Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology. Comment policy: say what you want, but back it up with an email address. I don't like anonymous trolls.
mikethemadbiologist
Posts by this author
May 9, 2011
By way of DrugMonkey, we come across NIH's new working group that "will examine the future of the biomedical research workforce in the United States." It's headed by Princeton's Shirley Tilghman, who in a recent interview, said:
At the root of the problem is the fact that we are overproducing Ph.D…
May 8, 2011
Links for you. Science:
Is This the Big One? The Flood That Makes New Orleans A Backwater?What Autism Epidemic?
Other:
Homeless, but Finding Sanctuary at SchoolOur Strange Dance with PakistanDo Red State Republicans Want More Divorces, STDs and Abortions? Their Policies Suggest "Yes"Mayors Rebel…
May 8, 2011
We read about "the dumbest-ass things that any state could possibly do" according to one retired New Orleans judge to prevent prostitution:
In their neighborhoods, they are sometimes taunted with dirty looks and jeers. Their pictures hang on the walls of local community centers where their children…
May 8, 2011
Well, actually it is being asked, just not by our political betters. From The Army Times:
Another soldier, Spc. William Baxter, a parachute rigger with the 101st Sustainment Brigade, was more succinct with his thoughts.
"OK, he's dead, can we go home?" he asked.
His thoughts were echoed by Spc.…
May 7, 2011
Links for you. Science:
How deep is deep enough in RNA-Seq?Ph.D. survival: is a jack of all trades a master of none?Evidence, herd immunity, and 'total assholes'Happy Robigalia! Applying genomic tools to thwart an ancient pest
Other:
Fears and FailureHeroic Registers of Deeds Battling Mortgage…
May 7, 2011
This being Boston, we are completely cool with lesbian swans cohabitating in public. And little duckies, this is your doom:
Seriously, I'm curious if they hunt ducklings this year (and now that I have a snazzy new iPhone, I'll try to get video if they do).
May 7, 2011
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/04/cost-vaccine-refusal/
Before I get to the cost of a measles outbreak, I think Seth Mnookin sets the appropriate frame of reference:
I don't know anyone in the world who likes needles or likes watching needles pierce their child's skin. However, the fact…
May 6, 2011
Links for you. Science:
CVs vs. resumes: when it mattersWrestling with Recurrent Infections: Clostridium difficile is evolving more robust toxicity, repeatedly attacking its victims, and driving the search for alternative therapies to fight the infection.8 percent of women physical oceanographers…
May 6, 2011
For those of you who like interactive data, the American Human Development Project has a great website that drills down to the county level for education, health, and income data in the U.S. It also has all of the data in a spreadsheet, if you want to do your own analysis.
So wonk out!
May 6, 2011
There's a recent study that examines the effect of pollution on educational performance in Michigan. Basically, the authors found that test scores were significantly lower for the two 'most polluted' quintiles of schools (i.e., the worst forty percent), even after controlling for income, school…
May 5, 2011
Links for you. Science:
How Sugar Affects the Body in MotionWhy the Harper Majority is a Step Back for Science - Let Us Count the WaysWheat stem fungus genome decipheredVaccine safety talks can burn up valuable checkup time. Half of doctors spend nearly 20 minutes discussing concerns with some…
May 5, 2011
As someone who spent several years working across the street from the Frank Gehry designed Stata Center and had more than a few meeting there, I appreciate Joe Queenan's wicked satire:
An Iowa-based philanthropist and architecture aficionado has offered a $300 million reward to any city anywhere in…
May 5, 2011
Part of the discussion surrounding the elimination of Osama bin Laden has taken a somewhat ghoulish turn: what does it mean for Obama's re-election chances? While I'm more of a zombies-eat-brains! type of guy, I'm certainly willing to be ghoulish, especially when it gives me the chance to discuss…
May 4, 2011
Links for you. Science:
How not to measure scientific productivityRestructuring the Biomedical Research Laboratory (probably will have more to say about this; I told you NIH had to move in the research center direction)Turning grief into action: Moms and antibiotic misuseFrom 250 million years of…
May 4, 2011
So I was pleasantly surprised to read about this strong pro-union move by the Rockefeller Republican Obama Administration--it's definitely not par for the course:
