptics Separate Species or Just Different Breeds? by Faye Flam:
Several of the regular readers of this column have told me that since I ve been brave enough to tell the truth about evolution, I should do the same for climate change and expose it as a hoax. In one case I replied that in my stories I always strive to reflect the truth to the best of my abilities. He wrote that he was disappointed. These evolution-accepting climate change skeptics are an interesting breed, revealing some key differences in the ways they and creationists approach science. Self-described climate skeptics are much more scattered in their views than are creationists, but they are better organized and together speak with a louder, and angrier voice….
Printing dinosaurs: the mad science of new paleontology by Laura June:
In April of this year, I headed out to a marl pit in Clayton, New Jersey to watch a team of Drexel University students and their teacher, Professor Kenneth Lacovara, dig for fossils. Marl, a lime-rich mud, had been mined and used as the 19th century s leading fertilizer, but since around World War II (with the development of more advanced, synthetic fertilizers), demand for it has steeply lessened, and there aren t many marl mining businesses left in the US. The marl pits of Southern New Jersey are famous for something else, though: they have been incredibly rich in fossil finds. In February, Dr. Lacovara had announced that the Paleontology department at Drexel would team up with the Engineering department for what would largely be a novel new project: scanning all of the fossils in the University’s collection (including some previously unidentified dinosaurs of Lacovara’s own finds in other parts of the world) using a 3D scanner. The Engineering department would then take those scans and use a 3D printer to create 1/10 scale models of the most important bones. But, he reported, that wouldn’t be the end of it: they intended, he said, to use those scale polymer “printouts” to model and then engineer fully working limbs, complete with musculature to create, in effect, a fully accurate robotic dinosaur leg or arm, and eventually, a complete dinosaur….
Childbirth and C-sections in pre-modern times by Kristina Killgrove:
Basically since we started walking upright, childbirth has been difficult for women. Evolution selected for larger and larger brains in our hominin ancestors such that today our newborns have heads roughly 102% the size of the mother’s pelvic inlet width (Rosenberg 1992). Yes, you read that right. Our babies’ heads are actually two percent larger than our skeletal anatomy…
Self help: forget positive thinking, try positive action by Richard Wiseman:
For years self-help gurus have preached the same simple mantra: if you want to improve your life then you need to change how you think. Force yourself to have positive thoughts and you will become happier. Visualise your dream self and you will enjoy increased success. Think like a millionaire and you will magically grow rich. In principle, this idea sounds perfectly reasonable. However, in practice it often proves ineffective….
The Uncertainty Principle for climate (and chemical) models by Ashutosh Jogalekar:
A recent issue of Nature had an interesting article on what seems to be a wholly paradoxical feature of models used in climate science; as the models are becoming increasingly realistic, they are also becoming less accurate and predictive because of growing uncertainties. I can only imagine this to be an excruciatingly painful fact for climate modelers who seem to be facing the equivalent of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle for their field. It’s an especially worrisome time to deal with such issues since the modelers need to include their predictions in the next IPCC report on climate change which is due to be published next year….
The living rainbow: A fatal flaw in a classic study of sexual selection by Jeremy Yoder:
A key component of classical sexual selection theory is the idea that males maximize their evolutionary fitness the number of children they ultimately have by mating with lots of females, while females maximize their fitness by selecting only one or a few high-quality partners. It’s pretty clear that this model works well for some species (like ducks), but also that there are many it doesn’t fit so well. Now it looks like one of the “classic” experimental examples of sexual selection may actually fall into the latter category….
Dr. Google and Mr. Hyde by David Gorski:
….Like all major new technologies, the Internet has a good side and a bad side. In many cases, the same property is both good and bad, and one place that this is particularly true is in medical information. The Internet has an abundance of medical information, all there for the reading and learning, and various discussion forums that began with online BBS services and the now mostly obsolete global discussion community of Usenet allow people from all over the world who would never have communicated directly with each other before to share information and experiences. Unfortunately, there is a dark side to this. Regular readers of this blog know what that dark side is, too. The same technology that allows reputable scientists and doctors to publish reliable medical information to the world at very low cost also allows quacks and cranks to spew their misinformation, nonsense, pseudoscience, and quackery to the whole world at very little cost. And, boy, do they ever! In many ways, the quacks are a far more effective online presence than skeptics and supporters of science-based medicine. I mean, look at SBM itself. We re still using a generic WordPress template. Now look at an antivaccine website like The International Medical Council on Vaccination or Generation Rescue or the antivaccine blog Age of Autism. Look at quack websites like NaturalNews.com The comparison, at least when it comes to web and blog design, is not flattering…..
