CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-23 18:44:31 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

Super Science Circle - May 2013 Edition

Need more science in your Google+? Well, here's all the science you can handle! Enjoy my latest, heavily curated edition of the Super Science Circle.

Please share this circle... for Science!

For the uninitiated, I maintain a circle of 450+ people who are active on Google+ and regularly post on Google+. In this circle you'll find scientists, journalists, astronauts, educators, and science enthusiasts. By importing this circle into your own circles, you'll immediately gain a vibrant and fascinating feed of amazing science stories.

I recognize that it might be too much science, so I suggest you create a brand new temporary circle and evaluate the people in the circle. Only transfer the keepers to your permanent circles. Then, when I update the circle next month, rinse and repeat.

Are... more »

2013-05-22 22:13:58 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 10 +1s)

Language is a powerful thing, and it changes the way we view ourselves, and other people, in delightful and horrifying ways.

2013-05-22 15:54:39 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Caution: it is vitally important not to make connections.

From +Bill McKibben after the devastating Joplin tornadoes; worth remembering today.

#climatechange   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-22 13:26:57 (20 comments, 17 reshares, 31 +1s)

It turns out we think about ourselves much more flatteringly than is accurate, even when we're accurate in our appraisal of others. Beauty, productivity, driving ability, propensity for voting in presidential elections: we "self-enhance." And - "If you think that self-enhancement biases exist in other people and they do not apply to you, you are not alone. Most people state that they are more likely than others to provide accurate self-assessments."

#scienceeveryday   #doverealbeautysketches  

2013-05-21 16:15:32 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

The Longest Swath

The Landsat Data Continuity Mission flew from Russia to South Africa, resulting in a path of high resolution satellite images, 120 miles wide by 6,000 miles long! Check out the individual files, explore it on Google Earth, and read about the mission at NASA's website for the program here (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/LDCMLongSwath/?src=youtube) or spend 15 minutes traveling with the satellite across the planet. 

#scienceeveryday

2013-05-21 15:59:21 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

I was really impressed by this story from This American Life about a former Republican Congressman trying to convince conservatives that climate change is a cause they should be taking up. Really interesting!

#scienceeveryday   #climatechange  

2013-05-20 21:31:48 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

"Today, eight African countries have space agencies, space centers or mission control facilities. Several others, including Uganda and Ghana, are in the process of launching theirs. Megascience projects are sprouting up from the Cape of Good Hope to the Gold Coast."

#scienceeveryday   #africantuesday

2013-05-20 18:38:20 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

It is a reasonable expectation that TV channels like Animal Planet and Discovery should provide some measure of factual information about animals - perhaps even with a conservation ethic behind it. The messages they actually convey about wildlife, and human-wildlife conflict, are very different:

A dramatic, orchestral score pounds as we see a lynx struggling in a leghold trap, guns firing, a man attacking a squealing wolverine with a tree trunk, a wolf which a voice tells us "might eat one of those kids", a hand lifting up the head of a bloodied, dead wolf to show us its teeth, and then a gloved hand dripping blood while the voiceover rumbles that in Alaska, it's "hunt or starve, kill or be killed".

#scienceeveryday   #animalplanet   #discoverychannel  

2013-05-20 12:14:03 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Well, that was strange.

#madmen  

2013-05-19 13:06:53 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 4 +1s)

My favorite illustration of primate diversity goes interactive!

Check out this painting from +Conservation International, and then click on your favorite primate to learn more...

#sciencesunday   #monkeymonday  

2013-05-19 12:36:05 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

Stealth and Venom: +Ed Yong writes about the ultra-black colors of gaboon vipers.

Very cool review, summary, and explanation of how gaboon vipers produce such deep, black colors, and how these black scales break up their outline to make them extra stealthy.  Gaboon vipers hold the record for fang length in venomous snakes.

#venom #scienceeveryday #stealth  

2013-05-17 17:35:38 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

What will happen to the estimated 330 million people living with mental illnesses in developing countries where mental health facilities are often underfunded, understaffed, or unavailable altogether?

