ネリネ (Nerine)

　ネリネはヒガンバナ科の属の一つで、約30種がある。写真の種は、わが家の庭にあるもので、毎冬1本の茎が、ゲラニウムの葉の茂っている下から伸び出て花を咲かせ、花の少ないこの季節にうるおいを与えてくれている。2010年12月27日撮影。

Nerine is a genus of plants belonging to the Amaryllidaceae family. There are about 30 different species in the genus. The above picture, taken on December 27, 2010, shows the kind of species that is present in our yard. Each winter, a stem comes out from under the thick layer of geranium leaves, and flowers bloom, giving us delight in this period when flowers are scarce.

From tweets of yesterday (edited by rephrasing, adding words, etc.)

Science

"2010 review: 10 most popular physics stories." New Scientist (December 28, 2010). [Retweeted by Tim Jones]

[From Tim Beauchamp to Tim Jones and me] Don't you hate it when people publish a list of the 10 most popular, but don't say how they determined that?

[From Tim Jones to Tim Beauchamp and me] Yes, I wondered that. Is it web hits, comments, retweets, popular in New Scientist office etc etc?

[To Tim Beauchamp] I supposed similarly as Tim Jones replied, and also think that they should have written their method of choice at New Scientist.

[From Tim Beauchamp to Tim Jones and me] An interesting experiment on gaming these publications' top 10 lists: "Cracking the New York Times Popularity Code" The Daily Beast Blog (December 20, 2010).

Neuroscience

Studies of brain: "Amygdala at the centre of your social network" A larger emotion-processing brain centre is linked to a bigger circle of friends. Nature, News (December 26, 2010); "Political views 'hard-wired' into your brain" Tories may be born not made, claims a study that suggests people with right wing views have a larger area of the brain associated with fear. Telegraph (December 28, 2010).