The Benefit of Doubt for Decision Making in a Civil Society

Doubt is an important part of scientific inquiry, in part because it causes the investigator to consider different variables and conditions necessary to test a hypothesis and evaluate research results. Sociologist Peter Berger argues (with not a small amount of certainty) that doubt is just as necessary in civil discourse. Listen to a provocative interview between Berger and Diane Rhem on the second segment of today's Diane Rhem Show (National Public Radio on WAMU.org). Podcast or transcripts are available approximately one hour after the end of the show.

From the Web site: "Civil discourse today is in danger of being shouted down by talking heads and single-minded bloggers. How doubt can help people on opposite sides of an issue to disagree more agreeably." Peter Berger is a faculty member at Boston University and founder of Boston University's Institute of Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. His newest book: In Praise of Doubt: How to Have Convictions Without Becoming a Fanatic. A very timely message as we witness the distinctly un-civil discourse around Town Halls on health care reform.

Find other books by Peter Berger in the college library [this newest title is not yet ordered].

One Man's Search for Natural Silence in a Noisy World

"Silence is not the absence of something but the presence of everything." So says author Gordon Hempton, acoustic ecologist, in the prologue to his new book One Square Inch of Silence (now on the new book shelf). Hempton's early work for the book was considered by another author promoting stillness during the June 13, 2003 edition of Living on Earth. Richard Mahler, author of Stillness, pointed out that "clinical studies confirm that stillness may also lower stress and blood pressure while promoting a sense of happiness and well being." Yet silence is vanishing from our lives and from even the most pristine wilderness. Gordon Hempton warns that the "unchecked loss of silence is a canary in a coal mine -- a global one. If we cannot make a stand here, if we turn a deaf ear to the issue of vanishing natural quiet, how can we expect to fare better with more complex environmental crises?"

A sound disc accompanies the book, so you can listen to the sounds of silence or the "silences of nature." I did, on one of the wonderful new Macs in our public computer area, which has remarkably good speakers. Twittering birds and crickets were clearly audible in the silence of a western preserve; then, the unmistakable rumble of distant traffic blurred the edge of birdsong. I suggest you try this without the distraction of multiple computers and the ever present hum of lights and the HVAC system in the science library - even in the middle of summer, without another soul in the library, it is not a peaceful silence.

• One Square Inch blog.
• Free Press: a division of Simon & Schuster.

Comet Calamity Considered in Sky & Telescope

The July issue of Sky & Telescope just arrived, in time for the last few days of July's theme: Celebrate Astronomy! as part of the Year of Science. The cover, by S&T artist Casey Reed, is sure to draw you in, illustrating the question "Did a comet wipe out early North Americans and the huge beasts they hunted?" How can you resist such a provocative query? "Demise of the megabeasts" indeed - and what role was played by the Clovis people thought to be in North America at the time? Those "ice age big game hunters" were sophisticated predators, notes Paul Martin of the University of Arizona.

Science is so fascinating when astronomy, geology, paleontology and anthropology mesh together like reading a good mystery or detective story.

The article, Ice Age Impact, was written by Ivan Semeniuk. Listen to a podcast of scientists who were interviewed for the article at SkyandTelescope.com/iceageimpact.

NPR Interviews Natl Geographic Spelunker and Photographer Stephen Alvarez

National Public Radio unveiled its re-imagined NPR.org site today and a host of great stories are suddenly at your fingertips. I was immediately drawn to The Picture Show, featuring "Caves, Cameras, and Explosives," and applaud NPR's collaboration with National Geographic to broaden the audience of photographer Stephen Alvarez. I was entranced by all of the photos, from the sublime and awesome to the arguably undignified (the shot of a spelunker's feet in the air, upper torso down a hole is such a great contrast to the grandeur of spelunker suspended in Ellison's Cave, Georgia). The feature article, "Deep Southern Caves" by Mark Jenkins was published June 2009, and can be perused in print in the Main library (Azariah's Cafe popular magazine collection) or explored online.

Scientific American on 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11

from Scientific American: The 40th Anniversary of Apollo 11
"Four decades after mankind's giant leap, a look at the harrowing first lunar landing, the Apollo missions that never flew, and how the historic event looked from the Soviet Union."

Related resource from Springer and Praxis Publishing, available to Oberlin users electronically at SpringerLink.com:

Author	Harland, David M
Title	The first men on the moon [electronic resource] : the story of Apollo 11 / David M. Harland
Publish Info	New York ; Berlin : Springer ; Chichester, U.K. : Praxis Publishing, 2007

Carbon, Oil Peak, and Climate Change

This title, now on the new book shelf, may answer questions raised by Sarah Palin's op-ed piece last week (and also explains relevant issues that Ms. Palin did not address):

Carbon shift : how the twin crises of oil depletion and climate change will define the future / edited by Thomas Homer-Dixon with Nick Garrison.
[Toronto] : Random House Canada, 2009.
QC981.8.G56 C36 2009.

From the publisher's web site:
Carbon Shift brings together six of Canada’s world-class experts to explore the question of where we stand now, and where we might be headed. It explores the economics, the geology, the politics, and the science of the predicament we find ourselves in. And it gives each expert the chance to address what they think are the most important facets of the complex problem before us.

PLoS One Projected to Become Largest Scholarly Journal Worldwide

This message was sent by Heather Morrison today, with exciting news regarding one of the newest journals from the Public Library of Science (PLoS):

"PLoS One is projected to publish about 4,300 articles in 2009, making it the world's third largest journal (and already the world's largest non-physics journal). In 2010, PLoS One is anticipated to publish 8,000 articles, which would make it the world's largest scholarly journal, by far.

"One of the world's other really large journals - the American Physical Society's Physical Review D - is on the list of journals 100% convertible to the SCOAP3 Open Access Consortium. So it is entirely possible that TWO of the world's dozen largest journals will be fully open access within the next year or so."

