Academia
Category archives for Academia
Academic blogging: addressing criticisms
Posted by Tara C. Smith on September 25, 2008 Thanks again to those who blogged, commented or emailed regarding our PLoS Biology manuscript. Nick already has his own response here, highlighting posts such as Larry’s, Blake’s, Drug Monkey’s, Thomas’, and Carlo’s. Several criticisms ran along the same lines: that, as Nick notes, “that further institutionalizing blogs risks compromising their inherent spontaneous and independent ‘blogginess’”.…
PLoS Biology: blogging and academia
Posted by Tara C. Smith on September 23, 2008 Along with Shelley Batts and Nick Anthis, I have a new paper out today in PLoS Biology on academic blogging: a short commentary on potential ways to integrate blogs into academia. Nick already has a bit of the history and goals of the manuscript over at The Scientific Activist so I won’t repeat those here;…
Better news from the art world
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 24, 2008 You may recall the case of geneticist Robert Farrell, who had been initially charged with bioterroism for sharing generally-harmless strains of bacteria with a colleague, SUNY-Buffalo art professor Steven Kurtz. Farrell plead guilty to a reduced charge last fall and received a fine and probation. Now the verdict is in for Kurtz; more after the…
Damn those women, out there ruining science and being lazy and depressed
Posted by Tara C. Smith on March 13, 2008 Via Ed, if you puked on VoxDay’s shoes after his column earlier this week in WorldNetDaily: But this is not to say there is not a genuine threat to all three aspects of science today. Unsurprisingly, it comes from the same force that is the primary threat to the survival of Western civilization: female equalitarianism.…
Introducing…
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 24, 2008 …my grad students. My spring semester course is on infectious causes of chronic disease, looking at the role various infections play in cancer, autoimmune disease, mental illness, and other chronic conditions. Since I’ve often discussed the importance of having scientists communicate with the public, I decided to assign each of them to write 2 blog…
Progeria researchers, anyone?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 23, 2008 I received a very nice email from a high school student looking for a mentor for a research project on progeria: Currently, I’m in a science research program at school where we choose a topic of interest and study it for a period of three years, as well as design an experiment and carry it…
Sentence in for bacteria-mailing professor
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 21, 2008 Last fall I wrote about the bizarre case of University of Pittsburgh geneticist Robert Ferrell. Dr. Ferrell, you may recall, had been prosecuted for sharing generally-harmless strains of bacteria with a colleague, SUNY-Buffalo art professor Steven Kurtz. Dr. Kurtz then used the bacterial cultures in an art display, which drew the attention of authorities following…
Guillermo Gonzalez tenure review goes to the Board of Regents today: updated
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 7, 2008 It’s not certain there will be a decision immediately, though: From the Iowa State Daily: The Iowa Board of Regents will meet Thursday to discuss the tenure denial appeal of Guillermo Gonzalez, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Iowa State, at its regional meeting on the ISU campus. The meeting is at 8:30 a.m.,…
Loss of a giant: Joshua Lederberg
Posted by Tara C. Smith on February 5, 2008 Joshua Lederberg passed away on Saturday. Joshua Lederberg, Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist who shaped the field of bacterial genetics, and served as chair of The Scientist’s advisory board since 1986, died on Saturday (February 2). He was 82. Lederberg shared a Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine in 1958 for the discovery that certain strains…
Revamping funding via powerpoint and IM?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on November 16, 2007 Now that a proposed increase of funding to NIH has again been shot down, scientists have to once again face the reality of intense competition for very scarce funds. However, the process of awarding research grants is, well, a bit crazy. Scientists work for months on a grant, drafting, revising, trying to winnow it down…