OpenScience / Science



MossCam

In response to the Sociopathic Cephalopod movie in a previous entry, Katherine Preston sent us a link to The MossCam Project at the James San Jacinto Mountains Reserve. That’s right, a moss cam. I admit to being somewhat underwhelmed by … Continue reading

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Maybe the Feds should be watching NOVA

Our buddy CES links to this prescient 12-minute segment from NOVA’s scienceNOW which aired on January 25th, 2005. It contains this amazing quote from Walter Maestri, the emergency manager for the city of New Orleans: What really scares me to … Continue reading

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When Cephalopods Rule the Earth

At the Seattle aquarium, two Giant Pacific Octopi were put into a holding tank with several sharks for a while. The aquarium employees figured the octopi would be safe from the sharks because of their ability to hide in the … Continue reading

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A Conversation on Charles Murray and “The Inequality Taboo”

Charles Murray, one of the authors of The Bell Curve, has broken his decade-long silence on the subject of group differences in IQ. Shockingly, he’s come out of his shell to defend Larry Summers. This has seen a number of … Continue reading

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The Big Storm hits The Big Easy

(image via NESDIS Satellite Services Division (NOAA))

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Arc-team

This site was just submitted to the Software section. It looks like an interesting discussion site for the use of open source software in Archaeology. It has forums and software pages (largely in German and Italian). I’m amazed how widely … Continue reading

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Odd Sign on Campus

A sign posted all over campus today: REMEMBER KRAKATOA August 26, 1883 That’s all the signs say! Is this a public service project from our civil engineering and geosciences department?

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NYT series on Intelligent Design

I’ve tried to like the science reporting in the times on the ID controversy, but I just can’t. This third article was OK, but reading the first two was like listening to fingernails on a blackboard. I wish journalists didn’t … Continue reading

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Did the tin phase transition end the Scott expedition?

The Wikipedia entry on tin pest mentions the claim that the 1910 Scott expedition to the South Pole may have been doomed by Tin pest (just as Napoleon’s army was). The Scott party, returning from the pole after discovering that … Continue reading

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Edward Tufte and Napoleon’s Buttons

Edward Tufte describes this graphic drawn by Charles Joseph Minard as the “best statistical graphic ever drawn”. Beginning at the Polish-Russian border, the graphic depicts the size of Napoleon’s as the width of a line that shrinks from an initial … Continue reading

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