In what may be the strongest signal yet of the new pro-labor orientation of the National Labor Relations Board under President Obama,…
May 4, 2011
Doug Natelson raises a good question about when data should be made publicly available:
How much public funding triggers the need to make something publicly available? For example, suppose I used NSF funding to buy a coaxial cable for $5 as part of project A. Then, later on, I use that coax in…
May 3, 2011
If U.S. Special Forces could only do something about Donald Trump's hair. In the meantime, we have links. Science:
How do you ID a dead Osama anyway?Another Side of Tilapia, the Perfect Factory Fish"Motivated reasoning," alternative medicine, and the anti-vaccine movementPutting the science in…
May 3, 2011
Jon Walker argues that worrying about how to keep Social Security 'solvent' for 75 years is silly. After all, predicting the future 75 years out is difficult. Something like this might happen:
Epidemics caused by drug-resistant bacteria in 2020 could kill a disproportionally large number of…
May 3, 2011
Every so often I read on the internets about people who are really upset about circumcision. Oddly, it's compared to female genital mutilation (I'll get to that in a bit). But in San Francisco, there's actually an attempt to make banning circumcision a referendum item:
Most bans in San Francisco…
May 2, 2011
Bin Laden's dead. Still other things worth linking to though. Science:
Hiding the doomsday device: camouflage and venom in stonefishAcculturating students to scienceFalsehood: "If this was the Stone Age, I'd be dead by now"
Other:
Earth to Libertarians: Private Parties Have Coercive Power…
May 2, 2011
Dan Froomkin has a great article about the role that financial speculation plays in driving up gasoline prices*. Keep in mind that even Goldman Sachs, the largest oil trader, admits that speculation drives up oil prices. But what really disgusting is how this speculation-based rise in prices…
May 2, 2011
Last night and this morning in the U.S., people no doubt are wrapping their heads around the announcement that Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces yesterday. The question now becomes--will that change anything?
If we still are occupying Afghanistan and Iraq, if U.S. lives and…
May 1, 2011
Links for you. Science:
Big, really bigThe math of social networks
Other:
The Bitter Tea of Greg MortensonLIVIN' THE DREAMSame Old New Atheism: On Sam Harris"Millions Set to Lose Unemployment Benefits"Who Benefits From Bubbles?Town Hall Meetings on the Ryan Budget Raise ConcernsThere Are No Silver…
May 1, 2011
Boston, like many cities that serve as a regional cultural hub, has a lot of property owned by non-profits. And all of that property is untaxed. How much? The Back Bay Sun notes:
The exemptions began with church properties, spread to hospitals and learning institutions, then to museums.
The…
April 30, 2011
Links for you. Science:
More deconstruction of the "tyranny" of excessive reviewer demands for more experimentsArmadillos Can Transmit Leprosy to Humans, Federal Researchers Confirm
Other:
Female physicians make less money than male doctors, here's why (truly, no good deed goes unpunished)Health…
April 30, 2011
In looking through the comments of Chris Mooney's recent post on vaccination denialism, I found this comment, which inevitably shows up in one form or another (italics mine; errors original):
i grew up in the 1960s when less than a half dozen vaccines were required for infant protection spread out…
April 30, 2011
Or at least, antivaxxer idiocy isn't correlated with political leanings. Last week, in response to a post by Chris Mooney I argued that liberals weren't more likely to refuse vaccination, despite the stereotype that vaccination denialism is more prevalent among the left (that's always struck me…
April 29, 2011
Gave a talk today. Think it went well. Celebrating with links! Science:
Sciparenting and expectationsFire ants assemble into living waterproof raftsAncient DNA: Curse of the Pharaoh's DNA
Other:
Ohio Republicans unhappy Republicans did what Republicans doDon't leave the city. (Sadly, I think the…
April 29, 2011
By way of Jay Ackroyd, we come across this article about the whole "liquids and gels" silliness. If you fly regularly, it's nothing you don't normally experience:
My carry-on goes through the scanner and comes out the other side. One of the guards squints at his monitor, then shoots me a hostile…
April 29, 2011
It's an odd-sounding question, but, if you use a debit card, a very important one. I bring this up as The Huffington Post recently published an article about the political battle over the fees banks charge stores when customers use their credit and debit cards. While the article--and much of the…