Things an Elephant Should Never Forget

Orchids - The original sexual predators

2009-09-15T19:24:00.004-04:00

I know it may seem odd to call a plant a sexual predator, but, in fact, as I learned reading the September issue of National Geographic recently, it's true. The article, Love and Lies, talks about how some species of orchids have evolved to exploit the sexual tendencies of other species of animals in order to increase pollination.

Now, not every species of orchid uses the lust of other species to increase pollination. Some orchids have evolved to mimic other species, some have evolved to mimic appealing smells. But some... Well, I'll let author Michael Pollan explain the method used by one particular flower...

In the case of this particular Ophrys, that animal is a relative of the bumblebee. The orchid offers no nectar or pollen reward; rather, it seduces male bees with the promise of bee sex and then insures its pollination by frustrating precisely the desire it has excited. The orchid accomplishes its sexual deception by mimicking the appearance, scent, and even the tactile experience of a female bee. The flower, in other words, traffics in something very much like metaphor: This stands for that. Not bad for a vegetable.

Pretty ingenious, right? The flower mimics the female of the species, attracting the male. The male flies along, looking for a pretty girl, spots the flower, and then... ahem... starts some romance. While he's busy romancing, the flower plants two sticky sacks of pollen onto his back. The male eventually becomes frustrated, and flies off, taking the pollen with him, which he'll deposit the next time he finds what he thinks is a lovely lady.

I bet you never knew flowers were so conniving.

Photo used courtesy of Samantha Allen Photography.

Ida, Google, and Christians

2009-05-20T19:42:00.002-04:00

@reddit: Christians find today's Google logo "disgusting". One says "It made me want to throw my laptop". http://ow.ly/86qy

It looks like some Christians aren't feeling too fond of Google using an image of Ida in place of their logo today. Tip picked up via Twitter.

Harvard Museum of Natural History

2009-04-28T18:36:00.004-04:00

Recently, a few friends and I took a trip to the Harvard Museum of Natural History. It was a great trip and I'd recommend the museum to anyone interested in science. One of my companions, Samantha Allen, is a professional photographer and she took the picture above. Click on the picture or here to view the rest of our pictures.

I swear I'll start blogging about something other than leeches and cockroaches soon...

2009-04-09T18:45:00.003-04:00

The world's largest leech, named Grandma Moses, was 18 inches long, according to this website. Once discovered, she produced more than 750 offspring and inspired more than 45 papers and publications.

Can cockroaches really live in ears? Yes, they can.

2009-04-09T18:23:00.002-04:00

My favorite part is when he talks about the fact that one hospital in Japan recommends not telling patients they have cockroaches in their ears, so the patients don't panic.

I want to go!

2009-03-31T20:25:00.000-04:00

Finding Your Inner Fish
Exhibition Opening Lecture by Neil Shubin
Thursday, April 16, 6:00 pm
University of Chicago paleontologist Neil Shubin made headlines with the recent discovery of the 375-million-year-old fossil remains of Tiktaalik roseae—dubbed the “missing link” between fish and land animals. To celebrate the opening of EVOLUTION, the museum's new permanent exhibition, Shubin will discuss the evolutionary baggage that we carry in our genetic lineage that originated in earlier animals.

The Tiktaalik roseae was discovered in 2004 by Shubin and his colleagues, Dr. Ted Daeschler (The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia) and Dr. Farish A. Jenkins Jr. (Harvard University). Shubin hold several titles at the University of Chicago including Robert R. Bensley Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy. Free and open to the public in the Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street.

For more information, go here.

Count me in

2009-03-31T20:12:00.003-04:00

The National Museum of Natural History is offering an interesting new program. According to this article at smithsonian.com, every Wednesday from 1 to 3 PM, one of the organizations scientists is available in Ocean Hall so that visiters can ask questions and learn more about what is going on. The Museum is considering expanding the program to their Dinosaur Hall and African Voices Hall.

I say, count me in. I want to go. I want to learn. On a related note, visiting the Harvard Museum of Natural History is high on my list of things to do. I can't believe I've never been!

Maggots need not apply

2009-03-22T20:49:00.002-04:00

In the near future, humans may not be the only beings searching for a job in the future. Maggots may soon be out of a job. For centuries, the insects were used to help treat wounds. The maggots ate the diseased and dead flesh, allowing new skin to grow in its place.

However, a study published on Friday by the British Medical Journal found that there was negligable difference between using maggots to treat a wound and using a salve called hydrogel. The study, which tracked the results of 267 patients, found that the patients treated with hydrogel healed in an average of 245 days, while the patients treated with maggots healted in 236 days. Additionally, the study found that patients experienced a lot more pain when the maggots were used.

Source: Scientific American

My degree is a Masters of... Creation?

2009-03-22T20:41:00.003-04:00

Texas state Representative, Leo Berman, has proposed a bill that would allow faith-based educational facility, the Institute for Creation Research, to bestow Masters of Creationism upon its graduates.

The bill would make private, non-profit educational instutions exempt from rulings made by the Texas' Higher Education Coordinating Board. The Board previously ruled against allowing Master of Creationism degrees.

Source: Greg Laden's Blog

Real Life Dr. House

2009-02-21T13:46:00.003-05:00

In this weeks New York Times Magazine, there is an article about a new department of the NIH (National Institutes of Health) that mirrors the kind of work done on the Fox TV show, House. The Undiagnosed Diseases Program combines a large group of NIH scientists and doctors, who possess all sorts of specialties. However, real life is different than the TV program, as the articles says:

But in the real world of clinical diagnosis, there is no crabby genius spending days and nights at a whiteboard, enumerating and eliminating hypotheses, barking at his residents and taking a stab at a succession of hunches until he happens to hit on the one that explains everything. The best diagnosticians depend on induction rather than intuition. Physicians call it differential diagnosis, and it is taught in medical schools as a process of elimination that occurs in a particular order. You amass all the information — the patient’s medical history, the results of the physical examination, the findings of as many medical tests as you can think of — and you ask, What disease could explain all these findings? What else could explain them? What else?

On television, the mystery is always neatly wrapped up by the end of the episode. In reality, many medical mysteries are never solved. And by the time people with undiagnosed diseases make their way to the N.I.H., most of the logical diagnoses have already been considered and rejected, making a nice tidy ending even more unlikely.

It sounds like a really interesting program that will make a profound difference. Not only for the patients, but perhaps even on the medical community as a whole.

On why Darwinism must die...

2009-02-10T18:25:00.003-05:00

Evolution rarely comes up in the media without Charles Darwin's name. He did, after all, come up with the idea of natural selection.

However, this essay published yesterday in The New York Times argues that evolution needs to leave Darwin behind in order to gain greater acceptance in the non-scientific communities.

Author Carl Safina writes:

Equating evolution with Charles Darwin ignores 150 years of discoveries, including most of what scientists understand about evolution. Such as: Gregor Mendel’s patterns of heredity (which gave Darwin’s idea of natural selection a mechanism — genetics — by which it could work); the discovery of DNA (which gave genetics a mechanism and lets us see evolutionary lineages); developmental biology (which gives DNA a mechanism); studies documenting evolution in nature (which converted the hypothetical to observable fact); evolution’s role in medicine and disease (bringing immediate relevance to the topic); and more.

Safina equates calling evolution Darwinism with calling gravity Newtonism. It's just not done. However, you do have Marxism, which is a belief system. Calling evolution Darwinism implies that evolution is a belief system. Let's change that.

Some interesting upcoming programming...

2009-02-05T19:04:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,

I've been alerted about some of the upcoming programming on National Geographic and thought I'd pass it on to you guys. If you go to natgeo.tv, you can find out more about the programming, watch video previews, and even set an e-mail reminder so you don't forget to watch.

