Alex Palazzo is a postdoctoral fellow working in the Department of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School.
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September 2, 2008
Category: Misc
This weekend I moved from the Backbay to Cambridgeport, aka Junior Faculty ghetto. It's conveniently located at the near BU, Harvard and MIT. It is probably one of the most overeducated (if such a term existed) neighborhoods on the planet.
So, in today's "let's talk about the facts" entry I'll encorage you to check out JuniorProf's entry.
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 9:24 AM • 8 Comments
August 30, 2008
Category: Misc
And I won't even talk about the whole Global Warming issue. Governmental funding of science is fundamentally important to our economic future.
First let's look at funding for the National Institutes of Health, the main source of money for biomedical research in the US:
Joseph j7uy5 @ Corpus Callosum points out:
I can't help but notice that the funding leveled off the same year that the Iraq War started.
How about the Physical Sciences, Engineering, Math & Computer Sciences? They have all flat-lined since GWB came to power:
On the biggest issues of our time, energy, the story is no better. Money for alternative energy research has been flat through both Democrat and Republican Administrations. You would think that after 9/11 there would be a push for this type of research. Here's the data:
One of the most ambitious ideas is to develop fusion power, but is it being done in the US? Try Southern France. So if our future relies on a strong support for Science, who do you trust?
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 8:41 AM • 4 Comments
Category: art, food, music, citylife and other mental stimuli
This one is dedicated to the residents of New Orleans who for the past three years have been rebuilding that beautiful city.
Long live The Big Easy.
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 7:18 AM • 1 Comments
August 29, 2008
Category: Misc
One of America's strengths was that people looked up to the US. In WWII soldiers would give up to the US on purpose, because they knew that they would be treated fairly. How do I know this - my grandfather who fought for the Italians was one of them. Imagine that power. You are so highly regarded that your enemies would rather give up to you than fight you.
But we've squandered that. In the name of fighting terror, we torture. In the name of justice, we invade a country without justification. And it's worse then that - we actually bombed a country and then fail to build it back up again. Hundreds of thousand dead for what? I was against the Iraq war, but even worse than this misguided adventure was the fact that we failed to rebuild the country after we got rid of the regime.
Why did we fail? All the talking heads would say that we didn't have enough of a military presence there, but lets face reality, the GOP just doesn't understand that the government has a role to play in building society. Instead of sending experts to rebuild Iraq, we sent cronies who were experts at chanting right-wing mantras and little else. Iraqis were angry. All of the good will that some Iraqis had for the US evaporated. Thankfully the Iraqi insurgents have figured out that Al Qaeda is worse than the US and are now fighting on our side to rid their country of religious zealots. Yes, fanatics can ruin your neighborhood.
In the midst of all this, the world's collective jaw dropped. The US was first irrational and then appeared incapable of doing anything right. I'm glad that these guys weren't the ones to face the post WWII world, they would have wrecked it with their free-market government-is-good-for-nothing ideology. So America's ability to convince its allies that it held the moral high ground evaporated. People around the world were sickened and disgusted with the Bush administrations policies and as a consequence world opinion of the US dropped.
Now why is this important? Well as a non-American I'm telling Americans that the world wants, and needs an enlightened and strong America. Why do you think that so many flocked to hear Barack Obama's speech in Berlin? Because he's a celebrity? Germans, Europeans and most of the world wants a America that spreads fairness, peace, equal opportunity and democracy. Obama, the candidate opposing McCain and the GOP, opposed the war and wants to reestablish US's status in the world as a leader for justice and opportunity. That's why.
So the title of this post has the word facts, and so here are some to backup what I'm saying.
First this graph of world opinion from the BBC:
Here's a snapshot of how one country (this case Portugal - just for you evil gomez) views the US (source):
A majority of Portuguese (55%) sees the US influence in the world as mainly negative, while just 29 percent believes it is mainly positive. Disapproval of US foreign policy is widespread in Portugal, with very large majorities disapproving of US treatment of detainees at Guantanamo (84%), the handling of the Iraq war (83%), global warming (79%), and the Israel-Hezbollah conflict (72%). The Portuguese also tend to view US handling of rising nuclear tensions negatively, with 57 percent disapproving of the situation with Iran and 51 percent disapproving of the situation with North Korea. More than three in four (77%) in Portugal see the US military presence in the Middle East as instigating more conflict than it prevents, and just 15 percent see the US as a stabilizing force in the region.
If you want some really disturbing numbers, see this report by Gallup.
