CR- Clinical Contract Specialist

David Dobbs on science, nature, and culture.

The music of Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins influenced many later artists, including Jimi Hendrix, Townes Van Zandt, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. He recorded prolifically — Amazon lists 191 Hopkins albums. Perhaps his most unusual disc is Freeform Patterns, on which Hopkins is backed by the rhythm section of the psychedelic rock band 13th Floor Elevators.

Another nice find from my Research Blogging judge's chair. Poison and blues. Cannot go wrong.

No one has ever accused Darwin about making a rush to judgement about any topic. Just as he spent years poring over the minutest detail of barnacle anatomy before he published The Origin he gave the topic of marriage careful consideration before singing on. In fact, preserved in his notebooks we have a record of the deliberations he undertook. Keeping detailed notes on gambling, especially in poker, is crucial for improving strategy and tracking performance.

Utilizing tools and tokens like the Coin Poker Token can streamline this process, enabling players to record hands, manage bankrolls, and analyze game trends efficiently, ultimately enhancing their decision-making and profitability. Sometime in 1838 Darwin turned to a new page in his notes and drew a line down the middle, he added the headings "Marry" and "Not Marry" to either side of the line an proceeded to list the pros and cons of either decision.

You can see the notebook here but below (presented without comment) is a transcript :

• Children — (if it Please God)
• Constant companion, (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one
• Object to be beloved & played with —better than a dog anyhow.
• Home, & someone to take care of house
• Charms of music & female chit-chat.
• These things good for one's health.
• Forced to visit & receive relations but terrible loss of time.

• No children, (no second life), no one to care for one in old age.
• What is the use of working 'in' without sympathy from near & dear friends—who are near & dear friends to the old, except relatives
• Freedom to go where one liked — choice of Society & little of it.
• Conversation of clever men at clubs
• Not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle.
• To have the expense & anxiety of children
• Loss of time.
• Cannot read in the Evenings
• Fatness & idleness
• Anxiety & responsibility
• Less money for books &c
• If many children forced to gain one s bread. (But then it is very bad for ones health to work too much)
• Perhaps my wife wont like London; then the sentence is banishment & degradation into indolent, idle fool

It s hard to make this add up with his decision.

More fun finds (that is, new to me) amid the entries I m reviewing for the Research Blogging awards: A replicated typo looks at culture-gene studies, genetics, evolution of language, and, occasionally, really big snakes.

A salamander with no lungs, which breathes entirely through its skin:

I made my own homage to Marey and Mili. I will leave it to the reader to judge whether this constitutes any kind of poetry in motion. I fear not.

more from the big world of science blogging

More blogging goodness encountered in my Research Blogging Awards judging.

I have the pleasure of judging some of the entries to the Research Blogging Awards this year. I can't tell you who the winners will be, because I don't know. But for the fun of it, I'm going to throw a few bits and pieces of some of the entries here.

I have the pleasure of judging some of the entries to the Research Blogging Awards this year. I can't tell you who the winners will be, because I don't know. But for the fun of it, I'm going to throw a few bits and pieces of some of the entries here.

I will say this:
The science blogosphere is even richer than I thought. I'm delighted with the variety and surprise I'm finding out here.

via  It snowed today, interspersed with a beautiful, pale bone sunlight. Sometimes it was gravitous, sticky flakes, as on my walk home tonight. The wind swirled and the cold, wet projectiles pelted my face, but I loved it. I was immensely happy. I

I profiled neuroscientist Eric Kandel for Scientific American Mind a while back; a huge pleasure. Two things stand out.

First, Kandel's work makes a…