Posts

March 24, 2013

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9:20 AM | Blogtournee Arabieren kijken: Oriëntalisme en gewone mensen

Closer Blog: In het kader van de blogtournee van het boek van Hassnae Bouazza, Arabieren kijken, een mini-essay over orientalisme onder meer over televisie, seksualiteit, stereotypes en anti-orientalistische dilemma's.Read more: Blogtournee Arabieren kijken: Oriëntalisme en gewone mensen

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1:19 AM | Dishonesty of inteligent design “research”

In my recent post Creationists prefer numerology to real scientific research I discussed the “research” approach used by those few scientists who are proponents of intelligent design. And I concluded: “they ignore the normal honest research approach. They never advance a … Continue reading →

March 23, 2013

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6:19 PM | Anti-Caturday post

Can we all just pretend that vipers and serpents are hairless, limbless cats?

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2:17 PM | We need a sociologist of science…or a philosopher

There’s another paper out debunking the ENCODE consortium’s absurd interpretation of their data. ENCODE, you may recall, published a rather controversial paper in which they claimed to have found that 80% of the human genome was ‘functional’ — for an extraordinarily loose definition of function — and further revealed that several of the project leaders…

March 22, 2013

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6:25 PM | Friday Cephalopod: So…many…squid…

(Found on a site called The Cephalopodiatrist. I wish I’d thought of that name.)

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2:00 PM | blooD’N'Acid wird 2

Vor genau zwei Jahren schrieb ich hier für blooD’N'Acid diesen allerersten Eintrag, vor einem Jahr zog ich eine erste Bilanz. Auch heute möchte ich kurz innehalten und auf das vergangene Blog-Jahr zurückblicken. Gleich zwei Umzüge hat es gegeben: zum neuen Betreiber „National Geographics“ und von der Blogplattform „Moveable Type“ zu „Wordpress“. Beide gestalteten sich alles andere…

March 21, 2013

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5:00 PM | Dysregulation von herz- und hirnspezifischen Micro-RNAs beim Plötzlichen Kindstod

Ich stelle ein Projekt vor, das ich mit meiner Diplomandin zusammen bearbeitet habe und das gerade online in Forensic Science International (s.u.) veröffentlicht wurde. Über die Grundlagen zum Plötzlichen Kindstod (SIDS) und zur Micro-RNA könnten sich geneigte aber bei diesen beiden Themen nicht (mehr) ganz sattelfeste LeserInnen in den verlinkten Artikeln informieren. Unser Forschungsansatz ist…

Courts, C., Grabmüller, M. & Madea, B. (2013). Dysregulation of heart and brain specific micro-RNA in sudden infant death syndrome, Forensic Science International, 228 (1-3) 70-74. DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2013.02.032

Citation

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12:07 AM | Botanical Wednesday: What is that thing on the banana plant?

What with all the bad weather around here, my wife is staying at an apartment near her workplace. And every time she does that, she starts sending me these kinds of photos. Should I be concerned? (via petitchef)

March 20, 2013

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11:15 PM | Video de una emergencia homeopática

¿Imaginan como sería una emergencia homeopática manejada en una guardia médica?

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9:32 PM | Something for all those lapsed catholics

I keep running into lapsed catholics. They seem to be everywhere – and usually they are nice people. There’s something about being lapsed which gives you a sense of humour. But I wonder how many have tried to formalise their … Continue reading →

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1:23 PM | Religión, ciencia y democracia

Por Martín Bonfil Olivera Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia, UNAM Publicado en Milenio Diario, 20 de marzo de 2013 Felicidades a la Iglesia Católica por demostrar que incluso un Papa no europeo puede odiar a los gays. En 1952 el recién creado estado de Israel le ofreció a Albert Einstein ser presidente de ese país (lo que el científico declinó amablemente argumentando que “toda su vida había trabajado con temas objetivos”, por lo cual carecía […]

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8:09 AM | The ENCODE War Continues

It's certainly not over yet

March 19, 2013

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9:49 PM | Dawkins’ new book

Richard Dawkins’ latest book is due out next September. The title – Childhood, Boyhood, Truth: From an African Youth to The Selfish Gene It’s yet a new genre for Dawkins – autobiography. Mind you he has reached the age where … Continue reading →

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12:55 AM | Mary’s Monday Metazoan: Buzzed

Bees get caffeinated at coffee flowers? But of course they do. (via NatGeo)

March 18, 2013

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9:57 PM | Our world from the International Space Station

Anyone following Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) on Twitter will have seen some of his gorgeous photos taken from the International Space Station (ISS). Somebody should collect them together so we can browse them. Well, someone has done that with photos taken … Continue reading →

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2:36 PM | Libel reform – latest…

Please see here for update from The Libel Reform Campaign.

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9:29 AM | European foreign fighters in Syria

Closer Blog: In the last months there have been numerous reports of Europeans going to Syria to fight against the Al-Assad regime. In this post I will monitor the main news reports and analysis on this issue.Read more: European foreign fighters in Syria

March 17, 2013

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11:07 PM | Iconic religious images affect the attitudes of Protestants, but not Catholics.

