ScienceOnline2012 is the sixth annual meeting on science and the web, taking place in Raleigh, NC from January 19-21. It’s structured in an “un-conference” format of discussions and workshops, attended by science writers, editors, scientists, artists, and others who participate in, communicate, and discuss science on the internet. This will […]
I notice it all the time– on Facebook, in the comments of a science blog, over family gatherings, or listening to a radio talk show. Someone, maybe you, is patiently trying to explain how vaccines cause autism, perhaps, or why so-called “anthropogenic” global warming is really just due to sunspots […]
The Anonymous Author (I think we need an Awesome Pseudonym for her) has struck again, with this must-read addition to the #womanspace discussion (see my link round-up here for other posts). Enjoy! In case you’ve been off the grid, all good people everywhere are in an uproar because Nature (yes, […]
Today’s post is by an anonymous guest blogger, who submitted this in response to a Twitter conversation today that began with a discussion of the recent spate of “Don’t get a PhD!” essays by tenured faculty inspired by the poor job market. I lamented that the process of getting hired […]
After almost twelve years of post-secondary education, the end is in sight. Grad-school-time is more compressed than real time, and so “the end” isn’t actually for six to eight more months, but that’s close enough to raise my pulse considerably when I think about it. Between now and then, I’ll […]
Last night, I received an e-mail that there had been some irregularity in the voting of the blogging challenge, and so the voting script had to be rewritten. The good news is that the new voting mechanisms is more secure, you can now vote once per day, and voting has been […]
Shame on Ed Rybicki for writing Womanspace, and shame on Nature Publishing Group editor Henry Gee for giving it the seal of approval (and following it up with a glib “I’m amazed we haven’t had any outraged comments about this story.”). Shame on Nature for silencing the voices of dissenters […]
I’ve been selected as a finalist for the CollegeScholarships.org Blogging Scholarship! You show your support for The Contemplative Mammoth by voting for me here from now until November 23rd. (Update: due to ballot stuffing– not for my blog– all votes have been re-set to zero, and there’s a new ballot. […]
The extinction of the ice-age megafauna is one of the most persistent (and contentious) problems in paleoecology. Since the 1960’s, the literature has been dominated by fierce debates about whether humans or climate change were responsible for the demise of the mammoths, mastodons, woolly rhinos, and other now-extinct megaherbivores and […]
A few weeks ago, Florida governor Rick Scott made a few statements about wanting to divert education funding from some university programs in order to support science and technology fields. Let’s ignore the fact that the humanities and social sciences are just as deserving of funding and public support as […]
The Contemplative Mammoth 