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Science Studio offers podcasts by the Arizona State University School of Life Sciences with professors discussing science; it is another excellent source of science podcasts. Podcasts include:
These podcasts are great way to use the internet to serve the mission of universities: to educate. And a great way to promote science.
Related: Lectures from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center - UC-Berkeley Course Videos - Science Podcast Libraries - Communicating Science to the Public
Computer Science Unplugged offers a free, interesting collection of activities designed to teach the fundamentals of computer science without requiring a computer. Because they’re independent of any particular hardware or software, Unplugged activities can be used anywhere, and the ideas they contain will never go out of date. Unplugged activities have been trialled and refined over 15 years in classrooms and out-of-school programs around the world maintained by the University of Canterbury in Christchurch New Zealand.
Topics include: Binary Numbers, Text Compression, Error Detection, Searching Algorithms, Sorting Algorithms, Steiner Trees and Public Key Encryption.
Related: Leadership Initiatives for Teaching and Technology - Fun k-12 Science and Engineering Learning - Education Resources for Science and Engineering - k-12 Engineering Education
Antarctic Fish “Hibernate” in Winter
“By contrast, these Antarctic fish actively reduce their ‘cost of living,’” he said… “The fish became 20 times less active in winter compared to summer,”… About every week or so the cod wake up and swim around for a few hours, the team observed. “This is quite similar to ‘denning’ in bears, where the hibernation isn’t so deep and the animals can be disturbed, then spend some time awake before going back to bed,” Fraser said.
Full paper: Hibernation in an Antarctic Fish: On Ice for Winter - Arctic Sharks - Antarctic Robo-sub
Harvard Liberal Arts Faculty Votes to Distribute Research Free
“This is a large and very important step for scholars throughout the country,” Stuart Shieber, a computer science professor who sponsored the motion to adopt the new policy, said in a statement released after the vote. “It should be a very powerful message to the academic community that we want and should have more control over how our work is used and disseminated.”
Discussion of a similar move by the faculties of law, medicine and business are “well under way,” and the other faculties, such as education and government, are expected to consider it, Peter Kosewski, a spokesman for Harvard’s library system, said in an e-mail. No other votes are scheduled.
The policy would spur professors to distribute work free on a Harvard Web site, rather than through journals that charge subscribers “enormous amounts of money,” said Harry Lewis, a professor of computer science at the university. Authors could choose not to share their work on the site and could publish in a traditional journal.
Another good step for those that support science. As I have stated publicly funded universities should require open access. Privately funded universities I believe should decide to do so also, but it should be their choice. Government funded research should require open access publication.
Related: The Future of Scholarly Publication (written in 2005, the future is now) - Howard Hughes Medical Institute Takes Big Open Access Step - Open Access Legislation - Harvard to collect, disseminate scholarly articles for faculty - Science Journal Publishers Stay Stupid - I Support the Public Library of Science - Open Access Journal Wars
Photo by, and of, Astronaut Clay Anderson, Expedition 15 flight engineer. He used a digital camera to expose a photo of his helmet visor during the mission’s third planned session of extravehicular activity (EVA) on the International Space Station (15 August 2007). Also visible in the reflections in the visor are various components of the station and a blue and white portion of Earth. During the 5-hour, 28-minute spacewalk, Anderson and astronaut Rick Mastracchio (out of frame), STS-118 mission specialist, relocated the S-Band Antenna Sub-Assembly from Port 6 (P6) to Port 1 (P1) truss, installed a new transponder on P1 and retrieved the P6 transponder.
NASA provides their content, photos etc. online in an open access spirit. When linking to content (especially images) it is best to provide context (and with the internet the easiest way to do is so is relevant links). You can find many low resolution pictures of the image above around the internet. Trying to find the context around the image is not so easy - it took me quite awhile to do so. I try to provide the context and links. Lately some more sites will link to some original sources but this is still done far to infrequently.
There are also still far too many pointy haired bosses (PHB) making decisions to break the web by killing pages: web pages must live forever. Those PHB’s decisions do reduce the great benefit of linking but it is still worth doing for those cases where web sites are managed by people with the knowledge and ability to manage an internet resource properly.
Photo: NASA - high resolution version
Related: Van Gogh self portrait - Mars Rovers Getting Ready for Another Adventure - NASA Robotics Academy
Ghost writing and honorary authorship are not in and of themselves scientific problems, though they become so when they shape science to meet particular interests [1]. Some honorary authors are senior professors and chairs of departments, who are added to articles because of local academic politics rather than at the request of drug companies [15,16].
