Jake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine focusing in Neuroscience. He is due to graduate in 2032. He received a BS and a MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University -- where he spent most of his time drinking heavily and building vegetable catapults instead of learning information that would now be eminently useful. When he is not failing terrifically to perform his sworn duties, he enjoys watching bad movies, ethnic food, and running.
Pure Pedantry is a blog about science -- social sciences and otherwise -- as well as academic and scientific culture. No one can live on science alone, so I also like to dwell on pop culture, periodically explore the humanities, and indulge in other types of geeky goodness.
Jake is joined periodically by two wonderful guest bloggers: Kara Contreary and Kate Seip. See the About Page.
DISCLAIMERS: 1) Jake Young is not a licensed physician (yet). He is merely a medical student. The information published on this site is not intended for use in medical decision making. Please seek advice from a licensed, medical professional before making any health decisions. 2) The opinions expressed are my own or those of my co-bloggers. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments we currently attend.
October 31, 2006
Category: Embryonic Stem Cells
In August, there was a big press tizzy about so-called ethical stem cells. In the paper, a group headed by Robert Lanza working at a company called Advanced Cell Technology claimed that they could take a single cell from a...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:04 AM • 0 Comments •
October 30, 2006
Category: The Synapse (a neuroscience carnival)
Synapse #10 is Halloween-themed and posted at the Neurocritic. Spooky. I love it. The next Synapse is on November 12 to be hosted on Developing Intelligence. Submission info here....
Posted by Jake Young at 1:14 PM • 0 Comments •
Check out this YouTube of bullets explodying things (is that even a word?) in slow motion!!!...
Posted by Jake Young at 8:37 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science politics
The famous skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis nicknamed Lucy is going on a field trip: After 4 years of an on-again, off-again courtship, Ethiopian officials have promised the hand--and partial skeleton--of the famous fossil Lucy to museum officials in Houston,...
Posted by Jake Young at 8:28 AM • 1 Comments •
October 28, 2006
Category: Poems
Keeping in my continuing theme of interspersing a little humanities with my sciences -- I never was a kid who needed their food separated -- here is your poem of the week, Langston Hughes' Theme for English B. A little...
Posted by Jake Young at 4:42 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: The Synapse (a neuroscience carnival)
I'm a space cadet, but remember to submit to the Synapse today for tomorrow's issue. It is being hosted at the Neurocritic (All glory to the Hypnotoad!!!...Check the link...you will understand). Submission details here....
Posted by Jake Young at 10:07 AM • 1 Comments •
October 27, 2006
I have argued repeatedly that I don't think biological differences between men and women are sufficient to explain their different in representation in math and science (here, here, and here). Mixing Memory has a very thorough post arguing for the...
Posted by Jake Young at 12:19 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Religion
I don't really have time to post stuff today, but this post by Chad at Uncertain Principles is really good. It relates the failure to fully disprove Einstein's idea of Local Hidden Variables (read it and he will explain) to...
Posted by Jake Young at 12:03 PM • 6 Comments •
October 26, 2006
Category: Medicine
I hadn't actually known this, but the creator of the Dilbert cartoons, Scott Adams, was diagnosed about two years ago with a rare disease called spasmodic dysphonia. Apparently he just recovered -- in spite of overwhelming odds against that happening....
