Category: Items of Interest

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1. All your bird call are belong to Cornell (via Debby Schade via Greg Laden).
2. Know your dino – stylish, but are those brachiosaurus nostrils in the right place? (UPDATE: According to Brian Switek, the nostrils ARE in the right place)
3. Duke teaching science through cooking (via Ashley Yeager).
4. Timeline of world religions (via Maria Popova).
5. Surprisingly, pseudoscientific gender stereotypes won’t solve gender inequality in science.

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It had to happen
It had to happen

1. About The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace & Babbage book.
2. What is your cutie mark going to be? – via Nicole Gugliucci
3. How to study, and how not to study.
4. Eyes on the solar system by JPL.
5. If I made gifts like this, they would all love me…

 

That, sir, is “craftism”; and “craftism” is wrong

On Wednesday, 16 January 2013, a group of intellectuals engaged in a legendary debate on the validity of “glitter” as an art supply, particularly as it related to science communication and science art. What follows may be the only record still in existence of this discussion…

Click for the full stor[if]y
Click for the full stor[if]y

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1. Skin cream from ancient Rome – via Michele Banks.
2. Jerry Coyne on epigenetics, right but crotchety.
3. The life, times, and hugs of Bora Zivkovic.
4. This is just, uh…WOW! – via Alex Wild.
5. Need a 3D printer for your kids’ art supplies? The internet has solved that .- via Maria Popova.

Good times for those of us trying to make a career out of science

This week’s funding roundup from the AAAS:

U.S. R&D Funding Showing Little Recovery. In a recent data release, the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics has found that estimated U.S. R&D funding across all sectors did not keep pace with economic growth or inflation in 2011. While national R&D expenditures did grow somewhat, especially in comparison to recent years, this growth was not enough to prevent a decline in national research intensity, measured by R&D expenditures as a share of GDP. According to NSF’s estimates, minor inflation-adjusted increases in federal and university funding were more than offset by declines in industry R&D. Among performers, only university-based R&D managed to gain in 2011 relative to inflation, while federal intramural research – including at the national labs – showed a marked decrease.

What a great time to build a career.