Code for life

National Geographic photos of the year, 2009

Grant Jacobs • Jan 01, 2010

• photos

A mantee photographed in Florida–Yusude Okada, Japan The Giant's Playground at night–Chris Gray, Canada Not a science post, but a head’s up to visit National Geographic’s photography website for some stunning photographs, including the winners to the previous year’s competition. Click on ‘Contest Winners’ to see 2009’s and earlier winners. Read More

Video: Ardipithecus ramidus, evolution of man, chimps have more evolved hands

Grant Jacobs • Dec 31, 2009

• evolution,
• video

Science has an excellent video exploring the science of Ardipithecus ramidus on their website. I can’t embed it (as far as I can tell), so you’ll have to go over there to view it. There’s excerpts from the authors, lots of good graphics showing the skeleton, it’s features and how they ties … Read More

Media thought: Ask what is known, not the expert's opinion

Grant Jacobs • Dec 31, 2009

• media,
• science communication

I've written a number of posts related to science writing; one recurring theme is the distinction between opinion and evidence. In my previous post I wrote: …unless the audience has deep knowledge of the evidence for the subject in question, it’s merits and weaknesses, and is honestly presenting what can be concluded from … Read More

Consensus, evidence, wikipedia and blogs

Grant Jacobs • Dec 30, 2009

• media,
• politics,
• science communication,
• writing

A consensus of opinions is not as worthy as a consensus of the evidence. Not unless you're a politician of the kind that only cares for what they can ride on the public with and doesn't give a toss about what is correct. That's not to say that there are things outside of science … Read More

Do monkeys eat bananas upside down?

Grant Jacobs • Dec 29, 2009

• bananas,
• monkeys

A light-weight post to get this blog back on the road after the Christmas break... There's a video doing the rounds (again, it's not a new theme) that the "right" way to peel a banana is from the tip of the fruit, not using the stem, and that this is how monkeys peel bananas: [embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJV56WUDng[/embed] … Read More

Happy (late) solstice

Grant Jacobs • Dec 23, 2009

• solstice

Done those Christmas things? We're all late. The solstice was on the 21st. Ha! Got you worried? Some of you will have noticed that my blog posts have been a little erratic lately. I do a lot of research for many of my articles. Yup, I check those facts I toss at … Read More

Scientists who died during 2009

Grant Jacobs • Dec 22, 2009

• New Zealand,
• news

Stuff.co.nz has put up a list of famous people that died last ten years. Not one is a scientist. Funny old world, eh? You can make the top ten NZers (never mind people world-wide) as a scientist, the obits in the paper, but not the famous who died in the last decade. What's with that? … Read More

Scientists in "New Zealanders of the Year" media lists

Grant Jacobs • Dec 21, 2009

• media,
• New Zealand,
• news,
• prize

Those end-of-year lists keep coming… Emerging are a number of lists representing “New Zealanders of the Year”. Not all have announced their nominees, but two of those that have started to announce them include scientists amongst their number. The New Zealand Herald New Zealanders of the Year for 2009 recognises two scientists, Dame Anne Salmond … Read More

Friday Geek Comedy Hour: Pick-up lines

Grant Jacobs • Dec 18, 2009

• humour

A short collection of "scientific" pick up lines. The list below is inspired by a short blog post "Best Geek Pickup Line Ever"  by Ed Brayton who writes Dispatches from the Culture Wars. I've trawled the 'net and added a few more, avoiding the truly tasteless. Trust me, there are plenty of those... Read More

TIME's top ten scientific discoveries for 2009

Grant Jacobs • Dec 18, 2009

• news,
• writing

TIME magazine’s top ten scientific discoveries for 2009 are… Our Oldest Ancestor, “Ardi” The Human Epigenome, Decoded Gene Therapy Cures Color Blindness A Robot Performs Science Breeding Tuna on Land Water on the Moon The Fundamental Lemma, Solved Teleportation! The Large Hadron Collider, Revived A New Planet (or Brown Dwarf?) … Read More