Earth Portal is aiming to create an Encyclopedia of Earth that will be "the largest reliable information resource on the environment in history." Quite a challenge, for sure. To acheive this lofty goal, Earth Portal is calling for experts in various aspects of earth science to contribute and edit articles to online encyclopedia. Earth Portal is hosted by The Digital Universe, the objective of which is "to organize the sum total of human knowledge and make it available to everyone." Kind of like, um, a library, or a digitized encyclopedia, or wikipedia ... or whole that internet thingy. Right. If you think you have earth science expertise and free time to kill, you can submit an application to be an author or editor here.

Before Katrina, before Kyoto, before the Clinton years, Al Gore held the first congressional hearing on atmospheric carbon dioxide as a rookie senator in 1981. This week's issue of New York magazine traces Gore's interest in global warming from his days as a Harvard undergraduate through the development of his speeches on global warming, his 1992 book Earth in the Balance, and finally to the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which opened Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles and opens in select theatres nationwide in June. Al Gore has been traveling the country promoting the film and is said to have shed his stiff persona to reveal a passionate Al Gore that was missing in the 2000 presidential campaign. He even won audiences over this past weekend with an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Is Al Gore merely promoting a film, or does he have greater political ambitions? For climate scientists who have seen their funding slashed under the Bush administration and their efforts to report scientific results on global warming curtailed by administration appointees, one can only hope.

• An Inconvenient Truth Official Website [Climate Crisis]
  
• Trailer: An Inconvenient Truth [Apple]
  
• The Come-Back Kid [New York Magazine]
  
• 'An Inconvenient Truth': Al Gore's Fight Against Global Warming [New York Times]
  
• Saturday Night Live: If Al Gore were President (Video) [Crooks and Liars]

The employees of the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and department of Conservation and Research for Endangered Species (CRES) have joined together to write a collective blog about living and working at - what we'll collectively call here - the zoo. And wouldn't you know it, the latest blog post is about a couple of pigs from Nairobi who are proud new parents - no, we're not talking about Brangelina's celebrity spawn, but a pair of red river hogs from the Wild Animal Park's Nairobi Village. (In case you couldn't tell from the picture.) The San Diego Zoo Weblogs mostly cover the animals, but also cover various events, such as the local student science awards, construction and reconstruction of various exhibits at the parks, and the joys of meal time with the animals. Since there are many contributors, there are new posts almost everyday and often more than once per day. Check it out.

The fallout has been swift and harsh over the Smithsonian's secret deal with Showtime Networks to provide the network right of first refusal over commercial documentaries that make significant use of Smithsonian materials. The Interior subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee has responded by placing limitations in the FY07 budget allocation, including "limiting the Smithsonian's ability to execute any contract or legal agreement which could limit public access to the Smithsonian collections. In addition, the bill reduces the Smithsonians salaries and expenses account by $5 million."

You're not a truly dedicated grad student until you've spent a night, or perhaps a whole weekend, working and sleeping in the lab. But sleeping on the floor, even with a small sleeping mat, can be uncomfortable, assuming you have room to stretch out in the first place. The Computer Bed from Flying Beds.com has been making the rounds on the blog circuit this week. During the day, it's a roomy desk, and at night it folds down into a bed without dumping the contents of your desk all over the place. It comes in several stains as well as black and white. At a price of over $2000 plus the twin mattress, this may be out of reach of most grad students, but the construction seems simple enough that you could build one for yourself. (via Make)

Who knew there were so many brain researchers on postage stamps? Dr. Eric Chudler at the University of Washington collects commemorative postage stamps of famous brain researchers from around the world and posts pictures of the stamps on his website. Sweden seems to have the most brain doctors on stamps, followed by Portugal and Germany. Dr. Chudler is Director of Education and Outreach at the University of Washington Engineered Biomaterials lab. He also maintains a website of neuroscience research commemorative postage stamps. (via Improbable Research)

• Janet over at Adventures in Ethics and Science blog made her own clever and funny science-themed Chevy Tahoe commercial at the Chevy Apprentice contest website. Check it out here.
  
  < ;li type="disc">The nonprofit organization Environmental Defense has launched a new "Fight Global Warming" TV ad campaign, which emphasizes the effects global warming will have on future generations. You can see the ads here and vote for your favorite one.
  
  
• NOAA documentary Orphan Orca: Saving Springer about saving a young, abandoned killer whale off the coast of Washington is now available on the NOAA homepage. The half-hour documentary, which won an Emmy award in 2005, covers the efforts by NOAA scientists to bring the baby whale back to health and return her to the wild.

Have a great idea for a documentary film? If your research leads you to the door of the Smithsonian Institution, you may be in for a rude surprise. According to the NY Times, "On March 9, Showtime and the Smithsonian announced the creation of Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture to develop television programming. Under the agreement, the joint venture has the right of first refusal to commercial documentaries that rely heavily on Smithsonian collections or staff. Those works would first have to be offered to Smithsonian on Demand, the cable channel that is expected to be the venture's first programming service." Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns said, "I find this deal terrifying. It feels like the Smithsonian has essentially optioned America's attic to one company, and to have access to that attic, we would have to be signed off with, and perhaps co-opted by, that entity." In response to criticism, Jeanny Kim, a vice president for media services for Smithsonian Business Ventures, said, "It's not our obligation to help independent filmmakers sell their wares to commercial broadcast and cable networks." Isn't this the pot calling the kettle black? Margaret Drain, a vice president for national programs at WGBH, said, "I'm outraged that a public institution would do a semiexclusive deal with a commercial broadcaster." The Smithsonian received $615,097,000 from Congress in 2006 to cover salaries, expenses, and facilities capital, and is requesting $644,394,000 for 2007. According to the Smithsonian 2007 budget request to Congress, "Some of the greatest works of art in this countryor the worldare at the Smithsonian. The Smithsonians art museums, the Freer, the Sackler, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Museum of African Art, the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York City, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery, collectively, are the third most visited art complex in the United States." The Smithsonian Institution also includes the Air and Space Museum and the National Zoo. And now, other than viewing the Smithsonian museums in person, their works may only be available to you though your paid cable subscription to Showtime.