Note that these numbers are not the product of "jealously" or any of the crap that right-wing pundits spout. The Portuguese, just like many others, expect more from the US. And that's why Barack Obama, the candidate opposing McCain and the GOP, is so popular throughout Europe. So what are the numbers? This is from the Pew Research Center:
Even Aussies prefer Obama by a wide margin (and there is no way that Aussies are jealous of the US - trust me).
So will the act of electing Obama increase America's stance in the world? Probably. Will it increase America's soft power? Very likely.
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 2:59 PM • 3 Comments
Category: Misc
I'm Canadian. Back when I lived in Canada, health insurance was never a worry. Sure you might have to wait a bit before you got it, but you could always count on being sen by a doctor when ever something is wrong. If you want you can get additional health insurance that will pay for upgrades, but almost all Canadians will never let go of Universal Healthcare. But what is the situation down here in my adopted land? (I've lived in the US for ten years) The Democrats want to change things, they recognize that the system is broken. In contrast the GOP claims that the status quo is just fine, that the free market will solve all of our problems, but the numbers tell a different story. Let's look and see what the free market has done:
Source: NPR Health Care Back in the National Spotlight
Note that the break in the line in the above graph was caused by an adjustment in how the numbers were tallied.
And look at how the cost of both health insurance and education are skyrocketing. We will soon become a country where only the rich can afford a trip to the doctor or a decent education.
The GOP and free market preachers always chant that the market is more efficient than socialized programs. But when short term profits are the goal, sometimes you need to spend a whole lot more on management in order to screw your clients. So what are the stats on overhead? This is from a NEJM article:
Background: A decade ago, the administrative costs of health care in the United States greatly exceeded those in Canada. We investigated whether the ascendancy of computerization, managed care, and the adoption of more businesslike approaches to health care have decreased administrative costs.[...]
Results: In 1999, health administration costs totaled at least $294.3 billion in the United States, or $1,059 per capita, as compared with $307 per capita in Canada. After exclusions, administration accounted for 31.0 percent of health care expenditures in the United States and 16.7 percent of health care expenditures in Canada. Canada's national health insurance program had overhead of 1.3 percent; the overhead among Canada's private insurers was higher than that in the United States (13.2 percent vs. 11.7 percent). Providers' administrative costs were far lower in Canada.
Between 1969 and 1999, the share of the U.S. health care labor force accounted for by administrative workers grew from 18.2 percent to 27.3 percent. In Canada, it grew from 16.0 percent in 1971 to 19.1 percent in 1996. (Both nations' figures exclude insurance-industry personnel.)
Conclusions: The gap between U.S. and Canadian spending on health care administration has grown to $752 per capita. A large sum might be saved in the United States if administrative costs could be trimmed by implementing a Canadian-style health care system.
So who's in touch with reality? Those who believe in invisible hands, or those looking at the situation on the ground?
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 8:30 AM • 9 Comments
August 28, 2008
Category: Misc
Again here's a simple graph that says it all.
And they say that Democrats are fiscally irresponsible.
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 9:46 PM • 5 Comments
Category: Misc
Instead of vague platitudes, Clinton uses empiricism to make his points in last night's speech - America needs to look at what happened over the past 8 years. From last night's speech:
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 8:56 AM • 0 Comments
August 27, 2008
Category: Misc
Fact #1: There's a clear difference between Obama and McCain on taxes.
(ht: Digby, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post)
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 4:37 PM • 8 Comments
Category: Misc
Last night we spent the night at the Cambridge Brewing company and said goodbye to Marius Wernig who is leaving today to start his lab at Stanford. If you are looking for a lab working on a hot topic and want a patient smart and generous mentor APPLY TO HIS LAB. Trust me. (To read more, click here.)
When we got home we watched Clinton's speech at the MSNBC site. It was great. If you missed it, I'll present it to you via the magic of the intertubes:
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 8:30 AM • 1 Comments
August 24, 2008
Category: Misc
Joe Biden. How do I feel about the pick? It's okay, nothing to get excited over. At least when Biden attacks McCain, the media will echo it.
