Education
grrlscientist | July 4, 2008tags: Jesse Helms, politics, rethuglicans
Image: Orphaned (please contact me so I can properly attribute this image to its photographer).
This morning, I learned that America is celebrating its independence from one of the politicians whose goal was to ensure that this country was a colder, meaner-spirited place for millions of its citizens to live; a former senator of North Carolina, Jesse Helms. A lot of people called him "Senator No", although I (and no doubt others) thought of him as "Senator Hate."
How should we remember a right-wing religious control freak who has caused so much…
oracknows | June 30, 2008
"I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward, you will service us." - Locutus of Borg.
"Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile...Your culture will adapt to service ours." -- The Borg.
I'm a bit depressed these days.
Maybe a better term for it would be pessimistic, as I'm not really depressed about the state of my life per se. More precisely, I'm becoming increasingly pessimistic about the state of science- and evidence-based medicine in this country. What brought this pessimism to the forefront was last Thursday's post, which…
laelaps | June 23, 2008On April 19th Philadelphia marked the beginning of it's "Year of Evolution," a year-long celebration of the science that, to paraphrase Dobzhansky, makes sense of biology. Jon Hurdle has an article about the festivities in today's New York Times, but right out of the gate what could have been a good article is marred by putting everything in the context of the evolution v. creationism culture wars. Rather than praising Philadelphia for supporting good, established science the year-long series of events is tacitly cast as a reaction to creationism;
In the long-running culture war between…
gregladen | June 22, 2008Continuing with our discussion of the Evolution 2008 conference ... many things have been going on and I have more to report than time to report it. But I will get to all of it, I assure you. Tonight, I just want to cover part of today's Education Symposium (moderated by your's truly) ... not all of it at once, thought, as it is kind of complex.
If you happen to work for the University of Minnesota or know anyone who does, best to not read this or let anyone know about it. This is a little to heavy to be spoken of openly. (Since there are only 11 of you who read my blog, I think we'll…
ejohnson | June 20, 2008
Alice Pawley is a woman in a man's world, but that's not going to be the case for long if she has anything to do with it. As an assistant professor of engineering education at Purdue University, she knows firsthand the barriers facing women in the hard sciences, so it was only natural for her to join ScienceWoman as a co-blogger on the (aptly titled) blog Sciencewomen. In her posts, Alice writes about the overlooked, but increasingly relevant intersection between engineering and womens' studies. In her Page 3.14 interview, as on her blog, she brings a refreshing blend of realism and humor to…
ksharpe | June 19, 2008Check out the top stories of the past week at our European partner site, ScienceBlogs.de:
First Meeting of German ScienceBloggers
Last Friday the German ScienceBloggers met in Munich in real life. Until the meeting, most of us only knew each other via blog, e-mail or phone. So we enjoyed this opportunity for a personal exchange and we collected lots of very good ideas.
The top statement of the day was: "My boss knows I am a blogger."
If you would like to see what we look like and what we experienced, Beatrice (of Neurons) has posted two articles with many pictures of ourselves and impressions…
jstemwedel | June 19, 2008The press covering the story of bioethicist Glenn McGee's departure from the post of director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College is hungry for an ironic twist. For example, Scientific American titles its article "An Unethical Ethicist?" What more fitting fall than some self-appointed morality cop going down on account of his own immoral dealings?
Believe me, I'm familiar with the suspicions people seem to harbor that ethicists are, in fact, twice as naughty as other folks. But from the evidence laboriously assembled in the SciAm article, I'm just not buying…
oracknows | June 18, 2008Color me unimpressed.
As I mentioned last week, that opportunist who has apparently become a paid shill for the hardcore antivaccination movement (namely Generation Rescue, Autism Research Institute, National Autism Association, Coalition for SAFE MINDS, and Talk About Curing Autism, all of whom helped to fund his recent trip to the U.K. and, according to Kirby's announcements and advertisements, appear to be funding his speaking engagements), David Kirby, is making a tour of the Northeast to spew his special brand of credulous idiocy about vaccines and autism hither and yon. I listed his…
drorzel | June 18, 2008A bunch of academic bloggers have been talking about the American Scholar essay by William Deresiewicz. The always-perceptive Timothy Burke offers some insightful comments about the general problems of elite education.
Burke is also a lot kinder to Deresiewicz than I'm inclined to be. Because, frankly, the piece pisses me off, from the very first paragraph:
It didn't dawn on me that there might be a few holes in my education until I was about 35. I'd just bought a house, the pipes needed fixing, and the plumber was standing in my kitchen. There he was, a short, beefy guy with a goatee and a…
tfk | June 16, 2008In a press release from the Louisiana Coalition for Science, Governor Bobby Jindal's college genetics professor asks him not to "hold back the next generation of Louisiana's doctors." The press release introduces an open letter from the group calling for Jindal to veto SB 733, a bill which opens the door to creationism in the classroom,
Professor Arthur Landy, University Professor at Brown University who teaches in the medical school, taught the then-premed. Landy says "Without evolution, modern biology, including medicine and biotechnology, wouldn't make sense. In order for today's…
tfk | June 16, 2008
After 8 years of having an Alfred E. Neuman impersonator in the White House, is John McCain really considering this man to be his vice presidential nominee?
