mikethemadbiologist

I recently argued that, rather than sending out tax rebates to stimulate the economy, the money should be sent to state and local governments because they're hurting and will spend the money. Case in point, Boston's public schools: The new superintendent of Boston's Public Schools (BPS), Carol…

One of the things I didn't get a chance to talk about at the Boston Skeptics meeting is how we use evolutionary biology to understand the human microbiome--those microorganisms that live on and in us. Here's an example from a paper about Crohn's disease (italics mine): It is hypothesized that IBD […

So I found this real cool two-dimensional barcode generator. Here's this blog's two-dimensional barcode: It stands for: Mike the Mad Biologist http://scienceblogs.com/mikethemadbiologist Providing help to idiots who desperately need it by calling them fucking morons since 2004 What's your barcode?

In my entire tenure at ScienceBlogs, I've never called out other ScienceBloglings, even if I have posted responses to them. But ScienceBloglings Chris Mooney and Matt Nisbet are slowly morphing into unwitting concern trolls regarding the creationist controversy. With regards to Richard Dawkins, as…

A while back, when Michael Egnor was prattling on about evolution and antibiotic resistance, I described how Egnor didn't comprehend the difference between artificial selection and natural selection. In a related post, ScienceBlogling PZ, in debunking the 'TEH DARWINISMZ KREATED HITLER!!' canard,…

Philosopher's Playground.

In the land of the euro, the dollar is treated like a banana republic(an) currency. The devaluation of the dollar isn't such an awful thing: it was long overdue. We can't have a $9+ trillion dollar debt (almost half of which was accumulated in the last seven years), a humongous trade deficit,…

Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) sent me this: SEA is holding a workshop to train scientists to run for office on May 10th at Georgetown University. If you are a scientist or engineer and have been considering running for office or working on an election campaign, then join us for a crash…

In the NY Times, economist Bruce Bartlett opposes the refund stimulus plan: WITH unusual speed and cooperation last month, George W. Bush and Democrats in Congress agreed to a tax rebate set to be paid out beginning in May. Families will get checks for $300 to $1200 or more, and it is assumed that…

Because of bureaucratic infighting, a valuable repository of microbiological specimens spanning over twenty years of collection was destroyed. Researchers, including the Mad Biologist, want to know why (italics mine); you can sign the petition here: Scientists Call for Inquiry into Destruction of…

To avoid permanent brain damage, the Surgeon General recommends that Vox Popoli be read only through the StupidVu9000 So Vox Day stumbled across my post about the utility of evolutionary biology (among other things) and he went berserk. Maybe he came across the link by way of ScienceBlogling PZ,…

Well, the Social Security Trustees Report is out, and, as has been reported every year since 1993, Social Security is still destined to collapse over three decades from the date of the release of the report--a unit of time I like to refer to as the Samuelson Unit after columnist and fucking moron…

If you missed my talk, then you missed this slide I leave to give a talk for a few hours, and suddenly all hell breaks lose on ScienceBlogs over the whole PZ Myers getting expelled from the movie Expelled incident, you damn kids! So I thought I would peeplay too. First, I'm not sure the charge…

What you missed if you weren't at the Boston Skeptics meeting Thank you to all the people who turned out last night for the Boston Skeptics meeting. One person described as the first talk "that included LOLcats, slut DNA, a laundry list of nasty infections, and a solid anti-creationist message."…

I've argued before that one problem with the news media is that they are quite stupid. A recent speech by CNN celebrity journalist Candy Crowley reinforces that idea. While others commented on her sleep deprivation, this quote leapt out at me: "On the Democrat side, we never get a chance to see…

...because, if you're in Boston, you should be heading to the Boston Skeptics meeting.

...then they wouldn't have to keep secrets. The remarkable thing about ID creationists (and young earthers too) is that they can't be honest. Because ID creationism has no predictive power (except for the parts where 'standard' evolutionary theory is operative), they are forced to fall back on…

Don't forget: I'm speaking tommorow at the Boston Skeptics meeting about how we should defend evolution and attack creationism. My title of my talk is "Defending Evolution the Right Way: As a Fundamental Part of Biology and Biomedicine, Not as a Cultural Icon." If you don't go, you'll miss…

One of the interesting things about Purim is that nowhere in the entire book is God mentioned. This is unusual for a religious text, to say the least. Over at South Jerusalem, Haim Watzman describes a sermon about Esther and free will. The whole post is worth a read, but I really liked this part…

David Sloan Wilson is asking Huffington Post readers if they want a science section at the Huffington Post. I always think science sections are good things...except when the blog lets Deepak Chopra say crazy things about evolution: Deepak Chopra, over at the Huffington Post, has some absolutely…

Flasing back to my marine biology days, International Polar Year researchers have discovered all sorts of neato critters (sadly, I can't find any pictures): Scientists who conducted the most comprehensive survey to date of New Zealand's Antarctic waters were surprised by the size of some specimens…

A few days ago, Timothy Egan wrote an op-ed for the NY Times about how universities should spend more on tuition relief: Last year a record 76 American colleges passed the $1 billion mark in total endowments. For all of that, you would think there would be some relief from tuition costs that have…

While I wasn't put out by this article by ScienceBlogling Chris Mooney as others were, it did make me think about how evolutionary biologists are viewed. One of the things I've seen floating around the internets, and this is seems to be 'bipartisan', is the equating of evolutionary biology with…

OK, last post about this bozo, and then I'm done (famous last words...). In the previous post, I dealt with Egnor's claim that the evolution of antibiotic resistance by selection of resistant genotypes is obvious, and not germane (namely, that it wasn't obvious at one point in time). What…

When I first read that Amy Sullivan, in honor of her new book, is guest posting at the Washington Monthly, I said to myself, dear Lord, more 'Democrats need to get religion' blather. Sadly, I was not disappointed. Already, there's a book review and a post. I was going to leave this to Amanda's…

In the previous post, I described how Egnor, like many creationists, refuses to answer serious rebuttals of his foolishness. But what's truly odd is how Egnor argues about natural selection. Egnor repeatedly claims that 'Darwinism' is nothing except self-obvious: bacteria that are more likely to…

While criticizing someone who does not understand the difference between artificial and natural selection--something I've successfully communicated to high school students and undergraduates--is like picking on the slow kid, his repeated nitpicking of ScienceBlogling Mike Dunford's post about the…

And a Beannachtai na Feile Padraig too! (I've left out the accents cuz MovableType eats them). Tomorrow, in Boston, we celebrate one of the goofiest holidays EVAH! No, I don't mean St. Patrick's Day--which is the Irish Purim*, and has perfectly...sensible traditions associated with it. I mean…

Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance, in an excellent post, argues that much of the opposition to evolution stems from opposition to (mis)perceived liberal elites (bold original; italics mine): What scientists tend to underestimate is the extent to which many people react viscerally against science…

Let me count the ways. Actually, Greg Mitchell has done that for us. Here's a couple for you: 11) In one of the purest "my bads" of the war, Fox News' John Gibson ripped Neil Young after the rocker released his protest album Living With War. Gibson demanded that Young go see the new United 93…