Here's some of the interesting programming coming up:

MORPHED
Sunday, February 8, 2009 at 8PM – 11PM ET/PT, with Live Discussion Event at 7PM ET/PT
Using advanced CGI, forensic examination of the latest fossil evidence and 3-D, biomechanic animation, Morphed brings ancient creatures back to life and recreates the most dramatic forces impacting their evolution — from natural disasters to competitors and brushes with extinction. Also, during the first hour of Morphed, join a panel of experts in the fields of biology, molecular science, and theology for a Live Discussion Event to discuss the topic of evolution and its significance in today's science community, education, and its relationship to religion and theology. Be sure to submit your questions in advance at ngccommunity.nationalgeographic.com/ngcforums/evolution and log in on Sunday, February 8 at 7 PM ET/PT!

The three back-to-back episode premieres include:
MORPHED: FROM DINOSAUR TO TURKEY digs 230 million years back into the fossil record to witness the emergence of the first dinosaur and follows different dinosaur species as they respond to changes in the earth's environment.
MORPHED: WHEN WHALES HAD LEGS examines the environmental pressures that turned a wolflike creature that hunted in shallow waters into a leviathan of the seas.
Video "Ancient Whale Bones" – In the plains of Pakistan, archaeologists discover clues to help solve the mystery of how land mammals became whales.
MORPHED: BEFORE THEY WERE BEARS travels back 30 million years to watch the bear's doglike ancestor climb down from the trees of central Europe and set out on a journey that spanned the planet.

DARWIN'S SECRET NOTEBOOKS
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 9 PM ET/PT
Using Darwin's own diary and field notes as a travel guide, National Geographic Channel retraces Darwin's expedition beyond the Galapagos to uncover the forgotten evidence that inspired his revolutionary work. We see how fossils in Argentina, seashells in the Andes, and fish in the South Pacific helped him cultivate his radical theory of evolution.

EXPLORER: MONSTER FISH OF THE CONGO
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 10 PM ET/PT
Join a team of adventurers and scientists and travel deep into the heart of Africa's Congo River Basin in search of an elusive man-sized predator known as the tiger fish. While locals believe this ravenous relative of the piranha is cursed, scientists believe the fearsome fish may hold the key to understanding the evolution of an extraordinary array of bizarre creatures found throughout the Congo.

Early pregnancy tests used... frogs?

2009-02-02T19:53:00.003-05:00

Forgive me, this is well known research, and I link to an old article in Slate, but I only just learned this fact today.

In the 1930s, scientists used frogs to help determine if a woman was pregnant or not, according to this article. How? You ask. Well...

You inject some urine into its dorsal lymph sac in the morning and check back at the end of the day. A dose of a pregnant woman's pee will cause a female South African clawed frog to lay eggs within eight to 12 hours. The test also works on male frogs, which produce sperm in response to the injection.

Frogs were used because their ovulation is easily controlled. And, the test worked because of a hormone called human chorionic gonadotropin or hcg. Modern tests use hcg as well, it contains antibodies that react to the hcg.

And, I bet the whole thing is a fact you never knew.

In honor of Charles Darwin

2009-01-31T18:02:00.006-05:00

In honor of Charles Darwin's upcoming 200th birthday on February 12, there has been increased interest in the life of Darwin.

Darwin coincidentally shares a birthday with Abraham Lincoln. Smithsonian's latest issue features a series of articles on the achievements of Darwin and Lincoln as well as an article on what the two men share in common. The article reads:

The two boys born on the same day into such different lives had become, as they remain, improbable public figures of that alteration of minds—they had become what are now called in cliché "icons," secular saints. They hadn't made the change, but they had helped to midwife the birth. With the usual compression of popular history, their reputations have been reduced to single words, mottoes to put beneath a profile on a commemorative coin or medal: "Evolution!" for one and "Emancipation!" for the other... We're not wrong to work these beautiful words onto their coins, though: they were the engineers of the alterations. They found a way to make those words live. Darwin and Lincoln did not make the modern world. But, by becoming "icons" of free human government and slow natural change, they helped to make our moral modernity.

National Geographic also had an article on Darwin this month. What Darwin Didn't Know covers some of the innovations and scientific discoveries made since Darwin's time. (Interestingly enough, Smithsonian features an article of the same name, also in its February issue.) The National Geographic article says:

Darwin's greatest idea was that natural selection is largely responsible for the variety of traits one sees among related species. Now, in the beak of the finch and the fur of the mouse, we can actually see the hand of natural selection at work, molding and modifying the DNA of genes and their expression to adapt the organism to its particular circumstances.

The New York Times even has a recent series of articles on Darwin in, of all places, the book section. The section features an excerpt of a book on Darwin's views of slavery and how it shaped his discovery of natural selection and an excerpt from a book on the similarities between Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.

200 years after Darwin, the evolution debate still rages on

2009-01-28T12:50:00.002-05:00

Nearly 200 years after Charles Darwin's birth, the war on evolution is still raging on in classrooms across the country, according to this article in McClatchy Washington.

A June 2008 Gallup poll, 49 percent of those surveyed believe in evolution, while 48 percent do not. These numbers have remained the same for the past 25 years. Additionally, the poll found that nearly 2/3rds of Republicans reject evolution, while independents and Democrats accept evolution as scientific fact.

A December 2009 Harris poll found that more people believe in devils, angels, and hell than in evolution.

There is currently anti-evolution guidelines proposed in Texas and Louisiana. Similar proposals are pending in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

MS lawmaker proposes evolution disclaimer for textbooks

2009-01-21T18:20:00.003-05:00

Mississippi state representative, Gary Chism, has introduced legislation that would call for a disclaimer on evolution to be placed in textbooks, according to this article in the Christian Post, a news site dedicated to spreading the word about God as well as Christian news.

The new legislation would require all biology textbooks to include a 200 word disclaimer that evolution is just a theory, not solid fact, and that alternatives exist. Part of the statement would read:

This textbook discusses evolution, a controversial theory some scientists present as a scientific explanation for the origin of living things. No one was present when life first appeared on earth. Therefore, any statement about life's origins should be considered a theory.

*An interesting note about the word theory. Although to many, the word theory means an explanation where it is still unknown whether the explanation is entirely true or not, but to scientists, a theory is about as close as you can get to the truth. For example, the theory of gravity or the theory of relativity. They may call it a theory, but you still expect that apple to drop to the ground every time you let it go.

Science writers encouraged to contribute short stories on genetics

2009-01-20T20:13:00.003-05:00

The Genomics Forum has announced a short story writing competition. The stories should be about the impact of genetics and all of the research about genetics that has been revealed in recent years.

The deadline is March 31, 2009 and stories are to be a maximum of 3,000 words. Winners will be notified in May.

Biologist attempts to find cure for daughter's mystery disease by mapping her DNA

2009-01-20T19:23:00.003-05:00

Hugh Reinoff, a microbiologist, is attempting to pinpoint the cause of his daughter's mystery ailment by mapping and analyzing her DNA. His daughter, Beatrice, has atrophied muscles in both legs, and even though the family has been to some of the best doctors in the country; the cause of the atrophy is still unknwon, according to this article in Wired.

Hugh tired of specialist after specialist not knowing exactly what was wrong with Beatrice after she was born with clenched fingers and abnormally long feet. First, the doctors thought she had Marfan syndrome, then Beals syndrome. One doctor thought the diagnosis was Loeys-Dietz syndrome, which can warp the aorta and twist arteries.

In his quest to find answers, Hugh pored over the latest issues of Science and other medical journals. He became convinced that the issue had to be related to a specific portion of Beatrice's DNA, since all three diseases are caused by similar areas of DNA. After failing to get another doctor to agree to analyze Beatrice's DNA, Hugh began the analysis himself, renovating an old study and using second-hand equipment.

He didn't find anything strikingly different about her DNA, so he began analyzing her transcriptose, a smaller part of DNA which is used to pass instructions to ribosomes, the cellular parts that make proteins. He has found a few promising sections of DNA, but nothing definitive.

