Reporting from the Crossroads of Science and Politics
This Blog and the Old Site
An Oxford graduate student by day and a scientific activist by night, Nick Anthis isn't letting his Ph.D. research in protein structure get in the way of defending scientific and social progress.
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June 30, 2006
Category: Fantastical Fridays
In NMR, bigger really is better, at least when it comes to magnetic field strength, and the entire field has in some ways become one big manhood size-measuring contest. One group, though, reported earlier this year in Nature Physics that sometimes it may be better to just go natural. Forget about all of the high-tech magnets--just use the big one right under your feet!
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:59 AM • 11 Comments •
June 28, 2006
Category: Ask a ScienceBlogger
Most of the general qualities that make someone a good teacher in any subject translate to the sciences, but I think there are three things in particular that good science teachers do really well: showing enthusiasm, making things interactive, and drawing connections.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:28 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: global warming
Yesterday, the AP released a story describing the general approval within the scientific community of the science behind Al Gore's new documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Not to be outdone, global warming denialist James Inhofe (R - OK) released his own press release via the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and it's about as crazy as anything else he's had his hands on.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:42 PM • 15 Comments •
June 24, 2006
Category: capitalism
As my own department faces budget shortfalls and considers increasingly extreme measures to improve the situation, I thought it would be appropriate to bring back this post from the archives. The following post explores the results and interpretation of a...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 11:46 AM • 2 Comments •
June 23, 2006
Category: Fantastical Fridays
Last week's Fantastical Fridays was a big hit, so we'll keep the momentum going with more chemistry this week. Instead of anthropomorphic molecules, though, this one is all about chemicals with downright ridiculous names. If you still have any doubts...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:59 AM • 5 Comments •
June 22, 2006
Category: global warming
The National Academies today released their report on Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years. The verdict? "High confidence that planet is warmest in 400 years; less confidence in temperature reconstructions prior to 1600." The reviews from around the...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:06 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: blogosphere
We all know that the blogosphere is the most incestuous place outside of Arkansas, so why fight it? In that spirit, here's a post that contributes no new information to the web. Luckily, though, some people are actually expanding our...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:58 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: events
The latest word on the ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose fundraising challenge is that as of Tuesday the total amount of donations had reached $12,325.59, plus $10,000 in matching funds from Seed. Here at The Scientific Activist we've raised $345.00 in generous donations, bringing...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:08 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: open access
Today's issue of Nature includes a particularly damning news story about the financial troubles facing the Public Library of Science, a publisher of several prestigious open access journals. In the article, Nature describes PLoS's difficulties and heavily stresses its continued...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 2 Comments •
June 21, 2006
Category: evolution
Today, the Interacademy Panel on International Issues (IAP), an organization of 92 scientific academies from around the globe, released a statement endorsing the importance of teaching evolution as a fundamental scientific principle. The IAP emphasizes several uncontested evolutionary facts and stresses the need to teach science as a means of describing nature through a process of inquiry, fundamentally built upon the formulation of testable and refutable hypothesis.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:24 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: scientific literature
Nature started it with its recently begun open peer review trial, and PLoS got on board with its own announcement of a new interactive journal, PLoS ONE. Now, The Daily Transcript reports that Cell has also joined the latest trend...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:30 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: blog carnivals
The latest edition of the science blog carnival Tangled Bank is up at Centrerion Canadian Politics. Go check it out for a good sampling of what people have been writing about around the science blogosphere, which does, you may be...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 5:59 PM • 1 Comments •
June 20, 2006
Category: blogosphere
It was a huge pain in the ass, and it probably wasn't worth the effort, but I'm happy to announce that I have organized all of my posts from the old site by category and by date. You can now...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:49 PM • 0 Comments •
June 19, 2006
Category: Ask a ScienceBlogger
When I first started blogging in January, I had only recently started by Ph.D. in biochemistry, and it seemed like I was going to have quite a bit of free time on my hands. Now, fast-forward ahead five months, and things have changed quite a bit. I'm constantly in the lab on nights and weekends, generally working ten to twelve hours a day. So, where does the blogging fit into everything? Most of the time, it's a nightly routine.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:27 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: blogosphere
It looks like I have quite a few new people coming to the site today to read about some pretty bizarre chemistry, so if you happen to be one of them, I'd encourage you to have a look around the...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:30 AM • 0 Comments •
June 18, 2006
Category: events
As I've spent my entire weekend alternatively sitting in front of a ginormous magnet running NMR experiments and in front of a computer screen analyzing the data from those experiments, the blogging has unfortunately been light. However, I just wanted...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:40 PM • 2 Comments •
June 17, 2006
Category: scientific literature
In February, Nature magazine reported that some researchers were pushing to use the Google PageRank technology to rate scientific journals instead of using the traditional impact factor system. Since the 2005 journal impact factors were recently released, I thought now would be a good time to explore this issue again.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 2:50 PM • 0 Comments •
June 16, 2006
Category: Fantastical Fridays
Lurking beneath the surface here at ScienceBlogs is a force that compels people to do extremely gimmicky things on Fridays. Since I know that I'm no better than anyone else, I've decided to join in on the fun. Therefore, I...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:55 AM • 9 Comments •
June 15, 2006
Category: events
DonorsChoose.org gives us a way to help teachers get the job done. A bunch of us at ScienceBlogs have set up Bloggers Challenges which will let us (and that includes you) contribute to worthy school projects in need of financial assistance. We'll be able to track our progress right on the DonorsChoose site. And -- because we like a little friendly competition -- we'll be updating you periodically as to which blogger's readers are getting his or her challenge closest to its goal.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:15 AM • 0 Comments •
June 14, 2006
Category: political interference