Read more at Heather Morrison's blog, The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics

A Plethora of New Books

The July shipment of books offers enough reading for this summer and the next three, possibly, in nearly every subject area of the Science Library. Books on worms, hedgerows, nutrigenomics, chaos mathematics, corridor ecology (and that doesn't refer to mold and mites in the hallway in your building), evolutionary genetics, Einstein, color, atmospheric thermodynamics, molecular networks, polymers, the Medea hypothesis, fluvial systems, hormones, Valles Caldera, marsupials, stem cells, wild mushrooms, phytoplankton, ants, bioinorganic chemistry... the list could go on and on!

Farming with nature or Organic agriculture might be the most seasonal of titles, along with Fresh: a perishable history, as we are in the midst of the northern growing season and harvesting local produce already.

Check out the new books list and borrow something interesting for summer reading!

YoS July: Celebrate Astronomy!

The Year of Science focus for July is ASTRONOMY, and our shelves are overflowing with great, new books on the subject. Do a subject search, limited to 2007-2009, in OBIS.

The Day We Found the Universe is one of dozens of books received in our latest new books shipment. From the book overview in Google Books [link there from OBIS]: "On January 1, 1925, thirty-five-year-old Edwin Hubble announced the observation that ultimately established that our universe was a thousand trillion times larger than previously believed, filled with myriad galaxies like our own."

This is a fascinating account of early astrophysics. Follow that historical review with books on current research, perhaps a title on Kerr black holes.

2009 is also the International Year of Astronomy (IYA). The U.S.A. web site for IYA offers Galileoscopes to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of a telescope to study the skies.

The web site includes a calendar of current and historical events in astronomy, including moon phases and positions of observable planets in the night sky. Full moon, Tuesday July 7 at 3:21 a.m. Later that day (4pm) the moon will be at Apogee. Learn more about the difference between Apogee and Perigree.

Art of Science Competition - Help Select People's Choice Winner

Princeton University's Art of Science Competition is underway, and you are invited to participate! Look for beauty in the representation of scientific results, by comparing images side by side and making a judgment as to which is "more Art of Science." The People's Choice competition remains open through noon, July 1, 2009. Click on Cast Your Votes to get started. Details on the science behind each art piece is part of the online exhibit. According to American Scientist (July-Aug 2009, p. 292) a competition is already being planned for 2010, and Andrew Zwicker of the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, one of the show's organizers and a past prizewinner, encourages other communities to hold similar competitions.

H1N1 Virus Declared a Pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the swine flu pandemic. Read or listen to the story and related information on NPR. On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths [from the AP]. Find more information on H1N1 in the USA at the Center for Disease Control, and GenBank sequences for the 2009 outbreak at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

Earth 2100: the Final Century of Civilization?

Received from the Sierra Club, Northeast Ohio group:

"Earth 2100" is a two-hour television event from ABC, scheduled for Tuesday, June 2, at 9 p.m. ET. Bob Woodruff explores the potential scientific scenarios for our future, with the underlying premise that the planet is at risk: population growth, resource depletion, and climate change could bring catastrophe in the next century. Two possible futures will be considered, ending with an optimistic outlook that presents the actions humanity must take now, in 2009, to create a future that ensures health and sustainability for ourselves and the rest of the planet.

Earth 2100 News and Related Stories from ABC News.

Fossil Could be Common Ancestor of Humans, Other Primates

Here is very exciting news in the still-developing story of human evolution. From Science News Daily: "Scientists have found a 47-million-year-old human ancestor. Discovered in Messel Pit, Germany, the fossil, described as Darwinius masillae, is 20 times older than most fossils that explain human evolution.

"Known as 'Ida,' the fossil is a transitional species – it shows characteristics from the very primitive non-human evolutionary line (prosimians, such as lemurs), but is more related to the human evolutionary line (anthropoids, such as monkeys, apes and humans)." [Read the full story]

See also this title on our new book shelf:
99% ape : how evolution adds up / edited by Jonathan Silvertown ; authors, Caroline M. Pond ... [et al.].
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2009.
QH367 .A13 2009.

Endangered Species Day Puzzle: Which Species Need Protection in Your Home State?

Today is the fourth annual Endangered Species Day, begun in 2006 with the leadership of Senator Dianne Feinstein. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife agency offers a complete list of endangered species and information for each on their Web site. You can view the list for your state here.

Scientific American gives more information on Endangered Species Day in their 60-second science blog. Check it out!

As Finals Fade, Grab a Book for Summer

Finals are underway, and taking on unassigned reading may be the last thing on your mind!

There are many new titles on the new book shelf that will ease you from the intensity of finals week into summer. And, for graduating seniors who have a week to prepare for commencement/reunion weekend, one of the new books may fill any spare moments you have.

Three new titles fom author Clive Roots look particularly fun to dip into, with great photos and fascinating facts: Flightless Birds, Hibernation, and Nocturnal Animals.

The Flying Circus of Physics (expanded, updated 2nd edition) by Jearl Walker promises a great many aha! moments of revelation. From the publisher's description: ..."where death-defying stunts, high-flying acrobatics, strange curiosities, and mind-bending illusions are all part of everyday life."

Take a break and browse the new book shelf; it will do you good!

Origins, Spread, Treatment of Swine Flu

Science and Nature have given extensive coverage to information and research on the H1N1 virus since the outbreak began.
Today in Science News of the Week:

Swine Flu Outbreak: Out of Mexico? Scientists Ponder Swine Flu's Origins
by Jon Cohen
"The origin of the virus behind the current swine flu outbreak, its muscle power, and how much of a threat it presents remain mysteries. After Mexico, the United States has had the most cases, which on 5 May totaled 403. The almost simultaneous confirmations of the outbreak in both Mexico and the United States initially added further confusion to the outbreak's origins. But the virus itself has helped clear up some matters. The greatest concern is what will this confusing virus, which combines genes from swine, avian, and human influenza strains, do next?"
Read more.

Accessing or Borrowing Library Materials Over the Summer

Any currently enrolled student who will be returning in the fall continues to have access to our online resources, and may borrow books and other materials over the summer. Off campus access to online resources is explained in the "Connect from Off Campus" web page. Summer borrowing just requires completing the summer address form so we know how to contact you. Find out more.

End of Semester Hours

The Science library will be open extra hours this Saturday, for your studying pleasure during Reading Period. Our End of Semester Hours:

Saturday, May 9 - 12:30-11pm

Sunday, May 10 - 12:30 - 11pm

Monday, May 11 - Thursday May 14 - 8:30am-11pm

Friday, May 15 8:30am-7pm

Saturday, May 16 12:30-5:30pm

Sunday, May 17 12:30-4:30pm

Don't hesitate to contact staff for last-minute help with library research! Best of luck with exams.

Dancing Cockatoos! Story on NPR

Dancing is not so uniquely human, apparently. Check out the YouTube video of a sulfur-crested cockatoo named Snowball dancing to the Backstreet Boys. More than a pet trick, neurobiologist Aniruddh Patel explains the significance for understanding how the brain processes music. Tecumseh Fitch, an evolutionary biologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, suggests that the findings open the way for new research on the origins of music. He asks the question, "what genes are turned on while a bird is dancing?" Read more (and see the video) at NPR.

New Books! and a New Call Number.

Today's shipment of new books brought our first book in the relatively new LC class of QV. Pharmacology and drug development, as a quickly burgeoning field, now has it own Library of Congress classification.

For now, Strategies for organic drug synthesis and design by Daniel Lednicer, is our only 'QV'. I'm sure this seems like a very modest development to those of you who don't manage libraries, but it caused me to take notice as we unpacked the new books! Now I'm looking forward to receiving books in the other new call number sequences at the end of the Qs:
QU Biochemistry
QW-QX Microbiology, Immunology, Parasites
QY-QZ Pathology, Clinical pathology

All of these topics were formerly lumped into QR (or with chemistry in QD) or with medicine (R, RM), so the additional LC class assignments will make browsing the entire collection of immunology books, for example, a bit more complicated in the future. But it should do a very nice job of bringing together newer materials in the interdisciplinary subject of biochemistry.

This development is minor compared to the leap from Dewey Decimal to Library of Congress classification back in 1974. Ah, change! Information and library management is all about change, as human knowledge expands and scholarly communication evolves.

Pres. Obama addresses the National Academy of Sciences

President Barack Obama spoke to members of the National Academy of Sciences this morning during the Academy’s 146th annual meeting, announcing historic investments in science. You can read the transcript of his speech here. Audio recording is on the NAS Web site, along with video recording and photos.

Early in his speech, Pres. Obama targeted the swine flu outbreak, saying: "our capacity to deal with a public health challenge of this sort rests heavily on the work of our scientific and medical community. And this is one more example of why we cannot allow our nation to fall behind."

The President then made this commitment: "I am here today to set this goal: we will devote more than three percent of our GDP to research and development. We will not just meet, but we will exceed the level achieved at the height of the Space Race, through policies that invest in basic and applied research, create new incentives for private innovation, promote breakthroughs in energy and medicine, and improve education in math and science. This represents the largest commitment to scientific research and innovation in American history."

Dance based on scientific research articles: see the AAAS / Science Dance Contest

The Gonzo Scientist

Can science-turned-art be turned back into science? The Gonzo Scientist asks readers to view the final outcome of the 2009 AAAS/Science Dance Contest and see if they can figure out which dance was based on which scientific research article. See the videos, take the challenge.

From Science News this week. See SCIENCE News Summaries: Volume 324, Issue 5926, April 24 2009.

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

I finally remembered to turn the calendar above my desk to April, and was rewarded by National Wildlife Federation's photo of two squirrels poking their heads out of a tree hole barely big enough for one, let alone two. The little fella on the left is definitely feeling squished. This quote from John Muir greeted me as well: "When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." Since google just found about 20,300 occurrences of this phrase, I'm obviously coming late to this Muir quote. No matter, it still resonates. How to celebrate and protect these immutable connections as Earth Day approaches?

On April 22 keep in mind at least that your day-to-day survival is completely dependent on circumstances far too numerous to list. We aim for independence while ignoring the balance required to maintain the charade. You are here because there are plankton in the ocean, worms in the soil, bees in the pollen, and clouds in the air. Gravity, star dust, oxygen and carbon, caribou, mushrooms, dung beetles and water... all connected, contributing, making the whole so much more than the sum of the parts.

We, you, us - the people - are in the thick of it, of course. Not above, aside, or apart, but a part. We can be the part that works to the keep the whole together, or the part that tears it asunder. April 22, 2009 - the 39th Anniversay of Earth Day - is a good day to strive for the former.

Join the Countdown to the 40th Anniversary, and be part of the Green Generation.

EPA Proposes Greenhouse Gas Regulation

NPR BREAKING NEWS: EPA Proposes Greenhouse Gas Regulation

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a proposed finding that six greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that can threaten public health — a first step toward regulation. Read the story by Jeff Brady.

Related story in the Washington Post, March 24, 2009: EPA Presses Obama to Regulate Warming Under Clean Air Act.

Laura Russo, '08, publishes in The Plant Cell

The February 2009 issue of Plant Cell includes an article by Oberlin alumna Laura Russo, '08 and Pablo Jenik, formerly of the Biology Department. Their article, co-authored with researchers at Univ. of Wisconsin, reports results of research undertaken at Oberlin. Congratulations to them both. Professor Jenik is now with the Biology Department of Franklin and Marshall College.

The RPN5 Subunit of the 26s Proteasome Is Essential for Gametogenesis, Sporophyte Development, and Complex Assembly in Arabidopsis.
Adam J. Booka, Jan Smallea,1, Kwang-Hee Leea, Peizhen Yanga, Joseph M. Walkera, Sarah Caspera, James H. Holmesa, Laura A. Russob, Zachri W. Buzzinottic, Pablo D. Jenikb,c and Richard D. Vierstraa,2

a Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin
b Department of Biology, Oberlin College
c Department of Biology, Franklin and Marshall College

Tell Congress not to sacrifice our forests as "bio-energy"

From the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
"Right now Congress is considering legislation to increase the amount of electricity production from renewable sources like wind, solar and "biomass" -- organic matter that can come from sustainable sources, but could also come from natural forests and grasslands. Biomass can be an important part of the solution, but we need strong safeguards to ensure that it comes from sustainable crops and does not involve destroying forest habitats or turning them into cropland and sterile tree plantations." Take action.

Related 2009 hearing before the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

More resources in the library's catalog on biomass for fuel and energy.

Borrow a Kill-A-Watt, Reduce Your Energy Consumption

How much energy is sucked up by the charger while your phone is not even charging? How many watts is your computer chugging down while in sleep mode? How about that MP3 charger, languishing in the wall outlet?

You can find out by plugging a Kill-A-Watt energy monitor into the outlet, then plugging your device into the energy monitor.

There are 14 Kill-a-Watts in both Main and the Science libraries. Provide the name of your dorm when checking out the device, and your dorm earns points in the Ecolympics competition. The loan period is 4 days. First come, first served.

Walk around the corner toward the north entrance to the Science Center Commons and you'll find a display of softly glowing globes, illustrating current energy consumption in each dorm. At this moment, Barrows and Harkness are both a lovely shade of green (good!) while Price and Bailey are glowing red (not so energy efficient).

Kill-A-Watt devices are offered for sale over the internet (possibly locally, too; try Watson's). Search google and there are plenty of options. iKitchen.com has a good price.

Gil Nathanson on campus today

Gil Nathanson from the University of Wisconsin, Madison will be speaking on Dirty Droplets in the Atmosphere: A Microscopic View of Gas-Liquid Reactions? Science Center, Room A255. Reception will be in the Love Lounge at 4:30pm.

Recent books on atmospheric chemistry are on display in the library's front window, along with a list of Dr. Nathason's recent publications. Three of the most recent indexed in Science Citation Index are listed here, and can all be accessed at the American Chemical Society Publications web site:

• Park S, Burden DK, Nathanson GM. 2009. Surfactant control of gas transport and reactions at the surface of sulfuric acid. Acc Chem Res 42(2):379-87.
• DeZwaan JL, Brastad SM, Nathanson GM. 2008. Evidence for interfacial [FDCl](-) in collisions between DCl and F- in KF-glycerol solutions. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 112(39):15449-57.
• DeZwaan JL, Brastad SM, Nathanson GM. 2008. The roles of salt concentration and cation charge in collisions of ar and DCl with salty glycerol solutions of NaI and CaI2. Journal of Physical Chemistry C 112(8):3008-17.

Science (and so much more!) on the Diane Rehm Show

We are honored to have Diane Rehm on campus today, as a speaker in the Convocation series. If you are in class when the Diane Rehm Show airs locally on 90.3 WCPN (Idea Stream!), check out the podcast on the NPR podcast directory.

Diane frequently interviews scientists, science administrators, science policy advisers and science writers, considering topics that relate especially to politics and society. Here are a few recent segments you might like to listen to on the show's web site:
Russia and natural gas.
President Bush's environmental legacy.
Health care reform.
Federally funded stem cell research.
Clean coal technology.

Diane Rehm also interviewed Toni Morrison about her newest book A Mercy. That show was rebroadcast on January 1, 2009. If you haven't yet read A Mercy, this interview is a good introduction. Do read it and join a discussion group during the week Ms. Morrison will be on campus!

Finally, here is a segment of special interest to me:
The role of libraries in economic hard times.

Geology of the Red River Floodplain

As the people of Fargo, North Dakota continue to watch the Red River and pile up the sandbags, a review of the geology of the river explains its tendency to overflow. See the Minneapolis Star Tribune for March 24, 2009: Blame the Ice Age glacial lake that left the river in a flat, wide valley, by Richard Mayhew. The Fargo Flood homepage maintained by the North Dakota State University Geosciences department includes a thorough consideration of the geology of the area.

Turn Off Your Lights! Earth Hour Saturday March 28

Your light switch is your vote : Earth Hour 2009: Saturday, March 28, 8:30 - 9:30 pm.

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote. Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF (World Wildlife Fund) is urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

Unlike any election in history, it is not about what country you’re from, but instead, what planet you’re from. Over 74 countries and territories have pledged their support to VOTE EARTH during Earth Hour 2009, and this number is growing everyday. Sign up to officially support Earth Hour.

VOTE EARTH by simply switching off your lights for one hour, and join the world for Earth Hour on Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm local time. The Science Center lights will be off for Earth Hour.

[Most of this text was lifted from an email message sent from the Bishop Payne Library]

World Water Day Spills Over

Water distribution worldwide has been in a crisis state for many years. World Water Resources... from UNESCO is one of many dozen books in the library that review the problems.

World Water Day, March 22, was an opportunity to highlight the crisis; today, Diane Rehm and a panel of experts examined the problems on the Diane Rehm Show (WAMU, NPR; 11am program for March 25: U.S. Water Infrastructure). It was a highly enlightening conversation, examining water rights struggles among western states in the USA and the downstream impact of coal mining by mountain-top removal, among other concerns.

The first call for World Water Week 2009, to be held in August, was made public in February. Hosted and organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), World Water Week in Stockholm "has been the annual focal point for the planet’s water issues since 1991. The Week provides a unique forum for the exchange of views and experiences between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities. It focuses on new thinking and positive action toward water-related challenges and their impact on the world’s environment, health, economic and poverty reduction agendas."

Two excellent documentaries will be shown in the coming weeks, focusing on water access struggles in a Michigan town and on equitable distribution of water to communities worldwide. I hope you will find time to watch them both.