Hugh has also started www.mydaughtersDNA.org, which encourages parents to post information and clinical histories about their undiagnosed children in the hopes to raise awareness and prompt awareness and research about these undiagnosed diseases. He has yet to find the cause of Beatrice's disease, but remains hopeful.

The future of science... Will it go big or citizen?

2009-01-14T20:13:00.005-05:00

The rise of the citizen journalist has been written about plenty and has changed the journalism industry in recent years. Aaron E. Hirsh, a guest blogger at the New York Times blog, The Wild Side, writes not about how citizens have changed journalism, but in how citizens are changing science.

Over time, he writes, science has moved towards centralization. research tends to be done in a small number of big projects. This move has been termed Big Science. Biologists sequence genomes by submitting their research to a large sequencing center. Ecologists study the effects of carbon dioxide on trees by working with national labs that may also do particle smashing.

On the other hand, citizen science has also risen in popularity, especially as the internet becomes more sophisticated and widespread. Citizen science enlists many untrained people in the collection of scientific data. One example is the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count:

For me, an especially inspiring example of Citizen Science is the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count. Every winter, from mid December to early January, tens of thousands of intrepid hobbyists fan out across North America, and together, they do their best to answer two basic questions: How many birds are there? And what kinds?

It’s a simple sort of data, to be sure, but it is nonetheless scientifically invaluable. The CBC dataset now covers 109 years, and this remarkable temporal extent, along with geographic range that spans the continent, enables scientists to address questions that would otherwise be as inaccessible as a Higgs boson. Just in the past few years, scientists have used the CBC dataset to track the emergence and impact of West Nile virus, to understand the ecological effects of competition between introduced species and to measure the shift that birds make toward the poles in response to global
warming.

Hirsh argues that there is a place in the future for both big science and citizen science. They fulfill different purposes. Obviously, citizen journalism is unable to run a genetic sequencing test, but it is better than big science at noticing global change.

Perhaps journalists antsy about the rise of citizen journalism will also realize that professional journalists and citizen journalists fulfill different purposes and can coexist side by side as well.

Rare pink iguana helps define history of Galapagos Islands

2009-01-08T17:56:00.002-05:00

A rare kind of iguana with pink skin, the rosada iguana, that lives only on the Galapagos Islands, diverged from other iguana species on the island more than five million years ago, according to findings reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. One of the oldest examples of divergence on the island, the researchers believed that the pink iguanas began to evolve separately from other iguanas while the island was still forming.

Information found in this article on Mongabay.com.

Kentucky Creation Museum puts dinosaurs next to humans

2009-01-06T19:29:00.002-05:00

I've been interested in the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky. before it was even built. I was attending the University of Kentucky when a friend tipped me off to something he'd seen in Esquire; a Kentucky town was planning on building a museum on creation, and not only that, they were claiming that humans and dinosaurs existed side by side. Of course, every biology class that I had ever taken had contradicted that, so I was intrigued. Unfortunately, I graduated before the museum opened, but I've still kept track of the news associated with the museum. The above BBC report is from 2007. Considering the end of the video and my own feelings, I just couldn't resist including the video below.

Hawaiian fish counts rock-climbing as one of its hobbies

2009-01-06T18:22:00.004-05:00

When the Hawaiian fish, the stream goby, migrates upstream to breed, it must climb up the islands many waterfalls, which can sometimes be hundreds of feet tall. Amazingly, the tiny fish inch up the waterfalls, against streaming water, by gripping the rocks with their mouths and a sucker located on the bottom of their stomachs.

Even better, the steep climb isn't considered the most difficult part of the fish's migration. Before they climb, they must pass through areas of water filled predators who would love to have the goby for a mid-morning snack.

I learned about the stream goby from this article in Science News.

Genetic cause for form of baldness discovered

2009-01-04T11:30:00.004-05:00

The genetic cause for a specific form of baldness, Maria Unna hereditary hypotrichosis, has been discovered by Chinese researchers. Marina Unna hereditary hypotrichosis, also known as MUHH, causes progressive baldness starting at puberty.

The researchers, located at Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China, pinpointed the gene U2HR as the cause of the baldness. The gene controls a peptide which controls a protein responsible for hair follicle regeneration.

Their findings, reported in this article in French newspaper, the Straits Times, will help researchers find drug targets to develop treatments for the disease.

Coral growth slows on Australia's Great Barrier Reef

2009-01-02T12:23:00.002-05:00

Coral growth on Australia's Great Barrier Reef between 1990 and now has slowed. The coral is now growing at the lowest rate for over 400 years, according to researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Biology.

This could pose numerous health threats to the species that live in the coral, which is the world's largest coral expanse. Coral reefs are home to many species of fish and other marine life, many of which aren't found any where else in the world. Coral reefs also protect coastlines, attract tourists, and are the potential source of many medicines.

The findings were reported in this article in Reuters.

The first stay at home dads?

2008-12-21T13:49:00.002-05:00

Many dinosaurs played an active role in nurturing their eggs and raising their newborns, according to a study published Friday in Nature. A team of scientists, led by paleontologist David J. Varricchio at Montana State University at Bozeman, examined the dinosaur bones found near egg clutches. The scientists found that none of the dinosaur skeletons contained the medullary bone, a bone found only in female dinosaurs. They also looked for signs of calcium or phosphorus, byproducts of the egg-laying process, but found none.

Birds, the closest surviving relative to dinosaurs, also share parenting responsibilities between males and females. The findings were reported in this article in the Los Angeles Times.

EcoPapaparazzi and social networks, continued

2008-12-21T13:36:00.004-05:00

Dylan Wolfe, assistant professor of communications at Clemson University, adds

"EcoPaparazzi is an interesting meld of social networking, collaborative blogging, and environmental activism. While most environmental activism online tends to be extensions of offline campaigns and organizations, EcoPaparazzi exemplifies some of the most powerful potential found in new and emerging media forms. The combination of social networking with a focus on visual elements draws upon our current media mindset: see it and spread it. We are now deeply set in a visual age and dawning on an age of unprecedented interconnection. It makes sense that those advocating changes in our world, whether they be political, social, or ecological, should communicate their messages visually and collaboratively. While EcoPaparazzi may not be THE website that enacts global transformation, it could be one of many new forms of activism that continue the evolution of environmentalism into the future."

Envy isn't limited only to humans

2008-12-15T20:51:00.003-05:00

A study conducted by the University of Vienna in Austria has found that dogs experience an emotion similar to envy when other dogs get a better reward, according to an article in the Washington Post.

The study investigated the reactions of dogs when they, and dogs around them, were given a reward of either bread or meat for performing a simple trick, like offering a paw. The researchers found that the deprived dogs, who received bread as a treat, would start to act frustrated; they were slower to respond to commands, scratch themselves, lick their mouths, and yawn.

So far, the only animals who are known to exhibit an envy-like behavior besides humans were monkeys and chimpanzees.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

2008-12-14T15:09:00.002-05:00

Last night, still without power from the ice storm that left 1.25 million people from Maine to Pennsylvania without power, my family and I went to go see The Day The Earth Stood Still. Although I'm told the original is better by my Dad, I enjoyed the movie. The movies main protagonist, Dr. Helen Benson, played by Jennifer Connelly, is a scientists who convinces aliens that the world can survive with humans because humans can change.

This article, from USA Today, gives a positive review to the movie because its science is so realistic. Filmmakers wanted to ensure accuracy and consulted with the SETI Institute, best known for radio signal searches for aliens.

In fact, only one scientist has criticized the scientific accuracy of the film. CalTech physicist Sean Carroll "had to slightly criticize" the fact that filmmakers had one of the physicists in the film win the Nobel Prize for biology. However, even he was excited that the filmmakers chose the physicist as an example of what is right with humanity.

The film is currently showing in theaters nationwide, or, if you are an alien, the Deep Space Communications Network is broadcasting the film at Alpha Centauri, the earth's nearest star system (which is about four light years away).

