The Scientific Activist
Reporting from the Crossroads of Science and Politics
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A postdoc by day and a scientific activist by night, Nick Anthis isn't letting his research in protein structure and function get in the way of defending scientific and social progress.
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Recent Posts
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About
Welcome to The Scientific Activist, your source for news and commentary on science...

...and politics...

...and the exciting areas where these dynamic fields clash.
Recognizing science as a path toward understanding nature, distinct from corporate and other applications, The Scientific Activist opens up a new dialogue on the proper role of science in an ever changing society. The truth isn't always black or white, but an informed public is an empowered one, so I won't shy away from the complex issues. Most importantly, though, The Scientific Activist takes on the people and obstacles standing in the way of the progress and proper application of science. Enemies of science, beware!
In May 2005 I graduated from Texas A&M University, where I researched blood vessel development, a fascinating phenomenon essential for normal development but also an active contributor to disease, especially in cancer. No stranger to politics or the media, I was president of the Texas Aggie Democrats and later a science writer and opinion columnist for Texas A&M's student newspaper, The Battalion.
I recently completed my graduate studies at the University of Oxford, where I was funded by a Rhodes Scholarship; I earned my D.Phil. (Oxford's equivalent of the Ph.D.) in biochemistry in August 2009. There, I used NMR and other biophysical methods to study the structures of cell surface proteins in order to understand how human cells sense and react to their surroundings.
I am currently pursuing a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, continuing my work on protein NMR. To date, I have published several papers on my scientific work and one on science blogging. In my free time I enjoy reading, traveling, and playing tennis, and I somehow find a bit of time to blog now and then.
Read more about the photos above here. Photo credits go to my awesomely sciencey girlfriend, Meredith Clancy:







