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The Scientific Activist

Reporting from the Crossroads of Science and Politics

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scientificactivistprofile.gif 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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Science for a Brave New World

Is there a certain suite of legislation that needs to be passed now in order to provide a greater assurance of scientific good in the near future?

Integrin Phosphorylation as an Off Switch for Integrin Activation

A tiny modification can make a big difference in proteins involved in cell adhesion and migration.

Elsa Murano to Become New President of Texas A&M University

First female President picked as successor to popular President Robert Gates, although selection process remains controversial.

Animal Rights Extremists Strike Again

No surprises there.

Robert May on the State of UK Science

Too many bureaucrats and businessmen.

2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Knockout Mice

Awarded for the knockout mouse to Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies

Academic Research: Solving Puzzles or Solving Mysteries?

My message to undergraduate researchers.

These Scientists Are PISD-off About PRISM

There's only one way to fight such absurdity... with more absurdity!

Now That Is One Ugly PRISM

I've seen a prism distort light before, but I've never seen one distort information like this.

Animal Rights Activists Hijack the Brains of Three Respectable Scientists!

...and then publish a scientific paper!

General Thoughts on the NIH

Regarding grant success rates, budget constraints, the Roadmap, biodefense, young investigators, and open access

It's OK to Nibble, but Don't Bite Off the Hand that Feeds You

A couple of current American Rhodes Scholars ruffled a few feathers today after writing an unabashedly critical account of their Oxford experiences for their undergraduate alma mater's paper, The Harvard Crimson. Melissa Dell and Swati Mylavarapu write: Take it from...

My Second Scientific Paper: Matrix Protease Activity in Tumor Cell Invasion

The second paper from my undergraduate work at Texas A&M University was recently published in Molecular Cancer. The abstract can be found here, and the pdf of the full paper here. Molecular Cancer is an open access journal, so a...

Congratulations to Daniel Rhoads

Via A Blog Around the Clock comes news that Daniel Rhoads, who writes the informative blog Migrations (and formerly A Concerned Scientist), has successfully defended his dissertation. So, after a few minor revisions, it looks like it won't be too...

Ah, So That's How They Did It!

The first edition of the Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE) will be released at 11:00 pm EST tonight.

The Return of "Ethically Sound" Stem Cells

The "ethically sound" stem cell paper resurfaces this week, as it appears in the print version of the current issue of Nature.

The Structure of the Living Cell

Oxford's Iain Campbell discusses the past and future of structural biology.

My First Scientific Paper: The Stabilization of Blood Vessels by Protease Inhibitors

My first appearance in the peer-reviewed scientific literature provides an opportunity to learn a little bit about blood vessel development.

Medical Doctors Support Animal Research

A new study from the Research Defence Society (RDS) indicates that medical doctors in the UK overwhelmingly support the role of animal research in contributing to important medical advances. The RDS questioned four hundred general practitioners from across the UK...

2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Eukaryotic Transcription

The 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Roger Kornberg for his work on elucidating the molecular basis of transcription in eukaryotes.

2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: RNA Interference

The 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced this morning, with one half going to Andrew Fire and the other half to Craig Mello, both for the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi). The discovery of RNAi added a...

More on NIH R01 Grants

Since I reported yesterday on a letter in Science describing the current decline in funding of NIH (National Institutes of Health) R01 grants, several others have chimed in as well. PZ Myers of Pharyngula gave the post a mention,...

A Shocking Decrease in Funding of NIH Grants

Success rates of NIH R01 grants are in rapid decline, due to a combination of more applications submitted, fewer grants awarded, and less total funds allocated.

I'm Official! (According to Oxford University, at least)

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.

Fantastical Fridays: The End of the Hard Sciences?

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...

From the Archives: Praise for Selling Out

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...

A Natural Conflict of Interest as Nature Criticizes PLoS

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...

Cell Jumps on the Interactive Bandwagon

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...

From the Archives: Science Gets Googly

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.

PLoS Takes On Science and Nature... and Blogs All About It!

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.

Is Oxford Shortchanging Its Students Through Overspecialization?

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.

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