EcoPaparazzi Allows Creator to Continue Following her Bliss

2008-12-09T21:04:00.017-05:00

Jeanette McDermott has learned one thing in her life: the most important thing to do is to find your calling, do it, and follow your bliss. For McDermott, a lifelong journalist, her bliss is using her media skills to spread the word about biodiversity hotspots and conservation efforts.

Most recently, McDermott started EcoPaparazzi, a social network that challenges its users to take action and create change for the environment through photography. The Web site encourages users to post their environmental photographs to showcase what is being done in urban and rural areas and households and with pets, food, and politics to save the world. Members can post pictures and videos, write blog posts, and join groups such as "I Speak for Canadian Rivers", "Rant", and "Moved to Action".

Its members come from all areas of the world, from New York City to Miami to Sweden, and from all walks of life. They come for all reasons, whether to champion their cause, find kayaking buddies, or just to learn more about what they can do to help.

"I joined to help raise awareness about the lives of the children in Nicaragua. Some of the poorer families in La Chureca are forced to live in municipal dumps among the trash," said Alejandro Torres, who currently lives in Miami. Nicaragua is the poorest country in South and Central America. Torres hopes to raise funding in order to provide better homes, food, health care, and education for the children. McDermott has joined in on the cause, and in January, will start a media project in January providing the local children with flip cameras so that they can document their lives for a viral video in order to raise funds and awareness. Torres also enjoys EcoPaparazzi because it exposes him to others interests and viewpoints.

Another member, Nicholas Buccalo, is a New York City architect who hopes to learn more and share tips about sustainable architecture. "I do think it's important to share ideas that help shape our lives," he said when asked about the benefits of the network.

Christina Trevino, from Scarborough, Canada, said that "The idea to take pictures to heal the Earth is a wonderful concept. Many of us need to visually see things in order to feel and then take action. I am sure those who are actively working for the environment and our planet will find EcoPaparazzi to be an informative, enlightening, and empowering network that we can all be part of."

Audie Michael Litrada, who lives on Negros Island in the Philipines, is most concerned with human-caused climate change. In an e-mail interview, he called EcoPaparazzi a great way "inform the world by posting our captured images, showing them what is happening, and come up the best solution to heal our mother Earth."

McDermott was inspired to start EcoPaparazzi while on a trip documenting the negative aspects of development in Costa Rica this fall. McDermott had known since she was eight that her calling was to be a photojournalist and foreign news correspondent. She has worked as a reporter, photojournalist, managing editor, and public relations consultant in the United States and Ireland. She has also always been involved in volunteering with environmental organizations.

In 2004, she realized that she wasn't happy with where her life was going, so she sold all of her worldly belongings and moved to a friends farm in eastern Kentucky. During her time there, she heard that famed ecologist and entomologist E.O. Wilson was giving a talk at a nearby university. McDermott was transfixed by his talk on biodiversity hotspots, the 34 regions of the world that possess the greatest diversity of organisms but were also some of the highest at risk for wildlife extinction, deforestation, and other threats. She also noticed that many of his slides were boring. There were pictures of monkeys in trees so far away that you could barely see the monkey. There weren't any videos. There was very little to catch the eye.

McDermott stayed after the lecture to talk to Dr. Wilson and asked him about his visuals. He explained that as a scientist, he had barely enough resources to do research, much less create fancy and eye catching visuals. At that moment, McDermott finally knew what her calling was. She wanted to use her media and journalism skills to raise awareness about the hotspots.

McDermott now lives off the grid, meaning without any power or plumbing, at Campanario, located on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Campanario, one of the biodiversity hotspots, is especially crucial because it is the last remaining contiguous lowland rainforest on the pacific slope in South and Central America. She and the executive director of Campanario were on a road trip documenting the negative aspects of development in Costa Rica when the chairman jokingly called McDermott a member of the paparazzi, only instead of stalking celebrities, McDermott photographs every move of the people destroying the earth. They then decided to take the idea further and in October, they created a web site for other people to document ways in which the environment is being destroyed as well as what people are doing to fix it.

Tish Grier, a self-proclaimed problogger and current Chief Community Expert of Placeblogger, a Web site where users can search for blogs near where they live, work, and travel, said by e-mail that communities such as EcoPaparazzi can help build community around an issue. "When a social network is set up for a specific reason, like EcoPaparazzi.ning.com, they become places where people with like minds, no matter where they are geographically, can share information and support one another. From that basis of like-minded support, individuals can venture out to start their own grassroots efforts, and check back with the group on their progress or ask for help. The social network becomes, in a sense, like a face-to-face social club. But if the message of the social network is going to spread, as in get more members, the personalities involved are going to have to make that happen. A social network can get good press, but good word-of-mouth from members and other participants is what makes them grow and flourish."

And that is exactly what McDermott plans to do to help EcoPaparazzi grow. The social network currently has 185 members and counting, but McDermott is more pleased with the quality and diverse causes and interests of her members over the quantity. She hopes that in the future, different groups will be able to join together in order to create social change for the world. She sees media evolving into a more democratic media through new media functions such as blogging, pictures, and especially video. The true value of new media, she says, is "about hearing opinions, ideologies, ideas, and stories about globalization and acting locally. When we pull these energies together, that's where the real power can come from. We need the strength of the voice."

Universal Hub

2008-12-04T20:48:00.002-05:00

Adam Gaffin, from Universal Hub, was kind enough to visit our Reinventing the News class on Wednesday, December 3. Adam Gaffin is kind of inspirational to me. He creates the content for Universal Hub daily, AND works full time at a technical trade publication, like I do. And, he seems to be fairly successful at what he does.

He started Universal Hub after he noticed that, despite an abundance of Boston area bloggers, there was no collective space for all the blogs to be heard. Universal Hub rounds up all the local blogs in one convenient place.

Adam urged the class to find their own niche in order to be successful. That niche could be an interest, a location, or anything really. He also told the class that he thought that today's journalists need to be wellrounded; able to do everything from writing, editing, taking photos, editing photos, marketing, and selling ads.

Start working on your Christmas lists, boys and girls...

2008-12-02T20:27:00.003-05:00

This article, from USA Today, made me start thinking about what I want for Christmas. (And not just because I know that my Mom checks this regularly. Hi Mom!) The article lists some of the best visual science books of 2008.

The fist book recommended was Voyages of Discovery: A Visual celebration of Ten of the Greatest Natural History Expeditions. The book includes hundreds of reproductions of naturalist drawings from the Natural History Museum in London. Drawings include images from Darwin's first voyage to the Galapagos Islands to the HMS Challenger's early expedition to map out the oceans floor.

Another book recommended is Thinkers of the Jungle: The Orangutan Report. This book pays attention to the forgotten primate cousin, the Orangutan. The book even includes a chapter on how to introduce oneself properly to an Orangutan. Helpful information, surely.

Twitter

2008-12-02T19:59:00.005-05:00

Twitter, a form of micro-blogging, has grown in numbers in recent months. In fact, Time magazine called it the "next killer app", which I guess in computerspeak means it's going places. Newspapers are trying to get in on Twitter and find uses for it in the journalism world. (The blog GraphicDesignr has a list of newspapers using twitter. The data is a few months out of date, but it seem to be the most complete list I can find. Ignore the messy code at the top of the blog).

However, it seems like a lot of newspapers are just using their twitter feed as a modified (or even just an additional) RSS feed. Examples of this is the Detroit Free Press, freep, and the Wall Street Journal, whose account is cleverly titled, wsj. Every one of their posts is an announcement of their latest story. Just like an rss feed.

The Chicago Sun Times has 4 twitter feeds. Their main one, suntimes looks like it posts news, but it also converses with the audience. I like this, although the feed does make me feel like the Suntimes is a person, not a large newspaper. One of their twitter feeds, cst_roeper, is also quite active, but cst_ent and cst_fashion haven't seen any action since February. It's not clear if these only twitter certain events or have been abandoned for other projects.

