RTP Weekahead 2/8
Sunday, February 7, 2010, 5:24 pmEvents taking place the week of Feb. 8 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
Specter sights and sounds
Friday, February 5, 2010, 4:12 pmMichael Specter, The New Yorker’s science writer, has a book out, “Denialism: How irrational thinking hinders scientific progress, harms the planet, and threatens our lives,” that triggered praise and criticism. Like other authors, Specter speaks about his book – to promote it and because he gets a speaker’s fee. He has given a talk at Google and he was the keynote speaker at ScienceOnline2010 in Research Triangle Park.
ScienceOnline, which drew nearly 300 scientists and science writers who blog from as far away as Australia, attracted a large contingency of science journalists this year because of the cutbacks in the U.S. newspaper industry. But Specter in his speech said he was optimistic about the future of science writing.
Science in the Triangle couldn’t let this statement stand without questioning the author. So here is the ad hoc interview with Specter at ScienceOnline 2010:
RTP Wrapup 2/5
Friday, February 5, 2010, 12:13 amGlaxoSmithKline wants to scale back research and development and the cuts could affect jobs at the British drugmaker’s U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, IBM unveils the $360 million cloud computing center it established on its RTP campus and a Durham startup reels in $10.5 million in venture capital and a deal with Burlington-based medical testing giant LabCorp. Read more…
Mitochondrion whisperer visits NIEHS
Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 11:33 pmIn search of new medicines, researchers have gone inside the cell to study mitochondria, tiny power plants that are key to cellular life and death, and their role in causing disease.
Malfunctioning mitochondria have been linked to cancer, immune defects, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, sterility and deafness. North Carolina scientists have been among those on the forefront of mitochondrial research, including a group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park.
Gerald Shadel
On Tuesday, the NIEHS group hosted Gerald Shadel, a Yale University biochemist who is sort of a mitochondrion whisperer. His lab at Yale’s school of medicine tries to understand how mitochondria tell cells what to do and what happens when the communication breaks down. Read more…
International climate scientist visits UNC
Tuesday, February 2, 2010, 9:20 am
Dr. James Hansen
Just as the snow was beginning to melt after one of the worst winter storms to hit the Triangle in recent memory passed, climate scientist James Hansen visited the Univ. of N.C. at Chapel Hill to talk about – you guessed it – global warming.
It’s probably not the first time he’s delivered a speech during wacky weather, and it likely won’t be the last.
Hansen directs NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and he is an adjunct professor in the department of earth and environmental sciences at Columbia University. His visit to the Triangle was courtesy of UNC’s Frey Foundation distinguished visiting professor lecture series. Read more…
RTP Weekahead 2/1
Sunday, January 31, 2010, 10:33 pmEvents taking place the week of Feb. 1 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
Ecology, conservation, and restoration of oyster reefs in North Carolina
Thursday, January 28, 2010, 9:10 pmOn Tuesday I went to the monthly pizza lunch at Sigma Xi, featuring a guest lecture by Dr. David B. Eggleston, Professor of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Science at North Carolina State University and the Director of Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST).
While Dr.Eggleston conducts research in several areas (and several geographic locationa), in this talk he focused on the ecology, conservation, and restoration of oyster reefs in North Carolina.
RTP Weekahead 1/25
Monday, January 25, 2010, 12:09 amEvents taking place the week of Jan. 25 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
Thank them – they made ScienceOnline2010 possible
Monday, January 25, 2010, 12:05 amLast week’s ScienceOnline2010, our fourth annual science communication conference in North Carolina, was our biggest, best and most successful event yet, and from the long list of blog and media coverage and the Flickr pictures, YouTube videos and Twitter mentions of the conference (all using the tag #scio10), it certainly seems the BlogTogether spirit was coursing through the 267 participants.
Anton and I can’t be happier, or more proud, of what this conference achieved. More than anything, we are astounded by the openness with which so many people came together to share, explore, question, listen and narrate in order to reflect the importance of science in their lives and how the Web can be used to share their passions for science. See my post, Making it real: People and Books and Web and Science at ScienceOnline2010 (and please give us your feedback through this form).
Our gratitude goes to all who attended the conference and participated so energetically in the conversations there.
And special thanks goes to the following individuals and organizations that helped us grow and improve this conference. Please thank them for making ScienceOnline2010 possible — click through to their sites to learn more about each person or organization. (We thanked the sponsors of ScienceOnline’09 here, the second event here and the first event here.):
RTP Wrapup 1/22
Thursday, January 21, 2010, 11:44 pmLiquidia Technologies in Durham gets $20 million in venture capital, b3bio, a biotech startup in Research Triangle Park, teams up with pharma giant Roche in a big way and Prolacria, Inspire Pharmaceuticals’ dry eye drug, fails yet another late-stage trial. Read more…