So we spent the day packing and listening to all the "pundits" on all the MSM websites. It is amazing how vacuous all these shows are. Not one iota of useful information. All sound bites that mean nothing. Listening to all this crap can really fry your brain. Is this why after such a disastrous 8 years McSame is only 2 points behind Obama? And what's up with all this Clinton supporters who are leaning on the fence towards McCain. I know that PP and Gwen Ifill think that they'll eventually fall in line, but my wife recently found out that one of her coworkers is such a person. I just don't get it. Obama and Clinton's policy differences are so minute that this lack of support can't be based on their platforms. Obama was against the war, Hillary appeased the right before going 180 - so it can't be that either. Sure Obama voted for FISA and has expressed support for some offshore drilling, but considering that a McCain presidency would be a full continuation of GWB's current agenda, there is no way that these two should be so close in the polls. And there is no way that Clinton voters should even consider voting for McCain. No way. I just don't get it. I asked Lesley, a summer student from North Carolina. She tells me that most of the folks back home think that Obama is a Muslim. Is that it? Are people so susceptible to such childish tactics? Either people are realy dumb, or racism is still a big factor.
This all reminds me of a song that curiously appears on this blog every election cycle:
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 11:44 PM • 11 Comments
I've been really busy of late. Over the summer I have been mentoring two students, Gloria who sadly left us for Danesh Moazed's lab (a great choice if you ask me) and Lesley who will be leaving next week to work in a lab at Duke. I have also been busy with the RNA Data Club - last week we had our first meeting outside of Harvard Med School, at the Whitehead Institute (thanks to Christina Mayr and other members of the Bartel lab). Next Month we'll be have over speakers from Pam Silver's group and our first Yalie, Navtej Toor from the Pyle Lab. Next week, Jenni and I are moving to a new apartment in Cambridgeport ... the crazy thing is that we'll be moving again next year ... most probably to Toronto! AND I have a hot new piece of data that I'm trying to work up. I want to have this result ready for a talk that I'll be giving at Columbia University on September 4th, but first I need to perform a couple of control experiments.
The result of all this activity has been a lack of posts. As a result I haven't been able to blog about all the great papers that have been coming out in the last few months. Unfortunately these exciting new discoveries have been ignored by most science bloggers who seem to have no knowledge concerning the fastest advancing area of science today, cell biology. I've given each paper a one line entry (below the fold).
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 3:27 PM • 0 Comments
August 22, 2008
Category: Lab Life
Maybe this will become the new Friday feature at The Daily Transcript ...
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Posted by Alex Palazzo at 3:15 PM • 3 Comments
August 18, 2008
Category: Science & Society
If you are a scientist, I urge you to listen to the commencement speech that Krulwich gave to the Cal Tech graduates earlier this year.
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 10:31 AM • 0 Comments
August 14, 2008
Category: Lab Life
ht: Dan @ BitesizeBio
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 9:23 AM • 2 Comments
August 12, 2008
Category: Pure Biology
Sorry, I've been busy these past few days.
I want to respond to a comment posted by Dan and take this opportunity to broaden the discussion about how we use language to construct models.
Dan's concerns about information and life have been echoed by many out there, for example by John Wilkins. Can we use the term "information" when discussing life? Is there such a thing as "information"? Are these buzzwords without any deeper meaning?
What is lost in such an analysis is that all of our theories are infused with metaphors. These words and concepts help us to better understand the ideas and insights that may come out of any particular model. The metaphor of information and the use of similar terms in molecular biology (signal transduction, transmit, secondary messenger, genetic program, mRNA, transcription, translation, copying, amplification) help us to comprehend underlying biological processes. A certain sequence of base pairs is passed on from generation to generation, information. A cell secrets a growth factor and causes a nearby cell to differentiate, information.
Does information exist per say? Well I would like to argue that nothing exist in the exact way that any term implies, words after all are simply tools that help us to understand the world in which we live in. Some words are better than others, some less so. Some words give more insight because their meanings give insight when invoked in a particular context. You may choose to eliminate all the words for information in your explanation of biological processes and use instead another metaphor, that of machines for example, and you may gain some different insight, but let's face it, you will not be able to easily understand all the issues and questions that are implicit in the study of classical genetics. What is the unit of heredity? How is genetic information transmitted? Does genetic information have a physical counterpart? How is the sequence of bases along a strand of DNA converted into a sequence of amino acids? To say that information is a buzz word, or that it doesn't exist misses the point. It is a useful analogy. It's a metaphor that gives insight, just like the idea of molecular motors can promote the development of other forms of deeper understanding.
Posted by Alex Palazzo at 8:52 PM • 9 Comments
August 7, 2008
YES! Send me a free issue of Seed.
If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $14.95. That's 50% off the cover price! If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.
(Non-U.S. subscribers, click here.)
