Open Notebook Science News

Open Notebook Science News

Michael Barton has posted a brief essay on Open Notebook Science on his research web site: As you might expect from the name, Open Notebook Science (ONS) has similarities with Open Source Software.…
Research trails and sample plots

Research trails and sample plots

Anyone who has conducted field research knows that the very process of collecting data alters the system that you are studying. As you walk across a field, forest or stream to collect data, your…
Study: Low Income Equals High Obesity

Study: Low Income Equals High Obesity

There was a time when you had to be rich to be fat. Now you have to be rich to stay thin, says a new study. Researchers led by Jennifer L. Black at New York University critically reviewed ninety…
A Guardian Of Grasses

A Guardian Of Grasses

Anoop Sindhu and colleagues report on a gene that may have played a key role in the evolution of grasses. The gene, Hm1, provides resistance against Cochliobolus carbonum race 1 (CCR1), a fungus that…
Those zany Canadians.

Those zany Canadians.

Those zany Canadians. If you disagree on global warming, you should be thrown in jail. Dr. David Suzuki said "What I would challenge you to do is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether…
New Study Examines Why Sadness Increases Spending

New Study Examines Why Sadness Increases Spending

How you are feeling has an impact on your routine economic transactions, whether you’re aware of this effect or not. In a new study that links contemporary science with the classic philosophy of…
Why Has Smoking Increased In Spanish Women?

Why Has Smoking Increased In Spanish Women?

In most of western civilization, smoking rates have dropped. But in Spanish society cigarette use among women has gone up in the last 50 years. A study carried out at the Department of…
Interview with Gary Taubes (part 7)

Interview with Gary Taubes (part 7)

Continued from Part 6: I interviewed Gary Taubes by phone a few weeks ago, shortly after he gave a talk about the main ideas of his new book — Good Calories, Bad Calories — at UC Berkeley. The…