mikethemadbiologist

Like driftglass, I'm getting tired of hearing that we should just let industry die because we don't make anything anymore. That's simply not true: Those 13.4 million people are doing something.

Jeffrey Leonard, an environmentally friendly businessman (no, really, he is), makes an interesting case for jumpstarting the economy and Detroit by offering massive government-based rebates for their cars, including the gas guzzlers (italics mine): Skeptics will have two major objections. The first…

One of things I've done in my job is write letters of recommendation for various genome sequencing projects, particularly antibiotic resistance related projects, so it's always good to see that those letters might result in published work. So onto to an incredibly resistant Escherichia coli strain…

I realize that's kinda 'socialist' of me. One of the things about the era of internet commerce is that, even when everything is closed for Thanksgiving, you can still spend money. Or even give money to those who need help. If you're in Boston, the Greater Boston Food Bank could use your help. To…

I've written before about the scourge of turkeys that are terrorizing the greater Boston area. One thing I've noticed is that the turkeys have gone missing this year. Apparently, one such turkey named "Sully" (by turkey-loving sympathizers) that established an enclave in South Boston is nowhere…

I suppose I'll have to start at the beginning. One of the things we do in the microbiome project is analyze microbial communities by assessing the diversity of 16S DNA sequences*. In other words, we want to know what species or 'operational taxonomic units'--OTUs--are present and how many of that…

From Bloomberg News: Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government is prepared to lend more than $7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers, or half the value of everything produced in the nation last year, to rescue the financial system since the credit markets seized up 15 months ago. When I read…

ScienceBlogling Matt Nisbet argues that scientists* shouldn't call science denialists, well, denialists. I listened to the audio clip he linked to, and I'm unconvinced. Leaving aside the issue that denialism (or calling someone a denialist) actually has a use--according to the clip, the term…

One of the things the Coalition of the Sane can't let happen is the 'forgetting' of the lunacy that is the theopolitical right. Any time someone who supported this lunacy makes public utterances, we must make sure that whatever they say is qualified by "Person X, who is a fucking wackaloon..."…

There's a neat Discovery News article about Gromia sphaerica, a very large testate amoeba: A distant relative of microscopic amoebas, the grape-sized Gromia sphaerica was discovered once before, lying motionless at the bottom of the Arabian Sea. But when Mikhail Matz of the University of Texas at…

There's been a bit of talk about a recent PLoS Medicine article about the chilling effect of political controversy on research. The main conclusion--yes, political controversy surrounding topics including "the sexual health and/or orientation of adolescents; abortion; emergency contraception;…

One of the fights that will have a significant long-term effect on the freedom of the press is over net neutrality. Oddly enough, conservatives, even though, at one point, the political blogosphere was predominantly conservative (no, really, it was), have been shrieking about the Fairness Doctrine…

I haven't a clue as to how to proceed about the potential auto industry bailout, and anyone who can say with confidence about how the largest industrial bailout in U.S. history will play out is kidding themselves. My instinct is not to lose U.S. controlled industrial capacity on national security…

Many in the Punditocracy are proclaiming that the U.S. is a center-right country. While it's pretty obvious that they're saying this to justify their feeble pronouncements, that's not what really bugs me about this center-right hooey. That statement is based on the observation that the majority of…

Apparently, Al-Queda is quite...concerned about having Democrats in power. By way of maha, I found this David Ignatius op-ed, who quotes Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradhawi (italics mine): Before the election, the radical Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradhawi even issued a fatwa supporting John McCain: "Personally, I…

One of the arguments for keeping private insurers in the healthcare system is that they will incentives to control costs. In Massachusetts, erm, not so much. First, some background: Call it the best-kept secret in Massachusetts medicine: Health insurance companies pay a handful of hospitals far…

I've been meaning to post about the corruption case involving former MA State Senator Dianne Wilkerson because it really lays out the most corrosive effect of corruption--a loss of trust: What is the real deal with Columbus Center? Why did Wilkerson throw herself behind the controversial and now-…

By way of Amanda, I came across this letter sent to employees of a company that had installed a hand scanner to replace punch-card system for workers checking in and out of work (boldface original; italics mine): Header: Recognition Systems Inc To Whom it May concern: It has come to the attention…

Not that this is a real concern of mine, but something Kos wrote a while ago about the possibility of Huckabee becoming the RNC party chairman interested me: But if Huckabee has the ground troops, what is he missing? The money. He got far in his primary race without any, winning Iowa with something…

At the Washington Independent, Aaron Wiener has made a bunch of electoral college maps that show how the candidates would have done if only one particular demographic group had voted. First, registered independents: Now, self-described moderates: Not good for the GOP at all. But we're a center-…

In light of all the executive branch changes people are hoping for, I wonder how much longer CDC Director Julie Gerberding has. I'm guessing she's there until late January.... I don't claim to speak for CDC employees, but, in some divisions, morale is incredibly low--people are considering leaving…

Admittedly, this isn't anything regular ScienceBlogs readers haven't seen before, but it's nice to see it enter the mainstream media (albeit eight years too late). Sharon Begley: The truly poisonous legacy of the past eight years is one that spread to much of society and will therefore be much…

A recent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the gut bacterium Faecalibacterium prausnitzii reduces the recurrence of ileal Crohn's disease. In the study, the authors determined that the percentage of total bacteria that were F. prausnitziii found in the ileal…

You don't see this every day: Charles Blow, the NY Times visual Op-Ed columnist, takes a dig at the Times' Public Editor: And now the final paragraphs from my May column: So, when she stops casting the nomination as a standoff between the Dukes of Hazzard and the Huxtables and accepts the outcome…

I did: Mike said, "The monster is back. He's struck again." "That cannot be. Besides, what do you know? You're a biologist and you're mad." "Stop being such a putz, Orac," retorted Mike. "Just because the election's over doesn't mean the monster is gone." "I did not think that the monster was gone…

I've been meaning to get to this question that ScienceBlogling Steinn asks: giving a talk on blogging at Harvard tends to make one think, in particular, what is the use of science blogging, and why are economists so good at blogging.... but, has science blogging done any good? I can think of…

While the talk about symbolism is important, a president actually has to do stuff. I've been hoping that somewhere there are a bunch of smart people figuring how to unfuck all the stuff that Little Lord Pontchartrain has fucked up using the power of the Executive Branch (here's one example)--hell…

At least if you work for the National Review's The Corner. Because the Peace Corps is as horrific as the mass murder of European Jewry. By way of Spencer Ackermann: Oh good, for a moment I thought the Second Holocaust was off. In response to this plan put forward from Obama -- The Obama…

The Harbingers of the Apocalypse NOW!! Actually, it's pretty good (and it's publicly available as a pdf). ScienceBlogling Revere has a good summary.

Glenn Greenwald describes how a noxious combo of thin skin and blogger criticism can send smart reporters and pundits down the path of obstinancy: Everything changed when he turned himself into the chief defender of the original Paulson plan and thus became the target of substantial criticism from…