The Amoeba Collective

Dear Readers — As you are probably well aware by now, today is the Sci Am Blog network’s One Year Anniversary! So, in honor of that fact, we are asking our readers to come forward and identify themselves.

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Dear Readers -- As you are probably well aware by now, today is the Sci Am Blog network's One Year Anniversary!

So, in honor of that fact, we are asking our readers to come forward and identify themselves. I've toyed with doing this in the past, when I was an independent blogger for two years. I didn't do it chiefly because I was afraid no one would respond. So please don't put paid to my darkest fears -- speak up! Tell me who you are and why you're here. Ed Yong is the source of this idea, and the third question below comes from here.

1) Tell me about you. Who are you? Do you have a background in science? If so, what draws you here? If not, what brought you here and why have you stayed?


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2) Tell someone else about this blog and in particular, try and choose someone who's not a scientist but who you think might be interested in the type of stuff found in this blog. Ever had family members or groups of friends who've been giving you strange, pitying looks when you try to wax biologic on them? Send 'em here and let's see what they say.

3) I'm interested in whether you found me, or regularly follow me, through Twitter, Facebook and/or other beyond-RSS mechanisms that you may use to corral your information stream.

I know registration and login to comment may seem scary, but I promise it's really very simple and you won't get spammed (at least I wasn't when I signed up to be able to comment). Also, feel free to use a funny fake name! The more entertaining, the better. : )

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