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Carnivalia
2007-11-06 15:22:00
Plenty of good (mostly-)science-related reading in the blogosphere this week...
More About: Biology , Math , Vali

Episode 13 ? A Pigment of his Imagination: James Watson, Race, and Intellig
2007-11-03 15:20:00
If you've been following the news at all lately, you've probably heard an earful about James Watson -- the Nobel laureate stirred up a bit of controversy lately by essentially stating that people of African descent aren't as intelligent as people of European descent. Predictably, most media outlets focused on the dramatic and controversial aspects of the whole affair, without explaining that Watson's comments have precisely zero basis in science. Listen to this episode, and I'll lead you through the messy and emotionally charged terrain of race, intelligence, and genetics....
More About: Episode , Biology , Race , Humanity

Casual Friday
2007-11-02 12:01:00
Luckily, I don't wear a hat...
More About: Climate , Friday , Casual

Carnivalia
2007-10-31 13:01:00
Another good crop of science-related blogging goodness available for your perusal this week...
More About: Astronomy , Biology , Vali

Everybody loves a Beagle!
2007-10-28 16:37:00
The Beagle Project is an effort to build a replica of the HMS Beagle, the ship that took Charles Darwin on his famous voyage of discovery from 1831 to 1836.
More About: History , Biology , Everybody

Pardon my dust?
2007-10-28 04:33:00
I'm going to be doing an upgrade of the Wordpress software that runs this site tonight.This process should take only a few minutes, and should be completely invisible to you -- but in case you subsequently see any odd behavior from this site, please drop me a line.
More About: Site News , Pardon

Casual Friday ? ISS Assembly Sequence
2007-10-26 13:34:00
Since the Shuttle and ISS crews are busily getting to work adding pieces to the station, I thought it'd be a good time to review the work that's been done, and the work still to go. Courtesy of YouTube, here's a nice video showing all the pieces coming together...
More About: Space , Assembly , Friday , Sequence , Tubing

Four Stone Hearth ? call for submissions
2007-10-25 05:01:00
Well, the 26th edition of the Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is now online at Primate Diaries, and that can only mean one thing. It's time to start collecting material for the 27th edition...
More About: Site News , Biology , Humanity , Call

Fear of flying
2007-10-24 15:15:00
I'm amazed that this news seems to be getting very limited coverage outside of the usual space-related sites, but it appears that NASA is falling down on the job again when it comes to safety. But this time, the mess isn't over astronaut safety -- it's over the safety of the traveling public in the U.S....
More About: Flying , Fear

Carnivalia
2007-10-24 05:25:00
As always, there's a good selection of blog carnivals available for your reading pleasure this week. Just feast your browser on this...
More About: Biology , Math , Vali

Photo gallery
2007-10-21 22:00:00
If you haven't perused the SOS site lately, I wanted to let you know about the new photo gallery I set up. Basically, I finally got around to setting up a flickr account, and uploaded a ton of pictures I've taken that have a (vaguely) scientific or technical bent to them. A handy Wordpress plugin called (logically enough) "Flickr photo gallery" displays all these pictures on a page on the SOS site -- you can get to it from that link, or just through the "Photo s" link in the sidebar.
More About: Site News , Gallery

Casual Friday ? Tracking the ISS
2007-10-19 18:15:00
When I was pulling together yesterday's carnival, I stumbled across this video via a link on Space Files.
More About: Technology , Astronomy , Friday , Tracking

Carnival of Space #25
2007-10-18 14:01:00
Welcome to the 25th weekly Carnival of Space -- the best space-related blog carnival that you'll find within a parsec of home! I've gathered up a bountiful crop of blogging goodness for you, so let's get right down to business....
More About: Astronomy

Carnivalia
2007-10-18 04:49:00
This week, in blog carnivals:The Accretionary Wedge #2Boneyard #7Carnival of the Green #99Four Stone Hearth XXV - 1st Anniversary EditionGrand Rounds Vol 4:4Mendel's Garden: Haloween EditionOekologie! #10And of course, tune in tomorrow for the Carnival of Space -- right here at SOS!
More About: Biology , Humanity , Geology , Vali

Global climate change ? the risk management approach
2007-10-16 05:53:00
Here's another interesting take on climate change -- and it doesn't even require any background in climatology (although around here, you really have no excuse for that):http://view.break.com/381084So, what do you think about this approach?
More About: Climate Change , Management , Risk Management , Climate , Change

Carnival of Space ? a little reminder
2007-10-15 14:01:00
Just a little reminder here -- SOS will be hosting the Carnival of Space this coming Thursday. So if you run across any particularly interesting blog posts about space related subjects in the next few days (say, by Wednesday morning) -- please send them along to me using the contact form. Thanks!
More About: Site News , Litt , Reminder

Casual Friday ? math quiz!
2007-10-12 13:28:00
Could you pass 8th grade math?
More About: Quiz , Math , Friday , Casual