Posted by Jake Young at 9:48 AM • 26 Comments •
October 25, 2006
Category: Medicine
Virtual colonoscopy is more comfortable. Just thought you should know: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researchers have found that "virtual" colonoscopy using a computer tomography (CT) scanner is considerably more expensive than the traditional procedure due to the detection...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:31 AM • 7 Comments •
Hot. This is article is too funny: From bonobo chimpanzees to fruit flies, many female animals mate with multiple partners that often queue up for the event. Studies have shown that the the last male to mate with a female...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:07 AM • 1 Comments •
October 24, 2006
Category: Cloning
New Scientist is reporting on a movement among some scientists to replace the word "cloning" with "somatic cell nuclear transfer": Don't say cloning, say somatic cell nuclear transfer. That at least is the view of biologists who want the term...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:53 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: Economics
Edmund Phelps -- recent winner of the Nobel Prize in economics -- defends the moral rightness and the economic wisdom of the capitalist system in this essay in the WSJ: There are two economic systems in the West. Several nations--including...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:43 AM • 4 Comments •
October 23, 2006
Category: North Korea
News@Nature has another fabulous North Korea science update: What more have we learned about last week's North Korean test? Scientists have been able to confirm that it was indeed a nuclear weapon. US intelligence is reporting that the explosive force...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:07 AM • 3 Comments •
Ask a ScienceBlogger inquires: What's the best science TV show of all time?... I think that is pretty obvious. The answer is obviously my favorite science show from when I was a kid: 3-2-1 Contact Not only did it have...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:09 AM • 0 Comments •
October 22, 2006
Category: Poems
I like posting poems from time to time. They remind me that at one point I had an interior life that did not involve anxiety over tissue culture. Anyway, the poem of the week is by Billy Collins, a personal...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:50 PM • 0 Comments •
October 20, 2006
Category: Energy Policy
Hydrogen is great, but I feel like there are some structural and technical issues that have to be solved before...you know...the angels fly down to save us and hugs and bunnies abound. Popular Mechanics introduces a note of realism to...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:22 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science politics
The Scientist has an excellent article attempting to fairly evaluate the Bush record on science: What may be adding to the perception that the Bush administration is harder on science than ever before is that in recent years, biology has...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:02 AM • 3 Comments •
October 19, 2006
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
This Synapse features a special Society for Neuroscience line-up with Shelley, Evil Monkey, Nick the Neurocontrarian, and myself attending. I arrived and faced a moral quandry of whether to drag my ass out of bed to see stuff. Having decided...
Posted by Jake Young at 8:55 AM • 1 Comments •
October 16, 2006
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
If you have never been to Neuroscience, one of the things they do is have slide sessions. These sessions are sort of like short talks -- a slide of data or two presented by many people. It is sort of...
Posted by Jake Young at 6:55 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Poems
My head hurts. I am sitting in a crappy slide session of limited personal relevance, trying vainly to find something fascinating in the injection of morpholino oligos into Xenopus. Two complete yo-yos are talking really loudly behind me. Let's have...
Posted by Jake Young at 1:56 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
I attended a panel discussion chaired by David van Essen entitled (R)evolution in Scientific Publishing: How will it Affect You? It was focused on what the implications of the Open Access movement in science are, and what scientists should expect...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:35 AM • 4 Comments •
October 15, 2006
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
I TA'd a bunch in college and I am currently the TA for the medical school Neurology course, so I am always looking for good ways to make teaching better. However, the moderator made a good point during the workshop...
Posted by Jake Young at 3:17 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
Last night, we also met Nick from Neurocontrarian. He is also liveblogging the proceedings, and maybe doing some audio interviews. Check out his site for his coverage....
Posted by Jake Young at 11:38 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
There are a bagillion people here -- a bagillion. No other word appropriately conveys how many neuroscientists are in this building. That being the case and there being so many exhibits and lectures and craziness going on absolutely simultaneously, it...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:36 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
I got here late night after a plane flight filled with people accidentally clubbing each other with long cyclinders filled with posters. The baggage checkers probably thought we were a horde of terrorists. "Sir, what is in that long skinny...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:25 AM • 0 Comments •
October 14, 2006
Category: Society for Neuroscience 2006
Hi everyone, For the next 5 days, I -- like fellow Sciencebloggers Shelley and Evil Monkey -- will be blogging up a storm from the Society for Neuroscience convention in Atlanta. Check in regularly for updates as to the proceedings....
Posted by Jake Young at 8:19 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Aminals
Previously, not cute. Now, cute. Let the swooning media attention begin....
Posted by Jake Young at 8:18 AM • 1 Comments •
October 13, 2006
Category: North Korea
Chris from Highly Allochthonous -- say that five times fast -- has a great post summarizing the geological issues of the North Korean nuclear test (how deep? how do we know that? etc.) Check it out....
Posted by Jake Young at 6:19 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: North Korea
I expressed a certain level of skepticism about North Korea's nuclear test this week because of the low estimated yield and the failure of the earlier test of their Taepodong-2 missile. Basically, I question the ability of North Korea to...
Posted by Jake Young at 5:39 PM • 6 Comments •
Category: Evolution
Scientists have discovered a bacteria the survives with an incredibly small number of genes: The tiniest genomes ever found belong to two types of bacteria that live inside insects, researchers have announced. One of these types of bacteria, Carsonella ruddii,...
