This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
This month was quite a busy one for me; between frantic work deadlines and being slightly ill I didn't really have time to promote, share or find a host for the MolBio carnival. Which means that this month there is no carnival. Instead I thought I'd write a bit about the MolBio carnival, why I think it's important and then share some link-love by highlighting all the MolBio regulars, great bloggers who submit, share and help me promote the carnival every month.
So first of all, what is the carnival? It's a roving collection of regular monthly links, collated using the blog-carnival website. People can submit posts, and they all get sent to the host, who organises them prettily on their own blog. It was first set up in June 2010 as an idea by Alejandro, Lucas Brouwers, Alexander Knoll, Psi Wavefunction and me. Since then its had an issue every month, either hosted by one of us or other biological bloggers who express an interest.
Are blog-carnivals important? They are certainly a fair amount of work to maintain and sometimes feel a bit like a giant echo chamber. But from a readers point of view they can introduce people to some fascinating new blogging, and from a bloggers point of view they help to share the readers around. More importantly, they create a sense of community among the bloggers themselves. I might not always have time to catch up with what my bloggy-friends are doing, but once a month I get links to their work all gathered together in one place. Running the carnival has helped me make new bloggy-friends, and find more blogs that cover science I want to read about.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
So without further ado, in the spirit of linking and sharing great MolBio writing, here are the awesome regular writers, who I've met and become friends with through the carnival. Take a look at their blogs, and enjoy the writing, and we'll be back next month with an actual carnival! If you want to participate, submit any molbio blog posts here (or send me an email).
Lucas Brouwers: One of the first blogs I approached to write comments on was Lucas's old Thoughtomics blog. To my surprise and delight he came straight over to my blog and commented back. Lucas writes the kind of amazing science posts I can only dream about, covering a range of biological topics that usually have a strong evolutionary focus.
Psi Wavefunction: Psi is the person to go to for all things protist, and I am constantly fascinated by the offhand way in which she can discuss insanely complex protist relationships. Not to mention the amount of memory it must take to remember the names of all of them! A good blog to go to for all things microbiological.
Alejandro Montenegro-Montero: The original mastermind of the MolBio carnival, Alejandro now blogs at the MolBio hut. He covers research, science news, science policy and the science blogosphere. He's been writing a lot lately about the open-access issue, with quotes and points from a number of sources.
James Byrne: James blogs about all things medical, which means that when he does blog about bacteria, it's inevitably from the point of view of something horrible that they've done to people. It's not all bacteria though, James writes about all kinds of weird and wonderful diseases.
Connor Bamford: Connor is a more recent bloggy-friend; but someone whose blog I'll be reading for a long time to come. Connor covers viruses, and writes mostly about primary research in a way which is really accessible to read. I read Connor to catch up on the viral news that I miss with my bacterial blog.
E.E Giorgi: A true molbio blogger, EE writes about viral DNA, and other genetics issues. Also does some really great photography on G+ which is well worth following.
Captain Skellet: The Captain! Skellet's blog covers a whole range of science topics over at Schooner of Science, and was a very early blog-friend. She also regularly covers Australian science conferences and science news.
[One weird thing I noticed when writing this list; all the male bloggers use their full names. All the female ones have pseuds or use their initials. Funny that...]
So, if you'd like to submit, or host the MolBio carnival in its coming months, just follow the link, leave a comment, or get in touch!