Sea ice round up [Stoat]
Its the traditional sea ice round up season. This year I have some solid wins (a bit of real money; Luna and Fred and Alastair I think) and a marginal loss (50 Quantloos to The Penguin).
Just to prove how debased I am, here is an excel spreadsheet graph:
My prediction was that the ice would "return to the trend", which TP interpreted fairly enough (ah: I see I said it myself) as 1979-2006: 5.84, and the answer was 5.36. I see that if I'd chosen 1995-2006 I'd have been just about spot on (of course it is cheating to say that but I've drawn it on anyway). TP tells me what Excel won't, which is that my SE is 0.5, so by that measure I'm right (and so is he).
To throw in a snark: various official bodies keep telling us that the sea ice is "well below climatology". Doh! Of course it is. Absolutely no-one thinks it will return to climatology; as a "default" prediction that is completely useless, except to make this years ice "look good" (or bad, depending on how you view things).
Also, this make be a convenient place to link to:
* The inaugural 2007 bet
* The 2008 declaration of victory and invitation for the 2009 round
* http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm which I like and can never find a link to.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Sea ice round up [Stoat]
Its the traditional sea ice round up season. This year I have some solid wins (a bit of real money; Luna and Fred and Alastair I think) and a marginal loss (50 Quantloos to The Penguin).
Just to prove how debased I am, here is an excel spreadsheet graph:
My prediction was that the ice would "return to the trend", which TP interpreted fairly enough (ah: I see I said it myself) as 1979-2006: 5.84, and the answer was 5.36. I see that if I'd chosen 1995-2006 I'd have been just about spot on (of course it is cheating to say that but I've drawn it on anyway). TP tells me what Excel won't, which is that my SE is 0.5, so by that measure I'm right (and so is he).
To throw in a snark: various official bodies keep telling us that the sea ice is "well below climatology". Doh! Of course it is. Absolutely no-one thinks it will return to climatology; as a "default" prediction that is completely useless, except to make this years ice "look good" (or bad, depending on how you view things).
Also, this make be a convenient place to link to:
* The inaugural 2007 bet
* The 2008 declaration of victory and invitation for the 2009 round
* http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm which I like and can never find a link to.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE: A Hispanic Heritage Month Interview on What Pharmacy Can (and Should) Be [Terra Sigillata]
This month, DrugMonkey is hosting the Diversity in Science Blog Carnival, started by DN Lee of Urban Science Adventures! to celebrate the scientific contributions of individuals from underrepresented groups. To celebrate US Hispanic Heritage Month, DM asked for us "to write and submit your posts in honor of scientists whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central or South America."
One of the greatest rewards of being an academic scientist is watching remarkable people pass through your laboratory and classroom who then go on to do amazing things. Upon reading Drug's call, my mind turned immediately to a perfect subject for this call for posts.
Sandra Leal was a rising pre-pharmacy sophomore from the University of Arizona in Tucson who came to the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy for a summer internship sponsored by the American Cancer Society. She took on a difficult project involving transient transfection of human leukemia cells to ascertain the role of the oncoprotein transcription factor c-Myb in activating production of DNA topoisomerase IIα, an enzyme whose action in DNA decatenation and chromosomal segregation is absolutely required for cellular proliferation. Among her many laboratory talents, Sandra became a champion at CsCl double-banding of supercoiled plasmid DNA because even Qiagen-prepped plasmids were too impure for leukemia cell transfection. Her intellectual and technical contributions then and later led ultimately to co-authorship on a publication in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Despite her initial intentions to go the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, Colorado was successful in recruiting Sandra to their BS and then Doctor of Pharmacy programs due to the generosity of L Samuel Skaggs and his family's ALSAM Foundation. A philanthropist whose family is deeply entrenched in the history of pharmacy in the western US, Skaggs endowed over a dozen full-tuition scholarships at Colorado for students from underrepresented groups in inner cities or rural towns to become pharmacy professionals and, ultimately, return as role models for young people like them.
Sandra graduated as valedictorian of her class of over 100 doctor of pharmacy students.
