A Blog Around The Clock

While the public list of participants is still a little bit in flux – a few people just canceled and we scrambled to get some waitlisters in – the statistics on all of them are interesting (click on link to see large and play):

For example – 199 identified themselves as bloggers but 222 say they blog, so some people who use blogging software use it for something else they do not consider to be be blogging.

We have guests from eight countries: 264 from USA, 14 from Canada, 14 from the U.K., two from Netherlands, two from Germany, one from Ireland, one from Italy and one from Malaysia.

Canadians come from four different provinces: Ontario, Alberta, Nova Scotia and British Columbia.

Not all Brits are from Central London either, there are one each from Avon, Berkshire and Surrey.

We have guests from 35 states of the USA: NC – 95, NY – 42, CA – 20, DC – 10, IL – 9, MA – 8, PA – 7, VA – 7, GA – 6, FL – 5, MD – 5, TX – 5, CO – 4, IN – 4, MO – 3, SC – 3, WA – 3, WI – 3, CT – 2, DE – 2, IA – 2, KY – 2, TN – 2, AZ – 1, HI – 1, ID – 1, ME – 1, MN – 1, MT – 1, NH – 1, NJ – 1, NM – 1, OH – 1, OR – 1, UT – 1

Out of 95 from North Carolina, 75 reside in the Triangle area – the rest are spread from the mountains (Saluda), through Charlotte area, to the coast (e.g, Wilmington).

Check the stats yourself. We’ll also do some more later, e.g., the gender break-down etc. I think there will be 10 attendees younger than 18 years old, but I am not sure how old is the oldest participant (last year it was 75!) – there must be quite a range.

Right now it is sunny and clear. The major roads are dry, and the ice is rapidly melting on sidewalks:

One of the special speakers at the banquet at ScienceOnline2011 will be Dr. Margaret (Meg) Lowman, the Director of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences‘ Nature Research Center.

The Nature Research Center (NRC) is “the new 80,000-square-foot wing of the Museum dedicated to bringing scientific research into the public eye. Currently under construction in the block west of the Museum, the NRC is scheduled to open in early 2012. Lowman is also Research Professor of Natural Sciences in the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at NC State University, where she focuses on initiatives involving communicating science to the public.”

The way I understand the concept of NRC is that the Museum visitors (and a number of ScienceOnline2011 participants will go on a traditional tour of the Museum and its basement vaults) will have an opportunity there to interact with real working scientists, observe them at work, talk to them and ask questions, and importantly, to try their own hands at doing stuff. A number of local labs are going to be involved in this, putting some of their research resources into the building and doing their work under the eyes (and probably continuous questioning and conversation) of the curious public.

One of the participants in this endeavor will be Dr.Rob Dunn from the NCSU Biology Department (yes, that is my old Department, now renamed).

Now, to understand what next I will say, you need to be familiar with Rob Dunn’s recent blog post, The top 10 life-forms living on Lady Gaga (and you), especially point #5: Vanity.

Just as was described in the post, visitors of the NRC at the Museum will be able to volunteer to have bacteria from their navels cultured and photographed and e-mailed to them.

NRC is not open yet, but attendees of ScienceOnline2011 on Sunday will be the very first to be offered this opportunity to participate. As Meg Lowman will also explain during the Saturday banquet, there will be a table set up at Sigma Xi on Sunday morning where you can donate your bellybutton lint. Provide your e-mail, and you’ll get a picture of the cultures.

Now, I know that this is not Citizen Science in the proper definition of the word. But, knowing the people who attend this meeting, I bet they can find creative ways to actually turn it into something more like it. Perhaps all of the images can be pooled into a single online place, perhaps a geographical map (including perhaps additional information about the donors, e.g,. bathing habits – morning vs. evening showers, usual type of clothes they wear, etc.). Or, some of the participants who have labs with required capabilities may go a step further and repeat the experiment at home but also sequence the microbial metagenomes of their navels, then get together with each other and publish a comparative study. Who knows, we may all learn something new from the exercise? Or at least they can be strong contenders for the next IgNobels…

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

David Wescott is vice president of APCO Worldwide. He blogs at It’s Not a Lecture and tweets as @dwescott1.