For an amazing essay on the topic, read "People Don't Get Depressed in Nigeria."
http://www.granta.com/New-Writing/People-Dont-Get-Depressed-in-Nigeria

#scienceeveryday   #anthropology  

2013-05-17 17:02:58 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Pregnancy, abortion, and the importance of knowing what you're talking about

"In biological terms, having offspring and passing on our genes is the point of all organisms. It is the central fact of existence. Consider salmon. They swim thousands of miles, back from the ocean to the upper reaches of the rivers they were born in to spawn. Or they die in the attempt. It is a grand, heroic journey, the central narrative of salmon-hood. If salmon wrote novels or made films, that is what they would all be about.

Yet we relegate pregnancy to specialist magazines and the occasional feature in the women's section. Many people will probably have skipped over this column, thinking that making future human beings is petty and parochial. Not to be compared to IMPORTANT ISSUES like the economy and politics. We marginalise pregnancy and ignore it."

(via... more »

2013-05-17 13:17:12 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Today's grammar lesson, courtesy of +David Rheinstrom: To Bear, or not to Bare?

2013-05-16 16:39:18 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

"... take a moment and imagine a Mother's Day Parade in the suburbs of Denver, a neighborhood in Edina or a plaza in Austin where bullets rain down on civilians and even hit children. I can't help but imagine the around-the-clock news coverage. And I can't help but think it's because most of America can identify with the fear of being bombarded with gunfire while just enjoying a parade in the middle of town. But America can't identify with being at a parade in the "inner city" where "gang violence" erupts. "

2013-05-16 11:44:47 (0 comments, 3 reshares, 8 +1s)

The Drill Project

Drills are large terrestrial primates that are very closely related to mandrills, mangabeys, and baboons. These really beautiful monkeys live in the forests of west and central Africa, but they're generally difficult to study because they take a long time to habituate to the presence of researchers. One of the places that is an exception is Bioko Island, a beautiful, primate-diverse forested island which is part of Equatorial Guinea.

The bushmeat trade has hit drills particularly hard because they are big and terrestrial - both attractive traits in an animal people hunt. In an effort to raise the profile of drills for Equatorial Guineans and increase national pride in these beautiful, rare monkeys, the Drill Project (http://www.thedrillproject.org/), comprised of international and Equatoro-Guinean primatologists,  made this beautiful documentary and then... more »

2013-05-16 03:39:53 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

While we're being outraged, spare some for the justice department and their subpoena of journalists' phone records...

2013-05-16 00:29:31 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

The limitations of science communication: what are we trying to achieve, here?

"It’s profoundly frustrating to have a platform and a voice, but not to have a clear call to action for the public. A common theme in science communication is that we have to the audience care. And people do care – a lot! They are eager to help, to offer suggestions, to get involved. But at the end of my talks there is no magic bullet. The truths I have to offer are not easy, they don’t instantly make us feel better. If there is tough love, let’s call what I have to offer “hard hope."

#scienceeveryday  

2013-05-15 23:19:05 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Whoa. I don't know if "I wish it were more like facebook's UI" is something I've ever thought about google+...

2013-05-15 12:30:18 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Are the statistical methods we commonly use actually testing what we think we are? After all, why does God love 0.04 and hate 0.06?

#scienceeveryday  

2013-05-15 02:52:16 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Every time a new season of #sytycd  starts, I watch this dance over and over in the hopes that something will live up to it in the upcoming season...

2013-05-14 20:34:23 (0 comments, 7 reshares, 11 +1s)

How do we find exoplanets? 

#scienceeveryday  

2013-05-14 17:44:53 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)

Welcome home, +Chris Hadfield! 

2013-05-14 16:19:42 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

"He’s probably the first person ever to lose his job because of his Harvard PhD dissertation: Jason Richwine, let go by the Heritage Foundation on Friday. The problem: he co-authored their position paper opposing immigration reform; and then somebody discovered that his PhD thesis at Harvard’s Kennedy School was dedicated to the proposition that Hispanics have lower IQs than white people. Not even the Heritage Foundation wanted to go there—so after two days trying to answer embarrassing questions, he left quietly."

