Science Blogs

TechCrunch, founded on June 11, 2005, is a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to new companies, we will profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space. TechCrunch is edited by Michael Arrington, who also writes a companion blog, CrunchNotes.

Crunchgear is a blog covering gadgets, gear and computer hardware. It is a part of Michael Arringtons TechCrunch Network.

And with the launch of this blog-a-zine, SMITH magazines small and scrappy team enters into the public part of whats been until now a private obsession to start a magazine celebrating the explosion of personal media and the personal stories that celebrate the brilliance in the ordinary brilliance that is now available in every form ever imagined.

It's that time of year again when grad students are nearing the finish line on their theses and searching for *gasp* a real job. If you haven't lined up a job or post-doc yet, check out the new Science Jobs section on Element List. We've compiled a bunch of great science job websites from dedicated science job listings (Scienteur, APS Careers) and science magazine job classifieds (The Scientist Careers), to job boards from major science research labs (Lucent/Bell Labs, Los Alamos National Lab, NIH). We're adding new science job listings sites all the time. If you don't see a favorite site of yours, send us a tip.

Smith Magazine is all about helping you get your story out. Of course, to get started, it's helpful to know exactly which tools are available for you to get your story out on the web, which, let's face it, is the only medium that really matters anymore. So which tools are best and also free or cheap? Well, Smith mag has put together a handly little DIY Media Toolbox, which is essentially a guided tour of all the most popular blogging and networking sites in use today. Aside from the obvious sites like MySpace and YouTube, there are others such as LiveJournal for networking, iFilm for videos, Newsvine for news, Deviantart for art, and Moveable Type for blogging. The list includes about 30 sites with descriptions that are complete enough to help you decide which ones might be best for you. (Image by *rufftoon from Deviantart.)

Honeywell is hosting videos of interviews and science lectures with Nobel Laureates on the Honeywell Interactive Nobel Studio. Mario Molina, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery that man-made chemicals are damaging the ozone layer and pictured at right, discusses science careers and global warming. Physics Laureate (1988) Leon Lederman discusses particle physics, the Big Bang, and his discovery of two kinds of nutrinos. Steven Chu, Physics 1997 Nobel co-winner for the "optical tweezers" laser trap, discusses science as a career, energy issues, and the work that led to his winning the Nobel Prize. The Laureate Lecture currently features Horst Stormer, co-winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovery of the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect.

Thoughts on physics, maths, science, philosophy, and anything else that may cross my mind, plus news about my current life for distant friends, by an Argentinian in the second year of his PhD at the University of Nottingham.

More and more universities are taking advantage of the internet to create their own mini TV networks on the web with streaming video. The University of California may have one of the most extensive catalogues of new videos covering events, lectures, and special made-for-the-web video programming as it covers all of the campuses within the UC system - and they all can be found on the UCTV website. Featured online video programs include State of Minds, a professionally produced 30-minute news magazine covers news and people from all of the UC campuses. The Teacher's P.E.T., airing Monday through Thursdays at 4 PM Pacific time, presents the latest news on research and education for grade school teachers and is divided into subcategories, such as science and history. The Med Ed Hour, which airs every week on Tuesday though Thursday at noon Pacific Time, covers news in medicine and health care for medical professionals. Professionals can even earn continuing education credits by watching some of the MedEd programs. Best of all, all of the videos are available as downloadable podcasts for your iPod.

Google ads are a bit funny. No matter what the ad is actually for, if an advertiser bids enough for certain keywords, like say, "Darwin" or "science research," pretty much any advertisement could show up in our little Google ads space. Nevermind whether Element List readers, typically academic researcher types, own a European automobile or care about the latest creationist buzz. We've been bombarded lately by creationist and intelligent designs ads in particular. If we can't figure out a way to get rid of the ads, the least we can do is click on the ads until their Adwords account reaches its limit blog about them. Heh-heh. So we're creating a new game called Find the Creationist Google Ad. (Hmm, doesn't quite have the same ring, but we're open to suggestions.) So click away happy Element Listers. Click any creationist ads that you find here and post a comment on any sites you find interesting or at least humorous.

Members of the National Academies are top scientists in their fields from across the country and provide expert advice on science, technology, and health policy to the federal government and the public under a congressional charter. The National Academies consist of four separate groups: the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. Reports from the National Academies frequently make headlines because of the national importance of the subjects they review and the professional stature of the committee members. The reports are available for free downloading from the National Acadamies Press website, along with special webpages containing collections reports and links for additional reading. You can also download official podcasts, which provide access to National Academies public briefings and news conferences. A few of the more high-profile topics covered by the National Academies include:

• Evolution - Do you have a big debate scheduled with your local schoolboard on creationism? If you can't move out of Kansas, you at least can download these free resources on evolution from the National Academies.
• Stem Cell Research - What are stem cells? Why are some people so opposed to their use, while others claim they could be the source of cures for diseases like Alzheimers and diabetes? For an overview of the science and issues surrounding stem cell research, read Understanding Stem Cells from the NAS Stem Cell summary page.
• Global Warming and Climate Change - Choose from fifteen publications by the National Academies available for download on the Global Warming and Climate Change page on a range of topics from Understanding Climate Change Feedbacks to Making Climate Forecasts Matter. Also, individual science board homepages such as the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate contain free reports online.