The Miller Amendment on scientific integrity came up for a vote in the House Science Committee today and was solidly voted down by the Republican majority. In fact, while all Democrats voted for it, all Republicans voted against it.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:59 PM • 1 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
Category: open access
Through its recently announced interdisciplinary journal PLoS ONE, the Public Library of Science appears poised to compete directly with the two leading scientific journals, Science and Nature. Now comes news that PLoS has started a series of blogs to promote this endeavor.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:20 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: animal rights
Are all animals equal? Peter Singer seems to think so, and although it sounds like a nice idea, it's not grounded in scientific fact. While I believe that humans have a responsibility to be humane, respectful, and caring to one another, to other animals, and to nature and the environment in general, at the same time I believe that it does us all a disservice to ignore the basic cold hard facts of nature, something that Singer had to do to build his argument.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:40 AM • 13 Comments •
Category: animal rights
Since I've been writing quite a bit lately about Pro-Test and the response of Oxford scientists to animal rights extremism, it's important to understand why the current movement is significant, in light of what scientists in Oxford have been facing over the last few years. This post, which takes the reader into the heart of an animal rights protest, attempts to do just that. I think it's also interesting because it offers a unique explanation of the forces motivating the animal rights activists in Oxford.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:35 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: bioterrorism
The Guardian reports today that is was recently able to purchase a 78-nucleotide sequence of DNA based on the small pox genome and that it was able to get the supplier to mail it to a residential address. The article is alarmist and sensational, but it raises an issue that in general has probably not been given enough thought.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 4:53 AM • 2 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
June 13, 2006
Category: science education
When an Oxford professor blamed a lack of general knowledge in the graduate community on its makeup of "unexceptional students", I challenged him on whether the real cause was a degree structure that causes the overspecialization of Oxford students.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:21 PM • 6 Comments •
June 12, 2006
Category: blogosphere
Here at The Scientific Activist, we welcome criticism--intelligent criticism, that is (as opposed to unintelligible dribble like this***). Besides, when it comes to boosting traffic stats, any link is a good link, so I thought I should give a shout out to some of the nice folks who linked to me over the last couple of days, even though they basically disagreed with everything I wrote.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:28 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: open access
In May, Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) introduced the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2006 to the US Senate, which would require free public access to most government-funded research within six months of the research's publication. This post (from the archives) explores this piece of legislation and the issue of open access in depth.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: NASA
The Bad Astronomy Blog reports that NASA has officially admitted that censorship did in fact take place there recently. In a letter to Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), NASA writes: ...an internal inquiry has revealed that one recent media request to...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 4:09 AM • 0 Comments •
June 11, 2006
Category: Ask a ScienceBlogger
Each week, Seed magazine poses a question to all of its ScienceBloggers. This week's question, from reader Jake Bryan, is: Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:39 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: political interference
In the ongoing struggle against political interference Michael Stebbins of Sex Drugs & DNA reports that Representative Brad Miller (D-NC) has introduced a scientific integrity amendment to HR 5450, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act, which is currently under consideration in the house.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 1:06 PM • 6 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
June 10, 2006
Category: events
This is a plug for an event that the Oxford University Biochemical Society is putting together. This Monday, June 12th, at 4:00 pm the Oxford University Biochemical Society will be hosting a talk by Nobel Laureate Robert Huber in the...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:04 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: humor
Conservatives in America have become pretty adept at shrugging off worries about global warming, and when it comes to evolution, well, they have their own ideas about how that works. However, this headline from National Geographic might cause some circuits...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 3:44 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Bush Administration
I mentioned earlier this week on my old blog that White House Science Adviser John Marburger would be answering questions from the public via Newsweek, and his answers have now been posted. My reactions are mixed, although he was more...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 12:39 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: blogosphere
Over at his new blog, A Blog Around the Clock, Bora gives us a comprehensive introduction to all of the new Seed bloggers, including where they're coming from, and where they've moved to. Make sure you update your bookmarks and...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:35 AM • 0 Comments •
June 9, 2006
Category: political interference
Since they serve as the intellectual lifeblood of a democracy, universities traditionally have been given license to transcend petty political squabbles that would otherwise get in the way of their academic research. One example has been the ability of academics...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:03 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: scientific activism
Welcome to the new home of The Scientific Activist, a growing source of news and commentary on science, politics, science policy, and everything in between. The Scientific Activist was first launched on January 11th, 2006, at scientificactivist.blogspot.com/, and the goals...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 12:05 PM • 2 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
Category: Pro-Test
Supporters of animal research in Oxford have been silenced for years by the intimidation and fear tactics of animal rights extremists. But, that has all changed in a matter of months, as the pro-research organization Pro-Test took its message to the streets for a second time, on June 3rd. Originally sparked by the Pro-Test's first march in February of this year, this movement has since ignited into a wildfire of support, reaching the highest levels of the UK government, including Prime Minister Tony Blair. What really matters, though, is that this is a grassroots movement that draws on the efforts of ordinary students and citizens, both scientists and non-scientists alike, to give a voice to those who have been quiet for so long.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 12:00 PM • 1 Comments •
June 8, 2006
Category: peer review
One of the fundamental principles of modern science, as well as other academic pursuits, is peer review. However, it's not a perfect system, and today's issue of Nature announced its own experiment in science--or democracy--by opening up the peer review process to all interested in participating and giving authors of submitting their papers to an open and public peer review process to take place online.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:51 PM • 4 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