2013-05-11 12:28:58 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Heavily armed poachers disarm guards; kill 26 elephants

"The good news, and the tragedy, is that the surviving elephants are unlikely to return to Dzanga Bai any time soon. “One of the reasons it’s been possible to watch the elephants there is that they felt protected and safe,” said Feister. “So this is awful, really, especially since a lot of the shooting happened from the platform where Andrea Turkalo has been studying them for years, and that tourists have visited. The animals will probably have dispersed” into the forest of Dzanga-Ndoki National Park to the south."

#scienceeveryday  

2013-05-10 18:40:24 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

If you're in a field science of any sort, take a few minutes to fill out this survey on field experiences! It's the last day to participate.

#scienceeveryday   #stemwomen  

2013-05-10 18:09:51 (2 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

For the first time in the past 3 million years, atmospheric Carbon Dioxide levels have hit 400 ppm.

2013-05-10 15:21:37 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 16 +1s)

#happymothersday and happy #sciencesunday !

Primates are among the most demanding babies in the animal world – which means primate mothers have to work harder than any other mom. While most mammals give birth to many offspring which she takes care of for a few months at most, primate mothers typically give birth to just a single baby who receives their nearly undivided attention for at least a year.

One explanation for this is called the Social Brain Hypothesis – the idea that primates live in incredibly complex social systems, and that increasingly social complexity has driven the evolution of comparatively large brains. It takes a long time for those brains to mature, and it also takes a long time for primate mothers to teach their offspring the ins and outs of living in such a complicated society and environment. “You are dominant to that individual, but you shouldn’tapproac... more »

2013-05-09 17:15:50 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

What does "not meddling with nature" mean in our anthropogenic world?

#scienceeveryday  

2013-05-09 00:20:33 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

Today in "Reasons +Derek Kane and I Love Elizabeth Warren..."

2013-05-08 15:37:26 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I am not the only person who dislikes bullet ants.

#scienceeveryday  

2013-05-08 14:31:08 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 8 +1s)

"Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class."

Also good:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2013/05/charles-ramsey-internet-hero-all-wrong-reasons/64969/

2013-05-10 16:53:07 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

Plague of sex crazed monster grasshoppers to hit East Coast

This is the best take on cicadas that I've seen...

2013-05-07 14:21:51 (14 comments, 4 reshares, 26 +1s)

I got my student evaluations back today. The best comment:
"Other than having to hear you talk about monkey genitalia and how fascinating you found it, I thoroughly enjoyed your class and its content."

2013-05-06 15:38:03 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

+Cassandra Brooks spent two months on an ice breaker in Antarctica, working towards an understanding of the unique marine ecosystem there. Stick around til the end for some crazy penguin vocalizations!

(via metafilter.com)
#scienceeveryday   #stemwomen  

2013-05-06 14:35:31 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

"Since the bombings, six people have been shot and killed, and at least 23 people have been shot in Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury, police said."

2013-05-05 15:14:23 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 13 +1s)

The Guenons: variations on the theme of medium-sized fruit-eating monkeyhood (and why we should care)

I begin my dissertation research in 6 weeks. Since I probably won't have regular internet access (or, potentially, any), I wanted to give google+ an idea of what I'll be doing! Today, a quick explanation of how one can study monkeys and still be an anthropologist studying questions about human evolution.

The guenons provide a wonderful natural experiment in primate evolution. What happens when you give a bunch of closely-related species a similar set of ecological challenges? How does an ecosystem work when you have two or three very closely related species surviving on the same set of resources? Why might individuals compete with groups of their own species, but seek out groups of different species? The answers to these questions are really interesting to me... more »

2013-05-04 01:03:02 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

Here's the money quote for why it is important to fund basic research. The answer to question X "may have significant applied uses in the future, but we must conduct the basic research first."

#scienceeveryday   #nsf  

2013-05-03 17:48:22 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

My new favorite thing.

