Links for 2010-11-24

"Science needs a reality check too. It has tried to exist in an academic vacuum for much of its existence. The OCD nature science needs behavioral therapy, to be forced to confront its discomfort of engaging with non-scientists. Science also needs to acknowledge that there is value in this engagement. That it is not only the public that benefits from engagement (i.e. science literacy/appreciation), but science benefits just as much. Very few academic institutions wholly recognize this and science's ability to track the spread of basic concepts and technological advances reflects this."

"Even setting aside things that contribute to one's mental, social, and emotional well-being (which were taken on during the #k3rn3d fiasco), there are things outside of papers that matter to your career. There's a dirty little secret that they're not telling you: Good science alone isn't enough.
If you ever encounter a PI who basically locks trainees away in the tower laboratory, run away as quickly as you can! If people in the lab never go to conferences, seminars, networking events, lunches with speakers... this is a huge problem. I have no link to back this up, but a career strategist (e.g. someone who helps people figure out what they're doing with their careers and how to get a job) quoted Harvard Business Review as saying that 90% of jobs are found through someone the applicant knows, and she's seen it time and again in life science industries."

"When using clickers to spark peer discussion to promote learning, sometimes it can be hard to demonstrate to students the importance of discussing the answer with their peers.  My colleague Steve Pollock just shared this wonderful question with me."

"That said, I think everything else Drum says is wrong. I think American air travel security was too tight even before 9/11. I think the main lessons of 9/11 should be that keeping weapons off planes is largely futile and that training of flight crews is highly effective. As of the morning of September 11, 2001 the standing doctrine was to allow hijackers to take control of planes and that's what happened. As quickly as later that morning doctrine shifted and the passengers and crew of United Flight 93 brought their own plane down, preventing its use as a projectile."