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.
June 30, 2008
Category: Learning and Memory
A lot of people have read The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. In the book, he gives an example of a group of people forced to estimate the weight of a cow. (This was actually an experiment that geneticist...
Posted by Jake Young at 1:17 PM • 4 Comments •
June 27, 2008
Category: Neuroscience
There is a must-read paper in Nature about the limits of functional MRI as an experimental tool by one of its pioneers, Nikos Logothetis. (Also discussed by Jonah and Vaughan.) This paper is pretty technical, but Logothetis hits the important...
Posted by Jake Young at 3:47 PM • 7 Comments •
June 25, 2008
Category: Drugs
There was a very sad article in the NYTimes about the regular practice in some long-term care facilities of treating demented patients with anti-psychotic medications like Risperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa: The use of antipsychotic drugs to tamp down the agitation,...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:57 AM • 10 Comments •
June 24, 2008
Category: Other People's Work
Presh has a great post on game theory and voting power using nominations to the Israeli Supreme Court as an example. Take homes: Here is what you can take away when creating your own voting structures: 1. Vote size does...
Posted by Jake Young at 1:17 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Teaching
This is a bit old, but in case you haven't seen it... A few weeks ago, Jake wrote a post about the importance of teaching during grad school. I couldn't agree more--some of my best experiences in grad school to...
Posted by Kara Contreary at 10:51 AM • 8 Comments •
June 23, 2008
Category: Psychology
PsyBlog is soliciting your favorite psychobabble. Head over there to give your favorite instance of the complete misinterpretation of psychology in pop culture. My favorite is number one on their list of examples: "Their brains lit up in the scanner."...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:45 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Carnivals
Encephalon is up at Neuroanthropology....
Posted by Jake Young at 11:28 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Energy Policy
Two great articles on energy policy. 1) One of the major points of resistance to carbon taxes or caps is that developing countries won't have similar quotas giving them a comparative advantage in the production of goods. However, some economists...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:56 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Haha, a funny
George Carlin died yesterday. I always loved his comedy, but more important to me Carlin affirmed my atheism at a time in my life when I didn't really know anyone else who felt that way. He poked fun at religion,...
Posted by Jake Young at 7:35 AM • 40 Comments •
June 19, 2008
Category: Healthcare
Well that is not good: In a survey last year of nearly 2,400 physicians conducted by a physician recruiting firm, locumtenens.com, 3 percent said they were not frustrated by nonclinical aspects of medicine. The level of frustration has increased with...
Posted by Jake Young at 12:49 PM • 7 Comments •
June 18, 2008
Category: Public Health
There have been a lot of salmonella outbreaks in food in the news lately, but who is to blame? Last year, Paul Krugman set the responsibility squarely on the Bush administration and ideological libertarians like Milton Friedman who want to...
Posted by Jake Young at 12:15 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: Energy Policy
Sales of Vespas are up -- largely because of high oil prices. Vespas and other motorcycles have significantly greater fuel economy than your average car. Part of me is happy about this because it illustrates that people are making more...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:02 AM • 18 Comments •
Category: Haha, a funny
This is pretty funny: Why God Never Received Tenure at the University 1. He had only one major publication. 2. And it was in Hebrew. 3. And it had no cited references. 4. And it wasn't published in a refereed...
Posted by Jake Young at 9:13 AM • 0 Comments •
June 17, 2008
Category: Psychology
Lots of people get mad behind the wheel, but who are the people likely to try and kill you at the intersection? A CSU psychologist found that road rage correlates with large numbers of bumper stickers: Szlemko and his colleagues...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:51 AM • 2 Comments •
June 16, 2008
Category: Neuroeconomics
One of the most interesting aspects of human behavior is our nearly infinite capacity to arrange and coordinate symbols. Think of the symbols that permeate our existence. Paper money has no value in and of itself. A wedding ring is...
Posted by Jake Young at 1:10 PM • 0 Comments •
June 12, 2008
Category: Teaching
Grad student Joel Corbo has a guest post at Cosmic Variance where he laments the lack of emphasis on teaching in physics PhD programs: My relatively rosy view of physics education was shaken up not long after starting grad school...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:20 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Psychology
I am in blood Stepp'd in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er. Strange things I have in head that will to hand, Which must be acted ere they may be scann'd....
Posted by Jake Young at 9:31 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: Herbal remedies and other Hooey
Crooked Timber has a great post on using what you think ancestral man ate to argue for various types of fad diets: There seems to be about as much theorising relative to evidence in the discussion of what cavemen ate...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:20 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Neuroscience
Here is an interesting article showing the cross-over between neuropharmacology and decision making. Crockett et al. show that if you use acute tryptophan depletion to lower the levels of serotonin in subjects, they are more likely to reject unfair offers...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:10 AM • 2 Comments •
June 9, 2008
Category: Carnivals
Encephalon 47 is up at Channel N. Thanks Sandra! The best of it is a video describing equipment for measuring the flight of tethered fruit flies. You can train them do to all manner of things but changing the visual...
Posted by Jake Young at 6:24 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Funding
NIH has agreed to some suggestions from advisory panels about how to change the grant peer review process: One year ago, NIH Director Elias Zerhouni asked external and internal advisory panels for advice on how to cope with a record...
Posted by Jake Young at 1:11 PM • 2 Comments •
June 4, 2008
Category: Gender
Related to the question of why there is a gap between the genders in math and the sciences is whether there are possible means of remedy. With respect to possible remedies it is often a good idea to look internationally...
Posted by Jake Young at 12:09 PM • 12 Comments •
June 3, 2008
Category: Exercise
Found this in the Washington Post: Using data gathered from such sources as the U.S. Census and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ACSM developed a fitness index that covered 27 aspects of local environment and health, from...
Posted by Jake Young at 5:26 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Haha, a funny
1) Send you payment check in with the dollar value listed only as a complex limit. Hat-tip: Zeitgeist...
Posted by Jake Young at 5:20 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Bad Science Journalism
Thank you Vaughan at Mind Hacks for saving me another long-winded rant about this subject. Vaughan takes an article in the NYTimes to task for suggesting that sarcasm "resides" in particular areas of the brain: Finally, to say that sarcasm...
Posted by Jake Young at 5:08 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Energy Policy
Haha! The Law of Demand works. Price goes up. Driving goes down. Figure: NYTimes I repeat: if you want to lower demand for and hence consumption of gasoline, this is the best thing that has ever happened for you. Prices...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:36 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: Obesity and Heart Disease
It has become almost the conventional wisdom that the obesity epidemic is at least partially attributable to people eating out. I for one really try and avoid eating out because I always feel like I end up eating junk food....
Posted by Jake Young at 11:29 AM • 9 Comments •
June 2, 2008
Category: Earth Science
You have got to check out this story from NPR: The compass has been around since at least the 12th century, but scientists still don't know exactly how the Earth generates the magnetic field that keeps a compass needle pointing...
Posted by Jake Young at 11:30 AM • 13 Comments •
Category: Technology
Check out this video about the next generation of prosthetics (below the fold):...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:57 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Alzheimer's
Here is an interesting approach to fighting Alzheimer's disease: use adjuvants to activate microglia in the nasal cavity. Frenkel et al. publishing the Annals of Neurology show that the administration of an adjuvant called Protollin into the nasal cavity of...
Posted by Jake Young at 10:12 AM • 0 Comments •
YES! Send me a free issue of Seed.
If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $14.95. That's 50% off the cover price! If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.
(Non-U.S. subscribers, click here.)
