Earlier this week, scientists announced the successful propagation of a 32,000-year-old seed, discovered in a burrow made by an Siberian Arctic ground squirrel during the last ice age. The placental tissue of the Silene stenophylla seed was used to cultivate flowering, reproductively viable adults of narrow-leafed campion, which is still […]
As a young undergraduate, I remember researching my first term papers and take-home exams, flexing my new-found research skills to find the absolute best references. At first, I equated “best” with “newest.” This wasn’t necessarily a product of my training; my undergraduate advisor teaches ecology from Foundations of Ecology, which […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
This is my first Paper of the Week post! One finding of the State of the Geoblogosphere paper that came out earlier this month (in addition to the fact that geobloggers being mostly white male academics, a topic for another day) is that geobloggers are seeking “rigorous analysis of scientific news […]
A few things have gotten me thinking a lot lately about math anxiety among science students. First, I drafted my first teaching statement, which got me thinking seriously about pedagogy, classroom diversity, and the legacies of students taught in No Child Left Behind-era classrooms. Secondly, I’ve guest lectured and graded […]
I spent Tuesday day meeting with colleagues, and thus attended few talks, sadly. I was elected vice-chair of the Paleoecology section during a productive lunchtime business meeting. If you’re not a member of the section, you can join for $5 any time– even at the registration desk at ESA. Chad […]
The Contemplative Mammoth 