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
January 26, 2009
According to the text of HR1 (pdf), NSF will be getting an additional $2.5 billion as part of the 'stimulus'* package. From HR1 (pp. 54-55):
For an additional amount for ''Research and Related Activities'', $2,500,000,000: Provided, That $300,000,000 shall be available solely for the Major…
January 25, 2009
Heckuva week. Science first:
What will January 20th do for science-based medicine?
Growing Taste for Reef Fish Sends Their Numbers Sinking
Ah, them gold rush days!
Lack of Sleep Increases Susceptibility to the Common Cold
Carnivorous dung beetle shuns dung and decapitates millipedes
Other:…
January 25, 2009
I doubt he'll become the new director--although I think he would be a very good choice--but, until the CDC gets a new director, Richard Besser is the Acting CDC Director:
Richard Besser, who headed the CDC's public health emergency preparedness and response functions, succeeds Julie Gerberding, who…
January 25, 2009
I'm becoming more enthusiatic about Eric Holder as Attorney General. It's nice to see some clarity about waterboarding--that is, partial drowning interrogation. From Steve Benen:
The exchange was helpful in learning about both the senator and the nominee. [Republican Senator] Cornyn wanted Holder…
January 24, 2009
I'm kidding, but ScienceBlogling Tara Smith has co-authored a PLoS One article about the emergence of the MRSA strain ST398 in Iowan pork farms. Pig farms are a tremendous reservoir of bacteria: as far as I can tell, there are about six pigs for every person in Iowa.
MRSA ST398 a methicillin…
January 23, 2009
A few days ago, I discussed the 'doughnut model' of journalistic bias that Jay Rosen described. Thinking about it some more, both Rosen and I got it wrong. Ultimately, the problem isn't that certain views and policies are ruled out of the political discourse (although that is a real problem).…
January 22, 2009
Here are some links for you. Science goes first:
What Does it Mean to "Learn Science"?
Surgical checklists as a strategy to reduce morbidity and mortality
Salmonella--a little background
Three groups of fish are actually the males, females and larvae of one family
Happiness in Ignorance: HIV…
January 21, 2009
This is the kind of story that makes me sick to my stomach--soldiers stateside were expected by their base commander to applaud for Pastor of Evil Rick Warren:
The following is an email from one decorated combat officer, a man with the courage to repeatedly put his life on the line on the…
January 21, 2009
While most people have focused on the torture part (how could you not with CNN's cutaway to Bush), I responded the most to this section:
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to…
January 21, 2009
Last week, I spent two days at a human microbiome meeting, the goal of which was to plan the direction (for now, anyway) of the Jumpstart/Human Microbiome Project, which has and will spend a total of $38 million. This got the Mad Biologist to thinking (always a dangerous thing, at best): why is…
January 20, 2009
Here are some links. By the way, I heard some new guy is preznit or something. Science first:
Global Warming, The Carbon Cycle, and Fish Poop.
Kellogg recalls 16 products due to salmonella risk
Phylogenetic inference under recombination using Bayesian stochastic topology selection
Ancient DNA…
January 20, 2009
By way of Amanda, when pandas attack:
Don't mess with the panda! Odds are pretty good that this will crack me up for days.
January 20, 2009
Later today, Obama will give his inaugural speech, and like most such speeches, it will be full of bipartisan platitudes. That's fine, if par for the course (although, for a counterexample, FDR's 1932 address serves as a clarion call without all of the Cumbaya crap). Nonetheless, Obama has one…
January 19, 2009
From the archives:
One of the things that is often neglected on Martin Luther King day is his dedication to economic justice. What is forgotten--often willfully--is that he was an advocate for racial and economic justice. From a speech he gave to striking sanitation workers in Memphis on March 18…
January 19, 2009
I've been looking at the Recovery Bill working its way through the House Appropriations Committee, and, regarding NIH funding, I have a lot of the same doubts that ScienceBlogling Jake does. I'm concerned that it spends too much money building capacity without any commitment to provide research…
January 18, 2009
Here are some links for you. Science:
Latent evolutionary potential and quasispecies
Mission Accomplished: The "war on science" is over. Now what?
