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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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foreign policy:
Category: Featured Blogger
Members of the Obama Administration have mentioned using science for diplomatic purposes on various occasions, most notably when President Barack Obama himself included this idea in his address at Cairo University in June. Today, SEEDMAGAZINE.COM published an article by Harvard's...
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:30 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: law
Contemplating the mindset that led to the CIA torture memos reminds me of an encounter I had at the Pentagon in September 2005.
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:04 AM • 3 Comments •
Category: health policy
You see, this is why you want to fill your administration with smart, qualified, thoughtful, and innovative people--especially in the sciences. From The Times A major investment in fighting tropical infections and chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes in...
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 2:02 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: academia
After a rapid media outcry, the US and Israel have come together to reinstate the Fulbright Scholarships initially revoked from several students from Gaza due to Israel-imposed travel restrictions. From The New York Times: JERUSALEM -- The American State Department...
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 4:30 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: human rights
On one metric, at least, Israel appears worse that apartheid South Africa.
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 11:30 AM • 13 Comments •
Category: Africa
You can file this one under "should have been done about twenty years ago." From the Mail & Guardian: Lawmakers on Tuesday debated legislation to remove former South African president Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) from an...
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:57 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: Africa
Now that the Chinese ship An Yue Jiang--which was delivering arms from China to Zimbabwe--has been turned away for good, there are two significant aspects of this story upon which we should reflect. The first is that the true heroes...
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:10 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Life of Nick
Last year, I recounted my personal experience on September 11, 2001, and I offered some commentary about what that day--and the events of the ensuing year--meant to me and to American politics in general. I've reposted my 9/11 story again...
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:46 AM • 2 Comments •
Category: Barack Obama
He calls for bilateral talks and unrestricted Cuban American visitation and remittance rights.
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 4:50 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Bush Administration
On Bush and Iraq
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:26 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Life of Nick
When I was a freshman in college, at Texas A&M University, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings I had two classes back-to-back in the same lecture hall. Because of a weird scheduling fluke, these classes were about 45 minutes apart, though....
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:46 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: behavior
Robert Trivers was the first to describe the theory of reciprocal altruism and Noam Chomsky is... well... Noam Chomsky is the man (not to be confused with The Man). What happens when you bring together in one room the evolutionary...
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:07 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?
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 5 Comments •
Category: Ask a ScienceBlogger
One success of science influencing policy in a good way that might not be so obvious was the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963, which was largely influenced by the work of one scientist, Linus Pauling.
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Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:33 PM • 5 Comments •