My conclusion: I'm not sure twitter is for me. At least, I'm not sure rapid fire twittering is for me. It's too much of an overload of information for me, although I do enjoy the ones that are a conversation more than 'here's our latest news story'. I could see twitter replacing live-blogging, for instance at an event or at a football game. But for news? I'd rather have an rss feed.

Edit: While at work today, I discovered this twitter feed from the Jackson Free Press. I like it. It works as commentary, and I presume that the feeds make sense to those in the Jackson area. Of course, it's more of a supplement to the news for those who are up-to-date on what's happening and wouldn't work for the uninformed, but, it's the twitter feed I like best so far.

Woolly mammoth revisited...

2008-11-26T15:43:00.001-05:00

New York Times columnist Olivia Judson wrote a compelling piece today about regenerating the woolly mammoth and the neanderthal. Her thoughts are close to mine, while she's intrigued behind the science of resurrecting extinct species, she believes that closer attention should be paid to saving current species from extinction first.

She writes:

And yet. No matter how much I enjoy thinking about the science of resurrection — and I do — I have to admit that the absence of mammoths isn’t exactly a pressing problem. What is pressing is the number of species we are currently in danger of losing. It would be a shame if, in 200 years, our descendants were wondering whether to try and resurrect the elephant or the polar bear, the albatross or the mourning dove.

Let’s get our act together. Let’s prevent that first.

Shrimp on a treadmill

2008-11-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

I don't actually know what else to say about this, besides see this to watch shrimp on a treadmill. It's an interesting new method of research. Researchers have developed shrimp treadmills to help them determine the general health of the ocean population. Full story here.

NewsTrust

2008-11-23T11:05:00.000-05:00

I find the ideas behind NewsTrust intriguing and think it is a great tool, if they can generate enough interest in it. With enough publicity, it has the possibility to become as popular as Digg or Delicious.

Posting articles to review is easy. Either use the submit button or put a widget on the navigation bar of your internet explorer (or firefox, or whatever it is that you are using). After an article has been submitted, users are given an option to do a short or full review on the article, evaluating the story on how enterprising, factual, and fair it is.

I first reviewed a story called APEC promises united front on global economic crisis. The article was well written, and delivered the information its title promised, but not much more. It had multiple sources, using leaders from multiple countries represented at the meeting, but provided little background or depth.

The second article I reviewed was World leaders warn tough economic times lie ahead. It was short, concise, and well written, but not very in depth.

The third article I reviewed was Inflation is still on the map. I found the story confusing, but I think that people who know more about finances would understand it. However, I do feel like I know about as much about this sort of thing as the average person, so I feel like the reporter could have explained it much better.

NewsTrust is easy and simple to use. With the right marketing and publicity, it could become a very popular tool, not only for people wanting to review stories for their journalistic qualities, but also for people wanting to see how other people viewed these stories.

Rodents of unusual size

2008-11-23T10:49:00.000-05:00

I remember when I was little, I was always terrified of the ROUS's (Rodents of unusual size) that lurked in the Fire Swamp in The Princess Bride. However, I was comforted to know that rats are, in fact, tiny. Well, it appears that fact has changed.

According to this article in the Boston Globe, raccoon-sized rats are being used in Mozambique to determine the location of landmines and in Tanzania to detect the presence of Tuberculosis in saliva samples in slum neighborhoods. The rats are leashed, are less expensive than bomb- or disease-sniffing dogs, and quicker than humans.

"People are so surprised to see this project," Alberto Jorge Chambe, a Mozambican rat handler for Apopo, the nonprofit organization that trains and deploys the rats, said in the article. "Rats are usually considered pests or enemies of humanity. But rats are helping my country escape the shadow of death."

Weekend break

2008-11-21T17:21:00.000-05:00

It's been a long semester. It's been a long week.

Every once in a while, you need to see something that will make you smile. These always cheer me up. Two great blues songs. Two great blues legends. One to just appreciate the music and one classic TV moment.

Jurrasic Park revisited...

2008-11-20T20:18:00.000-05:00

Someday soon, it may be possible to see woolly mammoth's roving Siberia once again, according to an article in The New York Times. Scientists from Pennsylvania State University believe that they could regenerate a mammoth for as little as $10 million.

The team of scientists plan to continue working out the complete DNA of the woolly mammoth, and then compare it with the DNA of its nearest living relative, the elephant, which differs in at least 400,000 or more sites on the genome. They believe that they can then modify an elephants egg to match a woolly mammoths DNA and incubate the egg, resulting in a live modern-day mammoth.

The scientists believe they can regenerate other species as well, providing that hair, horn, hooves, fur, or feathers is available, and that the animal went extinct less than 60,000 years ago, the longest DNA exists.

Interestingly, among the animals that are possible candidates for regeneration, like the woolly mammoth is the neanderthal. This, of course, prompts ethical questions (I find it unusual that the article addresses no ethical questions for regenerating a woolly mammoth... I know it hasn't been that long since Jurassic Park).

Another win for Darwin

2008-11-18T19:21:00.000-05:00

Science teachers in Texas believe that evolution should be taught in schools, according to a recent survey.

The study, conducted by Dr. Raymond Eve of the University of Texas at Arlington, surveyed 464 University Texas professors on whether evolution or intelligent design should be taught in schools. According to an article in the Dallas Observer, 99% of the respondents stated that they believed that evolution should be taught in schools

Words change which hemisphere of the brain we process color in

2008-11-18T19:10:00.000-05:00

Learning the names of colors changes which side of the brain we process color in our brains, according to a study funded by the National Science Foundation.

Infants process color in the right hemisphere of the brain, while adults perceive color on the left side of their hemisphere. The change in hemispheres occurs when toddlers learn the names of particular colors, Paul Kay of the department of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley told the Associated Press.

Similar results have occured in experiments involving images of cats and dogs. Once children learned the names, the side of the brain that processed the thought changed.

National Geographic

2008-11-18T18:01:00.000-05:00

National Geographic is not only responsible for producing a print magazine, a tv station, and a museum store, they also have an interesting Web site. The Web site is visually appealing, and unlike some newspapers Web sites, its layout physically looks different than the magazine.

The Web site features articles from the print magazine, daily news that I'm guessing is repurposed for print, and of course, breath-taking pictures.

They also have content that is different and unique to the Web site. They have live webcams on the site featuring video (the current one shows video from the Belize Reef), they feature games like Virtual Explorer, and videos showcasing editors, writers, and photographers thoughts on covering current stories.

When I looked at their media kit, their numbers seem to be doing pretty well. They have 13 million unique visitors to their Web site each month and over 130 million page views per month overall.

In short, the National Geographic Web site provides creative, user-friendly content. It presents difficult scientific concepts in simple ways that are easy to understand for everyone. If I were to quibble with their coverage and Web site at all, it's that there isn't very much user-generated content. In fact, there isn't any user-generated content at all. You can't comment on articles, you can't submit photos, and there's no way to review or change content. However, despite that, I think that it's a good, clear Web site with great and interesting content.

Termites depend on other organisms in order to digent wood

2008-11-15T10:33:00.000-05:00

In order to digest wood, termites are dependent upon their relationship with protists and bacterium that live inside of their gut, according to an article in The New York Times. The relationship, called symbiosis, occurs when organisms are dependent upon each other for survival. Termites rely upon a unique case of triple symbiosis.

Japanese researchers were able to determine how termites were able to digest wood by analyzing the genetic makeup of the bacterium. They determined that the termite swallowed the wood pulp which was then absorbed by the protists. The protist breaks down the cellulose of the wood and gets the nitrogen it needs from the bacterium. The net result is that the two organisms living in the termite provide it with sugar and other nutrients.

