Now on ScienceBlogs: The Ultimate Charles Darwin Coffee-Table Book
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.
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: 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: Funding
Over at SEA they have a point-by-point description of the Senate economic stimulus bill. Obviously what is actually passed will be sorted out in conference committee but here is what is included about science: Science: National Science Foundation (NSF) Research:...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 11:15 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Funding
David Goldston, writing in Nature, echoes a point I have been trying to make about the science provisions of the economic stimulus package. He lists some reasons why scientists should be wary of getting our funding this way: First, being...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 1:49 PM • 17 Comments •
Category: Labor
Health-infrastructure, information technology, and science research spending are clearly related to the success of our economy. They represent investments into intellectual property and human capital that increase productivity and create long-term growth. For this reason, I don't object to the...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 8:15 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Funding
People expressed a healthy skepticism to my assertion that money for science in the economic stimulus package is not the best way to fund science and may do more harm than good. One of my assumptions in that argument was...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 5:26 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Funding
So I have been reading over the details of the stimulus bill that is working its way through Congress. Now I grant that this is a rough draft and may be substantially modified in the process of passage, but one...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 4:02 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: Science politics
Many scientifically-inclined voters were a bit shocked by McCain's comment criticizing Obama for supporting a "3 million dollar earmark for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago." The "overhead projector" in question was actually a top of the line...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 10:51 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Funding
Michael S. Teitelbaum has an editorial in Science about scientific funding that echoes a point that I have been making for a while: the issue with scientific funding is as much about volatility (bigs ups and downs) as it is...
Posted by NotoriousLTP at 6:37 PM • 2 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 NotoriousLTP at 1:11 PM • 2 Comments •
