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
December 2, 2010
"Information Wants To Be Free. Information also wants to be expensive. Information wants to be free because it has become so cheap to distribute, copy, and recombine---too cheap to meter. It wants to be expensive because it can be immeasurably valuable to the recipient. That tension will not go…
December 1, 2010
Wednesday. Blah. Links--science goes firstest:
Thanksgiving Science: Tryptophacts and Tryptophantasies
Where have all the data gone?
The Mystery of the Red Bees of Red Hook
Other:
More thoughts on junk touching
Will Saletan Seemingly Determined to Miss the Point on Scanning vs. Groping
"Effects…
December 1, 2010
...I bet you thought I was going to write something like, "....doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Nope. Regarding the federal worker pay freezes, David Weigel notes:
The letter from OFA director Mitch Stewart points out -- accurately -- that Obama froze…
December 1, 2010
I guess. Over at the Motley Fool, Brian Orelli asks, "Which Is a Better Buy: Complete Genomics or Pacific Biosciences?" While I agree that PacBio is probably the better bet (and bet is the operative word), I don't think the reasoning is right. Orelli:
If you're interested in trying to catch the…
November 30, 2010
Happy Tuesday. Links for you. Science:
GQ Rockstars of Science - the demographics
New research on bedbug insecticide resistance
The antidepressant reboxetine: A headdesk moment in science
Other:
Bernanke hints dollar standard is flawed (trade war? Could be)
Learning About KIPP: Lesson 1
Is…
November 30, 2010
Nothing at all. Here's what I don't get about Obama's proposal to freeze federal workers' salaries: he got nothing in return. Just like he did with healthcare.
Nothing.
And he is out of his fucking skull if he thinks either the Republicans or the Very Serious People are going to give him credit…
November 30, 2010
You might have heard how Obama has called for a three year salary freeze for all non-military federal employees. Let's leave aside the notion that we need every drop of fiscal stimulus we can get our hands on. Instead, I would like to know how this will not make things worse for research in the U…
November 29, 2010
Links for you. Science:
Let Loose the Coyotes? Chicago Embraces Rat-Hunting Predators (if they go after those annoying little yippy dogs, that's an extra bonus)
The boundaries of mental illness
On jargon, and why it matters in science writing
Other:
The Mandate
BARRY RUBIN GETS THE FJM TREATMENT…
November 29, 2010
Last week, I discussed the butchering by Stanley Fish of an economic explanation for why college costs are high--and, as importantly, where all of that money goes. Robert Archibald and David Feldman offer a good response to their critics in The NY Times, but this is the key point (italics mine):…
November 28, 2010
Links for you. Science:
How complexity leads to simplicity (video)
Lost & Cast Away: Ten Amazing Uninhabited Islands
Mapping fitness: landscapes, topographic maps, and Seattle
Other:
Mistaken assumptions: jobs, business and tax cuts
Corporate America Hearts Obama (from 2008, but worth reading…
November 28, 2010
Or, at least, don't obey Massachusetts law and receive the healthcare they are entitled to. Esterline Technologies demonstrates that much of what passes for 'rational business decision making' is actually ideology combined with petty personal vendetta. From Yves Smith:
This story illustrates how…
November 27, 2010
Links for you. Science
The weird evolutionary story of cranberries
T. Rex Tail Built for Speed
BP Controlling University Research, and Professor Who Downplayed Oil Spill Called a "Shill" By Fellow Professor
Other:
The 'Giving' Season
Paycheck Fairness Dies in the Senate
Virtuous Sabotage
Did The…
November 27, 2010
Chris Matthews makes a very good point (no, really) about our complete failure to upgrade our infrastructure:
We used to build trains and subways and airplanes for the world. Now we read about trains running three hundred miles an hour in France and China and we piddle along on Amtrak like we're…
November 26, 2010
Links for you. Science:
Friday Weird Science: That MotherF**king HURTS!!!
