The latest Tangled Bank is now up at Lean Left. TB is a collection of the (self-nominated) best science writing in the blogosphere over the previous couple of weeks. This edition is especially strong on bugs, in various senses of the word.
The next Tangled Bank will be hosted right here at Preposterous Universe on October 6th. All you have to do is email me (carroll@theory.uchicago.edu) with a pointer to an interesting science-oriented post you have recently written, and our world-class panel of experts will make an impartial determination of your worthiness as a scientist, a blogger, and a human being (not necessarily in that order). If you are fortunate enough to pass through this rigorous screening process, you just may be included in the upcoming edition. (Sure, if you read the ground rules, you might get the impression that it’s pretty easy to get accepted into the lofty company of Tangled Bank authors. Don’t get complacent, that’s all I’m saying.)
The Tangled Bank idea was originated by the redoubtable PZ Myers, and there was a natural slant towards things biological in the early days. (More recently it has been hosted by ornery liberals, a phenomenon still imperfectly explained.) But participation is wide open to those of us in the less squishy sciences, and I want you physicists out there to represent. If you don’t volunteer I may have to hunt you down. Let’s show the world that we can be lucid and enthusiastic explainers of recondite ideas, not merely the flamboyant show-offs that unfair stereotypes so often paint us to be.
Also, I’m thinking of instituting a dress code.