2013-05-03 17:15:41 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

On the Octopus

" Around 1595 the Italian naturalist and polymath Ulisse Aldrovandi compiled all the information he could find as part of his monumental encyclopedia and “theater” of natural history. Octopuses live, Aldrovandi declared, on land as well as at sea, moving with as much ease over rocky ground as they swim underwater. They are stronger than the eagle and fiercer than the lion. They are voracious eaters and, when not chasing fish and crustaceans, are partial to fruit (especially figs), olive oil, the odd human, and even their own arms. They can turn every color except white. Eaten without garnish they are an aphrodisiac; cooked in wine, an abortifacient."

An excerpt from A 21st Century Bestiary,
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo15631080.html
Via whyevolutionistrue.

2013-05-03 16:50:10 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

A Wicked Sad Day.

As a New Hampshire-ite, it is my solemn duty to mark the 10th anniversary of the erosion of the Old Man of the Mountain. Here's a video from 1929 - I suggest playing Merrimack County (Tom Rush) along with it to get the full NH experience.

2013-05-03 14:54:16 (11 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

The last 15 rhinoceros in Mozambique have been killed by poachers working alongside Mozambican rangers in Limpopo National Park. 

2013-05-03 13:39:22 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 2 +1s)

Sexual harassment in the field gets little attention

"You might think the press would be all over these reports, but that doesn't seem to be the case. In Science, John Bohannon reported on Clancy's talk at the anthropologists' meeting, both in a blog post and in the magazine. Jef Akst also covered the story for The Scientist, as did a scattering of others. But most of the big media were absent, as far as I can tell, despite the issuance of a press release by the University of Illinois."

#scienceeveryday   #stemwomen  

2013-05-03 04:00:36 (4 comments, 4 reshares, 4 +1s)

"Grants, I’m told, are selected largely by their titles and broadly critiqued for being a waste of taxpayer money."

What does it mean when your project is targeted by the House Science Committee?

#anthropology   #scienceeveryday  

2013-05-03 02:09:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Birding Advice

+Jess Kane and +Derek Kane just got me a (used, not $250) copy of The Birds of Western Africa so I'll know who I'm watching while the monkeys are sleeping. #Birders  of google+ - any tips or tricks for bird watching?

2013-05-02 23:45:58 (18 comments, 20 reshares, 24 +1s)

Tarsiers are great.

Tarsiers are small primates found in Southeast Asia. They're nocturnal, but lack the reflective layer in the back of their eyes that many nocturnal organisms have (think about when you catch your cat's eyes shining, or a raccoon or deer in your headlights). That layer, the tapetum lucidum, allows nocturnal animals to reflect light back out of their eyes, essentially getting twice as much light than they would otherwise. Since tarsiers lack that, their eyes are just GIGANTIC.

Tarsiers are also unique among primates because they're basically carnivores - their diet is nearly 100% insects! For more, check out True Facts About The Tarsier!

(via headlikeanorange.tumblr.com)

#scienceeveryday   #monkeymonday  

2013-05-02 13:32:31 (2 comments, 3 reshares, 3 +1s)

Can you imagine? No women president? They were all boys!

"I am here because of the elected women who have come before me. They paved the path for the first women president, and the next..."

#emilyslist  

2013-05-01 20:49:33 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

A Year Without the Internet

As I get ready for my own upcoming year without the internet (or at least with a very limited form of it), it's interesting to read these reflections on an internet-free life in an internet-saturated world. It'll be different for me because I won't be surrounded by people accessing eachother online. The biggest change, I think, is going from a stifling, staggering amount of news coverage on a stifling, staggering amount of things of varying importance ... to listening to the news in French via shortwave radio.

2013-05-01 13:39:01 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 5 +1s)

Imaging the Arctic

This is an incredibly cool piece of collaboration between science and art! Dr. Kristin Laidre, who is studying the effects of climate change on polar bears and narwhals in Greenland, is accompanied in her fieldwork by +Maria Coryell-Martin, an "Expeditionary Artist." Maria Coryell-Martin is putting together a series of illustrations to go accompany the narrative of Dr. Laidre's fieldwork.

#scienceeveryday   #scienceart   #stemwomen   #climatechange  

2013-05-01 13:04:20 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Cheese mazes, rats, and a story for #mayday  ...

"...And every morning after that, the rats and the littlepeople headed over to the corridor and enjoyed the good, good cheese. Until one day..."