Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
Jake Young is a MD/PhD student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in NYC getting a PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience. He holds a BS and MS in Biological Sciences from Stanford University. If a volcano were to erupt Pompei-style in Central Park, his body would be preserved in a scoliotic posture over his lab desk. Archeaologists would later conclude that he spent most of his day training rats to perform tricks, until he went blind building electrical equipment by hand using a dissecting microscope. But, still, he died happy...because science is cool.
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.
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. They do not represent the views of SEED magazine or the educational establishments I currently attend or attended in the past.
February 27, 2009
Category: Internet
There are some people who argue that the Internet increases the size of people's social networks by lowering the transaction costs of interacting with people. Facebook -- as a dataset -- is handy for determining whether this is true. Everyone...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 5:08 PM • 5 Comments •
February 20, 2009
Category: Embryonic Stem Cells
As scientists await Obama reauthorizing federal funding of embryonic stem cell research and the FDA approves the first clinical trials using embryonic stem cell treatments, there is an important case report that highlights the potential safety issues with putting stem...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 3:01 PM • 8 Comments •
February 19, 2009
Category: Medicine
Here is a lesson in why defensive medicine should be avoided: it costs a lot, it doesn't help patients, and it has the potential to hurt them. Chou et al. published a study in the Lancet showing that in patients...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 5:50 PM • 1 Comments •
February 18, 2009
Category: Funding
Rather than funding new grants, most of the fiscal stimulus to NIH will be going to grants that have already been reviewed. From Science Insider: The National Institutes of Health will dedicate most of its $8.2 billion for research from...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 7:54 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Energy Policy
An article by Evan Mills, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, points out that scientific buildings use a lot more energy than average: Improving energy productivity is a doubly worthy challenge, given that those making the biggest contributions...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 1:05 PM • 4 Comments •
February 17, 2009
Category: Economics
Economic historian, Gregory Clark, details why times have changed for academic economists: The current recession has revealed the weaknesses in the structures of modern capitalism. But it also revealed as useless the mathematical contortions of academic economics. There is no...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 4:57 PM • 15 Comments •
Category: Science Roundup
Submarines collide: In a freak accident, two submarines carrying nuclear missiles, one French and the other British, collided while submerged on operational patrols in the Atlantic early this month, the British and French defense ministries said Monday. Both vessels returned...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 11:25 AM • 2 Comments •
February 12, 2009
Category: Economics
The Geithner Treasury plan for rescuing the banking system (more here) is getting panned on both sides of the aisle for being excessively vague. Megan McArdle: Tim Geithner reveals that the Treasury has a plan to fix the problems in...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 10:55 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Funding
SEA (again) has the details of the result of the House and Senate conference bill for economic stimulus. Here are the parts related to science: Provides $3 billion for the National Science Foundation, for basic research in fundamental science and...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 10:32 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Autism
A trio of Federal judges have ruled against three separate plaintiffs who alleged that vaccines caused their child's autism: These three decisions, each looking into a different theory as to how vaccines might have injured the children, are expected to...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 4:13 PM • 6 Comments •