With her basic science foundation and training in pharmacy practice, she returned to Arizona for residency training with a focus in diabetes education and clinical service. Among her many accomplishments since, Sandra became the first pharmacist in the state of Arizona to earn limited prescribing rights and she is immediate past-president of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved.
For this Diversity in Science blog carnival entry, Sandra agreed to answer a few questions for Terra Sigillata readers. Sandra is not only a role model in to Hispanic students in science and pharmacy but her story tells us what can and should be done in the field of pharmacy practice.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE: A Hispanic Heritage Month Interview on What Pharmacy Can (and Should) Be [Terra Sigillata]
This month, DrugMonkey is hosting the Diversity in Science Blog Carnival, started by DN Lee of Urban Science Adventures! to celebrate the scientific contributions of individuals from underrepresented groups. To celebrate US Hispanic Heritage Month, DM asked for us "to write and submit your posts in honor of scientists whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central or South America."
One of the greatest rewards of being an academic scientist is watching remarkable people pass through your laboratory and classroom who then go on to do amazing things. Upon reading Drug's call, my mind turned immediately to a perfect subject for this call for posts.
Sandra Leal was a rising pre-pharmacy sophomore from the University of Arizona in Tucson who came to the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy for a summer internship sponsored by the American Cancer Society. She took on a difficult project involving transient transfection of human leukemia cells to ascertain the role of the oncoprotein transcription factor c-Myb in activating production of DNA topoisomerase IIα, an enzyme whose action in DNA decatenation and chromosomal segregation is absolutely required for cellular proliferation. Among her many laboratory talents, Sandra became a champion at CsCl double-banding of supercoiled plasmid DNA because even Qiagen-prepped plasmids were too impure for leukemia cell transfection. Her intellectual and technical contributions then and later led ultimately to co-authorship on a publication in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Despite her initial intentions to go the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, Colorado was successful in recruiting Sandra to their BS and then Doctor of Pharmacy programs due to the generosity of L Samuel Skaggs and his family's ALSAM Foundation. A philanthropist whose family is deeply entrenched in the history of pharmacy in the western US, Skaggs endowed over a dozen full-tuition scholarships at Colorado for students from underrepresented groups in inner cities or rural towns to become pharmacy professionals and, ultimately, return as role models for young people like them.
Sandra graduated as valedictorian of her class of over 100 doctor of pharmacy students.
With her basic science foundation and training in pharmacy practice, she returned to Arizona for residency training with a focus in diabetes education and clinical service. Among her many accomplishments since, Sandra became the first pharmacist in the state of Arizona to earn limited prescribing rights and she is immediate past-president of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved.
For this Diversity in Science blog carnival entry, Sandra agreed to answer a few questions for Terra Sigillata readers. Sandra is not only a role model in to Hispanic students in science and pharmacy but her story tells us what can and should be done in the field of pharmacy practice.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Sea ice round up [Stoat]
Its the traditional sea ice round up season. This year I have some solid wins (a bit of real money; Luna and Fred and Alastair I think) and a marginal loss (50 Quantloos to The Penguin).
Just to prove how debased I am, here is an excel spreadsheet graph:
My prediction was that the ice would "return to the trend", which TP interpreted fairly enough (ah: I see I said it myself) as 1979-2006: 5.84, and the answer was 5.36. I see that if I'd chosen 1995-2006 I'd have been just about spot on (of course it is cheating to say that but I've drawn it on anyway). TP tells me what Excel won't, which is that my SE is 0.5, so by that measure I'm right (and so is he).
To throw in a snark: various official bodies keep telling us that the sea ice is "well below climatology". Doh! Of course it is. Absolutely no-one thinks it will return to climatology; as a "default" prediction that is completely useless, except to make this years ice "look good" (or bad, depending on how you view things).
Also, this make be a convenient place to link to:
* The inaugural 2007 bet
* The 2008 declaration of victory and invitation for the 2009 round
* http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm which I like and can never find a link to.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Sandra Leal, PharmD, CDE: A Hispanic Heritage Month Interview on What Pharmacy Can (and Should) Be [Terra Sigillata]
This month, DrugMonkey is hosting the Diversity in Science Blog Carnival, started by DN Lee of Urban Science Adventures! to celebrate the scientific contributions of individuals from underrepresented groups. To celebrate US Hispanic Heritage Month, DM asked for us "to write and submit your posts in honor of scientists whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central or South America."
