What is it? - 37 million year old fossil primate puzzles paleontologists

Posted by Jennifer Eidelman | 13 May, 2010

from Research Blogging - Biology - English by Laelaps, Laelaps

In the Fayum desert of northern Egypt, not too far from the banks of the Nile, the vestiges of ancient forests are preserved in the sand-covered strata. The fossils are ghosts of a vanished oasis in which prehistoric cousins of modern elephants wallowed in lush wetlands and a host of ancient primates scrambled through the trees, and despite being known as one of the world's best fossil sites for over a century paleontologists are continuing to discovery new species from the desert rock. The trouble is that not all these new species are easily classified.

Seiffert, E., Simons, E., Boyer, D., Perry, J., Ryan, T., & Sallam, H. (2010) A fossil primate of uncertain affinities from the earliest late Eocene of Egypt. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1001393107  A fossil primate of uncertain affinities from the earliest late Eocene of Egypt


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Scholarometer beta

Posted by Jennifer Eidelman | 13 May, 2010

from Library Intelligencer by shirley

http://scholarometer.indiana.edu/

“Scholarometerbeta http://scholarometer.indiana.edu/ is a social tool to facilitate citation analysis and help evaluate the impact of an author’s publications. Scholarometer is a browser extension that provides a smart interface for Google Scholar, it does not have the limitations of server based citation analysis tools that sit between the user and Google Scholar. At the same time Scholarometer is not an application, such as Publish or Perish, and therefore it is platform independent and runs on every system that supports the Firefox or the Chrome browser. Still, Scholarometer uses Google Scholar, which provides the most comprehensive source of citation data across the sciences and social science”

source: QUT blog LibraryFIT

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South African Sugar Technologists’ Association (SASTA)

Posted by Jennifer Eidelman | 22 Feb, 2010
The South African Sugar Technologists’ Association (SASTA) has been holding annual Congresses since 1923. The complete set of papers from Congresses from 1923 to 2008 are available as fully searchable documents on the SASTA website. The abstracts from SASTA Congress 2009 are available as well (the complete papers from Congress 2009 will be uploaded in August 2010, together with the Abstracts from the Congress 2010 once it has taken place). This website (www.sasta.co.za) is therefore a very valuable source of information on research on sugar related topics. Downloading papers from the website is free of charge to any user.

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Linus Pauling Online - reviewed in Choice Reviews Online

Posted by Jennifer Eidelman | 22 Dec, 2009
Linus Pauling Online.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2010jan CHOICE.
http://pauling.library.oregonstate.edu/
[Visited Oct'09] All students of biology and chemistry know the story of the discovery of the structure of the DNA molecule. Watson and Crick (with the help of Wilkins and Franklin) were the first to elucidate the structure of the hereditary molecule that carries the information for all life forms. What is not often understood is that Watson and Crick's work rested on the earlier insights of Linus Pauling, the American chemist who described the three-dimensional structure of proteins and nucleic acids. Pauling's work was recognized by the Nobel committees twice: for chemistry and for peace. He remains the only scientist so honored. Linus Pauling Online, maintained by Oregon State University, is an admirable compendium of Pauling's immense contributions to the understanding of the molecules that shape our world, and of the issues in the scientific, biomedical, and political spheres that fascinated him over a long, productive life.

This is a huge, absorbing, and utterly involving site, suitable for use by students, teachers, and professionals alike. There is the story of the discovery of the DNA structure, for example, told from Pauling's perspective--much different from that of James Watson! Most exciting, perhaps, is the searchable database of Pauling's research notebooks. These are treasure troves of information that illuminate the drudgery, as well as the successes, of scientific work. Dip into notebook #24, for example, and on p. 084 read the frustrated scribble, "I can't explain this." Is this a moment of despair or of discovery? A typed note dated 22 April 1971 begins, "I have been interested for some time in the possibility that vitamin C has anti-cancer activity...." This Web site is astonishing, multilayered, and packed with information. In short, it is a fitting tribute to its namesake. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All collections. -- S. K. Sommers Smith, Boston University

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How to Cite Twitter and Facebook

Posted by Jennifer Eidelman | 29 Oct, 2009
Find out how to cite information from Twitter and Facebook using the APA referencing style.

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