The next time you're looking for a good science book, check out the National Academies Press website. You won't find these titles at your typical local bookstore.

• Struck by Lightning: The Curious World of Possibilities, by Jeffrey Rosenthal - Description: From terrorist attacks to big money jackpots, Struck by Lightning deconstructs the odds and oddities of chance, examining both the relevant and irreverent role of randomness in our everyday lives.
• The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World, by Phillip Schewe - Description: The electrical grid goes everywhere it s the largest and most complex machine ever made. Yet the system is built in such a way that the bigger it gets, the more inevitable its collapse.
• Out of Thin Air: Dinosaurs, Birds, and Earth's Ancient Atmosphere, by Peter Ward - Description: For 65 million years dinosaurs ruled the Earth until a deadly asteroid forced their extinction. But what accounts for the incredible longevity of dinosaurs? A renowned scientist now provides a startling explanation that is rewriting the history of the Age of Dinosaurs.

Professors John Selegue and James Holler at the University of Kentucky Department of Chemistry have created a fun and interesting website that uses comic books to teach about every element in the periodic table. The element references come from popular comic book series like DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Walt Disney. The site is intended to combine education and popular entertainment. Just click on any element in the table on the homepage, and you'll be taken to a page of comics that reference that element. The element mercury is referenced in the comic at right from the 1962 edition of Showcase as well as several other comics from the era, including a comic called Metal Men.

If you've never had the opportunity to attend a lecture at Harvard, now is your chance. Harvard@Home is an online collection of videos covering Harvard lectures and events going back to 2001, which you can watch from your home, office, cafe, or wherever. There is also a special site, StudioSKG, which covers conferences, lectures, and special events from the John F. Kennedy School of Government. Here are just a few of the science and math videos available on Harvard@Home:

• Changing Habitats... Vanishing Species: This symposium, a presentation of the Harvard Museum of Natural History, is a scientific discussion of how environments are changing, why species are being lost, and the long-term ramifications for human society.
  
• Socks Before Shoes: Unraveling Cell Division: Professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard, Andrew Murray, describes the mysterious process that lines up chromosomes prior to cell division and offers clues to understanding chromosomal abnormalities.
  
• Evolutionary Dynamics: Professor Martin Nowak discusses recent advances in our understanding of evolutionary dynamics and its application to genes, quasispecies, games, cooperative behavior, and human language.

A physics blog by theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder and physicist and writer Stefan Scherer.

As the internet buzzes with talk of NASA's latest finding that the Greenland ice sheet is shrinking faster than expected, an article in today's New York Times quotes Max Maisch, an expert on glaciers at the University of Zurich, lamenting the shrinking state of Switzerland's glaciers. This year was a terrible year for the glaciers, said Max Maisch,... July was very hot, though August was cool; but September was the warmest in 140 years. Many glaciers are collapsing on the edges. Maisch's observation of warm September temperatures in Europe flies in the face of a recent NOAA report, discussed here last week, which emphasized that September was cooler in the U.S. relative to the precending several months, while stating in the same new release that the "January-September 2006 combined temperature is the warmest on record." While temperatures may have been briefly lower in the U.S., clearly not everyone on the planet was enjoying a cool September this year.

Ever wonder what it would be like to be locked inside of a science museum after hours? Now, for the price of $70-79/night per person, families and children ages 8-12 can spend the night in the American Museum of Natural History in New York City: "Find yourselves in the Hall of North American Mammals, staring down a herd of wild buffalo. Climb some stairs and you're in the Age of the Dinosaurs, standing beneath a 65-million-year-old T. rex. Travel to the outer reaches of the cosmos in the Hayden Planetarium, where you'll witness entire galaxies collide. As the night comes to a magical close, settle down in the serene Milstein Hall of Ocean Life, beneath the 94-foot-long blue whale or in front of a favorite seascape diorama." The program runs from approximately 6 PM to 9 AM, and an evening snack and light breakfast are included. At least one adult chaperone is required for every three children. There is no mention, however, of how many kids are required per adult!

The U.S. National Park Service homepage has a handy new feature for finding national parks all around the country, sorted by name, location, activity (e.g., hiking, camping), and topic (e.g., caves, Civil War, coral reefs). The handy scroll-down menu has a popup feature with thumbnail images of each park and links to directions, hours, reservations, etc. as shown in the picture at right. There's also a special section for nature and science-related topics, which currently features a link to the Canon National Parks Science Scholars Program, which will be awarding eight $80,000 scholarships to Ph.D. students to "conduct research critical to conserving the national parks" in the U.S. Research projects in the biological, physical, social and cultural sciences are eligible, as well as projects in technology innovation in support of conservation science. Applications must be received by 3 May 2007. If you are so inclined, find a park on the website, write a research proposal, and spend the next few years getting paid to camp and hike. Not a bad life, huh?