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
July 10, 2009
Happy Friday! Links for you. Science:
Journalists Unclear on the Concept
Microcosm Week: Dreaming of a Complete Solution to Life
The Bees of Brookline...Real Estate Schadenfreude Post
News flash: beetles are not the same as women
If the research doesn't say what you want, just lie about it
Other…
July 10, 2009
At least when it comes to transportation, it looks that way. The NY Times had an article yesterday about how cities are getting far less of the stimulus package slated for transportation. From The NY Times, here's the issue in a pretty figure:
(click to embiggen)
The problem--and I say this as a…
July 9, 2009
You see, this is the method of The Enemy, so therefore we don't torture. Or something.
From Glenn Greenwald comes this nauseating account of media spinelessness in the face of the evil that is torturing another human being:
The most noteworthy point was her [NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard] explicit…
July 9, 2009
Apparently so. And that should give everyone pause, since SSN has become the de facto national identification system. From PNAS:
We demonstrate that it is possible to predict, entirely from public data, narrow ranges of values wherein individual SSNs are likely to fall. Unless mitigating…
July 9, 2009
Granted, picking on Fox News is like taunting the slow kid--it's cheap and makes you feel bad about yourself. On the other hand, this, reported by Alex Koppelman, just cries out for comment:
Kilmeade and two colleagues were discussing a study that, based on research done in Finland and Sweden,…
July 8, 2009
I've written before (here) about the problems I have with the new trend in economics to misuse irrationality and to wrongly credit it for phenomena. So, a long-time reader sent along a Conor Clarke interview with Paul Samuelson, in which he discusses irrationality (boldface questions; italics mine…
July 7, 2009
Here are some links for you. Science:
Death, Death, Elitism & Death
Johann Hari: They were great at first - but then the creativity dries up
Tiny frogs and giant spiders: the best of friends
The subsidiary patient
Does Science Lead to Atheism?
"Investigative science journalism" and books I…
July 7, 2009
I haven't had time to comment on it until now, but one of the local issues rattling around Boston and Massachusetts has been the potential demise of The Boston Globe. Since the NY Times Corporation will receive bids for The Boston Globe tomorrow, it seemed like a good time to reflect on how The…
July 6, 2009
From Alegre's Corner:
Karen Tumulty was on a press call with the HELP committee to hear about Kennedy's bill, and she just posted a tweet with the following...
Senate HELP bill: If u hate ur employer's coverage, u have to keep it, unless it costs 12.5% of ur salary. No public plan 4 u.
Looks like…
July 6, 2009
He wasn't as pithy as let them eat cake, but the sentiment is the same. What's gone missing in the debate over a public option for healthcare (although when more the seventy percent support it, it's hard to see how this qualifies as a debate) is that tens of millions of people already have a…
July 5, 2009
Here are some links for you while you're recovering from the 4th. Science first:
"Contrary to their expectations?" Really? Personal experience in science communication
The Scacco/Beber analysis of the Iranian election is bogus
Prehistoric bloodsucker in Thames
Evidence of fraud in the Iranian…
July 5, 2009
ScienceBlogling Ed Yong asks a good question about scientific embargoes--the practice of giving reporters press releases about to-be-published research on the condition that they don't publish before a certain date: "Does science journalism falter or flourish under embargo?"
Opponents of embargoes…
July 4, 2009
Not only will you want to see what happens when you drop fifty pounds of silly putty off a building, but you'll actually learn some science! Splat:
July 3, 2009
A little more than 24 hours to go until people blow shit up all across America--in a good way. Until then, here are some links to keep you busy:
Scientists Visit the Creation Museum
On giving Goldman a chance
Healthcare Horror: Care Denied Over $7 Debt for Insured Patient
Democrats to Progressives…
July 3, 2009
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a letter (and I encourage others to do the same) calling for a strong public option in whatever healthcare legislation is passed. In the letter, I described the frustration that many rank-and-file Democrats have towards their…
July 2, 2009
Housing prices suck. In fact, they suck worse than they did last month. But the good news is that the rate at which the suckitude is increasing is slowing (this is the second derivative). From The Washington Post:
Home prices fell again in April, but at a slower rate, suggesting some parts of…
July 1, 2009
Nobody could have predicted this (italics mine):
As the White House readies its plan for finding "common ground" on reproductive health issues and reducing the need for abortion, a major debate has emerged over how to package the plan's two major components: preventing unwanted pregnancies and…
June 30, 2009
Still cloudy and cruddy in Boston, so here are some links for you. Science:
Breaking: Hunter Gatherer Societies Were Incredibly Violent
Are we playing it too safe in cancer research?