Posted by Jake Young at 12:10 PM • 3 Comments •
CNN is reporting that mammals have been sighted in Europe: Using DNA testing, scientists have discovered what is believed to be the first terrestrial mammal found in Europe in decades: a mouse with a big head, ears, eyes and teeth...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:25 AM • 5 Comments •
October 12, 2006
Category: Aminals
There are intruders invading from our Southern border! No, not illegal immigrants -- jaguars. Having not been seen in the Southwest for some time, some of them have started to filter in from Mexico. The NYTimes reports: Using the same...
Posted by Jake Young at 12:51 PM • 0 Comments •
October 11, 2006
The NYTimes is reporting that an aircraft has crashed into a residential building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan: A small plane crashed into a high-rise on the Upper East Side, raining down debris on Manhattan and unleashing what...
Posted by Jake Young at 3:41 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Aminals
Conservationists have discovered a new species of bird in the cloud forests of Colombia: A colorful new bird has been discovered in a previously unexplored Andean cloud forest, spurring efforts to protect the area, conservation groups said Monday. The bright...
Posted by Jake Young at 2:03 PM • 2 Comments •
Unbelievable: Not even a medical emergency can pull some men away from a television showing their favorite sports teams, a U.S. study has determined. University of Maryland emergency physician David Jerrard tracked nearly 800 regular season college and professional football,...
Posted by Jake Young at 1:51 PM • 1 Comments •
October 10, 2006
Category: Physics
News@Nature has the best summary of what is known about North Korea's missile test that I have read thus far. How big was the blast? Estimates for the bomb's yield (the amount of energy discharged when the weapon is detonated,...
Posted by Jake Young at 5:34 PM • 2 Comments •
So there is no one schedule to do the Synapse for next week, and this is kind of deliberate. For those of you who don't know, the annual Society for Neuroscience convention is this weekend from Saturday to Wednesday. The...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:58 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Medicine
I was sorry to hear this story. A high school student in Colorado Springs, CO died suddenly on the football field. There was no apparent cause. Autopsy revealed that the boy had an enlarged heart: A preliminary autopsy conducted by...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:46 AM • 0 Comments •
October 6, 2006
Here is your YouTube fun of the day. It is compilation of the Daily Show series Evolution Schmevolution from about a year ago I think. Hilarious....
Posted by Jake Young at 2:47 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Books
So I went to the book signing last night for the Best American Science Writing 2006, and it was really interesting so I want to plug this book. In attendance were Jesse Cohen, the series editor, as well as authors...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:27 AM • 2 Comments •
October 5, 2006
The Seed Overlords interviewed me (via email) in their continuing quest to know (Biblically) all the bloggers. Check it out here....
Posted by Jake Young at 11:14 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Science politics
On September 30 the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act -- an act intended to criminalize the intimidation of scientists involved in animal research -- passed the Senate by unanimous consent. I wrote in support of this bill earlier this month. This...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:40 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Sex
Memoirs of a Skepchick dramatizes the researchers who determined men and women are aroused at the same rate -- talking to a grade school class: "So you watch the men and women get hotter with the night vision goggles?" "It's...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:27 AM • 0 Comments •
October 4, 2006
Category: Science politics
Some scientists have decided to form a 527 -- a political action committee that is not tax deductible under election law -- to combat what they feel is a rising anti-science sentiment: Several prominent scientists said yesterday that they had...
Posted by Jake Young at 2:42 PM • 4 Comments •
October 3, 2006
Category: Biology
So there is this plant called dodder that parasitizes other plants, but until recently it was not known how it found the other plants. Recent research suggests that it does so by a form of smell. Dodder is in fact...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:40 AM • 0 Comments •
October 2, 2006
No more excuses, men: "Comparing sexual arousal between men and women, we see that there is no difference in the amount of time it takes healthy young men and women to reach peak arousal," said Dr. Irv Binik, psychology professor...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:56 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Prizes
I was just thinking about something. The Nobel Committee is usually mysterious in how they pick the winners, but why did Greg Hannon not win the Nobel with the others? My understanding was that he was sort of the guy...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:38 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Biology
Andrew Fire and Craig Mello have won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of RNA interference: Americans Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine Monday for discovering a powerful way...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:21 AM • 7 Comments •
October 1, 2006
Category: The Synapse (a neuroscience carnival)
The Synapse #8 has been capably posted at Mind Hacks. Thanks guys. Haven't figured out where the next Synapse will be. If you would like to host email me. I will let you know when I know....
Posted by Jake Young at 11:21 AM • 0 Comments •
