Reality is always more complicated than you think.
Profile
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.
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Academia:
There is a great blogginghead.tv conversation up between two of my favorite bloggers, Megan McArdle and Daniel Drezner. They discuss whether academics are bitter. McArdle argues that the labor market makes their lives very unfortunate. Drezner argues that the issue...
Posted on May 2, 2008 3:53 PM • 3 Comments •
Yesterday I took a day off (first in a while for me), and I had a chance to see the movie Smart People starring Randy Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Ellen Page. The movie is about a rather odd...
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Posted on April 17, 2008 4:37 PM • 4 Comments •
Stanley Fish of the NYTimes Think Again blog has some interesting things to say about the appointment of Bruce Benson, oil magnate and Republican activist, to be president of the University of Colorado at Boulder. The appointment raised eyebrows and...
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Posted on February 25, 2008 2:14 PM • 4 Comments •
I just want to say before I start that I wrote this whole post by myself, and the parts I didn't write are correctly attributed to the proper sources. Jacob Hale Russell, writing in 02138 Magazine (Harvard's alumni magazine), discusses...
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Posted on January 11, 2008 9:53 AM • 3 Comments •
The Economist has an interesting article about reforming academia in Europe to make it more transparent and competitive. Resistance is to be expected. Money quote: Unleashing universities' "full potential", and "mobilising the brainpower of Europe" are at the heart of...
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Posted on May 7, 2007 8:47 AM • 2 Comments •
I had the great pleasure of working in labs as an undergrad. Most of my classmates now did as well. Part of the good experience was the ability to really narrow down what type of science I was most interested...
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Posted on April 27, 2007 12:32 PM • 1 Comments •
I have talked about funding a couple of times (here and here), and I get the impression from the comments about those posts that my views are at the minimum somewhat iconoclastic. Basically, while I would prefer the government to...
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Posted on April 17, 2007 11:18 AM • 3 Comments •
David Ignatius has a great column about the underestimated power of American education. American-style education is being rapidly exported all over the world, and foreign students are lining up to attend American universities at both a graduate and undergraduate level....
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Posted on March 12, 2007 11:16 AM • 12 Comments •
Steven Levitt from the Freakonomics blog has started a discussion about whether the tenure system is worth it. His argument is that the tenure system supports the mediocre and should be scrapped: If there was ever a time when it...
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Posted on March 7, 2007 4:31 PM • 27 Comments •
Bill Gates, writing in the Washington Post, makes two concrete appeals to help maintain American competitiveness: Two steps are critical. First, we must demand strong schools so that young Americans enter the workforce with the math, science and problem-solving skills...
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Posted on February 27, 2007 9:24 AM • 7 Comments •
I'm sorry, but parents like this should be shot: Helicopter parents -- so named because they hover over their children -- have reached the workplace. The same generation that turned parenting into a competitive sport, prepping 3-year-olds for preschool, then...
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Posted on February 13, 2007 9:56 AM • 6 Comments •
