scientificactivist

Via Tom Holder of Speaking of Research comes news that embattled UCLA scientists have formed their own chapter of the pro-research organization Pro-Test. And, they're already planning their first event: Following in the footsteps of the Pro-Test group in Oxford, UK, students and scientists at UCLA…

From The New York Times science page: Click here for a larger image and here for context.

Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), or "energy saving light bulbs", are much more energy efficient than conventional light bulbs, and they have a significantly longer lifetime. On top of that, replacing your conventional bulbs with CFLs won't just save energy, but will also save you money. Most…

What can I even say about this? From the Austin American-Statesman: At a hearing Thursday of the House Committee on Human Services, [Texas State Representative Gary] Elkins and other members of the panel considered more than two dozen bills related to Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance…

Cells in higher organisms exist in a dynamic environment, requiring the ability to alternately grasp and disengage from the three-dimensional web of their surroundings. One family of proteins in particular, the integrins, plays a key role in this process by acting as the hands of the cell.…

From The Washington Post: The D.C. Council, in a flourish of whereases, proclaimed March 16 Brain Education Day, responding to a nationwide call from a brain-wave guru in Sedona, Ariz. (The Montgomery County Council was set to make the same proclamation Tuesday but canceled at the last minute. And…

On Saturday, animal rights extremists torched the car of a scientist at UCLA--just one more incident in a long streak of violent threats and wanton destruction of property. LA Times columnist Tim Rutten gets it right when he states: No sensible person dismisses the humane treatment of animals as…

What else is new? Via Greg Laden comes news that creationists are once again mucking about with Texas' education standards. The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) explains just what's at stake: A number of amendments to the science TEKS were passed at the January 2009 meeting. Here is a…

Today was a great day for science in the Executive Branch. Firstly, President Barack Obama (finally!) lifted George W. Bush's August 2001 restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research in an executive order entitled "Removing Barriers to Responsible Scientific Research…

Recently, I wrote about how raising the specter of "Darwinism" as a reason for people's lack of acceptance of evolution is totally irrelevant. But, Faith in Honest Doubt now has a much more entertaining (and quantitative) metaphorical smack down of the idea. Check it out.

If I ran an agricultural biotech company and I wanted to go out of my way to alienate my supporters and lend credence to my conspiracy theory-peddling critics, I think that this is exactly how I would go about doing so. From The New York Times: Biotechnology companies are keeping university…

An article in today's New York Times profiles the trials and tribulations of young twenty-somethings who lack health insurance. For some it's out of hubris, but for most it's because they fall through the cracks--paid enough that they don't qualify for public health care but still lacking the…

As part of the stimulus package passed by Congress last Friday (H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), the US will be ramping up efforts to encourage evidence-based medicine. This is a very good thing. Specifically (from The New York Times): The $787 billion economic stimulus…

Today, a court in Oxford found animal rights extremist Mel Broughton guilty of conspiracy to commit arson and sentenced him to ten years in prison for his crime. Broughton was arrested in 2007, after being linked to a failed arson attempt at Oxford's Templeton College (which followed a successful…

Evolution is an established scientific idea, the unifying theme of biology, and an important field of study. "Darwinism", on the other hand, is a term used misleadingly by creationists to attack ideas they can't counter on fact alone and misguidedly by journalists unwittingly assisting this…

Last fall, most of the Oxford Biochemistry Department moved into a fancy-schmancy new building (imaginatively named "New Biochemistry"). A few of us stayed behind (have you ever tried to move a 6-magnet NMR facility?), and--to be totally honest--I can't say that I'm too disappointed about this.…

Last Friday the British Minister of Science, Paul Drayson, visited the science area of Oxford University to give a short speech and take questions. The audience was a fairly random assortment of a couple of hundred academics and students, mostly from the sciences. I was invited to fill one of ten…

Since my earlier post was my first in over a month and a half, and since blogging was sporadic before then, I suppose I owe my readers an explanation. Basically, it boils down to the fact that like so many of you, I've just been busy. Really busy. For the last several months, I've been…

As the day's inauguration festivities approach their finale, if you're anything like me the whole experience still feels a bit surreal. However, thinking back to Obama's inauguration address, the one part that really stands out in my mind came from the middle, when he spoke about national security…

Seed just announced that it's making available discounted subscriptions to Seed for donation to high schools. If you're interested, click here, and you can donate a year-long subscription for $14.95 (discounted from $19.95). Surely, exposing students to more interesting, diverse, and engaging…

Clearly, I owe my readers some true post-election analysis--something that has been slowed down by the insanely busy schedule I've been keeping in the lab and the totally overwhelming implications of the fantastic and historic recent election of Barack Obama. In the meantime, though, I'd like to…

If you haven't already, do it now. We have a chance today to move our country in a new much needed direction. One vote could be the difference between waking up tomorrow to a bright new future or another four/eight years of regret. Go to voteforchange.com to find your polling location and to…

Seed just announced that it will be matching up to $15,000 in donations to this year's ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose Challenge. This is great news, and if you haven't donated already this is a great reason to do it now. There's only one week left! You can donate to my challenge here.

Jim Hu gives us another reason for scientists to consider publishing in open access journals: Sometimes I'd like to view your papers while I'm off campus and at a study section. Of course, if you're one of my grants, I have already accessed your paper from home. But if I can't access the paper from…

Today we learned that the Republican Party spent an almost unfathomable $150,000 in the month of September alone on clothes and makeup for Sarah "Joe Sixpack" Palin. This is a breathtaking figure, and the irony is certainly delicious. However, I can't escape the feeling that something here is…

We're now two weeks into our 2008 ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose Challenge, which means that the challenge is almost halfway over. So, if you haven't donated yet, please do! Either click on my widget to the left or on this link. The pace of donations has been a little slow this year, which is a shame…

I was excited when I saw that The New England Journal of Medicine had today published summaries by Obama and McCain of their health care plans, expecting something quite detailed to appeal to a highly critical expert audience. However, their summaries were still as general and vague as ever.…

When I think back to the presidential debate last night, one moment stands out in my mind more than any other. And, no, it wasn't McCain calling Obama "that one". It was the discussion following Tom Brokaw's question "Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?" Health…

Earlier today, the Nobel committee announced that the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Y. Tsien "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP." There's much to be said for how useful a tool GFP has been in…

The winners of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine have been announced, and the prize has been awarded for early discoveries that have subsequently led to vaccines or treatments of two widespread virus-caused diseases. Half of the prize was awarded to Harald zur Hausen "for his…