• The Water Front (also available on OhioLINK loan)
  

Monday March 30, 7:30 pm
Mt. Zion Fellowship Hall

• Flow: for love of water (owned by OC Library)

Saturday April 4, 7:30 pm
Mt. Zion Fellowship Hall

• Both films, back to back -

Wednesday, April 1, 7:30 pm
Hallock Auditorium, Adam Joseph Lewis Center

Unlocking Secrets of the Brain

Discover magazine recently held a panel discussion with four of the world's leading brain researchers. Watch these insightful videos posted by Discover magazine on YouTube!

• Dr. Daniel Leviton, McGill Univ. Why do we remember old pop songs but forget where our keys are?
• Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, UC Santa Barbara. Is brain damage a good alibi for violent behavior?
• Dr. Samuel Wang, Princeton Univ. What tricks of the mind helped perpetuate lies about Barak Obama?
• Dr. Rebecca Saxe, MIT. Are all of us potential Abu Ghraib guards?

Discover magazine is also available, in print, in the science library. Check it out the next time you stop by. Or read Discover online.

BioTour Bus On Campus Now!

The Community Sustainability Weekend: BioTour is here! A great follow-up to Powershift'09. Check out the schedule on Facebook, and talk to the BioTour folks on Sunday afternoon (1-6 pm), March 15, by Wilder Bowl.

Is Technology Changing Your Brain?

iBrain : surviving the technological alteration of the modern mind, by Gary Small and Gigi Vorgan, is now on the new book shelf.

The authors present a different perspective from Born Digital (in the main library), and you might like to read both.

Keep in mind that the human brain has been evolving for eons (Brain Evolution and Cognition is a good book for that review), and the technological advances now challenging the modern mind are very recent developments. For a reminder of our evolutionary past - and the persistence of certain behavioral responses despite the course of human history - listen to the rebroadcast of Morality from WNYC's Radio Lab. Included in that segment is a fascinating look inside the brains of individuals caught in a moral dilemma, showing that human brains are remarkably similar (in some respects) to our closest primate relatives.

Scientific Mysteries Top the List

The new book shelf is brimming with such diversity it's impossible to focus on just one title. From
13 things that don't make sense : the most baffling scientific mysteries of our time by Michael Brooks
to
The prefrontal cortex by Joaquin M. Fuster, there are tantalizing topics to draw you away from your required course reading.

Thanks to recent catalog enhancements in OBIS, you can learn a bit about nearly every new book on the list by clicking on the link "Information [or Preview] at Google Books" that appears on the right side of the OBIS display.
See, for example, this OBIS record:
Agroecological economics : sustainability and biodiversity by Paul A. Wojtkowski - which leads to a very helpful Google Books entry.

So, if you don't have time to browse the new book shelf in person, OBIS can provide the next best thing.
See the new book list.

Dept of Transportation in Science.gov - so much more than you might expect!

Thanks to Tim Byrne, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, who sent this information:

The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) has joined Science.gov. This means that when you launch a search at the Science.gov gateway, your single query can find science information from 14 government agencies, including the DOT National Transportation Library (NTL) Integrated Search and more than 30 DOT websites. Major subject areas of highway and transportation engineering, statistics, planning,policies, and research are included in the Science.gov basic search.

The DOT Web site includes links to a number of specialized libraries, such as coast guard, pipeline safety, and transportation law collections.
Try a search on pipeline safety in Science.gov, then refine the results with the additional keyword alaska, for an example of finding DOT results within a broader search.

Global Warming by the Numbers: 13 Facts for Friday the 13th

From the Environmental Defense Fund:

Friday the 13th just got a little scarier. Here are 13 facts about the realities of global warming. The numbers speak for themselves -- we must make 2009 the showdown year for global warming action. There is no time to lose.

Read the Facts. Take Action.

Support Science Funding in the Economic Stimulus Bill

The American Institute of Physics FYI: Bulletin of Science Policy News for February 12 presents a succinct summary of science and technology funding in the economic stimulus bill. If you support funding for research, recognizing the importance of science and technology advancement for job creation and the economic health of the country, urge your legislators to vote for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act when in comes before the House and Senate today and tomorrow.

The following is from the AIP site:
The first details about this $790 billion bill, which provides significant funding increases for science and technology programs, appear in a document from the Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Direct quotations from this document appear below. FYI will report on the details of this agreement as they are released.

The Speaker’s “Fact Sheet,” characterized as a “Preliminary Overview,” explains that the conference agreement will “Restore science and innovation as the keys to new American-made technology, preventing and treating disease, and tackling urgent national challenges like climate change and dependence on foreign oil.” [Read more]

Darwin and Lincoln: men of vision and reason

Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln were both born 200 years ago today. Consider the remarkable impact each man made on humanity, and celebrate science and reason by reading some of their own words.

Peruse the Darwin Correspondence Project online, or browse through the 16 printed volumes in our collection: Correspondence of Charles Darwin. The Darwin Day Celebration web site offers a wide range of resources, including audio files.

Robert Krulwich (Class of '69) presented a fascinating look at Darwin's life on NPR's Morning Edition this morning, considering the possibility that love for his wife and the tragedy of the death of a beloved daughter, directly influenced the timing of publication of On the Origin of Species. Listen to the story.

The library owns many editions and reproductions of Darwin's work [search OBIS by title], or you can read a reproduction online.

Lincoln's Bicentennial is being celebrated across the country. The Kentucky Abraham Bicentennial Commission web site is a good place to explore some of the events, documents, photos and links to other sites.

Don't let the day slip away without giving some thought to the enduring legacy of Lincoln and Darwin!

Stimulus Package Compromise Announced -- Scientists Hope for Jolt to Research

National Public Radio posted this breaking news this afternoon: Congressional Leaders Announce Stimulus Deal and Scientists Hope Stimulus Will Give Jolt to Research. Richard Harris, in his report on science research funding, noted that the stimulus package includes billions in funding for the National Institutes of Health. Raynard Kington, the NIH's acting director, says that NIH currently has 14,000 peer-reviewed applicants, worthy of funding, waiting for support. "Give the NIH the money, he says, and in just a few weeks the money can flow out the door and into a thousand labs or more." Read more or listen online.