Other:
The Parties Are Supposed To Disagree
Centrists are Republican Fucking Lite
EZRA SI, FROOMKIN NO! Ezra Klein…
June 30, 2009
It's simple--as long as one doesn't criticize the press corps from the left (doing it from the right is ok and accepted--you get to be the house liberal. Bob Somerby:
For starters: We of course have no way of knowing why the Post has dumped Dan Froomkin. Let's repeat that: We simply don't know.…
June 29, 2009
Over the weekend, I had started writing a post titled "When Will [economist Paul] Krugman Have His Creationist Epiphany?" It was inspired by a comment left on a Krugman post about "the Great Ignorance which seems to have overtaken much of the economics profession -- the "rediscovery" of old…
June 29, 2009
Yesterday's article by Gina Kolata about cancer research mistakes a symptom--caution due to a perceived lack of funding--for the disease, which is the symbiosis between academia and the NIH. Don't get me wrong, a lot of research should involve academics. But the priorities of NIH have become…
June 28, 2009
I'll have more to say about this tomorrow, but I wanted to draw your attention to an article in today's NY Times that is critical of cancer research by Gina Kolata. Here's a snippet:
Many other grants involve biological research unlikely to break new ground. For example, one project asks whether…
June 28, 2009
I told you this would happen. I used to give a lot of talks about antibiotic resistance, and when I did so, I would often use a cartoon as a humorous way to portray the severity of the resistance problem:
Sadly, this is no longer a laugh line:
Former Cleveland Browns receiver Joe Jurevicius sued…
June 27, 2009
Here are some links for you. Science firstest:
Eating Grad Style: Free Food
Key paper in depression genetics disputed
Naps, Learning and REM
Who should have acess to publications supported by federal money? Well, everyone. See Federal Research Public Access Act
Cracking The Autism Riddle: Common…
June 27, 2009
I think some people don't realize the extent to which movement conservativism is not about policy, but an existential sense of self. I realize that I come across as pretty partisan, but, for me, it's ultimately about objectives: if I want a public option for healthcare, it's because I think it…
June 26, 2009
During the battle over the stimulus package, Republican Senator John McCain tweeted:
$650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi - how does one manage a beaver?
I argued at the time that it's quite possible that $650,000 to better understand how to stop the economic damage that…
June 25, 2009
Before I dive in, I really do want good news. But misinterpreting bad economic news as good news doesn't help. You might have heard that, last week, jobless claims dropped (i.e., the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits decreased). This is a good thing, right?
Not so fast. Barry…
June 24, 2009
Here are some links for you. Science first:
Market Analysis
Francis Collins "upbeat" about impact of common disease genetics
Ask Dr. Isis -- Mental Illness in Science
Teenage girl discovers new type of supernova
Animals are NOT your children
Cancer Genome Sequencing--A (Pessimistic) Interim…
June 24, 2009
With the uprising in Iran using Twitter, there's been a lot of Twitter triumphalism running amok hither and yon through the intertubez. Tom Watson has a very nice takedown, but there are two other themes worth discussing: the conduit by itself isn't revolutionary; and, a medium with 140…
June 23, 2009
If so, my respect for her just went up a notch. I'm not a huge fan of MA Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (although she is far better than Wilkerson), in part, because of her unwillingness to protect arts funding in MA. But, in response to the idea that financial literacy should be added to the school…