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
October 26, 2010
A problem in genome-wide association studies ("GWAS") is the"missing heritability" issue--identified genetic variation can only account for a small fraction of the estimated genetic contribution to variation in that trait. Razib has a good roundup of several explanations (and I added some…
October 25, 2010
Links for you. Science:
How (not) to communicate new scientific information: a memoir of the famous brindley lecture
The Darkside of Scientific Competition
Is There Really a Systematic Problem in Medical Publishing? Or Just a Reporter With a Narrative?
Shifting to Second Gear in Obesity Prevention…
October 25, 2010
I've railed against the rise of supplemental data and methods before, but, having just reviewed a paper where I spent more time reading the supplemental sections versus the actual fucking paper, what Scicurious wrote struck a chord with me:
Sci wishes she could make her own flowchart of…
October 24, 2010
Better late than never. Links for you. Science:
Bacteria using bacteria
Why boomerangs come back
This too, too solid flesh...
Double whammy reveals cholesterol gene
Colourful parrot feathers resist bacterial degradation
Other:
St Kern's way is the American Way
EXCLUSIVE: Michael Mann responds to…
October 24, 2010
The Boston Public Library has a really cool exhibit about postcards related to Boston. Here's one I thought was funny from 1908 (based on the postage, I think it's 1908):
I want my own unidirigible! Too bad Boston doesn't really look like this....
If you can't get to the library, the postcards…
October 24, 2010
A dirty secret of charter school 'success' is that they typically transfer their poorly-performing students the students they fail to educate to public schools. Consequently, charter schools are able to claim better test scores than regular public schools (clearly, ethics aren't on the charter…
October 23, 2010
A nice, sunny Saturday. If you're stuck inside, and you don't feel like calling up Anita Hill and harassing her for no good reason, here are some links for you. Science:
Curious controversial case of colony collapse disorder afflicting bees in U.S.
Royce Murray and Caveat Emptor
50 More Urban…
October 23, 2010
Gotta love Cambridge, MA:
Policy Order Resolution
O-32
IN CITY COUNCIL
August 2, 2010
VICE MAYOR DAVIS
COUNCILLOR CHEUNG
COUNCILLOR DECKER
COUNCILLOR KELLEY
MAYOR MAHER
COUNCILLOR REEVES
COUNCILLOR SEIDEL
COUNCILLOR SIMMONS
COUNCILLOR TOOMEY
ORDERED:
That the City Manager be and hereby is…
October 23, 2010
This is not a market that has any connection to the real world, but a casino--and you are definitely not the house:
As the New York Times dealbook noted in May:
These are short-term bets. Very short. The founder of Tradebot, in Kansas City, Mo., told students in 2008 that his firm typically held…
October 22, 2010
Happy Friday. Links for you. Science:
Science Blogs vs Scientific Literature
A Spray of DNA to Keep the Robbers Away (this shouldn't work, but people are stupid)
Bacteria 'R' Us
How to hold an NSF panel hostage
Am I partly Jewish? Testing ancestry hypotheses with 23andMe data
Other:
Part Two:…
October 22, 2010
Once again, Obama has decided to inflict post-partisan depression on us. Here's our latest installment in "Looking Forward, Not Back" (italics mine):
"Where any homeowner has been defrauded or denied the basic protections or rights they have under law, we will take actions to make sure the banks…
October 21, 2010
Managed to miss all of the rain today. I'll celebrate with some links. Science:
Pessimistic Pooches? Depressed Doggies? Not So Fast!
How Fractals Can Explain What's Wrong with Wall Street
Völkerwanderung back with a vengeance
Other:
Public Education: Stop the Attacks and Fund Quality Education…
October 21, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, I rewatched Memento, a movie about someone who has no long term memory. It's told from his perspective, moving backwards as he learns what has actually happened. His coping mechanisms are writing notes to himself and on himself, as well as a library of Polaroid pictures.…
October 21, 2010
So my first thought upon reading that a fraternity pledge ritual involved chanting in a public place "No Means Yes, Yes Means Anal" was "Frat boys are still assholes. Nice to see that some things remain constant." Then I read that this happened at Yale, and my next thought was, "I wonder which of…
October 20, 2010
Happy Wednesday. Links for you. Science:
Experiment vs. Theory: The Eternal Debate
What? The NSF allows unfunded people to review their grants?