Help for Off-Campus Access to the EJC

Getting access through the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center to publishers' web sites is a little more complicated if you are off-campus. Follow these steps:

1. login to the proxy server or the VPN client on your computer [download it here]
2. find the journal you need in the OhioLINK EJC
3. link to the publisher's web site from the EJC
4. if you do not have immediate access, look for this option: "Oberlin College - OhioLINK Trial, Oerlin College", rather than "Oberlin College, Oberlin College_IP," which is for our local subscriptions.

You will have access only to those journals purchased by OhioLINK, which does not include the pre-1995 archives of all publishers.

These procedures will be necessary only until the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center is completely restored.

Update on OhioLINK EJC

OhioLINK staff are working diligently to restore access to the Electronic Journal Center, as explained in this message from Director Tom Sanville. Updates will be posted in OhioLINK's What's New.
-------
Important Message to the OhioLINK community of students, faculty, and staff:

Beginning Wednesday afternoon, February 4, the OhioLINK computer disk storage system suffered a widespread, and supposedly not possible, multiple component failure affecting all major services with the exception of the OhioLINK Library Catalog. We have restored all services except the Electronic Journal Center (EJC). Restoration of the EJC remains under vigorous analysis, but unfortunately we know that any solution will not be immediate. In light of this, we are taking immediate steps to provide alternative access to the resources of the EJC through the various Web sites of the EJC journal publishers.

As noted on [EJC welcome page], we have immediate access to many EJC publisher sites and are working to expand access to the rest as quickly as possible. While the EJC is down, we will continue to improve this site to direct you to the proper publishers. We will also work to adjust our systems that link article citations to full text in the EJC by redirecting links to the publisher sites. We are examining every possibility to keep you connected to resources you need and to improve that connectivity as quickly as possible, while the EJC is not available.

The OhioLINK staff is sincerely sorry for this significant disruption in services. We remain committed, as we have since 1992, to providing high quality information resources on a consistent and reliable basis to the Ohio higher education community.

Sincerely,

Tom Sanville, Executive Director, tom@ohiolink.edu tom@ohiolink.edu>

Drastic Reductions Proposed for Science Funding in Senate bill

From Science Debate 2008, 9 am this morning:

"I am writing to alert you to efforts underway this morning to zero out a large portion of the science funding from the Senate American Reinvestment and Recovery Act as a part of a $77.9B reduction effort led by Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

"As you know better than most, science and technology are responsible for half of the economic development of the United States since WWII and yet, if current trends hold, some, such as the Business Roundtable, have predicted that 90% of all scientists and engineers will live in Asia within 5 years.

"The United States simply MUST renew our investment in the single greatest economic engine this country has ever known. Small federal investments in scientific research have helped produce things like the internet and the transistor that have consistently delivered multi-trillion dollar economies.

"The United States is at a critical juncture, and if this concerns you we suggest now would be a time to contact your Senators and urge them to support science funding. Here is what is being proposed to be cut from the bill, according to TPM:

NASA exploration $750,000,000 = 50%
NSF $1,402,000,000 = 100%
NOAA $427,000,000 = 34.94%
NIST $218,000,000 = 37.91%
DOE energy efficiency & renewable energy $1,000,000,000 = 38%
DOE office of science $100,000,000 = 100%"

Larry Squire '63 on NPR: Memory, the Hippocampus and Alzheimer's

Oberlin alumnus Larry R. Squire, class of 1963, and Principal Investigator of the Memory Research Laboratory (University of California, San Diego and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Diego) explained recent findings on NPR's Morning Edition today. Dr. Squire's study, co-published with Christine N. Smith, is published in the newest issue of Journal of Neuroscience:

• Medial Temporal Lobe Activity during Retrieval of Semantic Memory Is Related to the Age of the Memory. Christine N. Smith and Larry R. Squire. The Journal of Neuroscience, January 28, 2009, 29(4):930-938; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4545-08.2009
  

From the Morning Edition story:

"What we found was that the hippocampus was most active when subjects were recalling memories about new events that occurred just a year or two earlier," Squire says. "The hippocampus became less active as subjects recalled memories that were five years or 10 years old."

As people tried to remember older events, the scientists saw more and more activity on the surface of the brain.

The results suggest that the hippocampus is necessary to form new memories and to retrieve recent memories, says Russell Poldrack, a brain scientist at UCLA. But it plays little or no role once memories are a few years old.

"This is the clearest demonstration yet of what happens as memories get older," Poldrack says. "It's pretty compelling evidence." [more]

Related reading in the library:
The library is grateful to Dr. Squire for his many contributions to the collection, including his most recent monograph co-authored with Eric R. Kandel, Memory: from mind to molecules.

See other books in OBIS authored by Larry Squire.

Eat Right, Save the Planet: Bittman on NPR

Hear NPR's interview with Mark Bittman, author of Food matters: a guide to conscious eating. Mark Bittman is a food columnist for The New York Times and an advocate for '"conscious eating." Bittman's book is an obvious choice after reading Michael Pollan's The omnivore's dilemma and In defense of food.

All copies of Mark Bittman's book in OhioLINK are currently checked out, and Oberlin's copy already has two holds. Read an excerpt at NPR, and place a hold on Oberlin's copy if desired.

From the synopsis @ Barnes & Noble: "The simple truth, as he points out, is that as long as you eat more vegetables and whole grains, the result will be better health for you and for the world in which we live."

What You Need to Know About Energy, from Natl Acad Press

The National Academies Press invites you to download and read, for free, more than 4,000 books! One of their newest offerings is What You Need to Know About Energy.

Listen also to the podcast America's Energy Future and link to related resources from the NAP web site. Browse books by topic or search specific keywords. Free PDF books will have a "sign in" link in the "purchase options" box. Click on the link, complete a short survey, and you will be able to download the book.

