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
June 17, 2010
Remember last year, when Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested by the Cambridge Police (charges were dropped). We all sat around, had a beer, and discussed race. Well, there's been a review of the Cambridge police's arrest behavior from 2004 to 2009.
At the time, I thought it…
June 16, 2010
Have a wild and wacky Wednesday. Links fahr ya. Science:
Fences, guards, and information gaps: On the beach in Grand Isle, Louisiana
The return on peer review
Using iPads to bridge communication gap with dolphins
Other:
The Government's Elite and Regulatory Capture
Two State Dissonance. Even…
June 16, 2010
Yes, you read the title correctly--I'll get to that in a bit. Nicholas Wade's article about the Human Genome Project (HGP), "A Decade Later, Genetic Map Yields Few New Cures" has been getting a lot of play. Thankfully, ScienceBlogling Orac summed up perfectly my thoughts about both the science…
June 15, 2010
There's a big ball of fire in the sky: I believe it's referred to as "the sun." Let's celebrate with some links. Sciencey stuff:
Stone Age Color, Glue 'Factory' Found: The color and glue trade could have been a blossoming industry some 58,000 years ago
Study Says Math Deficiencies Increase…
June 15, 2010
By way of Seeing the Forest, we note that at Miller-McCune, Beryl Lieff Benderly has a must-read story about the supposed shortage of scientists in the U.S. A while ago, I described the supposed shortage of scientists as a problem of incentives:
As long as financial 'engineering' is more lucrative…
June 14, 2010
Just another Manic Monday. Links for you. Science:
Boys and Girls and Math and Why Dr. Isis is Bored to Tears with John Tierney
Female Teachers' Math Anxiety Negatively Affects Female Students
Fiona Fox - Genocide, Swine Flu and the Problems with Science Journalism
Who's the Audience for Tierney'…
June 14, 2010
Related to this morning's post about the find of $1 trillion dollars worth of minerals in Afghanistan, even if we were to capture (if the verb fits....) ten percent of the total worth of those resources, it still wouldn't come close to the break-even point for the occupation of Afghanistan (which…
June 14, 2010
By now, you might have heard about the kerfuffle between Nature publishing and the University of California (also here, here, here, and here). Basically, the University of California has accused Nature of raising its prices for institutional journal subscriptions by 400%; the university system,…
June 14, 2010
Or something. Look at what we found in Afghanistan:
The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior…
June 13, 2010
It's a grey, shitty Sunday. Here are some links that probably won't cheer you up. Science:
Primary care antibiotic resistance for common infections
The Arc of Evolution Is Long and Rarely Bends Towards Advantageous Alleles: Why Does Popular Science Ignore Neutral Theory?
Two modest proposals
Are…
June 13, 2010
On the Democratic Internets, there seems to be considerable gnashing of teeth and wailing about the loss by Bill Halter to corporate Democrat Senator Blanche Lincoln in the Arkansas primary. I'm not particularly shook up by the outcome. First, Halter really wouldn't have been much better (…
June 12, 2010
Sun? On the weekend? NEVAH! But if you're stuck inside, here are some links for you. Science:
The threat from sheep
Gulf Oil Spill Disaster: Spawn of the Dead for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna?
AVMA Member Hopeful Association Will Revisit Antimicrobial Position
Other:
George W. Bush, Torture President…
June 12, 2010
Ezra Klein makes a great catch:
Obama has also called in some of the many scientists on the federal payroll, led by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Chu at one point pushed the unusual idea of using gamma rays to peer into the blowout preventer to determine if its…
June 11, 2010
Have a Fabulous Friday. Links for you. Science:
The Human Phenome Project
Ten things you didn't know about bees
The ASCO Meeting: The swag disappears! (2010 edition)
Snakes in mysterious global decline
Other:
Like Glenn Beck, Ayn Rand Peddled Garbage As Truth -- Why Did America Buy It? Rand was…
June 11, 2010
I've always had a problem with the whole call for "tougher standards" in education. I'm all for a clearly defined curriculum, but, if students aren't learning well, then trouncing more of them won't make them any smarter. This just seems like more 'will-based' policies. Thankfully, Bob Somerby…
June 10, 2010
Thank goodness it's... Thursday. Damn. Science links:
Worth a Thousand Words (on Bluefin tuna and the BP oil spill)
Humpback whales form friendships that last years
The ASCO Meeting: The swag!
