I’m late in posting the latest Mindcast - it’s been an interesting 24 hours. No, nothing humongous or shocking happened, but let me explain. Last night, I decided to take a brief nap at 7:30 before recording the show. Then, the next thing I know, it’s midnight, and I feel paralyzed below the clavicle, so it’s back to sleep I go. Then I woke up really early, and got a bunch of work done before class, had a great couple classes, and worked on a poster in preparation for a big event for next week. (post about that to come.) Finally, I find myself at home, waiting on the fish in the oven, before I set about putting together episode 77.

Maybe I just needed all that sleep, but it sure made me feel good and really made this day work out great.

I learned a few new things, too. Apparently it’s a hoot to travel the world in search of carrot and garlic germplasm, and carrots today have about 3 times as much carotene as they did 40 years ago. All thanks to plant breeders!

In the meantime, have a look at Tangled Bank #99!

Update 2/21: I am swamped with stats homework, and preparations for a trip to a conference, so I’ve taken the week off from doing the show. Episode 77 should be done and posted Tuesday the 26th, before I go to Washington D-

I’ve said too much.

The Skeptic’s Circle #80 is up at Bug Girl’s Blog. It’s the Valentines Day edition! Show us how much you love skepticism and check it out.

It is interesting to contemplate a frozen bank, clothed with ice of many kinds, with birds not singing on the bushes, with various insects nowhere to be seen, and with worms crawling under the earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have… aw hell, it’s fricken freezing and there’s nothing but ice, snow, and cold air on the banks of Madison, Wisconsin. What am I to do to keep warm? Thankfully, a whole host of science bloggers sent me their best posts from the last few weeks - let’s see if we can warm up together in this cold northern weather to the 97th edition of the Tangled Bank. Read More…

Tonight, I’m compiling the next issue of the Tangled Bank - if you want your awesome science post (or someone else’s) included, then submit it to me by email at karl AT inoculatedmind DOT com. Otherwise, get prepared for some great science blog posts tomorrow!

I need them in by 9:00 pm CST.

The latest issue of the Tangled Bank is up at Aardvarchaeology - Tangled Bank 96: Toadally. Check it out.

And then get prepared for the next issue of The Tangled Bank blog carnival right here at The Inoculated Mind. Send your submissions to karl AT inoculatedmind DOT com. It will be published on January 23. I’ve just got to think of one of my signature blog carnival original ideas. Like the last time I hosted the Tangled Bank. (Hmmm, that yellow text doesn’t work on the new white background of my blog theme. I’ll have to do something about that.) Or the podcast edition of the Skeptic’s Circle I did. Hmmm….

Welcome to the 21st edition of Mendel’s Garden, here at The Inoculated Mind. Genetics-related blog posts were submitted from around the blogosphere during the month of November, and here you will find the best of them for your reading enjoyment this December, 2007. It seemed that although the topics were mixed, as they always are, there was a general theme to this month’s submissions. Old DNA never dies. Read More…

It’s been about a year and four months, and Mendel’s Garden is back at The Inoculated Mind for another go. If you’ve read a great post about genetics in the past month, or written one, send it along and I will consider adding it to the #1 genetics blog carnival! (OK, so I’m posturing.)

I plan to write the December Mendel’s Garden this coming Sunday so it will be ready to read Monday morning afternoon. So if you are looking to submit, you’ll need to send me an email by friday (the 7th) at the latest! Send all submissions to karl AT inoculatedmind DOT com.

And check back!

Matt at the Behavioral Ecology Blog asks the question, who hath the worst sicko reader? Picking through the search terms people have used to find his site, he challenges everyone to find the nuttiest, sickest, craziest search terms people have used to find their site. PZ recuses himself from the contest, (for good reason) merely pointing out how many people search for his site with his name spelled wrong. (I’m surprised that he didn’t complain about people spelling “Pharyngua” wrong!)(Ariela later points out the irony that I spelled “Pharyngula” wrong..!) Coturnix has posted a couple funnies worth reading.I’ve done this before, and sometimes it is awfully fun to see what people search for when they find your site. My web host provides me a way to search it month by month, so here’s my best from the past few months. Read More…

Abstract: There is a widespread phenomenon that has developed in recent years. Human beings, around the world, have begun to exhibit a novel behavior when they receive visual stimuli resembling cephalopods. Collectively, yet independently, they send emails describing their cephalopod-related experiences, often accompanied by pictures, to a single person.(1) This person is PZ Myers, the author of the popular science blog, Pharyngula.(2) It has been hypothesized that when the brains of these individuals receive stimuli related to octupi, squid, and other such organisms, that it causes activity in a Pharynguloid Activation Center, or “PZ Spot.”(1) Here we present the results of a preliminary investigation into the location and function of the PZ Spot. Read More…

Welcome to the 45th Edition of the Skeptic’s Circle at The Inoculated Mind. Podcast-style. Read More…