Minjae Ormes is a consultant for National Geographic Channel and Tribeca Film Institute. She tweets as @minjae.

Stephen Diggs is a Data/Cyberinfrastructure Manager at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He tweets as @scdiggs.

William Alexander is a Medical Writer/Editor. He often blogs at Science in the Triangle and at Stretch your mind.

Sarah Yelton is the PreK-12 Environmental Education Consultant at the NC Office of Environmental Education & Public Affairs.

Katherine Grichnik is Associate Dean at Continuing Medical Education at the Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Lisa Dellwo is a freelance writer and photographer, and a frequent contributor to Science in the Triangle. She tweets as @LisaDellwo.

Dawn Crawford is a Social media consultant. She blogs at BC/DC Ideas and tweets as @socmediarckstr and @dawnacrawford.

Brian Crawford is a Copywriter. He also blogs at BC/DC Ideas and tweets as @bcwritr.

Donna Krupa is the Communications Director at the American Physiological Society and she tweets as @Phyziochick.

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Scott Huler is an Independent writer and producer. He blogs and tweets as @huler and also writes books like the awesome latest On The Grid. I interviewed Scott back in May.

Krystal D’Costa is an anthropologist working in New York City. She blogs at Anthropology in Practice and tweets as @anthinpractice.

Dr.Isis is a physiologist and blogger. She blogs at On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess and The Brain Confounds Everything and tweets as @drisis.

Richard Grant is the chief editor of Naturally Selected, the Faculty of 1000 blog at The Scientist magazine. He also blogs at his own blog Confessions of a (former) Lab Rat and tweets as @rpg7twit.

Betul Kacar Arslan is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NASA Astrobiology Institute Center for Ribosome and Evolution. She blogs at Counter Minds and tweets as @BetulKArslan. I interviewed Betul in 2009.

Sara Imari Walker is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

Michelle Cerulli is a Graduate student in The Medical & Science Journalism Program at UNC. She tweets as @cerulli_m.

Rhitu Chatterjee is a Science reporter for the PRI’s The World. She tweets as @worldscipod.

Charles Yelton is the Curator of Programs and Citizen Science at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. He tweets as @naturalsciences.

Neil Losin is a Ph.D. Candidate at the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He blogs and he tweets as @neillosin.

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Robin Ann Smith is a science writer, a freelance contributor to the News and Observer & Charlotte Observer, and directs the newsroom at NESCent. She tweets as @NESCent and @robinannsmith. I interviewed Robin back in March.

Amanda Moon is the Senior Book Editor at Scientific American and Farrar, Straus and Giroux. She tweets as @amsciam.

Megan Scudellari is a Correspondent for The Scientist magazine.

Mary Jane Gore is the Senior Science Writer at the Duke Medicine News office. She tweets as @mjgore. I interviewed Mary back in March.

Victoria McGovern is the Senior Program Officer at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund.

Pamela Blizzard is the Executive Director of the Contemporary Science Center. She tweets as @blizzkin.

Marla Broadfoot is a Freelance science writer and editor. She tweets as @mvbroadfoot. I interviewed Marla in November.

Fenella Saunders is a Senior Editor at the American Scientist. She tweets as @fenellasaunders. I interviewed Fenella back in May.

Elsa Youngsteadt is the Programs manager and Science producer for the Sigma Xi/BBC/Nova/PRI The World Science Podcast. She tweets as @worldscipod and @elsa_y.

Anne Frances Johnson is a Graduate Student in the Medical & Science Journalism Program at UNC. She is @afjwriting on Twitter. I interviewed Anne back in July.

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Peter Janiszewski is an exercise physiologist, writer and editor. He is a co-creator of Science of Blogging and he blogs at Obesity Panacea and tweets as @pmjaniszewski.

Gabrielle Lyon is the Cofounder and Executive Director of Project Exploration where she runs the blog and the @ProjExplore twitter account. I interviewed Gabe two years ago.

Thomas Peterson is the Chief Scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center.