One of the greatest rewards of being an academic scientist is watching remarkable people pass through your laboratory and classroom who then go on to do amazing things. Upon reading Drug's call, my mind turned immediately to a perfect subject for this call for posts.
Sandra Leal was a rising pre-pharmacy sophomore from the University of Arizona in Tucson who came to the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy for a summer internship sponsored by the American Cancer Society. She took on a difficult project involving transient transfection of human leukemia cells to ascertain the role of the oncoprotein transcription factor c-Myb in activating production of DNA topoisomerase IIα, an enzyme whose action in DNA decatenation and chromosomal segregation is absolutely required for cellular proliferation. Among her many laboratory talents, Sandra became a champion at CsCl double-banding of supercoiled plasmid DNA because even Qiagen-prepped plasmids were too impure for leukemia cell transfection. Her intellectual and technical contributions then and later led ultimately to co-authorship on a publication in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Despite her initial intentions to go the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, Colorado was successful in recruiting Sandra to their BS and then Doctor of Pharmacy programs due to the generosity of L Samuel Skaggs and his family's ALSAM Foundation. A philanthropist whose family is deeply entrenched in the history of pharmacy in the western US, Skaggs endowed over a dozen full-tuition scholarships at Colorado for students from underrepresented groups in inner cities or rural towns to become pharmacy professionals and, ultimately, return as role models for young people like them.
Sandra graduated as valedictorian of her class of over 100 doctor of pharmacy students.
With her basic science foundation and training in pharmacy practice, she returned to Arizona for residency training with a focus in diabetes education and clinical service. Among her many accomplishments since, Sandra became the first pharmacist in the state of Arizona to earn limited prescribing rights and she is immediate past-president of the Association of Clinicians for the Underserved.
For this Diversity in Science blog carnival entry, Sandra agreed to answer a few questions for Terra Sigillata readers. Sandra is not only a role model in to Hispanic students in science and pharmacy but her story tells us what can and should be done in the field of pharmacy practice.
Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...
Chicago Can Still Host the Silly Olympics [The Primate Diaries]
Bidding opens soon and I think the chances are good that we could nail this one. Top contenders so far are Azerbaijan and Sierra Leone. Chicago has some issues with government corruption and public safety, which is why it's currently in third place.
The Silly Olympics From Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Chicago Can Still Host the Silly Olympics [The Primate Diaries]
Bidding opens soon and I think the chances are good that we could nail this one. Top contenders so far are Azerbaijan and Sierra Leone. Chicago has some issues with government corruption and public safety, which is why it's currently in third place.
The Silly Olympics From Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Chicago Can Still Host the Silly Olympics [The Primate Diaries]
Bidding opens soon and I think the chances are good that we could nail this one. Top contenders so far are Azerbaijan and Sierra Leone. Chicago has some issues with government corruption and public safety, which is why it's currently in third place.
The Silly Olympics From Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
LCROSS: the aftermath [Highly Allochthonous]
I was actually kept away from my computer during the LCROSS impact yesterday, but it turned out that there really wasn't much to see on any of the live feeds. However, the impact of the upper stage 'bullet' showed up nicely on LCROSS's infra-red camera:
image courtesy of Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Society Blog
Emily also reports that the LCROSS spectrometer definitely registered something above the impact site, although we'll have to wait a bit before we hear whether that something included the hoped-for water.
Thinking about it, seeing anything in the visual spectrum was was always going to be tricky: the impact was deliberately aimed at a spot in deep shadow , so debris would have to be thrown up pretty high for sunlight to illuminate it. Indeed, judging from what I caught of the post-mission press conference, none of the scientists leading the mission seemed particularly surprised by the lack of visual fireworks. I suppose that we were all somewhat spoilt by the pictures from Deep Impact.
Image from NASA
On the other hand, none of the publicity about this mission over the last few days seems to have gone out of it's way to downplay expectations of a big kaboom (I was a little disappointed, and I was only expecting something on the lines of a little-to-middling puff). Public engagement is obviously a good thing, but engaging people labouring under a false assumption could easily backfire.