mikethemadbiologist

It was 50 degrees yesterday; now it's below freezing. Warm up with some HOT links. Science: Science is not democratic Ion Torrent's $3-Million Community Incentive Plan Musk Oxen Live to Tell a Survivors' Tale (I want a pet musk ox!) Other: Journal Register Company's Open Newsroom Launches New…

When analyzing data, understanding the limitations of your data is critical. One of the things we need to understand is significance: how strong does an effect have to be to considered not a result of random chance. Typically, we assume that if an effect has a five percent or less probability of…

For anyone trying to make a living at blogging, including our Seed Media Overlords, one of the major hurdles is the poor pay of internet advertising compared to magazine and newspaper advertising. This is an accurate assessment of the problem (italics mine): I think the evidence for this dynamic…

Links for you. Science: And On That Dumping Study Verbal vs. mathematical aptitude in academics Lost Civilization May Have Existed Beneath the Persian Gulf Other: A man thinks that by mouthing hard words... It Gets Better Schrödinger's Rapist: or a guy's guide to approaching strange women without…

Or for that matter, any of the other tax cut silliness or fiscal austerity madness. Because to lower unemployment to where it was in early 2007 over the next eighteen months, that's what we'll have to do. The Slacktivist lays out the numbers: Now, from 2007 through early 2009 the American economy…

Gray. Rainy. Gross. Thank the Intelligent Designer the intertubes aren't clogged up. Science: Journals, are you reading this? Sequencing Machine Helped Trace Cholera in Haiti Stork that ate babies, rather than delivering them Other: Why don't low-income whites love the Democrats? Research…

Now if former head of the OMB Peter Orszag were only so charitable when it came to disability benefits. From AMERICAblog, here's the timeline: 2005 Peter Orszag, already at the Brookings Institute, proposes the Diamond-Orszag Plan, "Saving Social Security" (pdf; intro here; comment here). He wants…

A warm day (for December) with sun! If you're stuck inside, here are some links for you. Science: 15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics Science is not the oppressor. A Compensation for Cold Weather: Higher IQs. New research finds that within the U.S., those…

Merry Christmas! Guess who would see their taxes increase as a result of the Obama-McConnell plan? Well: The wealthiest Americans will also reap tax savings from the proposal's plan to keep the cap on dividend and capital gains taxes at 15 percent, well below the highest rates on ordinary income…

I like this guy because he makes me sound calm: Seriously, I still think our economic, media, and political betters have no idea how angry many people are about this. If a mob were to lynch a couple of these guys (note: this is evil), I think many juries would be hung.

The work week is over. Now we get the work weekend! Anyway, links for you. Science: Season of Birth May Have Long-Term Effects on Personality, Study Suggests (in mice, usual caveats apply, etc.) The economic case for open access in academic publishing When's the Best Time to Publish Blog Posts…

Leave it to conservatives to actually conduct the War on Christmas (Got Scrooge?). I give you National Review editor Kate O'Beirne on the problem of hunger (italics mine): O'BEIRNE: And then the title of our gathering is so crucial; "Less of Washington and More of Ourselves". The federal school…

Links for you: The NCAA Should Shut Down Notre Dame's Football Program Casting Light on "The Moment of Truth" 9.8%: The Number That The Deficit Commission Left Out WikiLeaks and the Myth of Objective Journalism (the key point is that journalists serve as a filter, but why should they be the filter…

To paraphrase Mark Twain, biological understanding may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme. There's a recent commentary, "The Great DNA Data Deficit: Are Genes for Disease a Mirage?", from the Bioscience Resource Project which, if Twitter is any guide (and how could Twitter possibly not be?), is…

Obama's recent tax/unemployment deal with Republicans is a lot less demoralizing once one recognizes that Obama is a Republican, albeit not a completely batshit lunatic one. So I wasn't really going to comment on the most recent Obama capitulation. But several readers asked me for my thoughts on…

