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 2, 2009
Here are some links for you. Science first:
Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: is Francis Collins, The Discovery Institute's biggest fear?
How the aphid got its wings
Medicine and evolution, part 12: Using evolution to develop adaptive chemotherapy
Other:
Ten Infinity Bajillion Pounds Of Total…
June 2, 2009
A recent post about the looming specter of bioterrorism by William Lind due to 'biohacking' seems overblown to me. But before I get Lind, what I find particularly disturbing about hyping a non-existent bioterror threat is that it makes combating infectious disease--the stuff that kills millions…
June 1, 2009
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/27/735707/-Ronald-Reagan,-the-…
With the Sotomayor nomination, many conservatives have been shrieking about 'reverse racism'--you know, how the white man is being kept down, in this case by TEH LATINAZ!! AAAIEEE!! Well, wouldn't you know, but conservative…
June 1, 2009
By now, you have probably heard of the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, an ob/gyn who performed late-term abortions. Lots of other people have commented on this, but make no mistake about it: this will stem from demonizing abortion. It's really not that far from Republican presidential…
May 31, 2009
Friends, this is compassionate conservatism we can believe in:
Heh.
May 31, 2009
Joseph Marr Cronin and Howard E. Horton describe the extent to which college tuitions appear to have become the next economic bubble:
According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, over the past 25 years, average college tuition and fees have risen by 440 percent -- more…
May 30, 2009
This is truly remarkable:
Hopefully, Jessica doesn't try to mark the house....
May 29, 2009
Happy Friday! Some links for you. Science:
Bizarre Anaerobic Ecosystems Discovered In Lake Huron
Let's shut down gender essentialism with something that's called "science."
Study Finds Unexpected Bacterial Diversity on Human Skin
Withdrawal study: Ur doin' it wrong
The bacterial zoo living on…
May 29, 2009
No, not skinny models, mathematical models. Katrina Lamb writes:
As I see it, the problem with the financial market meltdown is not that David Li published an article in the Journal of Fixed Income Securities on the Gaussian copula function, or even that in his article Li, then an analyst with…
May 28, 2009
A recent column by Dan Arielly gives me a reason to discuss what I think are some of the problems with the recent emphasis on irrationality in economic theory. Before I get into that, I should note that I liked Arielly's book Predictably Irrational, and am impressed by Shiller's work. The idea…
May 27, 2009
Without getting into the pros and cons of traditional marriage ceremonies, I think most people would probably agree that eloping in order to get better healthcare insurance probably does little to support the supposed sanctity of marriage. Let me explain.
A colleague and her fiancé will be…
May 26, 2009
Why aren't three day weekends long enough? Anyway, here are some links for you. Science first:
Harvard study backs bottle concern: Says plastic used leaches bisphenol A
Creation/evolution continuum, or NCSE is too nice to theists...and to atheists!
For the Love of Science
Science-less in Seattle:…
May 26, 2009
Having recently returned from the ASM (American Society for Microbiology) General Meeting held in Philadelphia, I'm convinced that it should be held there every year--or, at least, it should be the permanent East Coast venue.
When I go to a meeting, I want several things:
Stuff to do. Restaurants…
May 25, 2009
Tweet? (and not the internet kind). At the recent ASM meeting, I saw a poster presented by Mark Schroeder of Ohio Wesleyan University about the prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococci in wild song birds (the staphylococci include several potential pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus…
May 24, 2009
I came across this post decrying the choice of Ralph Frieden as CDC director due to his "bluenose moralizing." Here's part of the argument:
What can't be denied is that Dr. Frieden and Mayor Bloomberg together promoted the myth that bad health is purely a matter of bad behavior.
The myth was an…
May 23, 2009
By way of David Sirota, I came across this Wall Street Journal article about the latest corporate sleaze--collecting insurance when your employees die:
Banks are using a little-known tactic to help pay bonuses, deferred pay and pensions they owe executives: They're holding life-insurance policies…
May 22, 2009
Since I don't own a television that actually gets reception, and I refuse to pay for cable*, when I'm on the road, I occasionally turn on the TV. What do I see, but CNN criminal shock jock Nancy Grace.
For those of you who don't know who Nancy Grace is, she hosts a 'criminal justice' show that…
May 21, 2009
...the signal peptide? Interesting. I'll start at the beginning.
One of the few bright spots regarding the problem of antibiotic resistance is that resistance typically infers a fitness cost to the bacterium, at least initially. In other words, the resistant strain usually grows slower than a…
May 20, 2009
While I'm away at ASM, here's something from the archives for you
When I read Olivia Judson's post about hopeful monsters, I didn't think she used the term correctly (here are some good explanations why), but I was surprised by Jerry Coyne's response.
First, the personal attack on Judson is…
May 19, 2009
Admittedly, you won't hear credit card companies call Congress' failure to cap credit card interest at 15% annually (which is what credit unions are forced to do) that, but, as Ian Welsh notes, that is exactly what Congress' inability to enact a cap means:
The Senate just stopped limits on credit…
May 18, 2009
Probably not. But genes linked to a high risk of breast cancer? You betcha.
ScienceBlogling Rebecca Skloot has a very good piece about the lawsuit brought by the ACLU against Myriad, the company that owns the patent for the 'breast cancer genes' BRCA1 and BRCA2 (she provides some more background…
May 17, 2009
At some point, the debate over healthcare is really going to heat up. Sure as shit, we'll start hearing about long waits in other countries, 'rationing', and other tales (I put rationing in scare quotes because the U.S. rations healthcare: if you're lower-middle class, you don't have it). With…
May 16, 2009
I'll be off to the American Society for Microbiology meeting tomorrow. Anybody going?
The blog will keep on rolling thanks to Our Benevolent Seed Overlords Blogerrator 9600.
May 16, 2009
"Fear the drumstick!" (Globe Staff Photo/Mark Wilson)
I've written before about the nefarious scourge of turkeys in the Boston area. Once again, Boston's turkey terrorists are on the march:
I saw two in Longwood Mall and took a step toward them with my cell-phone camera at the ready.
Tough as any…
May 15, 2009
One of the things Massachusetts has done well is supporting the arts. I've mentioned before how important the arts are economically, but let's turn it over to The Boston Phoenix:
It may not sound like much, but more than one percent of the American workforce is supported by nonprofit arts groups.…
May 14, 2009
Here are some links for you. Science first:
Swine flu: breaking the acute care system
Swine flu: laboratory surveillance
Don't! The secret of self-control.
Swine flu: estimating pandemic potential with a computer model using early data
Other:
THIS WEEK IN GOD....
Where is Obama's version of…
May 14, 2009
Throughout my career, I've perceived a double standard towards women in science regarding behavior at scientific meetings. For those of you who aren't professional scientists, the after-hours parts of meetings are very important for one's career and scientific opportunities. Like it or not, the '…
May 13, 2009
A recent PLoS Medicine paper suggests so:
Everybody likes something free, and free prescription drug samples are no exception. Patients love to receive them, and doctors feel good about handing them out. The practice of providing free drug samples is based on the tacit assumption that "sampling"…
May 12, 2009
Venetia Phair, who suggested the name Pluto for the planet orbitting body space thingee we call Pluto died recently. How it came to be called Pluto is fascinating:
Frozen and lonely, Planet X circled the far reaches of the solar system awaiting discovery and a name. It got one thanks to an 11-year…
May 12, 2009
...which were formerly known as newspapers. A recent column by Frank Rich makes me think that news organizations can be viable using a paid subscription model--in fact, I think they can be very successful. The problem is that they might not be very widely read. Rich, discussing the looming…