2009 is the Year of Science! Celebrating How We Know What We Know

Year of Science 2009 Kicks Off this Week Across the Nation [COPUS Press Release]

The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) kicked off Year of Science 2009 (YoS2009) -- a national, yearlong, grassroots celebration--this week in Boston at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. COPUS, which represents more than 500 organizations, is celebrating how science works, who scientists are, and why science matters. Ira Flatow, host of Science Friday, broadcast every week on National Public Radio, launched the week’s events.

One of the themes for January 2009 is Communicating Science. The library is over-flowing with wonderful books that do just that - engaging and enlightening, books by scientists and science writers for the general public are regularly featured on our new books shelf.

Start with the annual series "Best American Science and Nature Writing" for a sample of excellent articles. The 2008 volume is now on the new book shelf.

Think you're smart? Plenty of other animals are also adept at complex thinking.

Scientific American Mind features the intelligence of animals in a Dec. 2008 article by Paul Patton:

One World, Many Minds: Intelligence in the Animal Kingdom

From the introduction: "complex brains and sophisticated cognition have arisen multiple times in independent lineages of animals during the earth’s evolutionary history. So-called lower animals, such as fish, reptiles and birds, display a startling array of cognitive capabilities. Goldfish, for instance, have shown they can negotiate watery mazes similar to the way rats do in intelligence tests in the lab."

Read the whole story at Scientific American Mind. While you're there, check out some of the latest stories, including "Did a Comet Hit Earth 12,000 Years Ago?", posted Jan. 2.

Looking Ahead: Pres-Elect Obama's Science Advisory Team

As we prepare to leave campus for winter break, pause a moment to consider the new year and new possibilities after President-Elect Obama is inaugurated. The recently announced appointments for the science advisory team indicate that peer-reviewed scientific consensus will guide the administration's actions in science, health, technology and environmental issues.

This is expressed most clearly in Mr. Obama's own words:
"...the truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources—it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us."

From the Science Team Rollout Radio Address
Listen to the NPR Story.

And to that I say, Amen.

Wind-Powered Radio in War Weary Southern Sudan

Living on Earth [Dec. 5] brings a remarkable story of community radio from the Sudan: energy technology innovation, human resilience, moving materials with people power, and community effort to bring journalism with integrity to hundreds of people in remote areas.

LOE's Bruce Gellerman interviews John Mussa, a reporter with Internews in southern Sudan. Read the transcript or download the MP3 version, and you'll no longer take your local radio station for granted!

After War, Wind-Powered Radio

"Twenty-two years of civil war destroyed Sudan’s electrical infrastructure, so locals have turned to wind and solar energy to power their new radio station."

'Tis the Gift Giving Season - Go Green & Support Social Justice

My inbox is overflowing with messages encouraging me to reduce waste, carbon emissions, and unnecessary spending on products that contribute to over-consumption and our non-sustainable culture. The holiday season is a wonderful opportunity to give gifts that Do Good, and these messages show the seemingly countless ways to do so! Here are just a few of the Green Gift and Alternative Gift guides that have come my way. In addition to shopping locally and supporting Oberlin merchants (and artisans, whose works are sold in The Ginko Gallery and at Uncommon Objects of the FAVA Gallery) you might consider spending your gift dollars in support of environmental sustainability and social/economic justice, while honoring the people you love at the same time.

• GreenGiftGuide.com.
• Heifer International.
• NRDC Great Green Gift Guide.
• Oxfam America Unwrapped.
• Ten Thousand Villages. (some products are carried locally at Ben Franklin!)
• TreeHugger Holiday Gift Guide.
• World of Good from eBay.
• Yahoo Green Gift Guide.

Shop also at the Alternative Gift Fair, to be held Monday-Friday, Dec. 8-12, from 11:30-1:30 each day, in the Bent Corridor of the Science Center. If you'd like a catalog of items offered at that gift fair, please contact me.

If you know of other great sources for sustainable, fair trade, and/or locally produced gifts, don't hesitate to add your comments. Thanks!

Faculty Publication: Dan Styer on Entropy and Evolution

Daniel F. Styer, John and Marianne Schiffer Professor of Physics and Astronomy, has published an article that brings together biology, thermodynamics and physics teaching.

Entropy and evolution. American Journal of Physics, Volume 76, issue 11 (November 2008), p. 1031-1033

Author's abstract: Quantitative estimates of the entropy involved in biological evolution demonstrate that there is no conflict between evolution and the second law of thermodynamics. The calculations are elementary and could be used to enliven the thermodynamics portion of a high school or introductory college physics course.

The article is accessible to all OhioLINK affiliates at the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center.

Interested in seeing current articles from other Oberlin science faculty? ISI Web of Science (also known as Science Citation Index) provides a quick way to search across all science disiciplines. Search "Oberlin Coll" as an address phrase, limit to 2008, and you'll find 40 papers in seconds.

Happy Founders Day! 175 Years of Classes at OC

Oberlin College opened its doors for classes on December 3, 1833. 175 years today! Frederick Scovill, the College’s first teacher, wrote in a letter to a friend dated December 13, 1833, “The grand object of this Institution is to educate those who shall be prepared physically, as well as intellectually and morally, to illuminate the world with the light of science and civilization.”

Learn more about science education at Oberlin at the College Archives, beginning with the very worthy Dr. James Dascomb, village and college physician, chemistry, botany and physiology professor, and, briefly, college librarian. Dr. Dascomb also taught sacred music, rhetoric, mathematics and civil law, among other courses, according to the 1836 Catalogue. This photo, courtesy of the Oberlin College Archives, was taken in the 1850s. The Archives department is a wonderful place to research our past.

The Oberlin Alumni Magazine for December 1961 includes a nice history of science education at Oberlin. It's available in the Archives or in the periodical stacks on the 2nd floor of the Main Library.

