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Advancing Science through Conversations: Bridging the Gap between Blogs and the Academy
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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Category: Nobel Prize
Three Americans, Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak, win the prize for the discovery of telomeres and telomerase.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 11:21 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Obama Administration
Earlier today, President Barack Obama delivered a major speech on science policy to the National Academy of Sciences. Read more about it in my previous post. Now, though, Andy Revkin of Dot Earth is trying to annotate the speech with...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 11:28 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: science policy
It would only take about one seven-hundredth of one percent of the federal budget.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:28 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: stem cells
Today was a great day for science in the Executive Branch. Firstly, President Barack Obama (finally!) lifted George W. Bush's August 2001 restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research in an executive order entitled "Removing Barriers to...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:06 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Bush Administration
An insidious legacy
Posted by Nick Anthis at 4:15 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: political interference
The forced resignation of Mary Gade
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:42 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: political interference
Last week's report by the UCS indicates that the EPA has become little more than another political tool for the Bush Administration.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 2:58 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: Election 2008
From evolution to stem cells, from declining NIH grant success rates to accelerating global warming, the next president is going to face a broad range of issues directly related to science.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 2:05 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: political interference
Repent! Repent!
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:39 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: political interference
It's YOUR fault that you were being politically suppressed, Mr. Surgeon General!
Posted by Nick Anthis at 5:37 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: political interference
Add one more to the list.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:27 AM • 38 Comments •
Category: political interference
Members of the Bush Administration are forced to defend the Administration's policies of political interference in climate science.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:50 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: political interference
The House passes the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act 331-94. Should we be surprised that all 94 nays come from the Republican side of the aisle?
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:20 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: political interference
This should be interesting....
Posted by Nick Anthis at 1:56 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: political interference
A new Bush Administration directive serves no other purpose than to further institutionalize Administration interference in science.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 5:09 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Democratic Party
The Democrats are already making big plans to investigate some of the Bush Administration's more outrageous instances of political interference in science.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 5:47 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: political interference
Is anyone surprised?
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:15 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: scientific activism
The formation Scientists and Engineers for America comes at a pivitol moment, when science-friendly candidates stand to make major gains in the midterm elections.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:35 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: stem cells
...since Bush announced his restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:45 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Fantastical Fridays
...according the US Department of Education, at least!
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:40 AM • 7 Comments •
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: 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 •
Category: marijuana
Which of the following does not belong: (a) abortion, (b) medical marijuana, or (c) physician-assisted suicide? According the Supreme Court, the answer is (b) medical marijuana
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 7 Comments •
Category: stem cells
After it passed in the Senate on Tuesday, Bush proved he was as stubborn as promised and vetoed HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, on Wednesday. This was another step backwards for science in the US and a...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 3:33 AM • 1 Comments •
Category: stem cells
As the Senate votes today on HR 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, this post from the archives describes how the ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research has negatively impacted some researchers. In light of these...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 4 Comments •
Category: stem cells
Bush hasn't used his veto yet, but he's promised to employ it on, of all issues, stem cell funding. Not surprisingly, this is indicative of the general Republican Party attitude toward the field.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:51 AM • 12 Comments •
Category: stem cells
On the 29th of June, the Senate finally announced an upcoming vote on HR 810, a bill which would overturn President Bush's current prohibitions on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The progress of the bill still faces many hurdles, and a recent article in the journal Science did little to publicize them and in fact contained several problematic and even inaccurate statements.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:00 PM • 1 Comments •
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: 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: 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 •
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
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: 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
