- Radical overhaul of farming could be ‘game-changer’ for global food security
- According to the authors of new research released today at the World Water Week in Stockholm, a radical transformation in the way farming and natural systems interact could simultaneously boost food production and protect the environment—two goals that often have been at odds.
- Crocochicken | NeuroLogica Blog • by Steven Novella
- There are a couple points worth emphasizing here. The first is that the researchers are not changing the actual DNA of the chicken embryos. They are simply introducing altered protein signals that influence the expression of DNA and therefore the developmental process.
- The second, and more profound, point I wish to emphasize is that the chicken’s DNA is capable of creating dinosaur-like structures, with simple prodding here and there. The chicken DNA, and indeed the developmental process that leads to a chicken, is not a clean and direct process.
- 21A.232J Rethinking the Family, Sex, and Gender | MIT OpenCourseWare: New Courses • by Paxson, Heather
- Through investigating cross-cultural case studies, this course introduces students to the anthropological study of the social institutions and symbolic meanings of family, household, gender, and sexuality. We will explore the myriad forms that families and households take and evaluate their social, emotional, and economic dynamics.
- Dependent | FemaleScienceProfessor
- Although my husband and I are both invited to be visiting scholars with separate invitations to visit different research groups at a particular institution, I was recently surprised to find that I am listed as a “dependent” on an official university form. I only found this out when I was doing some paperwork, and this paperwork bounced back because I was not authorized to submit it on my own.
- Exercise can substitute effectively as second ‘medication’ for people with depression | EurekAlert! – Breaking News
- Exercise can be as effective as a second medication for as many as half of depressed patients whose condition have not been cured by a single antidepressant medication.
- The Sun roils over Mexico | Bad Astronomy
- Yesterday, “amateur” astronomer César Cantú took an amazing mosaic image of the Sun, showing our star boiling and writhing under its own dynamic forces:…
- The gas on the Sun’s surface emitting Hα is under furious stirring due to magnetic fields and other forces, and you can see that in the twisted, roiling appearance in this photo. I particularly like the dark arc just left of center: that’s a filament, an eruption of gas off the surface. It’s about 150,000 kilometers (90,000 miles) long!
- Liberals Mislead On GOP Cuts To USGS In Wake Of Earthquake, Still Reason For Concern | The Intersection
- The implication of these tweets and blog posts was that Republicans had made budget cuts that would seemingly have an impact on our ability to monitor and respond to earthquakes. In some ways, I wanted it to be true so that I could score one more political point against a party that has demonstrated reckless disregard for science. I mean, we can’t allow the Republicans to continue to implement their destructive anti-science policies on our country. The sooner we can dispense with the Republican party the better, right?
- Unfortunately, there’s a problem with this story. …
- ***Update from emptywheel blog. We need more information: Apparently, budget cuts in the 1990s led to the removal of seismic equipment at the North Anna plant.
- 3 Spacecraft That Refuse to Quit | Discover Magazine
- Engineers design probes with a certain lifespan in mind, but some hardy robots just keep going. The tradition begun by the Voyager twins, which outlasted their missions to Jupiter and Saturn by decades and are now reporting from the edges of the solar system, continues today: In March a combination of luck and solid engineering allowed the Stardust probe to complete its second comet-chasing mission. Here is how it and two other plucky space explorers have defied retirement…
- Can You Really Get Solar Panels Installed for Free? | Solar at Home, Scientific American Blog Network
- Whenever I mention government subsidies for solar power, people write in to complain about wasting taxpayer and ratepayer money. Living in a state (N.J.) that consistently subsidizes the rest of the country by paying more in taxes than we receive in Federal spending, I have some sympathy for this grievance. So, yes, let’s eliminate subsidies—starting with those that make electricity from oil, gas, and coal artificially cheap. … Besides, the solar industry is already weaning itself.
[My bookmarks live at delicious.com/camryl. In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. Also, signal boosts are awesome! --L.]
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