Chris Rowan, who writes Highly Allochthonous, a fine weblog with an earth sciences bent, has now put together Philosophia Naturalis #5, a carnival of weblog entries from various scientific disciplines. Don’t miss this, because Chris links to numerous science blogs with high-quality content, covering everything from the topology of the universe to the top breakthroughs in nanotechnology for 2006. Can the universe usefully be described as a computer? Is string theory a blind alley? You’ll find plenty to read here.

What I appreciate about the ongoing ‘carnival’ idea is that it collects good writing that I would otherwise have missed and leads me to science bloggers I want to read again. While you’re at Chris’ site, be sure to read his thoughts about water on Mars and the alternatives to the liquid water hypothesis. This is yet another blog I will add to my RSS aggregator.