The Christian God comes in different flavours. Most notably, while it's sometimes portrayed as a benevolent, forgiving entity, at other times the imagery is of a vengeful, retributive god. We already know that how Christians view their god is related to other aspects of their psychology (for example, fear and anxiety). But is this cause or effect? It's hard to say, because what hasn't been much investigated is whether implanting different ideas about God can change attitudes. Kathryn […]

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5:56 PM | Verontwaardiging & Verantwoordelijkheid: Yunus, pleegzorg en Turkse Nederlanders

Closer Blog: Naar aanleiding van de zaak van Yunus, een Turks-Nederlandse jongen, die uit huis geplaatst is en bij een lesbisch stel is ondergebracht is veel commotie ontstaan. PvdA leden Tunuhan Kuzu en Selçuk Öztürk roepen Turkse Nederlanders op hun verantwoordelijkheid te nemen.Read more: Verontwaardiging & Verantwoordelijkheid: Yunus, pleegzorg en Turkse Nederlanders

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2:16 PM | Closing the week 11 – Sectarianism, Syria, Europe, Dutch

Closer Blog: A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.) (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.)Read more: Closing the week 11 – Sectarianism, Syria, Europe, Dutch

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1:29 PM | Hamza Tzortzis is playing gotcha with Lawrence Krauss now

After that debate between Tzortzis and Lawrence Krauss that was overshadowed by the disgraceful anti-egalitarian exhibition of Muslim misogyny, iERA is now trying a new tactic: they’re releasing tiny snippets of the debate that they believe they can spin into anti-Krauss sentiment. Here’s a perfect example, Krauss’s reply to a question about the morality of…

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1:55 AM | Creationists prefer numerology to real scientific research

Ian Wishart is a local “investigative’ journalist and well-known conspiracy theorist from way back. He’s dabbled in climate change, creationism, health, political, crime, and other issues. He’s a firm creationist and so it’s no surprise he has picked up on … Continue reading →

March 15, 2013

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11:12 PM | The Genetic Code is not a synonym for the Bible Code

Oh, boy. The Intelligent Design creationists are all excited about a new paper that purports to have identified an intelligent signal in the genetic code. Here’s a new paper that can be added to the growing stack of intelligent-design articles in peer-reviewed journals. Even though the authors do not use the phrase “intelligent design,” their…

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4:00 PM | Gastbeitrag: Heiße Luft für Hebammen – Das Training im esoterischen Denken beginnt schon vor der Geburt

Der folgende Gastbeitrag stammt von Claudia Graneis. Er erschien in abgewandelter Form in der Ausgabe 01/2013 des “Skeptiker”, der Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft und kritisches Denken der GWUP. Um ihn auch Nicht-Abonnenten zugänglich zu machen, erscheint er nun auch hier: ______________________________________________________________________________ Heiße Luft für Hebammen Das Training im esoterischen Denken beginnt schon vor der Geburt Hebammen…

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2:08 PM | Marriage as punishment: documentary about women’s rights in Morocco

Closer Blog: The suicide of the 16-year-old Amina Filali from Larache, who presumably was forced to marry her rapist, gave Nadir Bouhmouch the idea to use her story as the main topic for a documentary about women’s rights in his country of birth: 475 – When Marriage Becomes Punishment.Read more: Marriage as punishment: documentary about women’s rights in Morocco

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11:28 AM | Friday Cephalopod: Redheads always have the most fun

(via Monterey Bay Aquarium)

March 14, 2013

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5:00 AM | Habemus nach wie vor Mittelalter

In regelmäßigen ablebens- oder neuerdings bockmangelsbedingten Abständen wählt eine Truppe böser alter Männer einen von sich aus, der der nächste böse (weiße) alte Mann und Diktator an der Spitze einer international operierenden Institution zur Förderung von Ignoranz, Armut, Unglück, Diskriminierung und Hass sein darf. So auch gestern. Senior Bergoglio aus Argentinien, der, um auf seine…

March 13, 2013

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10:41 PM | Don’t panic

Many years ago I was on a panel reviewing a scientific paper for publication. We concluded that one of the calculations in the paper was really superfluous. But it amused us because the calculation produced the answer 42! Our recommendation … Continue reading →

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3:58 PM | ¿Qué es ciencia?

Por Martín Bonfil Olivera Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia, UNAM Publicado en Milenio Diario, 14 de marzo de 2013 Como comunicador de la ciencia –divulgador científico, o quizá, más bien, “comentarista” de la ciencia (el término “analista”, de moda en los medios informativos, me parece muy pretencioso para lo que yo hago en estas columnas)–, me dedico precisamente a comunicar, explicar, contextualizar, comentar y, en último término, compartir […]

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3:50 PM | What I taught today: molecular biology of bat wings

My students are also blogging here: My undergrad encounters Developmental Biology Miles’ Devo Blog Tavis Grorud’s Blog for Developmental Biology Thang’s Blog Heidi’s blog for Developmental Biology Chelsae blog Stacy’s Strange World of Developmental Biology Thoughts of Developmental Biology Biology~ Hard to believe, I know, but this class actually hangs together and has a plan.…