Mark MacAllister is the Coordinator of Online Learning Projects at the North Carolina Zoological Society. He founded and runs the Field Trip Earth educational resource and tweets as @fieldtripearth. I interviewed Mark back in March.

Cristine Russell is a Freelance writer for outlets like Columbia Journalism Review. She tweets as @russellcris.

Andrea Kuszewski is a Researcher at Metodo, a Behavior Therapist, and an artist. She blogs at Rogue Neuron and tweets as @AndreaKuszewski.

Tabitha Powledge is a freelance science & medical writer-editor as well as a member of the Executive Board of the National Association of Science Writers (NASW) where she runs the homepage news blog. She tweets as @tamfecit.

Paul Groth is a Postdoc at VU University Amsterdam. He blogs at Think Links and tweets as @pgroth.

Kathleen Raven is a graduate student and freelance writer in the Knight Health Medical Journalism program at Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She blogs at Paragraphs and tweets as @ravenkathleen.

Ann Allen is the Science Editor at The Charlotte Observer.

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Seth Mnookin is a journalist and author, among other books, the upcoming excellent The Panic Virus. He blogs at The Panic Virus blog and tweets as @sethmnookin.

Melody Dye is a Researcher at Stanford University. She blogs at Child’s Play and tweets as @moximer.

Russ Williams is the Executive Director of the NC Zoo Society. He blogs at Russlings and tweets as @russwilliamsiii. I interviewed Russ back in March.

Kathryn Clancy is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She blogs at Context and variation as well as on her lab blog Laboratory for Evolutionary Endocrinology. She tweets as @KateClancy.

Paul Raeburn is a journalist and author. He blogs most often at Knight Science Journalism Tracker, and sometimes at About Fathers and Fathers and Families. His next book, Why Fathers Matter, will be published in 2012. He tweets as @praeburn.

Leslie Taylor is project manager at the Science Friday Initiative and Web Editor of TalkingScience. She tweets as @talkingscience.

Nicole Garbarini is a Science Policy Fellow at NSF and AAAS. She tweets as @nikkigee.

Kristy Meyer is the Social Media Manager at Sigma Life Science. She tweets as @kristy3m.

John Ohab is the New Technology Strategist at OMNITEC Solutions Inc at the Department of Defense Public Web Program. He tweets as @ArmedwScience.

Chris Mooney is a writer and journalist. He is the author of ‘Republican War on Science’, ‘The Storm World” and “Unscientific America”. He blogs at The Intersection, hosts Point of Inquiry Podcasts and tweets as @ChrisMooney_.

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Mary Knudson is a health and medical journalist. She is a Co-author of Living Well with Heart Failure and co-editor of A Field Guide for Science Writers. She blogs at HeartSense blog and tweets as @maryknudson.

Mark Hahnel is the Founder of science3point0.com and he tweets as @science3point0. I interviewed Mark in October.

Jan Reichelt is the President and Co-Founder of Mendeley. He tweets as @janerixo.

Jason Hoyt is the Chief Scientist at Mendeley. He tweets as @jasonHoyt. I interviewed Jason back in May.

Lucas Brouwers is a postgraduate student following the MSc programme Molecular Mechanisms of Disease in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He blogs at Thoughtomics and tweets as @lucasbrouwers.

Danielle Lee is Biologist, and an Outreach Scientist in St. Louis, Missouri. She blogs at Urban Science Adventures! and SouthernPlayalisticEvolutionMusic and tweets as @DNLee5. I interviewed Danielle last year.

John Rennie is a Freelance science writer & editor. He blogs at Retort and tweets as @tvjrennie.

Helene Andrews-Polymenis is Associate Professor at Texas A&M Health Science Center in the College of Medicine. She blogs and tweets and is one of the founders/developers of The Third Reviewer. I interviewed Helene back in August.

Amos Zeeberg is the Managing Editor at Discover Magazine Online and Discover Blogs. He tweets as @settostun.

Clifton Wiens is the Head of Research and Editorial Story Development for National Geographic Television. He tweets as @cliftonwiens.