Humans have adapted on genome-wide level?
Squeezing the genome: how to shrink your whole-genome sequence to 4 MB
Other:
Establishment Washington…
January 18, 2009
If you haven't heard by now, some theopolitical conservatives are angry at the Krispy Kreme doughnut chain because they used "doughnut of choice" in an ad campaign. I think Amanda's take on why these wackaloons fear TEH DONUTZ is right on target:
What made reading this move from the "merely…
January 17, 2009
One of the things people seem to forget in the midst of all of the internet-age triumphalism is that some people just are not technophiles, as this hysterical satire by way of Mark Wilson illustrates:
This makes one appreciate good public health programs that have figured out how to communicate to…
January 16, 2009
http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/node/15061
http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2009/01/bonos_welcome_to_the_pun…
I had to laugh when, by way of ScienceBlogling Joseph, I read Daniel Drezner's snarky description of Bono's first outing as a NY Times op-editorialist. But leaving high-quality…
January 15, 2009
WHEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the most popular posts from the old site was a post about two right wing nutjobs who anointed Justice Alito's chair before his Senate confirmation hearing (AND IT WORKED!!11!!). Well, we have more scent marking for Jesus, this time courtesy of a Republican…
January 14, 2009
And I've got the picture to prove it!
Or maybe it's an invasive organism?
Either way, it's pretty creepy.
January 14, 2009
I'm at a microbiome meeting today; hopefully, I'll be able to blog about it. Meanwhile, here are some links for you. Science goes first:
Flu And You - Part I
Salmonella that sticks to the roof of your mouth
Chinese Medicine Doctor Sued over 'Dangerous' Herbs
Patrick Swayze on quack cancer cures…
January 14, 2009
A few days ago, I noted that, if history is any guide, a post-Hamas Gaza could wind up under the sway of even more radical factions. Sadly, I'm not the only one who thinks this (italics mine):
Bringing Hamas to power is one of the most horrific legacies of the Bush administration. In retrospect,…
January 13, 2009
...or dead. Compulsive Centrist Disorder is a malady that strikes many pundits who think that the ideal policy is always between two opposing points of view, even if one of those viewpoints is really fucking stupid. Sadly, Compulsive Centrist Disorder, when applied to healthcare, can harm the…
January 13, 2009
The emerging MRSA strain ST398 has found a new home--chickens.
MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) was first found to have swept through European swine herds from 2003-2006. Then it entered the hospital system.
In the U.S., it had not been observed in agriculture until very…
January 12, 2009
Gideon Lichfield has an excellent op-ed which gets at the core of why Israel doesn't seem to be winning the PR war--Israel hasbara* is answering the wrong question (italics mine):
But the deeper reason is this: Israeli hasbara is perpetually trying to answer the wrong question: "Why is this…
January 12, 2009
I don't take blog awards seriously, unless, of course, I'm nominated, in which case They Are Profoundly Important. But it's obscene that the right wing kook The Anchoress is anywhere near Driftglass in the Best Individual Blogger category in the 2008 Weblog awards. When driftglass brings his A-…
January 12, 2009
Over at What's New in Life Science Research, I have a post about Potential Harm from Genetically Modified Foods that looks at the effect of GM foods on aquatic systems. Make our Benevolent Seed Overlords happy and go read it.
January 11, 2009
More stuff I'll never write about. Sciencey stuff:
German battlefield yields Roman surprises
Flu Found Resistant to Main Antiviral Drug
Another multistate salmonella outbreak, this one from ?
Other stuff:
An Unrepentant New Dealer Runs for Congress
As if You Needed Another Reason
A Contest…
January 11, 2009
This is change I can believe in. Gerberding has been awful. Not only has morale dropped on her watch (something that I observed anecdotally, and is backed up by these reports), but she also didn't stand up for the science when that science was politically incorrect.
More from CNN:
Dr. Julie…