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It has been repeatedly and firmly established that pharmaceutical company funding strongly biases published results in favor of the company’s products [17–19]. Ghost management amplifies that bias, because when one set of commercial interests exerts influence at multiple stages of research, writing, and publication, it will shape the resulting article.
This PLoS published essay includes 52 citations of studies in this area.
While they are clear to distinguish drug company influence on authors and other influence, I can see no justification for honorary authorships. Why can’t people just be honest. Is that really too high an expectation for scientists? Academic politics should not trump truth - especially for scientists. I can understand that traditionally claiming authors that were not actually authors has not been uncommon. But what reason is there to be dishonest in this way now? I don’t know of a good reason. Therefore it seems to me this practice should be seen as any other dishonest practice and those interested in finding the truth should stop making dishonest claims of authorship.
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The Tree of Life Has Lost a Branch
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Three billion years ago, there was only bacteria and Archaea. Eukaryotic life, which comprises all multi-celled organisms, developed in the sea—probably between 1.2 and 1.6 billion years ago. It was not before about 500 million years ago that the first creatures crept onto land.
Related: research article Phylogenomics Reshuffles the Eukaryotic Supergroups - Evolution is Fundamental to Science - The Decline and Fall of the Animal Kingdom
Just What Happened 99 Years Ago in Tunguska, Siberia?
“It splashed on the soft, swampy soil and melted the underlying permafrost layer, releasing CO2 [carbon dioxide], water vapor, and methane that broadened the hole, hence the shape and size of the basin, unusual for an impact crater,” argues Gasperini, adding that “our hypothesis is the only one that accounts for the funnel-like morphology of Lake Cheko’s bottom.”
Related: research paper A possible impact crater for the 1908 Tunguska Event - Meteorite, Older than the Sun, Found in Canada - NASA Tests Robots at Meteor Crater
CMU finds human brains similarly organized
The study reveals that patterns of thought extend into different regions of the brain, reflecting its complexity. It proves that a simple image can invoke thoughts in various regions of the brain, including how to use the object and experiences one has had with the object.
The study also helps to explain how the brain organizes thoughts, and the commonality of that process. “I want a complete mapping of brain states and thoughts,” Dr. Just said. “We’re taking tiny baby steps, but anything we can think about is represented in the brain.”
Related: PLoS One research paper - Using fMRI Brain Activation to Identify Cognitive States Associated with Perception of Tools and Dwellings - How Brain Resolves Sight - Regular Aerobic Exercise for a Faster Brain - How The Brain Rewires Itself
One great example of MIT’s Open Course Ware initiative is Physics I: Classical Mechanics. This course features lecture notes, problem sets with solutions, exams with solutions, links to related resources, and a complete set of videotaped lectures. The 35 video lectures by Professor Lewin, were recorded on the MIT campus during the Fall of 1999. These are some great lectures by a entertainer and educator. Some lecture topics: Newton’s Laws, Momentum - Conservation of Momentum - Center of Mass, Doppler Effect - Binary Stars - Neutron Stars and Black Holes, The Wonderful Quantum World - Breakdown of Classical Mechanics. What a wonderful web it is.
Related: MIT for Free - Berkeley and MIT courses online - Science and Engineering Webcast Libraries - Inner Life of a Cell: Full Version - Non-Newtonian Fluid Demo - Webcasts by Physics Nobel Laureates - Google Tech Webcasts #3
xo-laptop: On the Open-Sourcing of Business - interesting post worth reading, though I disagree with some points:
There is a difference between your sole legal obligation and your sole obligation. I agree legally all you are obliged to do is comply with the legal requirements. That does not mean that is your sole obligation. I don’t see any problem making money in efforts involving open source efforts but I do believe that as that happens an obligation (perhaps not legal but real none-the-less) grows to give back to the community (Google’s summer of code is a great example of giving back). Most open source efforts require that any additions you make to the software be given back to the community (those involved in open souce know this, I add this just for the information of those not familiar with open source practices). Legal obligations are the minimum you can be forced to do, not the only obligations one has. Great quote (emphasis mine):
Simply put, free and open-source software is just the scientific model applied to programming: free sharing of work open collaboration; open publication; peer review; recognition of the best work, with priority given to the first to do a meaningful new piece of work; and so forth. As a programmer, it is the best arena in which to work. There are no secrets; the work must stand on its own.