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Jean-Claude Bradley is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Drexel University. He blogs at Useful Chemistry and tweets as @jcbradley. I interviewed Jean-Claude two years ago – he is one of the handful people to attend all five conferences and one of only two people who moderated a session every single year.

Karen James is the Director of Science for the HMS Beagle Project. She also blogs at Data Not Shown and tweets as @kejames and @beagleproject. I interviewed Karen two years ago.

Olivia Koski is a Freelance Writer and a recent graduate of NYU’s program for Science, Health and Environmental Reporting where she blogged at Scienceline. She tweets as @oliviakoski.

Katie Peek is an astrophysicist turned science journalist and another recent recent graduate of NYU’s program for Science, Health and Environmental Reporting where she blogged at Scienceline. She tweets as @kathrynpeek.

Steve Koch is an Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico. He blogs at Steve Koch Science and tweets as @skoch3.

Amy Freitag is a PhD student at Duke University. She blogs at Southern Fried Science and tweets as @bgrassbluecrab. I interviewed Amy in May.

Vicky Somma is the Director of Software Development at Management Solutions of Virginia. She blogs at TGAW and tweets as @TGAW.

Robert Mitchum is a Senior Science and Research Reporter at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where is the editor of the Science Life blog. He tweets as @sciencelife.

Romeo Vitelli is a Psychologist in Toronto. He blogs at Providentia and tweets as @rvitelli.

David Whitlock is a chief scientist at Nitroceutic LLC and he blogs at Stranger than you can imagine .

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Meg Lowman is a writer, researcher, adventurer, and the Director of the Nature Research Center at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. She blogs at Canopy Meg and tweets as @canopymeg.

Steve Mirsky is the Podcast Editor and Columnist at Scientific American. He tweets as @stevemirsky.

Sophia Collins is the Producer of the Gallomanor Project: I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here!. She tweets as @imascientist.

Ryan Somma is the Senior Software Developer at USCG. He blogs at Ideonexus and tweets as @ideonexus. I interviewed Ryan two years ago.

Kea Giles is the Managing Editor of GSA Communications at The Geological Society of America. She blogs at Dragonfly Wars and tweets as @Colo_kea.

James Shackleton is a Student at White Oak High School in Jacksonville, NC.

Mary Canady is the President of Comprendia. She blogs at the Comprendia blog and tweets as @comprendia.

Heidi Anderson is the Editor of SheThought.com. She is on Twitter as @HeidiAnderson.

Nicole Gugliucci is a graduate student at the University of Virginia. She blogs at One Astronomer’s Noise and tweets as @NoisyAstronomer.

Thomas O’Donnell is a Science and Technology Writer at Krell Institute.

Continuing with the introductions to the attendees/participants of ScienceOnline2011. You can find them all on the list, but it may help if you get them in smaller chunks, focusing on a few at a time.

Deborah Blum is writer and a Professor of Journalism at University of Wisconsin. She blogs at Speakeasy Science and tweets as @deborahblum. I have reviewed her latest book ‘The Poisoner’s Handbook’ – here.

Stephanie Willen Brown is the director of the Park Library in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. She blogs at CogSci Librarian and tweets as @CogSciLibrarian. I interviewed Stephanie back in July.

Melissa Lott is a Graduate student and Research Assistant at University of Texas at Austin. She blogs on Global Energy Matters and tweets as @mclott.

Jessica McCann is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Duke University Medical Center. She tweets as @jess_i_am.

Louis Shackleton is a student at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He blogs at Crowded Head, Cozy Bed and tweets as @LouFCD.

Todd Harris is a Bioinformaticist and information architect at WormBase. He blogs at The World Is My Cubicle and tweets as @tharris.

Carl Boettiger is a Graduate Student Researcher in Population Biology at University of California, Davis. He tweets as @cboettig.

Jennifer Walton is the Public Relations Manager at NEON, Inc.. She tweets as @NEONInc.

Ann Marie Cunningham is the Executive Director of the Science Friday Initiative – the nonprofit of Science Friday on NPR – and she blogs at Talking Science. She tweets as @talkingscience.

Kelly Rae Chi is a freelance writer. I interviewed Kelly justa few weeks ago. She tweets as @kellyraechi.