mikethemadbiologist

Revere, over at Effect Measure, has a solid critique of Michael Fumento's opinion piece about avian flu. What the piece shows is just how ignorant of public health Fumento really is: 1) Many of the necessary steps involved in preparing for a flu pandemic, such as surge production capacity, can be…

At a recent conference (pdf), I heard Dr. Rebecca Roberts describe the economic cost of antibiotic resistant infections at Cook County's Stroger Hospital. In a nutshell, it's terrifying. The average cost per patient at that hospital is $10,000. The cost of treating an antibiotic resistant…

You might have heard about the U.S. contractor who volunteered to be an FBI informant. For his service, he received 90+ days of Gitmoization. As hideous as that is, there are some other disturbing points in the NY Times story. First, was he imprisoned because he had hard evidence about this:…

The Guttmacher Institute has released a report showing that 90% of Americans have engaged in premarital sex. This isn't really an increase either: premarital sex was nearly as common among women in their sixties. Hopefully, that will dispel the notion that slutiness [/snark] is on the rise. I…

Thomas Geoghan has an excellent article about the need to raise taxes. He makes a very important point: how we tax ourselves defines who we are. Geoghan writes (italics mine): Sociologists claim someone making $50,000 a year, or $25,000 a year believes: I can be like Gates or Soros. Or my kids…

...or at least, I was mentioned in Cell. Currently, we have very few new antibiotics in the pipeline, particularly for Gram-negative bacteria such as Acinetobacter. One of the things I'm involved with is a project to develop a not-for-profit screening library to find new antibiotics. From Cell:…

Jonah links to a recent paper in the Journal of Political Economy. Here's the summary (pdf here): This study quantitatively assesses the effects of inflation through changes in the value of nominal assets. It documents nominal asset positions in the United States across sectors and groups of…

You might have heard about the $500 million that El Jefe Maximo is trying to raise for his presidential library. Apparently, no price is too great for the rehabilitation of his 'legacy.' It was supposed to be housed at Southern Methodist University. One problem, though: the Methodists--Bush's…

Here are some links for you. First, the science stuff: Revere at Effect Measure discusses the "letter report" reviewing the scant information on effects from non-drug measures to slow or contain spread of an influenza pandemic. Revere describes another front in the Republican War on Science: the…

Well, we do it for narcotics. From Yahoo News: International experts debated whether antibiotics merit a separate regulatory drug category at a World Congress held on December 11 and 12 at the Hyatt Regency Boston Hotel. "We proposed this drastic action because antibiotic resistance is undermining…

While the Republican War on Science isn't doing as well as it once was, there still is too much politicization of scienctific results. Commenting on a BBC article about the UCS statement about scientific integrity, Jim at TeachtheFacts.org gives an excellent description of science (italics mine…

In the past week, over 400 students and teachers in the Boston area have contracted norovirus, which causes nausea, vomitting and diarrhea: "In close settings like a school or a nursing home or a family, the failure to adequately follow good hygiene will manifest itself with spread of this type of…

But you know you want to read it anyway. From Iraqslogger: A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the highway. Suddenly a man knocks on his window. The driver rolls down his window and asks, "What's going on?" "Terrorists down the road have kidnapped George W. Bush and Dick Cheney," the man says, "…

I was recently at a conference (pdf file) where one speaker (Dr. Thomas O'Brien) suggested 'VRSA hospital insurance' to prevent the spread of vancomycin resistant Staphylococcus aureus outbreaks ('VRSA'). Before I get into the plan, let's talk about VRSA. VRSA are staphylococci which are not only…

One is from Nicholas Kristof and one is from batshit lunatic Ron Moore (the former judge who placed a Ten Commandments megalith in the Alabama Supreme Court). First, Kristof: Now that the Christian Right has largely retreated from the culture wars, let's hope that the Atheist Left doesn't revive…

Over at the News Blog, Steve Gilliard links to a post about the idiocy of a public high school in Kentucky that is displaying a Confederate flag* in the school cafeteria (Kentucky was never a Confederate state: eastern Kentucky, in particular, was staunchly pro-Union). In the comments at the…

Congressman Walter Jones, at a press conference calling for displays of nativity scenes on public property (because that is the most important issue facing the Republic): There is no future for America unless the Judeo-Christian foundation of America is protected. Nativity scenes aren't exactly,…

I was at a meeting yesterday about antibiotic drug development, so this week's links are a day late. Here's the science stuff: Some colleagues and I write a letter to the FDA about the possible approval of the antibiotic cefquinome for use in agriculture. Global warming exists: ask the insurance…

Because said officials are even more ignorant than the Pundits of the Potomac. A few months ago, Jeff Stein published an op-ed about the many officials who are charged with anti-terrorism and who also know nothing about the Middle East--to the point where they don't know if Hezbollah is Sunni or…

Biologist Esther Lederberg died recently--unfortunately, it wasn't very well covered (the NY Times was only a month late...). This is a real shame, since I don't think the history of molecular biology would have been the same without her. While many people are familiar with, or at least have heard…

Here's the picture: (from here) That's right: C.G.B Spender. Well, that is, if the loons responding to this post by Orac about 9/11 woo are to be believed. Fucking morons.

...an LBJ moment? President Johnson listening to tapes made by his son-in-law and Marine Cpt. Charles Robb during Robb's tour in Vietnam In light of what Bush has said publicly and what he has said to Jim Webb, combined with a complete absence of detectable empathy towards anyone (LBJ did, after…

Newsweek columnist Christopher Dickey writes this about our new Iraqi Phalangist friend, the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq*, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim (italics mine): As a Hakim supporter in the government told me privately the other day, "Moqtada should be behind bars…

I know with a war on, the using of the Constitution for toilet paper, and so on, this concern of mine is trivial, but it is so very symbolic. By way of digby, we find out that the White House sells hand soap. And, you guessed it, it contains triclosan. Really. Why don't they just put cadmium in…

A colleague looking to buy Christmas gifts went to the Discovery Channel store page and noticed that boys and girls had two different pages. It's nice to see that a company supposedly dedicated to scientific inquiry has decided that girls don't like or want science. What do I mean? Well, here's…

...find anything the government does that works and break it. I really never thought that we would be debating lead standards: The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air…

Snuggles McCain demonstrating his vaunted 'independence' It seems more and more people are finally paying close attention to Mitt Romney and John McCain. While I've talked about Romney's idiocy before, The Boston Phoenix did a great job of skewering McCain, so I'll turn it over to them: Arizona…

For those of you just joining tonight's program, the Nazis are the bad guys Just when you think the Peter Pan Right can't possibly get any daffier, they just manage to do so. By way of Crooked Timber comes this synopsis of a Michael Novak article in the Standard: Josh Marshall links to a Michael…

By way of Majikthise, I found this excellent post by Abbas Raza about the problem of mathematical illiteracy. But to step back a bit, this trail of links began with the release of new teaching guidelines by the National Council of Mathematics Teachers: The report urges teachers to focus on three…

In Las Vegas, the SEIU nurses were recently locked out during contract negotiations (they're back to work now). The nurses don't want pay increases or better benefits, but a lower patient-to-nurse ratio. Universal Health Services, the for-profit hospital chain, claims the nurses are trying to…