Special topic: Higgs boson:
What is the Higgs boson? – video by Ian Sample and Laurence Topham
What Is the Higgs Boson? [Video] by George Musser
Higgs Boson VIDEO: A Metaphor To Explain The Particle, Or Further Confuse You by Cara Santa Maria and Henry Reich
Sonnet on a Higgs-Like Particle (video) by Vi Hart
New Particle Resembling Long-Sought Higgs Boson Uncovered at Large Hadron Collider by John Matson
If You Want More Higgs Hype, Don t Read This Column by John Horgan
Beyond Higgs: On Supersymmetry (or Lack Thereof) by Glenn Starkman
Mr Boson, I presume ? by Charles Ebikeme
Live-Blogging the Higgs Seminar by Sean Carroll
Science Friday by Sean Carroll
Higgsteria: We Didn t Need No U.S. Super Collider by Gary Stix
Pros and Cons of building particle accelerators – Werner Heisenberg by Beatrice Lugger
Higgs? Probably not tomorrow and Discovering a boson and Linux at CERN and The mysterious Mr. Higgs by Gianluigi Filippelli
Who gives a Higgs? by Jacqui Hayes
What If the New Particle Isn’t the Higgs Boson? by Natalie Wolchover
Why the Higgs Particle Matters by Matt Strassler
The Best Analogies Scientists and Journalists Use To Explain the Higgs Boson by J. Bryan Lowder
High on Higgs by Subhra Priyadarshini
Stop calling it The God Particle! by Dr. Dave Goldberg
The Higgs Boson explained by PhD Comics by Jorge Cham, via Nathan Yau
Scientists search for Higgs boson yields new subatomic particle by Brian Vastag and Joel Achenbach
The Higgs Boson Certainly, certainly (?) there! (at least, I am pretty certain it is) by Julian Champkin
Gallery: how Wired readers picture the Higgs Boson by Ian Steadman
The Art of Science Particle Accelerator Art by Michele Banks
Gettin’ Higgy With it: A Roundup of Higgs Boson Jokes on Twitter by Xeni Jardin
Higgs! by Phil Plait
Higgs Boson: the jokes edition by Khalil A. Cassimally
Scientists might have found the Higgs Boson by Maggie Koerth-Baker
Higgsdependence Day! by Matthew R. Francis
Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to Universe by DENNIS OVERBYE
How the Discovery of the Higgs Boson Could Break Physics by Adam Mann
CERN Announces Discovery of Higgs-like Particle by PRI The World
What It Means to Find a Higgs” by Mariette DiChristina
So What’s the Big Deal About the Higgs Boson, Anyway? A Physics Double Xplainer by Matthew Francis
A Moment for Particle Physics: The End of a 40-Year Story? by Stephen Wolfram
Higgs-like discovery from the inside by Jon Butterworth
The Higgs Boson and my mom by Laura Jane Martin
What Higgs Boson Evidence Looks Like by Ira Flatow
Higgs boson: Prof Stephen Hawking loses $100 bet by Nick Collins
Physicists Detect New Heavy Particle by Virat Markandeya
Hipster Pop Quiz: What is the Higgs Boson? by Motherboard
These Hipsters Have No Idea About the Higgs Boson by Megan Garber
CERN Finds New Particle (And it Might be the Higgs Boson!) by Miriam Kramer
Does 5-sigma = discovery? by Hyperspace
It s true, they say they have the Higgs in the bag. Big news. Just imagine the hubbub were it deemed imaginary. and Goldarned god particle by Charlie Petit
So the Higgs boson walks into a… by Eryn Brown
Lighter side of the Higgs boson by Alan Boyle
Nobel Laureates in Physics React to the Higgs-Like Particle News [Video] by Nature magazine
Do You Understand The Higgs Boson? by Fake Science
It s kind of a Higgs deal by Zen Faulkes
Field Day by Rheanna Sand
Best Images:
Snake Oil? The scientific evidence for health supplements by David McCandless and Andy Perkins
Unusual Bridges For Animals – Wildlife Overpasses by THE WORLD GEOGRAPHY
Horoscoped by David McCandless
The complete history of philosophy visualized in one graph by Simon Raper, via George Dvorsky
Paper birds now with some internal anatomy by Diana Beltran Herrera
How Do We Know by The Census Bureau
Best Videos:
Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror by NASA