Links for you. Science: Congress Critters enlist the taxpayers in the war on NSF funded science Another reason to avoid visiting Answers in Genesis Polluted Air Increases Obesity Risk in Young Animals: Exposure to polluted air early in life led to an accumulation of abdominal fat and insulin…

With Obama's desire to freeze federal pay for two years, it's worth reminding people that federal workers actually do important stuff. Like ground-breaking research: Remarkably, more than 50 current or former federal employees have received Nobel Prizes. In fact, about one in four American Nobel…

Amanda Marcotte makes a very interesting observation about the continued popularity of the movie Dirty Dancing: I have to say that actually its popularity probably has little to do with its "innocence" and more to do with its lack of it. What immediately comes across is that this is an extremely…

Merry Monday. Links for you. Science: Antibiotics need to become controlled substances and regulated The toll due to secondhand smoke Oil, Ploughs, and Gender Roles NBC's 'Biggest Loser' Contestants: Caricatures, Not Role Models Other: What Good Is Wall Street? Much of what investment bankers do…

I don't mean to get all Bob Somerby on you, but Frank Rich's Sunday op-ed is ridiculous. Obama isn't acquiescing to Republican demands because he's suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or some other deep-seated psychological malady. That's clearly overthinking the problem. It's far more basic than…

I don't see the need to redescribe the recent paper about the discovery of bacteria that can might replace, in extremis, phosphorus with arsenic, which was overhyped by NASA, was poorly covered by most journalists, and which has compromising methodological problems (for good coverage, read here,…

It's cold here. Warm up with some nice links. Science: The National Science Foundation calls it "peer review" for a reason, Mr. Smith! Imagine A World Where Aspergers Was The Norm (Don't) Keep it Simple: Why a Culture of Journalism Isn't Working for Science NIH study identifies ideal body mass…

I ask this because Boston's local gourmet pizza chain, Upper Crust, which is loved by foodies, has been massively exploiting its undocumented workers: Tobins [the owner of Upper Crust] needed lots of kitchen help; the Brazilians worked hard and didn't complain about workweeks that routinely…

Someone tell me how Ian Welsh's assessment of Obama is incorrect (italics mine): Nor is he a Nixonian or Eisenhower Republican, that would put him massively to the left of where he is and to the left of the majority of the Democratic party. Instead his a Reaganite, something he told people…

Links for you. Science: Heavy sleep debt extracts a price for patients More Bad News from Neverland. The FDA Guidance on Nosocomial Pneumonia. If You're Gonna Touch My Junk, At Least Grab the Data Other: You Are No Longer Free To Move About the Country Willful Self Destruction Why We Fight (about…

He will cave, of course, but this is the right idea: And before people start pissing and moaning about 'weakening Obama' (he's done a very good job of that all by his lonesome), remember that he and his surrogates kept quoting FDR who told his left-leaning supporters, "You have to make me do it."…

I wonder if Julian Assange has any information related to Pepsigate. While you ponder that, here are some links for you. Science: Data visualization is cool One scientist's hobby: recreating the ice age Meet the pangolin, the mammal that thinks it's a reptile Other: When Downtown Crossing had…

I've discussed before how our political discourse shouldn't be the sole purview of English majors, that some topics might gain from being covered by those who have some mathematical training (quite a few science journalists do have this, and are quite good at reporting 'quantitative' stories). A…

Happy Thursday! Better late than never. Science: 10 benefits (for my career) of blogging/tweeting/etc #fb Insects: slaves in a fungal nation Restricting Gene Patents: A Pro-Market Agenda Other: Guest blog: Now Nearing the BPS Lottery Starting Line... (As I've written several times, cities will…

I've written before about how the housing fiasco required fraud and perjury. Well, there's no end in sight for the damage done by Big Shitpile. The latest chapter involves foreclosing on homeowners who not only are able to make their payments, but have actually done so. How does this Kafkaesque…