One of 4 triceratop skeletons in the world comes to the Boston Museum of Science

2008-11-14T13:10:00.000-05:00

Cliff, one of only four complete triceratop skeletons in the world, is on display at the Boston Museum of Science starting tomorrow, Saturday, November 15, according to an article in the Boston Globe.

His skeleton was unearthed in 2004 in the badlands of North Dakota. In April of 2008, an unidentified Boston-area buyer purched the skeleton at Christie's auction house in France for nearly $950,000, named the skeleton after his grandfather, Cliff, and offered to loan the skeleton to the Boston Museum of Science for the next seven years. Cliff is the only the second dinosaur skeleton that has been bought and sold at auction.

He arrived at the museum in September, shipped in 10 crates. To watch the assembly process, click on the video below.

Scientists release first pictures of extrasolar planets

2008-11-14T13:08:00.000-05:00

Two groups of scientists have taken, what they believe, the first pictures of an extrasolar planet, that is, a planet outside of our solar system, according to an article in the New York Times.

Scientists from the Herzburg Institute of Astrophysics in Vancouver, Canada have recorded three planets orbiting a star named HR 8799 and from the University of California, Berkeley have taken pictures of a planet orbiting the star Formalhaut.

The successful pictures are due in part to an emerging technology, adaptive optics, in which mirrors are jiggled in order to adapt to the typical atmospheric turbulence that blurs images of stars.

Intelligent Design Does Not Equal Science, Professor Says

2008-11-12T20:38:00.000-05:00

Clearly, if intelligent design existed, humans would be designed differently, Francisco Ayala, president and chairman of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, told a Madison, Wisc. audience on Monday night, according to an article in the The Capital Times. He cited examples, such as the fact that a fetuses head is too large for the birth canal and the fact that many people have jaws that are too small to permit the growth of their wisdom teeth.

Intelligent design is the theory that individual species are too complex to have evolved randomly through evolution and therefore evolution must be guided by an intelligent designer, typically God.

Google Search Tracks Flu Outbreaks Throughout U.S.

2008-11-12T20:21:00.000-05:00

According to The Guardian, Google has launched Google Flu Trends to track flu outbreaks throughout the United States. This service will take advantage of the company's data collecting power and estimates that it will be able to identify possible flu outbreaks up to two weeks earlier than other services. It will track where in the U.S. people are googling search terms such as "flu symptoms" and "chest congestion" to indicate that an outbreak is imminent.

As far as I can tell, this is the first instance of a search engine being used to track illnesses.

News in Brief from the Detroit Free Press

2008-11-12T16:07:00.000-05:00

According to an article in the Detroit Free Press, the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, currently taking place in Valencia, Spain, scientists discussed updates to the "Marine Census Report", a project from 2,000 scientists in 80 nations to account for all the organisms found in the world's ocean by 2010. They found that:

The census has discovered more than 5,300 new species since 2000. These species include blind lobsters and sulfur-eating bacteria.
Genetic evidence from deep-sea octopi shows that new species evolved from predecessors over 30 million years ago.
Tens of millions of brittle sea stars were found laid end to end on an undersea mountain in the Antarctic ocean.

Also, in the same article, researchers from Old Dominion University have solved the case of the disappearing rat population on Christmas Island in 1906. Rats thrived on the island only seven years before. The team of researchers blamed the rat extinction on a "stowaway" black rat that arrived on a British ship that arrived on the Australian island and spread a "so-called hyperdisease" which wiped out the native rat population. Published in PLoS One, a scientific journal, this is the first case of population extinction caused by disease.

Caffeinated Campus

2008-11-12T15:51:00.000-05:00

On The Go, located in Northeastern University's Curry Student Center, is a small market where students can purchase everything from Oreos, Au Bon Pain soups, sushi, and even coffee. Coffee is available for purchase in three sizes and a medium is offered for $1.56. I'm not a coffee drinker myself, so I didn't sample the coffee, but my sister (who is a first year law student and therefore lives on coffee) generously offered to drink coffee (providing I purchased some for her). She declared that the coffee was "good, but not as good as Dunkin' Donuts", her favorite.

The staff at On The Go was courteous and friendly, although it was clear that English was a Second Language for many of the employees. However, they answered all of my queries quickly, easily, and with a smile.

On The Go is located at 360 Huntington Avenue, next to the D'Angelos in the Curry Student Center. They are open from 7AM to 10PM on Monday through Thursday, 7AM to 9:30PM on Friday, 8AM to 9:30PM on Saturdays, and 10AM to 9PM on Sundays.

To view the location of On The Go, as well as the location of other coffee shops near Northeastern University, click here.

Google Maps

2008-11-10T16:09:00.001-05:00

Using GoogleMaps, or another interactive mapping program, can give journalistic projects greater dimension and feel. The Parkersburg Tornado Aftermath Project from the Des Moines Register allows users to see the effect of a particular tornado upon a town. Users can view pictures of before and after, video and written responses from citizens, as well as where the town plans to rebuild. This is a great way to visually represent a disaster, because it allows people to view where things happened.

When I was on GoogleMaps earlier, it appears that there is also a way to create a linear map project. Examples of this are maps chronicling the life of vice president-elect Joe Biden and president-elect Obama Biden, as well as the map of The 21 Stages 0f the Tour de France.

GoogleMaps definitely has a place in journalism, much like a Flickr album or a video. They add depth and vitality to a story and provide another method for people to learn about what is being written.

SpikeyEm

2008-11-07T16:10:00.000-05:00

Emily Sweeney, reporter for the Boston Globe, came to talk to Reinventing The News on Wednesday, November 5. Sweeney, a former Northeasern graduate, is a master video editor and has honed a niche at the Globe doing so.

Her videos are fun and definitely appeal to a certain audience. In fact, with the effects and sound, they remind me of early MTV videos. I particularly enjoyed Boston Slang, not only because I could identify with many of the words used (I could always stop conversations during my time at the University of Kentucky with one usage of the word wicked as an adverb), but also for the complex video techniques used during the video. It kind of makes me want to try doing a video like that on my own (it seems like you take a lot of b-roll and match up the vocal to an image that matches it.)

Everybody has a disability... but only some are visible

2008-11-07T14:57:00.000-05:00

By the way, I hate being called handicapped. Fucking hate it. Call me a cripple, or if you want to be polite, call me disabled. I'm not exactly sure why the term rubs me wrong. Well, okay, maybe I am. It has something to do with the idea that a handicap in sports is when a person is given artificial advantages to help them compete. I don't want any advantages given to me. I can win on my own, both on and off the field.

This is an excerpt from Gimp by Mark Zupan, captain of the U.S. quad rugby team. His statement especially rings true with anyone who is disabled, but I think everyone feels that way sometimes.

When Mark Zupan was a freshman playing Division 1 soccer at Florida Atlantic University, he partied like it was his job. One night, while celebrating a game victory, Zupan fell asleep in the pick-up bed of his buddies truck. His friend, Chris Igoe, drove home drunk that night and collided with a tree. Zupan was flung from the truck bed and spent 18 hours facedown in a river. He broke his back between his 6th and 7th vertebrae. Originally, his only goal was to play soccer again, but changed his goal to become a professional quad rugby player.

Zupan is tough as nails, and not always likeable. But, I gotta agree with him. If I'm going to succeed, I'm going to do it on my own.

Because I know we'll all miss it...

2008-11-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

A round-up of SNL's coverage of the 2008 presidential election (with a little Bush and Clinton thrown in).

Election Day

2008-11-05T08:55:00.000-05:00

I didn't post this to the Polling Place Photo Project, because it didn't seem entirely relevant. However, this sign and the flags (I'm guessing that there is one for soldier that has died in Iraq) had a profound affect upon me.

To view the rest of my Polling Place Photo Project pictures, click here.

Good luck, Obama. I hope we won't have to add any additional flags.

