Mad rantings about politics, evolution, and microbiology. Comment policy: say what you want, but back it up with an email address. I don't like anonymous trolls.
mikethemadbiologist
Posts by this author
February 1, 2011
Links for you. Science:
So I have this data, now what?
Jeremy Berg Demystifies the Funding Decision Process at NIGMS
Amoebas in drinking water: a double threat
Invasive Bees Ravage Native Bees in Vicious Death Match (and here)
Other:
Rachel Maddow: In America Today, Republican President Dwight D.…
February 1, 2011
Not so much. Because, according to a letter signed by over 400 hundred U.S. rabbis, Fox seems to have a Glenn Beck problem:
We are rabbis of diverse political views. As part of our work, we are devoted to preserving the memory of the Shoah, and to passing its lessons on to our future generations…
February 1, 2011
DrugMonkey asks "Is the NIH trying to get rid of smaller laboratories?" Before I get to my take on the answer, what I'll be talking about is based on private conversations, so I won't be attributing some things to specific people (sorry Ed!). Take this for what it's worth...
I don't think NIH is…
January 31, 2011
Links for you. Science:
First, Amoeba Farming. Next, THE WORLD.
N.R.A. Stymies Firearms Research, Scientists Say
Genetics will not be used to abort straights OR gays
How The National Science Foundation Drives US Innovation
Separating Fact & Fiction: News about the proposed National Center for…
January 31, 2011
By way of Atrios, we find that Massachusetts is the second safest state for drivers. No, really:
The safest places to drive in the USA are Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts. Among the most dangerous: Montana, Wyoming, Louisiana and Mississippi. Those conclusions are based on federal data of…
January 31, 2011
The most awful thing about the proposed bill, "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" (H.R. 3), is, well, the bill itself:
With this legislation, which was introduced last week by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), Republicans propose that the rape exemption be limited to "forcible rape." This would rule…
January 30, 2011
Links for you. Science:
Gender and blogging (and everything else)
Nonfiction: Nabokov Theory on Butterfly Evolution Is Vindicated
Of course scientists can communicate
Send in the Creationist Clowns and Watch Science Education Suffer
Why University Scientists Do Not Discuss Religion
Other:
Hey You…
January 30, 2011
Dave Noon makes a very cogent observation about resistance to vaccination:
Advocates will have to explain why, if the risks are so minimal, the packaging inserts for commercially available vaccines all warn of horrifying potential complications (with no reference to their statistical unlikelihood…
January 29, 2011
More snow. Maybe. Links, however, are certain. Science:
"Pink Meanie" Pictures: New Jellyfish Attacks Other Jellies
The Antimicrobial Index
Iran's endangered cheetahs are a unique subspecies
Are Dangly Things an Evolutionary Development to Limit Rape?
Hidden Women, Hidden Writers
Other:
Iowa…
January 29, 2011
I appreciate the value of optimistic weather forecasters, as opposed to the usual doom-and-gloom types, but this seems a little too far in the other direction:
Look at the bottom right: who plays golf in this weather? I don't think even Scotsmen are that crazy...
January 29, 2011
Like clockwork, every time an election rolls around, Republican-leaning pundits and political operatives, in their infinite wisdom, predict that this election will be the election wherein Jews abandon the Democratic Party. And then, like clockwork, Jews overwhelmingly vote Democratic. One reason…
January 28, 2011
The snow berms now reach my shoulder. Ugh. Links for you. Science:
Phylogeny rules:
Why P-values are Evil
Belly Button Microbes: The First Peek
Polar bear's epic nine day swim in search of sea ice (gee whiz amazing, but very sad in the context of global warming)
Other:
TFA Founder Wendy Kopp:…
January 28, 2011
Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne recently wrote this about Obama which puzzled me:
An Obama who roared straight ahead hit a political wall. This next Obama is using finesse and subtlety to get to the same place.