Dance Your Ph.D.! Contest Winners Announced

If you start learning basic dance moves now, you may be ready to choreograph your own interpretive dance sequence, should the AAAS sponsor another "Dance Your Ph.D." contest. The 2009 contest winners depicted positron emission tomography, the role of vitamin D in beta cell function, and isoelectric focusing of asymmetric mutant hybrids (Indeed. A bit different from inspiration of the Fall Forward dancers, I assume). They will be honored guests at the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. The dances are enormously creative -- take a look!

Take the BioScience Challenge

Action Bioscience, a Web-based educational resource of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, offers dozens of peer-reviewed articles on timely, critical issues, written for the non-specialist. Biodiversity, environment, genomics, biotechnology, and evolution are five of the major categories of bioscience "challenges" that impact our lives on a daily basis. Each category on the Web site includes excellent review articles by experts, with references for more reading. Sign up for ActionBioscience e-updates, and you'll be alerted when new articles are posted.

One of the highlighted articles considers polar bears and climate change, a very timely topic given the Defenders of Wildlife new report on the urgent need to act now to protect wildlife from global warming.

Read your way through the Web site and you'll be wonderfully informed on the most pressing issues in bioscience today - and better prepared to appreciate the Year of Science, to be celebrated in 2009.

What's that Stuff? C&EN Online makes it easier to find out.

Have you seen the new look for the American Chemical Society publications, including the member's news weekly Chemical & Engineering News? C&EN features regular elucidating columns with entertaining information about the chemicals we encounter in everyday life - perfect for the non-chemist and chemical savvy alike.

What's That Stuff? considers contact lens solutions this week. Have you stopped to wonder what's pooling around that contact lens as you tease it out of its lens case? Or given any thought to be benefits of the moisturizing agent polyvinyl pyrrolidone as opposed to, say, your own spit? No? You might want to find out!

Yeah! New Books for your Thanksgiving break

Want to read something that isn't required yet still engaging and educational? Todays' new books shipment offers some wonderful choices! Here are just a few to tempt you:

• Mean and lowly things by Kate Jackson, is a naturalist's glaringly truthful account of snakes, science, and survival in the Congo.
• A Supremely bad idea by Luke Dempsey follows three mad birders and their quest to see it all through 8 states, 1 foreign country, 129 towns, 34 national parks and "too many alarming motel rooms" to chase the most beautiful and rarest birds the country offers. [Listen to Bruce Gellerman's interview with the author on Living on Earth, Sept. 12]
  
• David and Richard Garfinkle's Three steps to the universe offers a guided tour from the sun to black holes to the mystery of dark matter throughout the entire universe.
• What the nose knows (Avery Gilbert) explores the science of scent in everyday life. One could only wish for scratch and sniff cards to make it complete.
• Peter Pringle brings us the story of Stalin's persecution of one of the great scientists of the twentieth century, in The Murder of Nikolai Vavilov.

There are plenty more, so come on in and browse the new books area! Or browse the new list online.

ACS Publications Unavailable this Weekend

On the weekend of November 15–16, 2008, the American Chemical Society Publications website will be unavailable as they deploy a dynamic new web delivery platform, hosting all 34 ACS Journals on a platform rich with new features and functionality. A flash-based demo showcasing many of the features and benefits of the new site is available at: http://pubs.acs.org/flashdemo

Download what you need before 8:30 a.m. Saturday!

Former CIA Director Woolsey on National Security and Oil

From Scientific American special editions, October 2008:
For National Security, Get Off Oil
Former CIA director R. James Woolsey says America's oil dependence is a grave threat
By Stephen D. Solomon

"At R. James Woolsey’s farm in southern Maryland, solar panels on the roof of his house send electricity back to the utility grid when his family is not using much power. And he drives a Toyota Prius hybrid with a conversion kit that enables him to recharge the car’s battery pack using an extension cord and household current."
Read more at Scientific American online
SciAm.com > Special Editions > Energy > Automotive Technology

Interested in learning more about hybrid cars and other energy technologies, from a physics perspective? Here's a fascinating new book that has just been cataloged on OBIS: Physics of societal issues : calculations on national security, environment, and energy / David Hafemeister. New York : Springer, c2007
Available online to OhioLINK libraries at springerlink.com. Link there from OBIS.

"Forward linking" in JSTOR

JSTOR continues to expand in the number of journal titles archived and in the wonderful flexibility of its search features. It also provides an easy way to jump from the archive to more recent issues of any journal title, through links to publishers' web sites and the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center when appropriate.

BROWSE BY DISCIPLINE is a quick way to see all of the content in a broadly defined subject area. The biological sciences are well-represented in JSTOR, but physical and chemical studies are plentiful in the General Science category. See, for example:

Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences Vol. 358, No. 1766, Jan., 2000

Science into the Next Millenium: Young Scientists Give Their Visions of the Future: II: Chemistry and Biological Physics.

Science titles added to the JSTOR archives in the past few months include:
Ambio
American Biology Teacher
Botanical Review
Economic Botany
Flora Neotropica
Folia Geobotanica
Oecologia

Create a MyJSTOR account, and you can take advantage of some great new features, such as exporting saved citations directly to RefWorks.

Have you tried RefWorks yet?

RefWorks is the newest bit of bibliographic nirvana the library offers. Okay, that's a wildly inaccurate overstatement and misuse of the true meaning of nirvana - but RefWorks is pretty darn nifty all the same. Get your references in order, all in the same electronic folder for a specific project or paper, have them formatted for you in just about any style you desire, share your references with research team members, and get in-text citations inserted in your manuscript as you write... all from a web-accessible server that you can access from any networked computer anywhere. Export citations directly from dozens of databases into your RefWorks account, and it even saves those handy FIND IT links to the full-text. You can also import all of those references you've stored on your computer with some other bibliographic management utility, and have the benefit of accessing those citations from anywhere! Want more information? Contact me and I'll walk you through the process - or get started on your own at refworks.com. Create your individual account and you'll be on your way.