nodalpoint.org

The editor(s) of Scientific American has one, Science magazine has one, I have one. That's right people, be prepared for the rise of the academic weblog.

So far the numbers are small and the range is diverse, however the theme is definitely scientific. You can read researcher's takes on anything from developmental biology, boolean networks for modeling cancer, anthropology, mass spectrometry, genetics of human migration, Archaea, and even systems biology. Click on the "read more" link for my current reading list...

Update: I have added all of the blogs mentioned to the recommended reading list (block). For suggestions or additions please add a comment to this thread.

• Yi Xing's Alternative Splicing Blog
• Keats' telescope - An expatriate scientist, thinking out loud. Science, foreign affairs, life in Germany
• In the pipeline - Drug development
• Cavalcade of Mammals
• Young Female Scientist - Nothing is sacred
• The Struggling Grad Student - GGW: Grad (student) Gone Wild!
• Andrew Dalke's writings - Writings from the software side of bioinformatics and chemical informatics, with a heaping of Python thrown in for good measure. Code to taste. Best served at room temperature.
• For my full list of subscriptions: http://www.bloglines.com/public/gregorytyrelle

This list is specific for working scientists, but I also read many computer science and technical weblogs (python programming, web programming etc.). I am aware that there are many "general science" news sites (I'm sure nodalpoint could be lumped in this category), again I was trying to be specific.

I am interested in any scientific (or related) weblogs nodalpoint readers are following. Based on my list and your suggestions I'll put up a nodalpoint blog roll and send some google juice to the lucky few :)

As to why a scientist would bother blogging ? This from Sean Carroll, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Chicago (blog: Preposterous Universe):

"It can serve a useful purpose in providing some expert commentary when something hits the news, like Hawking's ideas about black holes last summer," says Carroll. "And I like to think that it does provide a window into the wider concerns of an academic scientist when I talk about dinosaurs or theater or music. Writing it has made me more disciplined and careful about my ideas and how I express them; you can't get away with things in front of a thousand readers that you might in casual conversation."