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Homeless Project Residents Drink Less If Booze Ban Is Lifted

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 21:30:00 EST

This Sunday, millions of Americans will sit down in front of their television or computer, crack open a few beers, and watch the Super Bowl. But if those viewers live in a housing project for the homeless, that booze could get them booted back out to the street. Many homeless housing projects have strict abstinence policies, and require residents to be completely sober. Permitting alcohol, many community organizers reason, would enable addictions and promote a downward spiral into continued drinking and declining health.

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Artists at the Science Conference: Of Course

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:28:00 EST

ScienceOnline2012 was my 4th time attending the rockstar unconference in North Carolina. For ScienceOnline09, I had approached Bora Zivkovic about attending, mentioning that I know I’m not a scientist or journalist. He leapt at the opportunity to have me, and asked if I could do an art+science session and a workshop on putting images on blogs. I was taken aback – I’d been blogging a couple of years then (coming up on year 5 now!) and had never met Bora in person, or even spoken via Skype. I asked if he was sure: how’d he know I’d be okay speaking in front of a room full of strangers?

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If You Want Me to RSVP, Then You Need to Actually Invite Me

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:58:00 EST

I returned the RSVP card for a wedding earlier this week, and it made my think of this piece from the archives where I struggled with RSVPs for my sister-in-law’s bridal shower. Titled “RSVP A Cultural Construct?,” it examined the obligations that invitations carry. The following has been edited from its original posting for clarity and relevance, and presents a some new thoughts on the matter.

Responde s'il vous plait. | Photo by Ewan, 2009. | Click image for CC license and information.

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Close Super Bowl Boosts Ad At End

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:43:08 EST

Advertisers will drop $3.5 million for a 30-second spot during Sunday’s Super Bowl. But to get the most bang for their buck, they might want to play their ad right after the game ends--not during it. Because if it's a close one, the time slot right after the final gun should have the most sway with viewers. So says a study in the Journal of Advertising . [ Colleen C. Bee and Robert Madrigal, It’s Not Whether You Win Or Lose, It’s How The Game Is Played: The Influence of Suspenseful Sports Programming on Advertising (forthcoming, no link yet)]

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Social Clicks: Sounds Associated with African Languages Are Common in English

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Some Africans click, but English speakers don’t. That’s been the conventional wisdom about click sounds, which serve as regular consonants in Zulu and Xhosa and a few other African languages but which were presumed to just be used in English for encouraging a horse, imitating a kiss, or expressing emotions such as disapproval or amazement. But researchers have recently found that clicks are far more prevalent in the world’s lingua franca than had been thought.

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MIND Reviews: The Righteous Mind

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion [More]

Molecules to Medicine: Plan B: The Tradition of Politics at the FDA

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:39:00 EST

Morning After The Morning's Trash

In my last post , I focused on flaws in the medical device approval process. The Union of Concerned Scientists FDA at a Crossroads meeting also covered problems with drug approval. This is perhaps no better illustrated than by the disappointing decision by Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius to deny the emergency contraceptive, Plan B, over-the-counter status for women under the age of 17 . This was a particular disappointment to many because President Obama had promised that decisions at the FDA would be made based on science, rather than politics. Some of us, naively, hoped that change we can believe in was real, having forgotten that the Tooth Fairy wasn t.

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The Science of Mysteries: Leave Us the Counterpoint

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:50:00 EST

Note : Last November, a Twitter exchange revealed that certain members of the small subset of science writers who were humanities majors (including your humble cocktail party blogger), also have a shared taste for classic murder mysteries. They thought they would co-post, on their respective blogs, various takes on the science of classical mystery writers. And they had so much fun, they decided to do so again! A full list of links can be found at the end of this post, but be sure to check out the new offerings in particular: Deborah Blum on Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles , and Ann Finkbeiner on Dorothy Sayers’ The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club .

“This kind of thing is the body and bones of music. Anybody can have the harmony, if they will leave us the counterpoint. — Peter Wimsey, Gaudy Night

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#SciAmBlogs Thursday - tsunami debris, groundhogs, apes in suits, kakapos, butterfly drones and more

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:56:00 EST

- Harold Johnson – Tsunami Debris & North America: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?