Cane toads are evolving into super-invaders
Bacterial resistance to chronic antibiotics, and why it's a problem
Other:
Repudiating Liberalism or Obama
When School Improvement, Seniority and Talking Points Collide
Report…
November 26, 2010
Anyone who follows politics regularly is aware of the phenomenon of the voter who "wants the government to stay out of my Medicare" (Medicare is a government program). But a huge fraction of recipients of government aid do not believe they have received government aid. I'll get to why I think…
November 25, 2010
Links for you. Science:
Natural Selection and Macroevolution in your lifetime
Gluttonous amoeba
White House science office faces lawsuit
Other:
Unemployed Councils, Eviction Riots, and the New Deal
Misleading tax and spend rhetoric--public worker "overcompensation" and "too-high pensions"
Welcome…
November 25, 2010
There's never a good time to be hungry--and, yes, people in the U.S. still experience actual hunger--but Thanksgiving is an especially cruel time. Since everything is closed today anyway, take a couple of minutes to send some help to your local foodbank. Every dollar helps--and they don't just…
November 24, 2010
Links for you. Science:
Money CAN buy happiness...well, sort of.
Bridges that resist the rust: Strong, lightweight, easy-to-assemble arches with no steel bars may solve a New England problem
Other:
The Fastidious President
Calling Bullshit on The News
The ongoing, albeit amusing, battle to save…
November 24, 2010
When biologists refer to the 'wild type', we mean that there is a dominant phenotype or trait that most organisms in a species possess. For example, most Drosophila melangaster (the fly commonly used in genetics) have red eyes--red eyes are the wild type, while white eyes are often referred to as…
November 23, 2010
Links for you. Science:
7 Deadliest Bacteria on Earth
The Army Ant Entourage (some amazing pictures here)
Graduate Student Becomes Target of Choice for Animal Rights Extremists
Taxing soft drinks to combat obesity
Other:
Unintended Consequences: Raising Retirement Age Could Cause Spike in…
November 23, 2010
A while ago, I finished reading Adrian Goldsworthy's How Rome Fell. While there are far too many inane comparisons between the Late Roman Empire and the U.S., this summary of Goldsworthy's thesis seems appropriate (italics mine):
That is not to say that the latter emperors were more selfish, but…
November 22, 2010
Links for you. Science:
More to Pseudomonads than the kiwifruit crisis....
Rare Golden Sea Robin Landed and Released At Captain Joe's
A de novo paradigm for mental retardation
Other:
As the stomach turns
The NYT's Apocalypse: $1 Trillion a Year in Interest on the National Debt
UK Students trash…
November 22, 2010
Brad DeLong, Scott Lemieux, and Felix Salmon all take Stanley Fish's absurd discussion of Why Does College Cost So Much by Robert Archibald and David Feldman to task--and are right in doing so. It's a shame because Archibald and Feldman actually do have some key insights into where the money goes…
November 22, 2010
...Digby gave me a nice little mention last night. This is the post the Atrios quote came from.
November 21, 2010
Ok, it just got cold. Stay inside and read some links. Science:
Prokaryotes considered
Negotiating your start-up package in non-medical biological sciences
You Are Not What You Eat
New frog species found in hunt for old ones
Other:
The Tea Party Targets... Sustainable Development?
Glenn Beck and…
November 21, 2010
It's not that some Texas Republicans are anti-Semitic, it's just that they need a Christian in charge. A bunch of angry Texan evangelical Republicans are trying to replace House Speaker Joe Strauss, and aren't having much success. So:
And, not surprisingly, the effort has started to take on…
November 20, 2010
Still kinda nice out. If you're stuck inside though, here are some links. Science:
News break: 1 in 7 Medicare patients seriously harmed by hospitals
Problem-solving bacteria crack sudoku
New Bacteria-Killing Light Can Destroy Superbugs With the Flip of a Switch
Other:
Seriously, Jail the Bankers…
November 20, 2010
Keep in mind that this GE plant primarily makes parts for defense contracts--these jobs are provided by a guaranteed contract:
General Electric Co. has made an unusual offer to the state: Give us $25 million in tax credits, and we won't cut any more than 150 positions at our aircraft engine plant…
November 19, 2010
It's Friday! Links for you. Science:
Evolutionary trees help to convict men who knowingly infected women with HIV
Superbugs call for super changes in drug-sale rules
My delightfully uninteresting genome
FDA Artificial Pancreas Hearing: Beating a Path to the Real World
Other:
Because This Type of…
November 19, 2010
Like many in the Coalition of the Sane, I'm shocked by The NY Times' willingness to run an article on the front page that states this:
If the economy grew one half of a percentage point faster than forecast each year over the next two decades -- no easy feat, to be fair -- the country would have to…