Roared straight ahead? Obama? Yes, he appointed two not-batshit-lunatic Supreme…
January 28, 2011
I mean both the speech and the actual state. Amanda Marcotte wrote something that resonated with me:
But we're a nation that's given up. At the end of the day, we're a country where people will circle a parking lot for 15 minutes to avoid 2 more minutes of walking. Facing up to that sort of…
January 27, 2011
Big...ball...of...fire...in...sky. Must retreat to the safety of links. Science
Coral Bleaching Prompts Thailand to Close Diving Sites
What You Need to Know About Infectious Disease
The Microbial Metagenome
How to Explain Science in Blog Posts (#scio11)
The Academia Ghetto
Other:
Stealing the…
January 27, 2011
Over at Open Left, jeffbinnc pithily summarizes all of the metrics of which educational 'reformers' are fond:
Then, to illustrate just how the focus on more and better tests is going to be raised to the levels of panacea, the CAP rolled out a new report last week that based just about everything on…
January 27, 2011
It would be for the best.
First, some general thoughts. I had the distinct sense Obama was trying to run the clock out. He knew he had to say something, but has no room to maneuver. Thanks to his mediocre first two years and his enabling of conservative talking points (which one wonders if…
January 27, 2011
By way of Jonathan Eisen, we discover that museums are starting to hire microbiology curators. I'm very excited about this, probably more excited than Eisen (and he's a pretty excitable guy). In part, I've always loved museums and have thought that building microbiological collections for museums…
January 26, 2011
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this blogger from links. Science:
Leapin' Blennies
Science Online 2011: Even when we want something, we need to hide it.
CloVR: A genomics tool for automated and portable sequence analysis using Virtual Machines and Cloud computing
Solar car…
January 26, 2011
...they supported socialized medicine. Last week, Forbes writer Rick Ungar made the following historical observation:
In July of 1798, Congress passed - and President John Adams signed - "An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen." The law authorized the creation of a government operated…
January 25, 2011
Snow, you bore me. Links don't, however. Science:
Membership has its privileges
One-Slide Explanation of Tides
Two forms of world's 'newest' cat, the Sunda leopard
Bye Bye Blackbird: USDA acknowledges a hand in one mass bird death
Other:
Eurosclerosis, Then and Now
Dying to Work
Libel in the New…
January 25, 2011
Last week, I mentioned how NY Times op-ed columnist and economist Paul Krugman has finally had his 'creationist moment': "the epiphany one realizes that, to creationists, words have no meaning, that they are not being honest." Well, a reader points us to yesterday's post on Krugman's blog, "The…
January 25, 2011
To his credit, economist Brad DeLong "who stands here repentant" lists "five things that I thought I knew three or four years ago that turned out not to be true." I would like to visit each of them, since I think highlights economics' need for 'economic natural history' and sociology. Over to…
January 24, 2011
The high today is supposed to be 12 degrees. Warm up with some hot links. Science:
For Many Species, No Escape as Temperature Rises
Explain yourself: Master Science Blogger Bora Zivkovic
Ayaan Hirsi Ali should not testify before Rep. Peter King
Misunderstandings Regarding State Debt, Pensions,…
January 24, 2011
Or not. By way of Paul Kedrosky, we come across this scintillating abstract:
UP OR DOWN? A MALE ECONOMIST'S MANIFESTO ON THE TOILET SEAT ETIQUETTE
JAY P. CHOI,â
This paper develops an economic analysis of the toilet seat etiquette. I investigate whether there is any efficiency justification…
January 24, 2011
At this point in Obama's term, I'm simply hoping that the things I care about, like Social Security and education, aren't mentioned by Obama in his State of the Union address. I've given up on thinking he'll actually institute good policy (lost hope, if you will), and am just attempting a holding…
January 23, 2011
Happy Sunday. Links for you. Science:
Field of Discord: At public colleges' sustainability centers, farming groups sow influence
New Language Discovered: Prairiedogese
How to give effective oral presentations
The Mass Extinction of Scientists Who Study Species
Other:
The 'new normal' of…
January 23, 2011
But not for the reason you're probably thinking. Loughner's ideas are a ludicrous hodge-podge of conspiracy theory, libertarianism, and anti-government sentiment, but what's striking about them is how incoherent they are. This incoherency isn't limited to Loughner either:
...the strange thing is…
January 22, 2011
It's kinda cold. Warm up with some links. Science:
Conspiracies Don't Kill Birds. People, However, Do.
A 34,000 year old bacteria has come back from the dead and is breeding
Octopus tool use
Woman science bloggers discuss pros and cons of online exposure
Global vaccine efforts offer hope to…
January 22, 2011
I sound like this:
I have no idea what's going through this dog's mind. Likes singing, I guess.