Stories by Jason G. Goldman

I humbly present, once again, the quasi-weekly linkfest. Enjoy! First, a reminder: Submit awesome science blogging for Open Lab! I encourage you not to be shy about submitting your own stuff!

Virginia Heffernan wrote a piece in today’s NY Times Magazine. She writes: Science blogging, apparently, is a form of redundant and effortfully incendiary rhetoric that draws bad-faith moral authority from the word “science” and from occasional invocations of “peer-reviewed” thises and thats.

Here at Thoughtful Animal headquarters, we are conducting series of seven-question interviews with people who are doing or have done animal research of all kinds – biomedical, behavioral, cognitive, and so forth.

I’m not going to create a new category for this creature, because I never expect to blog about these critters again. At least it’s clear that she’s a mammal.

Have you heard about NCBI ROFL? It’s a previously-independent blog that has been incorporated into “Discoblog,” one of the blogs at Discover Magazine.

BYU students made a spoof of the Old Spice ads, about studying. Did you know that eight out of five dentists say that studying in the library is six bajillion times more effective than studying in your shower?

A French selection for today: Slave by Fran

Like the headline says. I’ve been thinking about setting up a schwag shoppe, and so I’m going to need a logo. So I’m turning to you, my brilliant readers who (I hope) are far more photoshop-proficient than I am.

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week: EcoPhysioMichelle explains a giant methods FAIL on a recent paper that “claims that women who are approaching menopause become ‘more willing to engage in a variety of sexual activities to capitalize on their remaining childbearing years.’” NeuroKuz wonders, “Is it really possible to empathize with [...]

This is a tamarind: The fruit pulp is edible and popular. The hard green pulp of a young fruit is considered by many to be too sour and acidic, but is often used as a component of savory dishes, as a pickling agent or as a means of making certain poisonous yams in Ghana safe [...]

In general, the ability to attribute attention to others seems important: it allows an animal to notice the presence of other individuals (whether conspecifics, prey, or predators) as well as important locations or events by following the body orientation or eyegaze of others.

PZ Myers tipped me off to a science poetry contest: Dr. Charles is having a Poetry Contest, with wonderful prizes to be awarded to the winner with the best poem about “experiencing, practicing, or reflecting upon a medical, scientific, or health-related matter.” Rules, details, and submission guidelines here.

Did you know that Scienceblogs has a vision statement? It might be hard to find. You have to scroll alllllllll the way down to the very bottom of any page on the network, and click About Scienceblogs.

So this year, super science blogger Ben Young Landis was supposed to be guest editor for Open Lab, but alas, he has gotten a new job and will be moving and will no longer be able.

There’s been lots of talk lately about the future of science blogging, in general, and the purpose and nature of blogging communities or networks, more specifically.

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week: Scicurious delights and entertains while explaining a study all about rat urine, in song and rhyme.

From the archives… Figure 1: Does Mickey feel empathy? It probably depends on how you define empathy. Empathy, by any definition, implies emotional sensitivity to the affective state of another.

Only a few minutes today to get out a few interesting links, because I’m busy writing up an IACUC proposal. First, a post on dogs from one of the Psychology Today blogs.

It’s been a pretty long stressful week around here, and not just because of Pepsipocalypse and the resulting fallout. But, well, I’m back, and I have an awesome paper to tell you about.

Here are my ResearchBlogging Editor’s Selections for this week. First, something near and dear to our hearts. BPS Research Digest explains a recent paper investigating the links between bloggers’ personalities and their word choices.

Well, well, well. After spending the day dismantling and rebuilding my lab (which, to my slight surprise, was actually super fun), I return to some good news (relative to the bad news that’s been flying around here over the last couple days).

Dudes, I don’t even drink soda. Of any kind. Ever. Seriously, though, I’m saddened by the loss of several of my sciblings. Many of them are individuals who I consider role models, and look up to.

If you’ve been around Scienceblogs today, or on Twitter, you may have noticed that there appears to be a new blog around these parts.

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week: TwoYaks at the GeneFlow blog effectively criticizes the hypothesis that girls like pink and boys like blue because of evolved sex differences in hunting and foraging behaviors.