mikethemadbiologist

...fifty years ago, this man would have been lynched. Progressives and liberals are the reason he isn't lynched today. And don't let some conservative tell you otherwise. For those of us old enough to have grey hair, we remember which side conservatives were on and which side liberals were on: it…

I go for a walk, and watch some soccer, only to find out that Thursday, the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee passed 'standards' that force students to "summarize ways that scientists use data from a variety of sources to investigate and critically analyze aspects of evolutionary theory…

That's the title of a post by Greg Palast that recounts a massive Republican operation to disenfrachise ten of thousands of voters in Black-majority districts through illegal voter challenges. Many of the targets include servicemen and servicewomen serving overseas. Let's make something clear:…

Over at Aetiology, the carnival o'the wee beasties known as Animalcules is now online. Lotsa good stuff. My contribution can also be found here.

From the Seed Hive Mind comes the following question: How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically? As a PI, I actually find blogging to be a good release, and I don't…

An exchange between Republican Congresscritter Gohmert and decorated veteran Democratic congressman Jack Murtha: Rep. Gohmert: Let me close by saying some have not had nice things to say about our colleague Mr. Murtha, and others wanting to pull out of Iraq quickly. I understand the faithful…

I'll readily admit that I'm as partisan as anyone. But am I the only progressive liberal blogger who has a problem with the other 'progressive' bloggers who are going batshit crazy over the Iraqi government's offer of amnesty for insurgents who have not killed Iraqis (i.e., they have only killed…

One of the advantages of being at ScienceBlogs is that when confronted with idiocy like this NY Times article about the genetic basis of behavior, you can count on your fellow bloggers to tear it to shreds. Thankfully, Jonah and Dave do a wonderful job. It seems every so often this sort of sloppy…

Thesaurus Rex, over at Shakespeare's Sister makes one of the best observations about the Blond Banshee's claim that the Sept. 11th widow's are unassailable: The 'droids of the Reich Wing are in full rout. Ann Coulter is far, far out on a limb with her latest attacks on the 9/11 widows and sawing…

So Dr. Free-Ride convinced a whole bunch of us to do something altruistic and decent (damn philosophers...). We're raising money to help school teachers fund small educational projects for their students. You can find all the ScienceBlogs participants here. My challenge is to raise around $5,…

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) You might think that Press Secretary Tony Snow (left) and White Advisor Dan Bartlett (right) are decked out like this because Iraq is so dangerous that they have to wear this on the way to the U.S. embassy. But you would be wrong. It's simply that these guys…

I'm busy today, so I decided to begin transferring and reposting some of my very old posts from my previous site. This was originally posted Nov. 29, 2004) The Washington Post recently reported about the failure of the anti-segregation amendment to pass in Alabama (it was essentially 50-50).…

So after coming up with the term "The War on Epidemiology" which has been adopted by one other person (thanks Tara), I've been encouraged by that overwhelming success to devise another phrase: The War on Forestry. By way of DailyKos, I came across this LA Times article about a graduate student at…

In response to this question asked of us by our Seed Overlords (the readers), Steinn says that he would do bioinformatics. As a biologist, I'm really unclear as to what bioinformatics actually is, other than a word you put into your grants to get funding. Let me add that I'm the PI on a…

The Mad Biologist digs bloggers who are very mad. Before we get to the Mad blogger Grand Moff Texan (aka "The Asshole of the Gods. And there's not a damn thing you can do about it."), I've noticed that the Punditocracy and the celebrity media have the disturbing habit of dismissing out of hand…

Sadly, one of my most widely read posts from the old site was a post where I used Gizoogle to transliat' Ann Coulter (it's the only possible way to read the Blond Banshee). But I bow in worship to Jonathan at A Tiny Revolution who translates liberal chickenhawk Peter Beinart: For years Peter "Pe-…

The best description of Joan Jett ever penned (and from the very uncool NY Times no less): In the 1980's, when she ruled Top 40 radio, Joan Jett was the perfect embodiment of rock's primal qualities. She was young, cocky, sexy, rebellious and knew how to rock a pair of leather pants. (Rahav Segev…

Well, that's what Dan Balz of the Washington Post seems to think. I was reading this article about the YearlyKos convention by Balz, and he kept referring to the positions the participants held as "doctrinaire" and "liberal." Now, and I say this as someone who is proud to call himself a liberal,…

By way of AmericaBlog comes this news about the Democrats' fundraising: According to the Washington Post -- and Ken Mehlman -- Democrats are competitive with the Republicans in fundraising this year because of the internet: NC Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose committee has seen a 10 percent fundraising…

Dr. Free-Ride has a getting-acquainted exercise for us newbies. My answers are below. You'll notice I didn't use that awful word meme; here's why. 3 reasons you blog about science: 1. To inform scientists and non-scientists about evolution, public health, and microbiology. 2. To taunt…

The FDA just halted clinical trials for using the antibiotic Ketek (telithromycin-a macrolide antibiotic) to treat ear infections and tonsilitis in children because it can cause liver failure, blurred vision and loss of consciousness in adults. Some FDA officials have urged withdrawing Ketek…

No, I'm not kidding. By way of Shakespeare's Sister, I found out that in 2000, Little Lord Pontchartrain proclaimed June 10 to be "Jesus Day." I'm not making this up. Gov. Bush's proclamation states: Throughout the world, people of all religions recognize Jesus Christ as an example of love,…

Revere has a very good historical roundup of the 'uninevitability' of a national or universal healthcare system. One consequence of our fragmented, patchwork healthcare system is antibiotic resistant bacteria. Just to give you an example of how bad the antibiotic resistance problem is, in most…

Ed Brayton fills us in on the ridiculous Ten Commandments legislation in Louisiana, where they are actually editing the Ten Commandments. Whenever I hear about this kind of nuttiness, I always want to ask: which version of the Ten Commandments? In the Hebrew Bible (the 'Old Testament'), there are…

...I would be a fireman. OK, so a Science Blogs reader asks, "Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?" I don't think I can limit it to one, but here's several areas that interest me:…

A recent article in Applied and Environmental Microbiology illustrates the effect that conventional farming, which uses a lot of antibiotics, has on the evolution of antibiotic resistance. The authors examined the difference in the frequency of resistance to antibiotics in the human pathogen…

The NY Times had a good story on the Dover, PA evolution issue on Sunday. It seems to me that there are three classes of 'issues' people have with evolutionary biology: Biblical literalism. Many can not accept that the Bible isn't the literal word of God. I think we can beat this one pretty easily…

I just finished reading Massimo Pigliucci's Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. I highly recommend this book as one of the best refuations of creationism out there. Also, he gives a very nuanced view of what science can and can not elucidate. While it won't change…

Granted, at this point, I'm not going to trust polls ever again, but Gallup released a poll that examined religious beliefs. Part of the poll dealt with evolution and creationism. I found two good articles on the topic (here and here). As an evolutionary biologist, it's nice to see others,…

Two nights ago, ABC News reported that in Cobb County, Georgia, those who favor creation "science" are in court arguing over whether they can place stickers on biology textbooks that state that evolution is a "theory", not a fact. As an evolutionary biologist, I am so sick of this. I could write an…