[scienceetcetera]

Mostly posting on twitter now?.

I’ve been a bit lacking on my blog posts as of late... I’d like to change that, but I think that most things I have to say can be shared via twitter. If you want to see what I’m currently interested in then try following me! @jpfammatter

[scienceetcetera]

climate vs. weather

Recently, Senator Jim Inhofe denied climate change in an embarrassing display of idiocy. The Senator, a member and recent chair of The US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, refuted climate change with the staunch observation that it's pretty cold outside in DC right now. In support of his observation, Mr. Inhofe threw a snowball that he had made onto the Senate floor. Check out any news source, but I have linked one here: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/sen-jim-inhofe-climate-change-is-not-real-because-here-is-a-snowball/.

Ok, besides throwing a snowball in the Senate being pretty funny, this really makes me sad. How can a Senator, involved in environmental and science issues, not know the difference between climate and weather? Honestly, Mr. Senator, please check out this quick page on the difference between the two: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/noaa-n/climate/climate_weather.html#.VPNs4lPF96o. I know it's likely that you don't trust what NASA has to say on the subject, but if you do yourself some non-partisan learning you might find that you are a complete and total a-hole. 

On behalf of the entire educated peoples of the United States of America, I would like to personally thank you, Jim Inhofe, for embarrassing us in such a grand fashion. There are politics and there are idiots. Both usually suck, but when they are one in the same... Things like this make me want to just go home and cry.

[scienceetcetera]

I gave my PhD exit seminar yesterday -- From local to landscape: mites phoretically associated with bark beetles and bark beetle engineered habitat. Thanks to everyone that has helped along the way! Publications will be on their way in the near future. The slides may be a little hard to read so I have included a link to them here. Enjoy!

[scienceetcetera]

This Physicist Has A Groundbreaking Idea About Why Life Exists

It could liberate biologists from relying too much on a Darwinian explanation.

This is one of the coolest articles I have ever read!

[scienceetcetera]

I've found a serious lack of BibTex style files for many of the biological journals I am interested in submitting papers to. In attempt to fix this issue I started a Git repository full of any specific journal .bst files that I may have created along the way. My first contribution to the repository is for Oecologia, but I will be adding more files as I make them. If you typeset with LaTex and are looking for references formatting files check it out!

[scienceetcetera]

The figure above is a first look at a NMS (Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling) that is going in a soon to be published article of mine (title TBD). The plot represents the interactions between subcortical bark beetle species and phoretic (using beetles for transport) mite communities for beetles captured in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin. Squares, triangles and circles are all beetle species that feed, reproduce, or predate on and around dead tree material. Each species carries a set of mites that use the beetles to transport themselves between dead trees (where the mites feed and reproduce). Shapes (beetle species) that are closer together have a more similar mite community. Gray overlays are mite species correlated with beetles located in that area of the plot. The axes are basically meaningless in terms of actual values, but helpful in terms of scale. I can get lost in a plot like this for hours!

[scienceetcetera]

The Secret Pot-Growing Operations in America's Cornfields

The same tech that’s helping farmers with legal crops is a boon to the agricultural underworld.

Very cool article by my friend Kaitlin -- worth a read!

[scienceetcetera]

How often have you heard the word Orthogonal thrown around and thought.... Why does this word seem to mean something different every time? Just a quick read of the wikipedia article on Orthogonality reveals that it has so many uses and variants! On top of various usage between fields, the word isn't always used in the same sense. Sometimes it falls into the category of meaning 'same' and other times used to mean 'different'. This is crazy, people. 

[scienceetcetera]

Looking for information on Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs)?? I have spent the last few days working with with GLMMs and like most people find model selection to be a challenge. This FAQ sheet provides a banana truck load of great information about model selection, p-value calculation, degrees of freedom, model syntax and tons more... Make sure to check it out!

[scienceetcetera]

Wow, skin regeneration and full healing for burn victims in 4 days?! I must know more!

[scienceetcetera]

Please forgive the cell phone quality and just jump right to the cool parts of the image -- nematocysts from a squashed up Aiptasia. Aiptasia are anemone-like polyps that grow quite aggressively in salt water environments. Like most (all?) cnidarians, Aiptasia have stinging cells called nematocysts. These cells have coiled up harpoons just waiting to be shot into a foodsource/predator in order to release painfully stinging toxins! All of the long clear, banana shaped cells are nematocysts. If you look closely, some look like they have a wire wrapped around them -- these are unfired cells! #microscopesarecool

[scienceetcetera]

What a demonstration of how a scientific figure can portray an amazing story -- be sure to check out the article!

http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21591157-new-technique-has-drawn-wiring-diagrams-brains-two-sexes

[scienceetcetera]

Careful not to burn yourself, Big Data is hot! In keeping with my trend on discussion issues of data science... 

[scienceetcetera]

I mean, this video is just cool and super informative.

[scienceetcetera]

Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write

H.G. Wells

[scienceetcetera]

So, I recently came across this organization in my search for a data scientist position. What a cool concept and great way to make an impact!

[scienceetcetera]

Insect has actual gears on its legs to sync jumps, and that's a first   - NBC News.com

Gears are ubiquitous in the man-made world, found in items ranging from wristwatches to car engines, but it seems that nature invented...

Not to blog three times in one day after having missed several months... but this is a pretty cool news story!