Negative Campaigning

2008-11-03T16:27:00.000-05:00

Here it is! A video detailing the thoughts of the citizens of New Hampshire on negative campaigning and the 2008 Presidential Election.

Quirky Video Journalism

2008-10-25T13:36:00.000-04:00

"Hi, I'm Steve Garfield from SteveGarfield.com."

That's how Steve Garfield introduces himself in all of his videos. He urges others to use a tagline, like he does. A tagline makes sure that everyone remembers you and your web site, even if your video is loaded onto some one else's site.

Steve Garfield has made a career out of making quirky videos with news value. Video blogging, or vlogging, has certainly been rising in popularity lately. Additionally, traditional news sites have begun using video to support their print and web news. As with any citizen journalism, vlogging has its uses, but only after the information included have been fact checked. Steve Garfield's vlogs are high on entertainment value and fit his personality.

However, his vlogs aren't simply for entertainment value. They are also designed to educate, like a recent video on the cost to file an absentee ballot, or to break news, such as when he interviews Duncan Hunter.

Of course, he excels in the weird, such as this coverage of the Boston Typewriter Orchestra.

The most intriguing aspect of Steve Garfields talk to me was when he talked about Qik. Qik is a web site that allows users to upload live streaming video. When he covers live events, he sends a message using twitter that allows subscribers to know to go to his Qik channel to view the live video.

Local crafts and produce available at Nashua, N.H. Farmers Market

2008-10-19T19:40:00.000-04:00

For Flickr slideshow, click here or on photo.

Colorful leaves swirled in the cold October wind and the sharp smell of Fall was in the air, but even blustery weather couldn't prevent locals from coming out to purchase locally made crafts and fresh produce on Sunday, October 20 in Nashua, N.H.

The Farmers Market occurs every Sunday from 10AM to 3PM on Main Street in downtown Nashua. The first Farmers Market of the year occurs in early May, running until the middle of October. Booths at the Farmers Market sell everything from locally made wine, goats milk soap, fruits, vegetables, jams, and even baklava and spinach pie.

Chris Cady, owner of Brookline, N.H.-based Country Dreams Farm, was eagerly selling tomatoes, pumpkins, and corn from his farm stand. "That's lettuce," he told a customer. "Ours grew smaller this year, so take two bunches for only a dollar."

It's tough being a farmer, especially in a place where cold winter months often slows or stops crop production for four to five months every year. Even tougher is the fact that the farms are often located on back country roads, where little to no traffic passes by. The formation of a Farmers Market that meets every week downtown in the small metropolitan of Nashua stirs up extra business for the farmers and ensures that people who wouldn't usually buy local will. "We usually get more people to stop by here on Sunday than we do all week," said Cady, who also operates farm stands at the nearby Amherst and Milford Farmers Markets. "The Farmers Market also gives other local craftsmen and cooks a chance to sell their wares," he added.

One example of this is a booth with the name, The Spinach Pie Lady. Not only offering homemade spinach pies, The Spinach Pie Lady also offers homemade baklava as well as gyros made from lamb from her farm in New Ipswich. Other farm stands offer locally made wine and wool scarves.

This was the last of the Farmers Markets for 2008, but already, the vendors are looking forward to next May. "We'll be back next spring with strawberries," Cady said.

Evolution for the rest of us

2008-10-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

Every Wednesday, I eagerly head to the New York Times Web site. Now, I'm sure you ask, don't I head there everyday to learn about the Boston Red Sox's latest defeat by the Tampa Bay Rays or to learn just how many points the stock market plummeted today? Well, yes. I read the New York Times everyday. However, on Wednesday, the Times publishes one of my very favorite blogs with information on one of my favorite controversial subjects: evolution.

British scientist, Olivia Judson, writes a blog post every week about evolution for the Times and she does it in a way that is clear and interesting, even for the non-scientist, or that person who hates science. She specializes in the strange and obscure. For example, this week's blog post is about the surprising decreasing numbers of the Tasmanian Devil. The last carnivorous marsupial to survive extinction, the Tasmanian Devil (which looks nothing like its cartoon counterpart) faces extinction because of a unique infectious cancer. Judson writes:

Here’s what happens. The cancer causes a tumor on the animal’s face. If an infected animal bites another — which happens often, as devils are aggressive creatures, especially during the mating season — some of the tumor cells get transferred. These then start growing on the other animal. It’s as though you kissed someone with throat cancer, and got their cancer yourself.

The cancer kills the infected individual within months, which has decreased the average lifespan of a Tasmanian Devil from five years to only two years. Considering that they only start mating at the age of two, it greatly decreases the number of young produced.

Judson explains things in ways that are clear and understanding to the reader and by specializines in the extreme and bizarre, gains the interest of many who wouldn't usually read a
science story.

WBUR

2008-10-12T18:41:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, October 8, Robin Lubbock from WBUR came in to talk to our Reinventing the News class. Lubbock has many interesting thoughts.

First, at WBUR, they were trying to use the Web site for four things. First, they use the Web site as a radio station, projecting their unique content as webcasts for listeners to use anytime day or night. Secondly, they use the Web site to create synergy; they take what they usually broadcast and add to it. Third, they produce entirely new content. And, fourth, what they are still working on, creating a flow of information both ways.

They have some interactivity right now; they are looking for photos, videos, and have created a Myspace and a Facebook profile, but are looking to expand upon it. I also found some good examples of synergy. A recent news story on Sarah Palin that WBUR linked to also had a link to the audio of a recent phone call between Sarah Palin and reporters. I think that's a cool feature and I think it also provides some transparency into the reporting process for the public.

I thought Lubbock also brought up an interesting point when asked what skills he recommends that reporters/editors have when working in the "new media". He said that would recommend the ability to take and download pictures, write stories and headlines, and the ability to use programs like Blogger. He said that video skills are helpful, but not required. Speeches like this give me a good idea of what skills I need to make sure I have in December when I graduate.

Stop!

2008-10-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

With a full time job, occasionally, you have to find creative and unusual ways to get your schoolwork done. That's why, at 7:30 last night, I found myself being driven up and down Main St., Nashua, NH with my camera out the window. It was dark, giving me limited options, but I think I got some good stuff. This is a picture of a street light and a one way sign. It's not anything exciting like a fire or a car crash, but hey, I figure newspapers probably write news stories about street signs sometimes too!

Uploading to WiredJournalists was easy and user friendly. All I had to do was click on the upload button, locate my pictures, tag them, and voila! My pictures are on the internet ready for tagging.

On the whole, WiredJournalists is an easy to use social networking site for journalists. I currently work at a B2B magazine looking to purchase a new CMS, so I quickly joined the World of B2B group and the Content Management Systems group. It seems like a good way to collaborate with other journalists to learn what works (and doesn't work) for them. I'm looking forward to further exploring the web site to see what else I can learn and how else I can network with the web site.

Link Journalism

2008-10-05T12:04:00.001-04:00

When we were asked to try our hands at Link Journalism, my mind immediately went to the Red Sox. I mean, Bostonians love their Red Sox. And, I figured that people would probably be buzzing with the Sox in the playoffs and sweeping the Angels (thus far). Here's what Boston Bloggers had to say about upcoming Game 3.

38 Pitches (Technorati authority 461), the official blog of Curt Schilling, stated that he believes the Sox will win tonight's game and continue on to win the whole series.

They are coming home, where they are about as good as anyone on the planet, up 2-0, and the league MVP or runner up has not had a hit yet, and the best post season pitcher active/alive has yet to throw a pitch in the series. Those things alone don’t mean much but when you say those two things and then say “but they are up 2-0 anyway” you have to like your chances.

Boston Soul (Technorati authority 3) has a lot of hope for the Sox. He believed that the Angels would be absolutely demoralized after their two losses at home.

The Joy of Sox (Technorati authority 122) said that, despite past history, Josh Beckett deserved to pitch in game three of the Angels series with his track record this year, while Cursed to First (Technorati authority 43) believes that have Josh Beckett pitch game 3 is a great strategy.