The 2006 edition of Science and Engineering Indicators, published in late February by the National Science Foundation and available online, reports on various science and engineering (S&E) trends across the United States such as the number of S&E degrees awarded, labor and salary statistics in S&E fields, research and deveopment funding, and S&E indicators broken down by state. The map at right shows the percentage of S&E doctorates as a share of the total workforce for each state in 2003 (click to enlarge), indicating which states are most attractive to S&E doctorates and where the most job opportunities for S&E doctorates are likely to be found. S&E fields include physical, life, earth, ocean, atmospheric, computer, and social sciences; mathematics; engineering; and psychology. The study also covered public interest, knowledge, and attitudes about science, and found that most Americans get their science news from television followed by the internet, which is "the preferred source when people are seeking information about specific scientific issues. In 2004, 52% of National Science Foundation survey respondents named the Internet as the place they would go to learn more about a scientific issue such as global warming or biotechnology, up from 44% in 2001." Despite the Bush administration's stated opposition to stem cell research, only 36% of those surveyed said they were opposed to medical research that uses stem cells from human embryos, down from 51% in 2002. And for those considering a career in science, "Scientists share (with doctors) the top spot in the Harris poll of occupations having the most prestige." The report itself is meant to be policy neutral, so the NSF has provided its recommendations based on the report in a companion document, America's Pressing Challenge - Building a Stronger Foundation.

It was only a matter of time. The NY Times reports that online publisher Blurb has created BookSmart, a free, downloadable software program that can turn your weblog into a hardcover book, which can be purchased online for as little as $30. There are various formats and templates to choose from. Authors also will be able to create their own little bookstore on the Blurb website. There are supposedly some glitches that remain in the current beta release, but these reportedly will be fixed before the first official version is released online.

With so many science programs getting the ax - nevermind what Bush said in his State of the Union Address, scientists who depend on NSF, NIH, and NASA funding, among others, are suffering this year - it's good to hear of a field that is growing. This week's issue of Science has two special feature articles on careers in systems biology, which is an emerging interdisciplinary field that combines biology with physics, computer science, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering. If you're having trouble finding a postdoc position in, say, astrophysics, you might have better career prospects in systems biology. The two feature articles focus separately on careers in Europe and the United States, which is considered the leader in systems biology research. The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle, Washington is the article's poster child for a successful young lab. ISB is an independent research institute founded in 2000 by Leroy Hood after he "concluded that he couldn't arrange a successful marriage between computing and biology in the academic environment of the University of Washington." According to the Science article on the US market, "systems biology is in heavy demand. 'Systems biology is very fashionable. Until it is fully established in all of the major universities, there will be a lot of hires, either new hires or professors that are reminting themselves,' predicts David Galas, a researcher at ISB and vice president and chief scientific officer of the Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio. Roger Brent (pictured), president and research director of the independent Molecular Sciences Institute (MSI) in Berkeley, California, agrees. 'I'd say that this is a time in which a talented young person who demonstrates an ability to make real contributions can pretty close to write their own ticket in terms of what they can do academically and intellectually,' he says."

If you're ever in need of a geeky gift, Think Geek is the place to go - online, of course. They have more geeky t-shirts and gadgets than you can shake a mouse at. One of their cooler gadgets to come out lately is the water powered clock. The 6-inch high digital clock uses an internal converter that extracts electrons from water or any electrolytic fluid, creating an electric current that acts as a fuel cell to power the clock. The clock provides the time and date as soon as the reservoir is filled and also makes for a cute little flower vase. The clock runs for months on a single fill-up. Flowers not included. If you want something extra geeky, try the water powered multifunction alarm clock, which has a clock, alarm, timer, and thermometer all in one.

I became convinced that science - rather than business school - was for me when my geology professor took the class to a popular watering hole next to campus to review for the final exam. Sure, lots of professors might take their students out for drinks, but how many professors keep the local bar stocked with Geology Honor Society beer steins! That's all fine if you're 'in the club', but how can ordinary people meet and interact with scientists in a friendly and informal way? Musicians and poets have open mic night. Writers have readings. Artists have openings. Now, scientists have Cafe Scientifique. The trend, which reportedly began in Europe, gained national attention last week with a NY Times article that reported on one recent gathering of geeks and coffee in Denver. The idea behind Cafe Scientifique, and its many variants, is to bring together scientists and non-scientists to mingle, hear a light science lecture, and discuss science. The official Cafe Scientifique website has a list of meeting locations around the world. There are currently only a couple of dozen gatherings around the U.S., but you can start your own cafe with assistance from the Cafe Scientifique organization or even watch a live broadcast of Cafe Scientifique San Diego.