Media and Entertainment
Episode 7 of the Missing Link podcast has just been posted. This latest episode of my history of science, medicine, and technology podcast features an exploration of how ancient and present-day astronomers have challenged our common-sense notions of time.
Does Michael Crichton wear a tin hat?
I just published my review of What Bugged the Dinosaurs? Insects, Disease, and Death in the Cretaceous by George Poinar Jr. and Roberta Poinar.
This is a hidden treasure of a book with fascinating science and enticing prose.
The recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to loosen restrictions on cross ownership of newspapers and broadcast television stations in the same market has met with criticism from consumer advocates and members of Congress that a cross ownership would diminish the quality of local news coverage. However, the effect may be just the opposite, according to a University of Missouri study, which found that cross-owned television stations produce a greater percentage of local programming news content when compared to other network-affiliated stations in the same market.
I've been blogging from time to time about Peak Oil. Oil has been at the center of many a political fight for 100 years. In fact, a 1927 novel called Oil! was the inspiration for one of 2007's most honored motion pictures, including eight Oscar nominations announced today.
If you're an actor angling for an Academy Award nomination on Tuesday, you better hope you didn't leave the audience rolling in the aisles, suggests a new study from UCLA's California Center for Population Research. "The odds of being nominated for an Academy Award are so much greater for performers who appear in dramas that — at least this time of year — it really pays to be a drama queen," said Gabriel Rossman, one of the study's two authors and an assistant professor of sociology at UCLA.
Will Kaiser/CDC admit we are infected with this? How will they react in the litterbox?
CDC produces Media Alert - Morgellons
I just updated the Science Shelf to include three new book reviews: one on engineering design, another a biography of famous physicist, and the third about the politics of global warming.
Three Baltimore Sun science writers, including myself, have launched a new blog called Science Matters. It's a place for us to offer science news and commentary - both serious and quirky - that doesn't fit in the paper.
Eds note: Baltimore Sun is a first-rate paper. This blog will be worth watching.
science.TV is a video-sharing website for people interested in science.
The aim is to create a platform for individuals and groups to communicate with each other, via pre-recorded and live video. It's interesting for scientists and programme-makers, because it cuts out the broadcaster and helps creators and audiences find each other and does away with the need for dumbing-down for mass appeal.
Attila Csordas at Partial Immortalization has given us some interesting crit. There's quite a bit that I want to say in response and I'll hopefully be doing a blogterview with Attila soon.
Science Debate 2008 is a nonpartisan effort to promote a public discussion of science and technology policy in the coming U.S. Presidential election.
Supported by numerous university presidents, Nobel Laureates, and other scientific leaders, the effort appears to have reached viability with the announcement of its co-chairs, two congressmen from different political parties.
I just added three new book reviews to my Science Shelf book review archive. All deal with climate change, and all are reviewed by people other than myself.
I also have some new books on my reading table that you might find interesting.
The last time Uranus experienced an equinox, planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel was in Kindergarten.
This time, at age 47, she is at the forefront of discoveries about its atmosphere and climate.
Just because. Not much of a science angle, I just admired the hell out of Queen's lead singer. Yesterday was the anniversary of his death.