Keys to the Game (Technorati authority 9) has been wondering when the Catholic Church will certify Beckett as a saint for pitching with a strained oblique in tonights game.

Jeff Rosenfield, from Bugs and Cranks (Technorati authority 384), stated that he hopes that this game gets over before 1:30AM unlike the previous two games.

Database This

2008-10-01T08:38:00.000-04:00

As I scanned through the databases available at Mass Facts, one in particular caught my eye. One was simply titled Dunkin Donuts. The page said:

Dunkin' Donuts don't have a shop on every corner -- it just feels that way. Here's the number of stores in your area.

I had to laugh when I read it. I live in NH, but the joke is much the same. I looked at it because it made me laugh, but I'm sure there could be a serious story that you could do related to this, such as which areas have more, whether Dunkin Donuts has edged out local coffee shops, or you could even just do a comparison of whether Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts is more popular in an area (assuming you could find data on the number of Starbucks per town.)

Another database that could be of use is the attorney information. You'd have to look at the data, but I'm sure there is lots of useful information such as where are the lawyers located and why or how many lawyers are active, suspended, or inactive in the Massachusetts area. Something similar could obviously be done with the Doctor information.

The third database that caught my eye was the directory of Christian Churches in Boston and Cambridge. I think I'd be most interested in where churches are located, if there are areas that have the greatest cluster of churches, and why.

Politics

2008-09-26T12:55:00.000-04:00

In Wednesday's class, we learned how database journalism is put to work, most notably, to cover politics. Databases are pretty amazings things, and when programmed correctly can produce amazing results.

FactCheck.org is the simplest website of the four that we discussed. There's no flashy buttons, no complex ways of filtering data available. Just the plain simple facts. Not that simple is bad, but occasionally it's nice to be able to find what you want easily, or to have the ability to filter on how many female senators voted yes on a proposed amendment during the month of their birthday. I suspect this is the oldest of the web sites that we looked at, and even five years ago, it would have been called revolutionary. I think I would like it more if you were able to view the actual campaign commercials it was debunking. However, the analysis is provides is very thorough and in depth.

PolitiFact.com is definitely more advanced than FactCheck.org. As with FactCheck.org, it does the analysis for you, which is nice. It is more interactive, allowing the reader to watch campaign commericals and giving the reader plenty of links to click on to find out more about votes made by Obama and McCain. The color and imagery used are helpful (they keep it simple stupid), however I do find some of the animation to be distracting.

The Congressional Votes Database provides a wealth of information to the reader. Like I said before, it gives you a ridiculous amount of filters to use. You can determine nearly anything about a congressional or senate vote from this database. It's not as user friendly or as attractive as PolitiFact.com (Just the facts, ma'am), and it requires the readers to come to their own conclusions based upon the data presented. However, I feel like it really presents the most data out of all the web sites we discussed.

Project Vote Smart feels like a hybrid between Politifact and the Congressional Votes Database to me. It presents nearly as much information as the Congressional Votes Database, but does it using a more user-friendly method, with images and analysis provided by editors. I do wish that there were more filter options offered, but it's a very good web site overall.

I don't read a lot of political web sites, or read just political news (although I do read some). I have however, lately enjoyed the political coverage from Best Week Ever and EW, especially this recent video of David Letterman after John McCain canceled on him at the last minute. I think EW said it best when they said:

The late night hosts -- even Jon Stewart -- tend to be cordial and sympathetic to politicians when they're present as guests while reserving the right to mock them when they're not around. Which means, if you're a candidate, you cancel your appearance on a late night show at your peril

I think David Letterman did a good job and it definitely got me interested in politics!

An Oldie But a Goodie -- Mighty Mouse

2008-09-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

This story is nearly a year old--it's from early November 2007, but I think it's a cool one. I originally covered the story for ALN Magazine. We have limited online capabilities, and I remember wanting to include the video, but, as you can tell by clicking on it, at the time, I thought it was only available for downloading. Even if I had found the video on youtube, I wouldn't have known how to embed the video into my news article.

The story was about a specific line of mice bred by Case Western Reserve University researchers who were able to run longer, harder, and faster that typical mice. They were nicknamed the Mighty Mouse strain. The story was also covered by Discovery News. I notice that they didn't take advantage of the video either. However, I can find the video on CNN. More news organizations should take advantage of the multimedia platform of the internet available to them. It's one thing just to see words describing what the research has done, and quite another to view the actual results. Why not take advantage of that?

I guess I know how to post videos now.

Three blogs I like

2008-09-17T15:26:00.000-04:00

I'll read anything. This list, of three of my favorite blogs, reflects that.

The first one I'd like to list has a fairly eclectic writing style. Penelope Trunk, whose blog is located at blog.penelopetrunk.com, began as a business blogger. The catch line is "blogging at the intersection of work and life." I began looking at this blog for my job. (I'm sure you half expected me to say because of my job, which would be the logical answer.) One of the magazines owned by my company catered especially to Lab Managers, and we were looking for web sites featuring management advice to share with our readers.

Recently, her blogs have changed. Instead of giving blog advice, while holding her life at a distance, her blog postings have become more personal. She now her struggles within herself. A recent blog post says:

For years I was the manager telling employees their career will tank if they don't become more vulnerable with their co-workers. At the farm, I'm like my employees, but it's the non-verbal stuff that flummoxes me. A hand on a chest. A peck on the arm. A stroke on the back. And no talking.

The farm is absolutely lovely right now. But I see the corn growing taller and blocking the views I've almost become used to. And I am worried that I don't know what the winter will bring.

It all makes me nervous. And, like an employee who does not have the social skills for management, I wonder if I will get good at this girlfriend stuff any time soon.

When Penelope Trunk gets close to her subject, and publishes her insecurities in the business world, it helps me. I'm still pretty new to this whole working thing, and it makes me feel better to know that if a Boston Globe reporter has insecurities that she is working through as well, there's a chance I can succeed too.

Another thing that you will find about me is that I love science. All kinds of science. However, I seem to have a specialty. Weird animal facts. I seem to collect weird animal stories. I think that stems from the fact that I was an animal science major as an undergrad. As a result, I can tell you almost anything you want to know about increasing a cows yearling weight, or identifying the choice cuts of meat on a pig, or how to inseminate a chicken.

That's beside the fact. I spend a lot of time reading about science. I like to go to www.scienceblog.com and view their blog collections. That always comes in handy if I want to know the latest discoveries about what breeds of spiders eat their young or what to do if you're caught out in the wilderness in a blizzard with nothing but a backpack, a swimsuit, and three granola bars.

One of the blogs that I particularly enjoy is The_Urban_Scientist's blog. The_Urban_Scientist posts on educational opportunities available that have to do with science, as well as celebrating scientists in minorities. A recent post encouraged participation by asking readers to name five women scientists that they know. He even created rules for thinking of women in science, encouraging readers to pay it forward. One of the rules was that:

Links to or references about the named scientists are greatly appreciated. Let's share the knowlege.

A third blog that I enjoy is the NatGeo News Watch Blog. This blog is what I would love to do with my life. Seriously. I would love to have a job where my whole job is to scout out strange, unusual, and unique science facts and share those facts with the whole wide world. I think the look is clean and easy to understand. The blog brings easy-to-understand science to the masses. It makes science enjoyable. That's my goal in life. To make science enjoyable, for everyone. I think the blog post that I currently enjoy most on the NatGeo blog is titled "Insect Pollination is a $215-billion Service to the World, Scientists Determine". The post reads:

Bees, butterflies and other little critters that spend their lives buzzing around flowers provided worldwide economic value of about $215 billion in 2005, French and German scientists announced today.

"This figure amounted to 9.5% of the total value of the world agricultural food production," they said in a paper published in the journal EcologicalEconomics.

Like I said, I specialize in strange animal facts