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Advancing Science through Conversations: Bridging the Gap between Blogs and the Academy
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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August 29, 2006
Category: philosophy of science
For such a small planet (or non-planet now), Pluto sure has been making waves the last couple of weeks. I haven't really weighed in and instead deferred to the experts. I'm not going to really say much now either, but,...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:41 AM • 4 Comments •
August 28, 2006
Category: blogosphere
...but you'll probably read it anyway.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 4:14 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: books
I don't have my copy yet of the latest edition of Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science, but I've been told that it's on its way. And, believe me, I'll bump it up to the top of my reading...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:40 AM • 1 Comments •
August 26, 2006
Category: stem cells
...since Bush announced his restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:45 PM • 2 Comments •
August 25, 2006
Category: Fantastical Fridays
...according the US Department of Education, at least!
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:40 AM • 7 Comments •
August 24, 2006
Category: death penalty
Another reason to question the death penalty: lethal injections are a pretty nasty way to go.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:14 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: stem cells
A new finding has been heralded as a way to generate an embryonic stem cell line without ending the embryo's potential to become a human, potentially appeasing those opposed to current methods of generating stem cell lines. As should be expected, though, some healthy skepticism is needed here.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:45 AM • 1 Comments •
August 23, 2006
Category: stem cells
Wealthy billionaires, including many Republicans, are picking up the tab for US embryonic stem cell research in the face of restrictive Bush Administration policies. Is this a permanent solution, and does this mean that the Republican Party is now an ally of science? Not likely.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 4:07 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Life of Nick
Lines were drawn in the sand, artillery stood armed and ready, and tensions ran high. Neither side was willing to budge, and despite the seemingly endless conflict having already tested the resolve of both sides, it looked like things were only just beginning to get rough. The whole scenario was regrettable--war always is--but it felt inevitable at the time.... Besides, how else was I going to get internet access in my house?
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 5 Comments •
August 22, 2006
Category: products
If you love science and don't know how to show it, there are a few sites out there that'll be more than willing to help you out. Here are a couple of examples: At Support Our Scientists, you can buy...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:27 PM • 6 Comments •
August 21, 2006
Category: book reviews
Nobel Laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard's Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development is an understated primer that lays out the current state of the art of developmental biology, shocking the reader with just how much we know about how each one of us came to take our unique but fundamentally similar shapes.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 7 Comments •
August 20, 2006
Category: movies
I don't make it to the movies too often in the UK. To start with, they're prohibitively expensive, and I'm often seeing them months after my friends back home. When you then consider the fact that the popcorn here tastes...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 1:44 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Life of Nick
After enduring what was surely the longest transfer viva in the history of man (two and a half hours), I am now an official Oxford D.Phil. student.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 12:22 PM • 15 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
August 18, 2006
Category: Fantastical Fridays
It has been known officially since 2002 that the sciences are hard, and, as much as we scientists love it when our friends and family tell us how smart and wonderful we must be since they could never understand what...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:10 AM • 3 Comments •
August 16, 2006
Category: NASA
According to the AP, NASA announced Tuesday that it was beginning an official search for the missing tapes from the Apollo missions. Red-faced because the best pictures of its glory days are missing, NASA said Tuesday it was launching an...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 3:45 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Life of Nick
...of not having internet access....
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:30 AM • 6 Comments •
August 15, 2006
Category: global warming
They're all sort of related, so here goes....
Posted by Nick Anthis at 5:10 PM • 8 Comments •
August 14, 2006
Category: NASA
Hey, it's not like the moon landing was an important event in the history of the world or anything....
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:56 AM • 3 Comments •
August 11, 2006
Category: Fantastical Fridays
This week's installment of Fantastical Fridays discusses a not-so-impressive finding reported in the media in January 2006. From the archives: (30 January 2006) To all of those who worried about the United States' dependence on Middle Eastern oil, who tried...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 0 Comments •
August 10, 2006
Category: global warming
An April 2006 paper in Nature narrowed down the range of possible scenarios for how global warming may play out as carbon dioxide levels continue to rise. Although much of the press coverage treated it as a blow to global warming science, it was in reality quite the opposite.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 0 Comments •
August 9, 2006
Category: global warming
Global warming is certainly a "hot topic", and this post decribes some global warming research findings from January 2006: one that revises estimates of the expected increase in sea level due to global warming and another that demonstrates how certain important marine ecosystems could be vulnerable to changes in ocean currents due to global warming.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 0 Comments •
August 8, 2006
Category: global warming
What do global warming and epidemic diseases have in common? Apparently they have a lot, at least when it comes to amphibians.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 0 Comments •
August 7, 2006
Category: travel
I know that I just got back from vacation, but I have family visiting this week, so I'll be out of town again until next week. Have no fear, though, because as usual you can expect plenty of posts from...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 12:55 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: conferences
On the weekend of July 28th-30th, about 150 NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) scientists from the UK and Europe (and a few from the US) gathered in Ambleside for the Sixth Annual Collaborative Computing Project for NMR (CCPN) Meeting. The topic...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 1 Comments •
August 4, 2006
Category: Fantastical Fridays
Can one summer intern outshine the entire Department of Homeland Security?
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 4 Comments •
August 2, 2006
Category: philosophy of science
On the surface, science and poetry seem as distant from each other as the Republican Party and good science policy. And, in a large part they are. While both strive for a deeper understanding of the world around us, one...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 12:46 PM • 14 Comments •
August 1, 2006
Category: blogosphere
As part of the constant and inevitable march of progress here at The Scientific Activist, I've fixed my blog template so that now when you click on the "Read on" link at the bottom of an entry on the main...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:55 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: drugs
A recent UK government study indicates that the class of a drug has little to do with its actual danger. Another report blasts the government for allowing politics to usurp science in formulating drug policy. Is the UK's drug policy fundamentally flawed, or does it just need a bit of scientific tweaking?
Posted by Nick Anthis at 11:08 AM • 16 Comments •
11:27 AM, 07.05.2009
9:07 AM, 07.05.2009
8:30 AM, 07.05.2009
7:15 AM, 07.05.2009
2:26 AM, 07.05.2009
Latest science stories | More at nytimes.com
12:40 AM, 07.04.2009
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6:21 AM, 07.04.2009
2:50 PM, 06.30.2009
2:26 PM, 06.30.2009