Hermit Crab in Glass Shell turning over by Robert DuGrenier
Virtual Pigeon Attracts, Baffles Randy Males by Rachel Nuwer
Stephen Colbert Interviews Neil deGrasse Tyson at Montclair Kimberley Academy – 2010-Jan-29 by teridon
Fracking by Carin Bondar
Watch a giant African land snail enjoying a nice cool shower by Lauren Davis
Science Is A Girl Thing: Chris Hardwick, Cara Santa Maria Talk Women In STEM On G4′s ‘Attack Of The Show’ by Cara Santa Maria
Speed Comparison: GT vs. F1 cars by mclaren777
Why We Need to Broaden Participation in Science by RMCRSLDM
Science Writing in the Age of Denial, April 23, 2012 videos by University of Wisconsin-Madison
What Happens Inside the Large Hadron Collider? by George Musser and Rose Eveleth
Som Sabadell flashmob by Banco Sabadell
Octopus ‘vulgaris’ hatchlings hatching by Richard Ross
Ophiarachna Predatory Brittle Star FEEDING ACTION! by ChrisM
Deep-Sea Cephalopods Hide Using Light by AMNHorg
Science:
The Good-Old Days of Contraception: Lemon-Peel Diaphragms and Beaver-Testicle Tea by Sophie Bushwick
TGIPF: Iceland s Phallological Museum by Alex Witze and Jeff Kanipe
The Myth of the Rational Scientist by Byron Jennings
Do scientists need an equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath to ensure ethical conduct? by Lou Woodley
Will We Ever Find Dinosaurs Caught in the Act? and Pterosaurs Done Wrong by Brian Switek
Trees, grass, carbon dioxide and the battle for dominance by GrrlScientist
Franz Boas and Neuroanthropology by Daniel Lende
Altmetrics and the Future of Science by Samuel Arbesman
Lunch: An Urban Invention by Nicola Twilley
The Making Of Meat-Eating America by Dan Charles
How To Start Your Own Farm by Forrest Pritchard
Foie Gras Hypocrisy by Matt Pressberg
U.N. Report from Rio on Environment a Suicide Note by Mark McDonald
A “rule-of-forearm” for collecting data in Botswana by Andrew J King
Microbiomes mediating microevolution by Zen Faulkes
Dietary supplements: Manufacturing troubles widespread, FDA inspections show by Trine Tsouderos
Grizzlies move into Polar bear territory by Rebecca Deatsman
The Unsung Scientist, Louis-Antoine Ranvier by Cynthia McKelvey
Turning trauma into story: the benefits of journaling by Jordan Gaines
The tyranny of : A semirational rant on an irrational number by Jonathan Chang
Draining the Desert? by Kate Prengaman
BOOK REVIEW: Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together by Michael Barton
Ancient impact crater may be largest ever found by Stephen “DarkSyde” Andrew
Rising Heat at the Beach Threatens Largest Sea Turtles, Climate Change Models Show by Rachel Ewing
You Can See Poor From Space by Philadelinquency
Maya Lin: A Memorial to A Vanishing Natural World by Diane Toomey
The Problems With Forecasting and How to Get Better at It by Nate Silver
Ray Bradbury and the Lost Planetarium Show by David Romanowski
Opossums: Survival Machines and Opossum Reproduction by Jason Bittel
Conducting Cells in Mosses by Jessica M. Budke
What’s the difference between one kid with a fever and one without? by Connor Bamford
You want to cut me where? by Steven Salzberg
Birds of the Sun by Christopher Taylor
Coffee: a caffeinated chronicle by Jordan Gaines
Inner Ears Reveal Speed of Early Primates and The Shambulance: Ab Toning Belts (or, Muscle Tone Is All in Your Head) and Flightless Giant’s Flower Diet Revealed by Poop Fossils by Elizabeth Preston
Reviving the apparently dead in Georgian Britain by Alun Withey
Don t trust the religious by P.Z.Myers
Mother Nature Wants to Eat You, or: The Trouble With Alternative Med by Puff the Mutant Dragon
Gal pagos Monday: World Within Itself by Virginia Hughes
Not in Our Genes by Bryan Appleyard
On the merits of science literacy by Alice Bell
Defining a hybrid species by Retrieverman
Sleep Research in the Blind May Help Us All by Steven Lockley, Ph.D.
