mikethemadbiologist

Here are some links for you. First, the science stuff: San Francisco has made a deal to have universal, no-cost wi-fi for the whole city. Here's a cool article on filter feeders, with a nice picture of some ascidians. Here's a very nice post about genetic draft Revere at Effect Measure discusses…

How does the entire NIH go offline? I realize it's free, but every so often, it just is inaccessible for hours at a time, particularly on weekends. Don't they know that science never rests...

While Iraq was the national backdrop for the 2006 elections, individually many campaigns succeeded (or did better than they had any right to do) due to a desire to end corruption (e.g., the Ohio state elections). Yet Rahm Emanuel, head of the DCCC, and the Congressional Black Caucus ('CBC') just…

...but Lindsay still kicked ass* with getting NYC to take the problem of illegal advertising seriously. Well done. *For some reason the ScienceBlogs Blogerator is becoming the Blog Censor as it won't allow certain things to be posted. Here's the link.http://www.nypress.com/19/48/news&columns/…

...while professionals do logistics (more about that in a bit). There's a fascinating interview with Wesley Clark where he discusses the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. First, I was glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks that using the National Guard as a way to avoid having a draft…

Now that I've pissed some people off about rape*, I thought I would calm things down by turning to a more sedate topic: Richard Dawkins and religion. Everytime Dawkins has issued one of his proclamations about religion, I've wanted to respond, but the words have never come out quite right.…

Have you ever been really, really hungry? Well, this python certainly was. The lump in the python is a sheep. A pregnant sheep. Ewe.

A while back I posted about how awful it would be for the FDA to approve the use of cefquinome, an antibiotic similar to the medically important drug cefepime. I even coauthored a letter about it. Well, it turns out the IDSA wrote a letter about cefquinome too (the whole letter, in pdf). There's…

While one might think that would be pretty obvious, this article suggests otherwise. Whenever when there are discussions online about rape, particularly 'date rape', there is usually someone who implicitly or explicitly blames the victim. What has always puzzled me is the emphasis on the rape…

Well, no one really can or should defend 'the reverse mullet', but if people are going to criticize it, at the very least we should know its history. It's actually an old (mid 70s to 80s) haircut known as the "Chelsea" that was worn by traditional (non-racist; think Two Tone Ska) skinheads--before…

You might have read about (or are personally experiencing) the massive snowstorms hitting the Plains states. So what does that have to do with Iraq? From the NY Times: Colorado and Kansas were trying to find enough helicopters capable of hauling hay bales weighing up to 1,300 pounds, said Don…

So Michael Fumento has issued a challenge to put 'odds' on avian influenza, thinking that somehow I've stated that an avian influenza pandemic is likely (he's also accused me, a scientist, of being "anti-scientist" and "alarmist"). Well, I'm not putting odds down because I've never said that a…

Since it was a long weekend, here is a whole bunch of links for you. First, the science stuff: There's a new edition of Animalcules, the Carnival o'the Wee Beasties. The Ayres Ice Shelf is disappearing. But, really, there's no such thing as global warming... Jason Rosenhouse at EvolutionBlog…

From the archives, here's another post about influenza. ...you knew that starting in late September or early October there would be a series of bioterrorist attacks, and that these attacks would kill anywhere from 30,000 - 50,000 U.S. citizens. Now imagine that you could produce a vaccine that…

According to an AP-AOL poll, 25% of Americans think Jesus will return next year. Not 'soon', but within the next 365 days. Twenty-five percent. That's higher than the nineteen percent who think that we will discover extra-terrestrial life next year...

Finally, there might be a Democrat who speaks my language about deficits and budgets. From Tapped (italics and bold mine): I think the honest answer to this question is that there's a tension between our desire to eliminate the deficit and create a stronger economic foundation and eliminate some…

I've been called out by Michael Fumento regarding a post about avian influenza. While I'm putting that together, I thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit some previous posts about influenza. From the old site: A think tank in Australia released a report claiming that an influenza…

You might not know this, but, due to pressure from Republicans beholden to batshit lunatic creationists theological conservatives, park rangers at the Grand Canyon are not allowed to discuss how old the Grand Canyon is. Really. I'm not making this up. From PEER: Grand Canyon National Park is…

A recent report by the National Arbor Day Foundation vividly describes the dramatic increase in average annual winter temperature throughout the U.S. They compared average annual winter temperatures in 1990 over a fifteen year period with those in 2006. Here's what they found: That's right: it…

After reading this article about Democratic consultant Mara Vanderslice whose speciality is outreach to "theological conservatives", my head was about to explode. Thankfully, digby points out that courting social conservatives will make the Democratic Party, well, more conservative--or as a…

My grandmother used to say that if you didn't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. She did not say, "You should lie and make stuff up." Which leads us to one of David Broder's most inexplicable columns yet. Broder, in his column about recently deceased former President…

...and decides that Massachusetts shouldn't be Mississippi. A couple of months ago, Republican Mitt Romney engaged in financial chicanery to cut social spending, including vaccination programs and programs that assist the mentally disabled. Why? To establish his Republican credentials.…

Thankfully for the readers, most of the scientific literature I read doesn't make it into this blog. But one paper about a comparative drug trial had some very interesting results. In short, obesity and smoking are significant risk factors for post-operative infections. The article, published in…

From the archives, I'm reposting this article about MRSA and VRSA. I've made some changes because the science and medical practice have changed. The Chicago Tribune reports that three children died from toxic shock syndrome caused by methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus ("MRSA"). Toxic…

Have a Merry Christmas! (Gut Yontif means happy holidays in Yiddish).

...so no blogging. Instead, I'll leave you with a "make sexy time" photo (to steal Borat's phrase): It's E. coli having sex. Well, actually it's conjugation. Many bacteria have plasmids which are 'mini-chromosomes' (antibiotic resistance genes are often found on plasmids). The bacteria are…

At a recent conference (pdf), Dr. Rebecca Roberts described how medical residents and doctors treat urinary tract infections. But first, a bit about 'empirical therapy.' When a patient is sick it can take anywhere from 24-72 hours at a hospital with good facilities to identify what organism is…

Pam at Pandagon describes two workers in Texas "who were fired after praying over another staff member's cubicle and anointing it with olive oil." Where had I heard about similar lunacy before? The Alito hearings. From the archives, where it was titled "At Least It's Not Crisco...: ...or K-Y…

At a recent conference I attended (pdf file), one speaker (Dominique Monnet) presented a very interesting observation about the relationship between the number of different antibiotics available and the amount of antibiotics prescribed. Quite simply, as the number of potential competiting drugs…

Well, the Republicans aren't in charge of Congress anymore, but they still can bring the crazy. Nitpicker, in decrying Rep. Virgil Goode's disgusting anti-Muslim bigotry, links to this piece about "the Family", which is essentially a far-right Christianist cult. God save us from those who believe…