Another great post on this topic: What Business Can Learn from Open Source.
Related: Open Source for LEGO Mindstorms - Young Scientists Design Open-Source Program at NASA - Open-Source Biotech - Publishers Continue to Fight Open Access to Science
Structural Extremes in a Cretaceous Dinosaur
This discovery has received a good deal of coverage. Among other things it is great to see this paper is available to everyone who wants to view it because it is published by open access PLoS One. The Nigersaurus was discover in what is now the Sahara Desert in Niger. When the Nigersaurus was roaming the area, 110 million years ago, the climate was a Mesozoic forest. The dinosaur had a few hundred teeth that were replaced almost monthly (a record). The bones of the head and neck were so minimal and light that the Read more about the Nigersaurus. As the author stated: “One of the stunning things about this animal is how fragile the skull is… Some of the bones are so thin you can shine a light through them.”
Related: Extreme Dinosaur: Nigersaurus, the Mesozoic Cow! - Dinosaur from Sahara ate like a ‘Mesozoic cow’ - Nigersaurus: just when you thought you’d seen everything… - Dino’s look is hard to swallow - Bizarre Dinosaur Grazed Like a Cow, Study Says - T-rex Treasure - Most Dinosaurs Remain Undiscovered
Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything
Now Lisi, currently in Nevada, has come up with a proposal to do this. Lee Smolin at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, describes Lisi’s work as “fabulous”. “It is one of the most compelling unification models I’ve seen in many, many years,” he says.
Actual open access paper: An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything by A. Garrett Lisi
Reactions: A Theoretically Simple Exception of Everything - Upon further review, surfer’s new Theory of Everything severely deficient
Related: String Theory - CERN Pressure Test Failure - Webcasts by Chemistry and Physics Nobel Laureates
Open Access to Research Funded by U.S. Is at Issue by Rick Weiss:
But proponents — including patient advocates, who want easy access to the latest biomedical findings, and cash-strapped libraries looking for ways to temper escalating subscription costs — have parlayed their consumer-friendly “public access” message into legislative language that has made it into the Senate and House versions of the new HHS bill.
The opponents of open science are lobbying to keep scientific research funded by taxpayers unavailable to the public. As I have said before it is time to stop supporting those who attempt to stop scientific progress. The out of date thinking behind closed access journals should be discouraged and those journals fighting progress should not be supported. This legislation would bring openness to federal research in a similar manner to the steps taken by Howard Hughes Medical Institute announced for research they fund.
Related: Publishers Continue to Fight Open Access to Science - Science Journal Publishers Stay Stupid - I Support the Public Library of Science - Open Access Legislation supported by 25 leading university provosts (2006)
Controversy at the American Chemical Society by John Dupuis
Secondly, what should we, as librarians do about it? Mostly we need to advocate. We need to push our vendors towards business models that favour open access, we need to reassure them that we’re interested in a sustainable model for scholarly publishing
I agree. It is sad that so many organizations distort behavior though poor management structures but that is the world we live in. My management improvement blog focused on how to manage better. And I have posted several times about the need to shift our support to open access science and away from those who want continue outdated strategies that restrict the advancement of scientific ideas.
Related: Open Access and PLoS - I Support the Public Library of Science - Problems with Bonuses
Publishers prepare for war over open access
Lined up against them are the academic publishers. The idea of open-access journals is frightening for an industry whose profits are based on subscription charges.
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Dezenhall’s strategy includes linking open access with government censorship and junk science – ideas that to me seem quite bizarre and misleading. Last month, however, the AAP launched a lobby group called the Partnership for Research Integrity in Science & Medicine (PRISM), which uses many of the arguments that Dezenhall suggested.
It is sad to see journals that were founded to promote science so flawed in their thinking today. As I said last month in Science Journal Publishers Stay Stupid: “It is time for the scientific community to give up on these journals and start looking to move to work with new organizations that will encourage scientific communication and advancement (PLoS - arXiv.org - Open Access Engineering Journals) and leave those that seek to keep outdated practices to go out of business.” Organizations can’t ignore principles when choosing tactics. Tactics that might be ok in other situations, should not be acceptable to scientists publishing scientific information. When journals move to harm science to preserve their outdated business practices they deserve to lose the respect of scientists.
Related: Finding Open Scientific Papers - Open Access Journal Wars - Anger at Anti-Open Access PR - Open Access Article Advantage
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