Curious to know what else is going on in the world of Boston science? You don’t have to wait for Stephen Smith at the Boston Globe for a relevant science article anymore, just hit the technorati search engines and cross your fingers. Here’s what I found:
- ParallelNormal - Mark Baard, a technology columnist for the Globe, links readers to his recent piece, MD to Fight Stress in Second Life, about a Massachusetts General Hospital doctor who will lead relaxation lessons on the virtual community Second Life. He even uses “the lingo” in his piece like in-world, referring to activities that occur in Second Life. I guess this is opposed to the out-world, where bills, family and responsibilities exist.
- Betterhumans - Although the purpose of this Website is unclear, they posted a YouTube video by NewScientist (done by BU alum Ivan Semeniuk) on the Obama-Clinton science debate from the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting a few weeks ago.
- Boston Phoenix Phlog - While this entry, a 1998 report on animal experimentation at Boston University, isn’t a blog post, it’s still interesting 10 years later. The controversy was whether using and killing rabbits for educational dissections is ethical. Hopefully, the Phoenix will do a follow-up.
- Walking the Berkshires - This is a thoughtful compilation of sources about the recent outbreak of white-nose syndrome, which has been causing massive die-0ff of some bat species in the Northeast. Greenman Tim emphasizes that scientists do not yet know what’s causing the epidemic, could it be a fungus, climate change or something new?
- TheEnvironmentSite - Another report from the AAAS meeting about Dr. Karen Kidd, an ecotoxicologist at the University of New Brunswick, who “poisoned” a lake in Canada with oestrogen, a common hormone found in sewage, to see its effects. While smaller organisms like bacteria weren’t affected, some of the fish species saw drastic changes to their ability to reproduce.
- Nature Network Boston - Corie Lok, (another BU science journalism alum), is the editor of this Website as well as a Boston science blogger. In this post she asks readers for their favorite science videos. Her title is particularly good - Would you Kiss Your PCR machine?
So that’s it for now. If you have any keyword suggestions for the next Technorati round-up, do let me know.