Shark Science Monday: Jim Gelsleichter discusses how pollution can affect sharks

Posted on By David Shiffman 4 Comments on Shark Science Monday: Jim Gelsleichter discusses how pollution can affect sharks
Uncategorized

The latest Shark Science Monday features University of North Florida researcher Jim Gelsleichter discussing how industrial and pharmaceutical chemicals that we let into the environment can negatively affect sharks. Leave a question for Jim in the comments and either he or I will get back to you. ~WhySharksMatter

Ethical Debate: Evolution, the big easy, and putting your money where your mouth is

Posted on By David Shiffman 26 Comments on Ethical Debate: Evolution, the big easy, and putting your money where your mouth is
Uncategorized

One of my favorite parts of being a scientist is attending conferences. In addition to getting feedback on your research from leaders in your field and staying current on other people’s work, conferences are a lot of fun. When the daily sessions end, it’s basically a bunch of cool people who share your interests looking to have a good time after a long day. While most people (including myself) care more about the knowledge transfer than the celebrations (exhibit A- I’m going to a conference in Minnesota next summer) , I’ve known more than a few people who have chosen not to go to certain conferences because the host city was “boring”. This makes it all the more surprising that the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), one of the largest scientific societies in the United States, announced that their 2011 conference would be held in Salt Lake City and not New Orleans (as had originally been proposed).

Guess which city this celebration took place in? Image from NowPublic.com

Read More “Ethical Debate: Evolution, the big easy, and putting your money where your mouth is” »

The Way We Heal – the biology of scar formation

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 4 Comments on The Way We Heal – the biology of scar formation
Science

Humans, we are fragile creatures. We bend and break and tear. Lacking a rigid exoskeleton, dense armored plates, calcium carbonate shells, our skin becomes our first line of defense against a hostile, machete-filled world. Fortunately, while we do break, we can also heal ourselves through a wonderfully complex system of self-repair.

As stated earlier, this is not a medical blog and we have limited experience discussing medicine. For more detailed and experienced medical blogging, please check out two of my favorite medical blogs, Science-based Medicine and White Coat Underground. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be liveblogging my body’s own healing process as I recover from a machete blow to the head.

The physiology of wound healing and scar formation in the human body is a complicated and fascinating.

Read More “The Way We Heal – the biology of scar formation” »