Engaging with the public
Alice Bell raises an essential question: "What’s this public ‘engagement’ with science thing then?" I’m similarly sceptical about lumping this whole ‘science’ thing together (and in particular, lumping...
View ArticleTenure for Wikipedia
The Wikimedia Foundation reported last week on a professor at Auburn University, Montgomery, who included his Wikipedia editing history in his tenure packet: “I’ve written articles in many areas, and...
View ArticleIndia archaeology blog
On the topic of the archaeology of South Asia, I want to point readers to Sheila Mishra's blog. She has picked up a number of topics of recent interest, including the earlier Acheulean dates by Pappu...
View ArticleChimpanzee yawning
Hannah Little describes a recent study of chimpanzees by Matthew Campbell and Frans de Waal [1]: "The path to empathy". The study used 23 chimpanzees from two separate groups and they were made to...
View ArticleSocial media in science
Last month, Virginia Gewin put an article in Nature about social media and science, which is now available online for free: "Social media: Self-reflection, online". The Internet is markedly changing...
View ArticleLewis Binford dies at 80
Lewis Binford died last Monday. I have been waiting for a good obituary to be published. The Wall Street Journal's effort ("Archaeologist Binford Dug Beyond Artifacts") isn't that great, but with a...
View Article"The monkeys shall do bugger all."
Martin Robbins goes ape: Other writers are preoccupied with trivia like the NHS reforms or education funding, but a great crime against pedantry is in progress and it's time for someone to draw a line....
View ArticleHawass shark-jump
Kate Taylor reports a bizarre story of the continuing troubles of Zahi Hawass: "Using History to Sell Clothes? Don’t Try It With the Pharaohs". “Zahi Hawass is a novel fashion line, not just for the...
View ArticleFunding people
From Scientific American's editorial on grants, "Dr. No Money": Most scientists finance their laboratories (and often even their own salaries) by applying to government agencies and private foundations...
View ArticleRetractions and grants
Pascale Lane reviews a paper about retraction rates in top journals: "Papers 'Not Meant to Be Factual'". Rigorous peer review may help uncover fraud or fabrication, but, as the editor of Science wrote,...
View ArticleAnodyne DTC genetics
The Wall Street Journal has an op-ed by Matt Ridley, on the topic of possible regulation of consumer genetic testing. He writes that after years of relative non-interest in such tests, he ordered his...
View ArticleUsers, not readers
Recently Jay Rosen tweeted (via Storify): 8. Instead of the readers, the viewers, the listeners or the audience, call them "the users." This helps correct the imagination. #media140 This gave me an...
View ArticleFogel profile
The NY Times has a profile of economist Robert W. Fogel ("Technology Advances; Humankind Supersizes"). Fogel, along with other historical economists, has worked to document the changes in human...
View ArticleConference blogging by Sci
Scicurious has written a very nice howto giving concrete advice about blogging a conference: "How To Blog a Conference". Lots and lots of good ideas and advice in her post. I admire anyone with the...
View ArticleGreene language interview
The Browser gives us an interesting interview with the Economist's Robert Lane Greene, ("Robert Lane Greene on Language and the Mind"). Greene has a recent book on language, You Are What You Speak:...
View ArticleBlushing iron
Jo Marchant elegizes an 1858 lecture by John Ruskin, on the topic of iron ("Not just any old iron"). I had to relay this quote: "Is it not strange to find this stern and strong metal mingled so...
View ArticleMummy trouble redux
Speaking of Jo Marchant, she has a long article in the current Nature about the mummy DNA controversy ("Ancient DNA: Curse of the Pharoah's DNA"). I wrote about the problem earlier this year: "Mummy...
View ArticleNeandertal anti-defamation files, 13
From The Economist, "What's wrong with America's economy?" Of course, plenty more could be done to spur innovation. The system of corporate taxation is a mess and deters domestic investment. Mr Obama...
View ArticleHauser update
David Dobbs helpfully reviews the past few weeks of Marc Hauser-related revelations: Overall, I think this replication is a wash in terms of its impact on Hauser’s larger issues. Some will see some...
View Article"Nutcracker Man" debunked
This week, Thure Cerling and colleagues report in PNAS [1] carbon stable isotope data from 24 specimens of Australopithecus boisei. This is a huge sample as fossil hominins go, and they give a very...
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