Other:
The Uncertain Impact of Merit Pay for Teachers
A Little Bit Of Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing…
June 10, 2010
Back when I owned a car*, car insurance payments were always depressing. In the best case scenario, I'm paying money for no purpose; in the worst case, I've been in a collision. Public health is a lot like car insurance, in that it's really important when something bad happens, but when…
June 9, 2010
Just another manic...Wednesday? Anyway, links for you. Science:
Strange find on Titan sparks chatter about life. Studies may suggest methane-based organic processes ... but maybe not
EMRs are ugly, and what the next generation of doctors can do
"Reporters are messengers" - a manifesto for failure…
June 9, 2010
The NY Times, on Monday, had an article about the effects of extensive computer use and interconnection on human cognition. The usual concerns are raised about attention deficits, lack of concentration, obsessive activity, and the like. The story focuses on a family that is, well, flying through…
June 8, 2010
Happy Tuesday. Links for you. Science:
Genetics & the Jews
Bargain Basement Prices for Genome Sequencing
Amazon forest fires 'on the rise'
Other:
Evidence Indicates that the Bush Administration Conducted Experiments and Research on Detainees to Design Torture Techniques and Create Legal Cover…
June 8, 2010
Finally, large, mainstream organizations that have traditionally supported Democrats are not rewarding bad behavior. From Arkansas, where incumbent corporate shill and supposed Democrat Blanche Lincoln is in a primary fight for her life. From The NY Times:
CONWAY, Ark. -- They have knocked on 170…
June 8, 2010
I'm really thrilled that Maryn McKenna, author of Superbug (my review here), has joined ScienceBlogs. Stop by, and look around. I'm looking forward to lots of infectious disease goodness (or badness, I suppose...).
June 8, 2010
...or maybe they're just really unlucky. By way of ScienceBlogling Josh, we come across this Research 2000 poll of attitudes about astronomy. People were asked:
Most astronomers believe the universe formed about 13.7 billion years ago in a massive event called the Big Bang. Do you think that's…
June 7, 2010
Yet another sorry chapter in the banking crisis. Remember: we need banks and bankers, but why we kept these banks and these bankers in business still perplexes me. Now, in an attempt to retain faux integrity of their balance sheets, banks are refusing their contractual obligations to buy back…
June 7, 2010
'Twas a stormy Sunday night. Time for links. Science:
The Importance of Collecting Data (Gulf Coast edition)
Confusing Expertise With Authority
Dept. of Unintended Consequences: Hepatitis B in West Virginia
Other:
Left Ed: Where Are the Journalists?
Personal Financial Morality
Chicago's teacher…
June 7, 2010
Snark can't even begin to cope with this sickening display of hatred--directed at elementary school children:
A group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott [Arizona] school.
The project's leader says he was ordered to lighten the…
June 6, 2010
Rainy, crudy, stormy today. Plenty of time for links. Science:
Pelicans, Back From Brink of Extinction, Face Oil Threat
What the Spill Will Kill
Other:
Twitter with Chinese Characteristics: 马马èè?
The Sarah Palinization of the financial crisis
Why We're Falling Into a Double-Dip Recession…
June 6, 2010
Because interest rates on U.S. Treasuries are dropping (italics mine):
The U.S. government debt is rising inexorably, according to the conventional wisdom in Washington, and the political system is too paralyzed to take unpopular actions to rein it in. Privately, many policymakers take it as a…
June 5, 2010
It's a muggy Saturday here. Lots of time to read links. Science:
MIT Team Designs Airliner That Uses 70 Percent Less Fuel
The Orangutan and the Hound
Less attractive fish have 'better sperm'
Just How Bad Is Porn, Anyway?
A Sad Day for Sustainable Shrimp
USDA forecasts a plague of grasshoppers for…
June 5, 2010
I need some help from 'swanologists.' So do Boston's ducklings. In the middle of Boston's Public Garden, there is a large pond (although for some reason it's called a lagoon, even though it's not a lagoon). Every year, two swans, Romeo and Juliet, are brought to the Lagoon and released to build…