Honey Bees Are Not Essential to Our Ecosystem
Other:
The Real Problem Behind the Foreclosure Crisis
"Perhaps"
Why Nerds Are Unpopular
Why Do Americans…
October 20, 2010
In the midst of an article about Uncommon Schools, a non-profit charter school company, we discover this interesting effect of holding back students who fail a grade:
High retention rates can help to boost test scores at charter schools, at least in the short term. Students may do better on tests…
October 20, 2010
I've never been one for long-distance psychoanalysis, especially of political figures. I don't know them, and, besides, I'm not really competent to make a clinical judgment. Instead, I follow Paul Krugman's simple rule of punditry:
Long ago -- basically when I started writing for the Times -- I…
October 19, 2010
Terrance at the Republic of T describes what should be obvious about conservative opposition to Social Security, but is not thanks to gormless Democrats and an incompetent political journalist caste (italics original; boldface mine):
Maybe that's why they fought so hard to protect bonuses and…
October 19, 2010
To steal a phrase. By way of ScienceBlogling David Sloan Wilson, we come across an interesting white paper, "The Relevance of Evolutionary Science For Economic Theory and Policy" (pdf). Since I'm an evolutionary biologist, you would probably expect me to be partial to the white paper, but I'm not…
October 18, 2010
Happy Monday. Links for you. Science:
Throat bacteria that destroy invaders
Nuclear receptors show evolution is the greatest tinkerer
Why do women shop and men hunt?
Other:
How the Foreclosure mess would play out in an actual Republic Of Law and an actual Free Market
Foreclosure Fraud For Dummies…
October 18, 2010
Over the weekend, as the tweets that only 18% in the U.S. could correctly define what a molecule is and less than a third could define DNA--and these were an open-ended questions--my first thought, after looking at the study (pdf, p. 48), was that all of the open-ended questions did worse than the…
October 18, 2010
I write about education and educational data a lot, and I'm always struck by the insistence that the U.S. K-12 educational system is DOOMED! This is a staggering display of willful ignorance that rivals creationism (and, arguably, is more pernicious). Without going through the entire backstory (…
October 17, 2010
So I came across one of those text analyzing thingees, and subjected this blog to it. The site predicted that this blog is "written by a male somewhere between 36-50 years old." OK. So far, so good.
Then the writing style was described as "academic." I suppose that's right, but not too many…
October 17, 2010
Update: Thanks to everyone visiting. I worked really hard on this post too, and it's also kinda important and about kids too, so please stop by that one too.
Dan Savage has exactly the right approach to dealing with the sanctimony of the theopolitical right. In response to an interview Savage…
October 16, 2010
It's very hard to squeeze a president and his entourage, plus visitors, into Back Bay. It's not too crowded for some links though. Science:
The Earth Microbiome Project
Human Ancestors Hunted by Prehistoric Beasts
The unconscious expert
14 amazingly cool research facilities
Other:
DCCC Abandoning…
October 16, 2010
While most of the commentary, including mine, about the collapse of Big Shitpile (aka the housing crisis) has focused on the financial and economic effects, building more housing than we needed--and couldn't afford--also had environmental effects. Take, for instance, Prince William County, VA:…
October 15, 2010
Despite The Boston Phoenix's running articles that occasionally contain the word fuck, as well as having an 'adult section' complete with ads for 'massage' (why one has to wear a bikini to give a massage escapes me; also, prostitution isn't exactly feminist), their politics are about as…
October 14, 2010
Lotsa links. Science:
Can't we all just get long: evolution of altruism edition
The Failed Promise of Genomics
Natural selection in our time
Toxic algae rapidly kills coral
Other:
Unanticipating The Great Depression and the Great Recession
La vida en los Estados Unidos
Why Foreclosure Fraud Is So…
October 14, 2010
And by hot, I mean employable. I'll get to that in a bit, but I first want to relate some history. Back when I was a wee lil' Mad Biologist, and molecular population genetics was in its infancy, there was a brief period where people had to be convinced that this stuff was useful (it was). Then…
October 13, 2010
Wednesday. Halfway towards the weekend (don't tell Scott Kern!). Some links to get you by. Science:
Gary Olsen's Talk on Lateral Gene Transfer at SDSU
It was the plague
The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi'
Other:
Mini vs Mega Burbs
Remember Cramdown? (I do!)
Hey, Small Spender
Shadowy…