Governor Bobby Jindal is not just an Alfred E. Neuman impersonator, though. He is a graduate of Brown University, where he majored in biology. He was accepted to Yale Law and Harvard Medical School, but chose to get a degree in political science on his Rhodes scholarship.
While pondering that decision, he participated in an exorcism of a fellow student. As the female student thrashed around in what Jindal described as a seizure, he…
bioephemera | June 16, 2008
Via Rag & Bone Blog
By Christopher Tovo
Are we falling out of love with books?
I realized a little while ago - when yet another book arrived from Amazon and was thrown on the to-read pile - that I'm no longer the bibliophile I once was. I love the idea of reading books, but I'm not making time to do it. Recent fiction isn't appealing - I don't seem to have the patience or interest. (I feel like Jessica Crispin in that respect). And nonfiction, which I have been reading occasionally, seems too much like a part of my job.
I'm really disturbed by this trend. I self-identify as a devoted…
oracknows | June 16, 2008...is one of my favorite surgeon-bloggers Sid Schwab when he discusses what happens when naturopaths actually subject their "healing art" to scientific examination. In the wake of the rather--shall we say--vigorous discussion that ensued after my post last week about the recently passed law in the State of Minnesota to license and regulate naturopaths, today I can't resist taking a look at the widely publicized study of St. John's Wort for Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) that by coincidence was published in JAMA last week and that Sid discusses.
What he's discussing is a study…
gregladen | June 13, 2008 The University of Minnesota Mascot, Goldie Gopher. Biological engineers at the University of Minnesota tend to be creationists. The main professor who teaches this subject is a creationist and he teaches a creationism seminar on a regular basis. He helps run and organize a Christian student group that has a pledge of faith for members. The bio-engineers student group uses a gopher (our school symbol) standing in the Leonardo position ala the Discovery Institute.
Yes, you read that right. The symbol of the student group for biological engineering is a take-off of the Discovery…
sb admin | June 12, 2008My little post on naturopathy was more controversial than I had anticipated. Some of the commenters gently (and otherwise) suggested that I should learn more about the subject, so I've been doing a little reading. Here are the basic questions: what is naturopathy, and what might it have to offer that "conventional" medicine lacks?
One of the first places I visited was the website for Bastyr University, which is often cited as having the most prestigious naturopathic program. Their website posts a definition of naturopathy (all emphasis mine):
Naturopathic medicine is a distinct profession…
terrasig | June 12, 2008I'm even later to the game on this story than my blogging colleague, Orac: ERV, Pharyngula, and denialism blog have each given their takes on the Minnesota's plan to authorize NDs, doctors of naturopathy, to use the title of "Doctor."
For two views on what naturopathy is, here is one from the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians and another from Quackwatch. We link - you decide.
As I read the story, it sounds as though the new legislation allows naturopaths to practice without being prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license. No word yet on whether they can be sued…
tfk | June 11, 2008SB 733, a creationist bill in the Louisiana legislature, was approved on a lopsided vote in the Louisiana House of Representatives today. It now moves back to the Senate, where small differences between this bill and the Senate version must be reconciled before it can go to Governor Jindal. Jindal is a leading contender for John McCain's vice presidential nomination.
In response to this and other attacks on the teaching of evolution in Louisiana, the indefatigable Barbara Forrest (author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design) and other activists in the Pelican State…
clock | June 10, 2008Circadian Math: 1 Plus 1 Doesn't Always Equal 2:
Like a wristwatch that needs to be wound daily for accurate time-telling, the human circadian system -- the biological cycles that repeat approximately every 24 hours -- requires daily light exposure to the eye's retina to remain synchronized with the solar day. In a new study published in the June issue of Neuroscience Letters, researchers have demonstrated that when it comes to the circadian system, not all light exposure is created equal.
Morningness Is A Predictor Of Better Grades In College:
Morningness is a predictor of better grades in…
neurophilosophy | June 6, 2008
Photo by Einat Adar
Our feathered friends provide us with some beautiful examples of the link between brain and behaviour. In some bird species, groups of cells involved in seasonal behaviours die after they have performed their function, but are regenerated by neurogenesis as and when they are needed.
Male songbirds, for example, serenade females; the brain nuclei which produce the vocalizations die when the mating season ends, and regenerate as the next one approaches. Similarly, the Clarke's nutcracker stores tens of thousands of pine seeds in many different caches spread across a…
scientificactivist | May 28, 2008Oh, the things we do in the name of "the global war on terror." And, not just in the US. Here's an example from the UK. From The Guardian:
A masters student researching terrorist tactics who was arrested and detained for six days after his university informed police about al-Qaida-related material he downloaded has spoken of the "psychological torture" he endured in custody.
Despite his Nottingham University supervisors insisting the materials were directly relevant to his research, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, was held for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act, accused of downloading the materials…