Carnivalia
2007-10-11 14:16:00
The interwebs hold another bountiful crop of blog carnival goodness for your reading pleasure this week -- click on through for the details...
More About: Biology , Math , Humanity , Vali

Shelley needs your vote!
2007-10-09 15:08:00
If you read many science-related blogs, you've almost surely run across the excellent neuroscience blog Retrospectacle.... Meanwhile, if you like her writing, you can help her out by voting for her right here.You'll be glad you did.
More About: Vote , Shelley , Needs

Carnival Hosting
2007-10-08 15:07:00
If you've subscribed to this blog for long, you'll know I'm a big fan of blog carnivals -- they're good things for both writers (providing a potential source of new readership) and readers (giving them a quick taste of a number of new blogs). The hosts get a potential boost in readership as well... Either out of a desire for publicity, or some personal sense of masochism (hosting a carnival isn't exactly a trivial undertaking), I've signed up to host three carnivals over the next couple of months. Here's the lineup....
More About: Site News , Hosting , Space , Carnival , Astronomy

Casual Friday ? Cappuccino as Art
2007-10-05 14:58:00
Since last Friday 's little study break was coffee related, I thought I'd follow up with another on the same theme, but in video form (courtesy of Retrospectacle and YouTube)...
More About: Casual , Cappuccino

Sputnik hyperindex
2007-10-04 14:42:00
OK, there are just all sorts of sites out there with either a little or a lot of information relating to the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1. Even I got into the act... Since some of the discussions of Sputnik are in-depth, and others little more than "me too!" notices of the anniversary, I thought it might help to put together a quick list of links to some of the "meatier" discussions of the event. Read on...
More About: Technology , Space , History , Hyper

Episode 12 ? Getting to Sputnik
2007-10-04 14:04:00
Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Earth's first artificial satellite -- Sputnik 1. Lots of news sites are covering various aspects of this anniversary -- mostly dealing with what's happened in space in the intervening 5 decades, and what we may see in the future. What seems to be getting far less coverage, though, is the twisted path that led to the launch. Sputnik's launch didn't take place in a vacuum (no pun intended), after all -- a number of social, political, and technical forces were at play. Tune in this week, and I'll fill you in on all of the good "deep background" information that's often lost in the shuffle.
More About: Technology , Space , History , Episode

Carnivalia
2007-10-04 04:55:00
Dive on past the fold for this week's assortment of science-related blog carnivals...
More About: Biology , Humanity , Vali

Brewster Rockit: The Scale of the Solar System
2007-10-01 04:51:00
You just have to appreciate a comic strip that's this good (and scientifically accurate, too)!
More About: System , Solar , Brewster , Scale , Stem

Dawn on its way?
2007-09-29 15:04:00
NASA's new Dawn spacecraft launched at 7:34 (Eastern Time) on Thursday the 27th; my apologies for the late post, but I've been swamped at work... If you're a space buff, you already know all about this -- but if you only skim the news, you'd have easily missed what little coverage the launch received. I thought it might help to gather up all the links to information on this mission that I can find....
More About: Technology , Space , Astronomy , Physics

Oh, and two more blog carnivals have popped up?
2007-09-28 13:19:00
Yes, this comes right on the heels of another blog carnival post -- but you need to check these out: The Carnival of Space 22: The Art of Space is at the wanderingspace blog, while Conspiracy Factory (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) hosts the 70th Skeptics' Circle. Both have lots of good links for your reading enjoyment, including (ahem...) one I have a soft spot for....
More About: Carnivals , Astronomy , Blog , Critical thinking

Friday silliness ? what does your latte say about you?
2007-09-28 12:09:00
You find that indulging doesn't jibe with your very disciplined life.You can be quite silly at times, but you know when to buckle down and be serious.Intense and energetic, you aren't completely happy unless you are bouncing off the walls.You're addicted to caffeine.... You're occasionally playful, but you find it hard to be carefree.You are complex and philosophical, but you are never arrogant.What Does Your Latte Say About You?So, give it a whorl -- presuming, of course, that you ever drink lattes...
More About: Friday , Silliness

Carnivalia
2007-09-26 11:45:00
As always, there are plenty of good blog carnivals out there to choose from this week. Click on through, and see for yourself...
More About: Space , History , Astronomy , Biology , Math

Good news / bad news in Peru
2007-09-25 12:01:00
Well, in case you haven't heard the news yet, it's a case of good news / bad news for the folks in Peru with the recent meteor impact. The good news -- that illness they came down with wasn't all in their heads. The bad news -- the illness is a side-effect of arsenic poisoning. It turns out (as the BBC briefly alluded to a few days ago) that the ground water in the vicinity of the new impact crater contains high levels of arsenic. The heat of the meteor's impact vaporized enough of this water to create an arsenic-laced fog around the crater....
More About: News , Space , Astronomy , Good News