mikethemadbiologist

The Massachusetts Public Health Association released a statement in July about the new budget for the Department of Public Health (pdf). You'll notice that most budget items increase: The legislature and Governor Patrick have approved $548.7 million for the Department of Public Health (DPH) in the…

Bob Somerby noticed something during the most recent Democratic presidential debate (and it's so hard to keep track of them all): But we were especially struck by a decision made during the Democratic debate. Omigod! A real discussion had broken out about the way to exit Iraq! It was by far the…

Josh Marshall describes his correspondence with a journalism professor who bashed blogs this weekend in The LA Times. Marshall writes: There's certainly no end of blog pontificating fueled by puffed-up self-assertion rather than facts. But Skube's piece reads with a vagueness that suggests he has…

...to me. Or at least, to the residents of my congressional district. MoveOn.org has a district-by-district list of what your congressional district's contribution to the Iraqi War and Occupation could have bought instead. For me, a resident of Massachusetts' Eight District: *The cost to…

Someone has to hold down the fort while the rest of my ScienceBloglings are frolicking in New York City. Here's some science: Here's why you should run controls. That zinc you're taking to stop colds? Erm, maybe not so much. Revere argues that too many people are playing with anthrax. Dan…

The regional director of the Anti-Defamation League was recently fired by the national organization because he called what the Turks did to the Armenians in 1918 genocide. Three points: 1) The existence of genocide should never be a politically conditional observation. 2) Stop worrying about the…

I've discussed before how the misdiagnosis of viral infections, typically respiratory illnesses, leads to massive improper use of antibiotics. It's a problem in the UK too. From ScripNews (subscription only): Antibiotics are prescribed to treat up to 80% of cases of sore throat, otitis media,…

A science nerd, to be precise: What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Social Nerd   You're interested in things such as politics, psychology, child care, and peace. I wouldn't go so far as to call you a hippie, but some of you may be tree-huggers. You're the type of people who are interested…

Maha responds to my previous post about pseudoconservatives. I don't really have much to add to what she said, but I want to make several additional points and clarifications: 1) I agree with maha that it's difficult to figure out what conservatism is, even for conservatives. In large part, this…

The CDC's journal Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR)--there's something to leave on your coffee table--says that roughly 43% of 9th - 12th graders have had a drink of alcohol in the last 30 days, according to a 2005 study. And Nebraskans are weird: Apparently, Nebraskan kids like their…

Maha has an interesting post about whom she calls pseudoconservatives (italics original): Through most of our lives we've witnessed a right-wing faction take over the Republican Party and, eventually, the government. But if you think of pseudo conservatism as a philosophy -- I personally think it's…

By way of archcrone (via skippy), I came across this McClatchy article which discusses the massive inflation in food prices: The Labor Department's most recent inflation data showed that U.S. food prices rose by 4.1 percent for the 12 months ending in June, but a deeper look at the numbers reveals…

One of the things that's hammered into your head as a baby scientist is the importance of running controls. Typically, you run a positive control--a 'gamed' experiment where you know what the outcome should be and which tells you that the experiment is working--and a negative control which should…

I try to avoid blogging about 'horse race' politics, in no small part because about nineteen percent of voters don't make up their minds until several days before an election. For a long time, I've been privately telling people that Huckabee is a serious candidate that could pose real problems for…

Erm, maybe not so much. From Clinical Infectious Diseases: BACKGROUND: Over the past 20 years, the use of zinc as an over-the-counter alternative therapy for the common cold has vastly grown in popularity. Recent reports of potentially permanent anosmia caused by intranasal zinc therapy warrant…

...at least when it comes to road signs. The NY Times magazine has a fascinating article about how changing the font of road signs helps drivers see them, particularly late at night. The font that will be used is call "Clearview": The improved font is on the right (these are real signs). From…

Sometimes in blogging timing is everything. I had this post about Karl Rove all ready to go, and then he goes and resigns on me. Oh well. Anyway, this is a response to an excellent post by Maha about Karl Rove's vaunted political acumen not being so, erm, acumeney. Maha writes: Another factor…

Merry Sunday! Here are some links for you. Sciencey stuff: Is the fitness cost of some antibiotic resistances the signal peptide? MRSA and pigs: lots of both, and it's very confusing. Amanda at Pandagon reviews Chris Mooney's Storm World. ScienceBlogling Mark has problems with a 'Christian'…

From the back cover of The Wimp Factor is this illustration that explains so much about the rise of the modern conservative movement: From hatred of gays to blowing the crap out of the wrong country to prove that we're not weak, it is remarkable how much of this stems from male insecurity. Couldn…

The Boston Public Library at Copley Square has a great exhibit of World War II propaganda posters on display on the third floor of the old wing (right down the hall from the mini-books!). The exhibit, United We Will Win: World War II Posters of Victory, has some incredible posters. Yes, they're…

Actually, she lives in the blogosphere, and I live in blogtopia (and yes, skippy invented that phrase). Goodman argues that the lefty blogosphere is 'led' by angry white men. Granted, I am a Mad white man, but, trust me, I'm not leading anything. When I think of the regular blogs that I click…

Because they don't know the rules. I was stunned to read about this admission by Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman (italics mine): Towards the end of the meeting, Dorothy Reik, President of Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains, urged Waxman to use the "inherent contempt" power of…

At least according to an internet quiz: You Are 95% Feminist You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action…

...the signal peptide? Interesting. I'll start at the beginning. One of the few bright spots regarding the problem of antibiotic resistance is that resistance typically infers a fitness cost to the bacterium, at least initially. In other words, the resistant strain usually grows slower than a…

Glenn Greenwald had a great post Wednesday about establishment foreign policy scholars, and how they delimit the 'acceptable' foreign policy debate: The Foreign Policy Community is more secretive than the Fight Club. They believe that all foreign policy should be formulated only by our secret "…

I don't mean to make this into an anti-Ignatieff blog, but there are two more great posts about his idiocy: one by ScienceBlogling and "embarrased" Canadian James Hrynyshyn, the other by David Rees. ScienceBlogling James writes: There real reason why so many academics, from the hard sciences and…

MRSA is coming! Run for your lives! ....this little piggy had MRSA up its nose. A recent study from the Netherlands found that 39% of slaughtered pigs carried MRSA. This is particularly surprising since MRSA rates in hospitals in the Netherlands are remarkably low. Even in the U.S., the…

Maybe the crazy people are out to get me after I exposed Giuliani's Mistress of Woo. One of the interesting things about working at a health-oriented non-profit is that you occasionally receive letters and emails from people who feel the overwhelming need to convince you of their Overarching…

Apparently, I'm not the only one who thought that Ignatieff's self-analysis was idiotic. Brad DeLong writes that Ignatieff wasn't acting like an academic (italics mine): I think Ignatieff has it wrong when he contrasts realistic politicans with academic visionaries. The academics I know and…

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago, but meetings and work blew up on me. But just because the story is old, that doesn't mean the crazy has gone away. Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Boyda of Kansas recounted a conversation she had with a rightwing talk show host: And finally, I would just…