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More with Maryn: McKenna on Antibiotic Resistance

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:10:08 EST

Journalist and author Maryn McKenna talks about antibiotic resistance in agriculture and human health, MRSA, and a brief return to the subject of fecal transplants. [More]

Temperatures--Not Acid--Could Cook Coral to Death

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:01:00 EST

One of the biggest natural tragedies of recent years is the deterioration of Australia's Great Barrier Reef , a vast structure of coral off the continent's east coast that supports a profusion of wildlife. In addition to overfishing and nutrient pollution, the world's largest natural structure has suffered from rising ocean temperatures. But, perhaps less well known, Australia's west coast has some massive reefs of its own, offshore in the southeastern Indian Ocean. Massive stony corals of the genus Porites swell to the surface, and new research published February 2 in Science suggests those located in the colder waters farthest south are growing better than ever --thanks to warming ocean temperatures.

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Signs Boost Stair Climbing

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:15:08 EST

There’s an easy way to encourage people to take the stairs instead of an elevator: put up a sign reminding them to.

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Quantum Cryptography Comes to Smart Phones

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:01:08 EST

A smart phone can do pretty much anything a PC can. But, aside from password protection, phones have very little security--a real problem with more and more people using phones for online banking and shopping.

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For Military Researchers, the Butterfly is the Ultimate Drone [Video]

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:36:00 EST

Butterflies are not merely beautiful. They use a complex pattern of rapid wing flapping and body deformation to execute impressive aerial acrobatics. This ability has not escaped the U.S. military, which is turning to these insects for ideas on how to create ever-smaller drone aircraft to execute reconnaissance, search-and-rescue and environmental monitoring missions. [View a slide show featuring different drones used by the U.S. military.]

The Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio is testing drones less than 60 centimeters long roughly the wingspan of an Atlantic Puffin with the hope they will be able to operate below rooftop levels in city streets.

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Duke University Talk Next Week: "Sex, Gender and Controversy: Writing Science as a Woman"

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:31:00 EST

The folks at Duke University’s Women in Science and Engineering organization (WiSE) have invited me to their digs to give a talk. So, I’ll be back out in #scio12 territory next week. I arrive early afternoon on Tuesday and leave early morning on Thursday. (Maybe some locals would be interested in a Tuesday dinner meetup?)

And for any of you who would like to see the talk, it’s open to the public. I would love to see you there, and I think there is a reception planned afterwards so there will be opportunities to chat. Here are the details:

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Editor's Selections: The Eve of Horses, Amusic Pitch Challenges, and Canine Parasites

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:03:00 EST

Part of my online life includes editorial duties at ResearchBlogging.org , where I serve as the Social Sciences Editor. Each Thursday, I pick notable posts on research in anthropology, philosophy, social science, and research to share on the ResearchBlogging.org News site . To help highlight this writing, I also share my selections here on AiP.

Let’s get to it:

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Newfound Alien Planet Is Best Candidate Yet to Support Life, Scientists Say

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:15:00 EST

A potentially habitable alien planet -- one that scientists say is the best candidate yet to harbor water, and possibly even life, on its surface -- has been found around a nearby star.

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Thrifty Thursday: School of Ants

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:51:00 EST

Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs taken with equipment costing less than $500.

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Earthquake-Proof Engineering for Skyscrapers

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

Key concepts [More]

Accidental Kakapo Death Lowers Population of Rare, Flightless Parrots to 127 Birds

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:37:00 EST

The death of an adult female kakapo ( Strigops habroptila ) on New Zealand’s Anchor Island this past weekend brings the population of these rare flightless parrots down to just 127 birds.

The late kakapo, known as Sandra, was killed when her transmitter harness got entangled in a tree. All kakapos are outfitted with transmitters to help rangers in the Kakapo Recovery program keep track of the birds. Sandra’s death marked the first time in 31 years of transmitter use that the devices have injured a bird.

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