Male Lactation- there s probably something wrong with you by Noby Leong
Bill McKibben on the Global Warming Hoax by Bill McKibben
Why the Left-Brain Right-Brain Myth Will Probably Never Die by Christian Jarrett
Do Bears Sense That Hunters Are Afoot? and Thinking About Your Own Demise Inspires Environmentalism by Rachel Nuwer
Infrastructure and You by Marie-Claire Shanahan, Scott Huler and Tim De Chant
Bottles Full of Brain-Boosters by Carl Zimmer
New Study: Climate Deniers Are Emoting–Especially the Conspiracy Theorists and The Politics of Ice and Fire by Chris Mooney
What’s Behind The Record Heat? by Douglas Main
Jungle Science and the Future of Conservation by Mireya Mayor
A Poison for Assassins and Tiny Fireworks by Deborah Blum
Why Do We Have to Learn This Stuff? A New Genetics for 21st Century Students by Rosemary J. Redfield
Darwin, Darwinism, and Uncertainty: book review by Matt Young
You re Not as Happy as You Think You Are, Behavioral Scientists Report by Thomas Hayden
Strange sounds: How the brain makes sense of degraded speech by Julia Erb
Do We Need Evolutionary Medicine ? by Harriet Hall
What the Germs in Your Bellybutton Say About You by Jason Tetro
Just a Reminder by Mike Haubrich
Night Shift by Rob Dunn
When Killer Whales Attack by Kieran Mulvaney
Voyager 1: The Little Spacecraft That Could by Amy Shira Teitel
Marriage is a tool society uses to reproduce by Greg Laden
Supplements: Something Smells Fishy by Cassandra Willyard
Cost of scientific research and political naivity by Ken Perrott
The time has come: public participation in science policy making. and Harnessing Citizen Scientists: Let s Create a Very Public Office of Technology Assessment by Darlene Cavalier
Get to know the narwhal! by Heidi Smith
Worm kills insects by vomiting Hulk-like bacteria by Ed Yong
The Tasmanian Echidna s Four-Headed Penis by Lucy Cooke
Why Do Flamingos Stand On One Leg? by Matt Soniak
The First Poem Published in a Scientific Journal by Maria Popova
Truth and Reconciliation for Group Selection (pdf) by David Sloan Wilson
With a snail s help a fish transitions from dying to dead by Craig McClain
Can You Learn To Be Synaesthetic? and False Positive Neuroscience? by Neuroskeptic
The Psychologist: Vladimir Nabokov’s understanding of human nature anticipated the advances in psychology since his day by Brian Boyd
Media, Publishing, Technology and Society:
The Geek Poet Strikes Back by Beth McNichol
A field guide to ocean science and conservation on twitter by Andrew Thaler
How to solve impossible problems: Daniel Russell s awesome Google search techniques by John Tedesco
Should Google and Amazon be allowed to control domains? by Mathew Ingram
Calling Dr. Google by Jeff Jarvis
Belated thoughts on the Finch Report on achieving Open Access by Mike Taylor
The Busy Trap by Tim Kreider and Have You Fallen Into The Busy Trap? by Brad Feld and Do We All Work Too Much? And Do We Really Have a Choice? by Walter Frick
The Death and Rebirth of Television News: “All of Life is Reduced to the Common Rubble of Banality” by Steven Lloyd Wilson
The Enlightenment project could inspire our media by Matthew da Silva
What Twitter could have been by Dalton Caldwell
A manifesto for the newspaper’s public editor in the social media era by Dan Gillmor
Why Google Plus isn’t dead — well, yet by John D. Sutter
SciWriteLabs 8.3: Adjudicating the Lehrer plagiarism accusations. Plus: Do Arianna and Oprah deserve lifelong bans? by Seth Mnookin
The Great American Novel by Maria Konnikova
Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit by David Graeber (also see reactions by Henry Farrell and Cassiodorus)
Journatic worker takes This American Life inside outsourced journalism by Anna Tarkov
Positive signs from Wiley on open access and Dear Wiley: please use Creative Commons Attribution for your open-access activities by Mike Taylor
On Tides, Visibility, and Quiet Revolutionary Acts by Dana Hunter
The View from Nowhere Interviews Trenberth by Michael Tobis
Social Networking For Scientists – The Wiki by Christie Wilcox
Save your darlings: Blank on Blank gives new life to old tape by Adrienne LaFrance
Hooray for the Awesome Wave of Lady Scientists in Action Movies by Alyssa Rosenberg
Long-form journalism project Matter aiming for September launch by Rachel McAthy
The Predictable Comment by The Digital Cuttlefish
Dramatic Growth of Open Access by Heather Morrison
The 2012 presidential election: what voters want the community agenda by Jay Rosen and Nadja Popovich
Website Tests How Political Opposites Actually Discuss Differences by Marissa Alioto
Sorry, Your Tweets Can Still Be Subpoenaed by Adam Martin
Why You Should Be An Open Notebook Scientist by Anthony Salvagno
Startups that Catalyze Science by Samuel Arbesman
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