scientificactivist

Scientists and Engineers for America has announced a workshop for scientists interested in running for office or working on a political campaign. The workshop will be held at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, on May 10th. Despite the focus of my blog, I would have still thought that…

As demonstrating and rioting against the heavy-handed Chinese occupation of Tibet increased in intensity this weekend, it's not surprising that China cracked down using one of its favorite tools: internet censorship. As of sometime Saturday, the Chinese government had already blocked YouTube in…

ScienceBlogs is inviting each of its blogs to name two "Super Readers". These "Super Readers" will have access to a new del.icio.us account, where they'll be able to tag three ScienceBlogs posts of their choice per week. These will go on to a feed on the homepage, which I believe will replace the…

Back when I was at Texas A&M University, I knew plenty of Democrats who would vote in the Republican primary instead of the Democratic one. Although I refrained from such activity, their rationale was totally reasonable: in such a conservative area, the real contest was almost always the…

Last Thursday, the Royal Institution (in conjunction with Nature Network London) sponsored a panel on science blogging at the London Apple Store. The panel was a pretty good cross section of the science blogosphere, featuring three bloggers who have followed differing career paths and write quite…

Via the ABC News blog Political Punch comes news that senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain has taken a strong stance on the discredited link between vaccination and autism... a stance contrary to scientific consensus. Here's what Jake Tapper wrote: At a town hall meeting…

It's difficult to find too many substantive policy differences between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton (especially considering the much larger gulf that exists between them and the Republican candidates), but one area that's brought up time and time again is health care. In light of this, it's…

The Royal Institution, in conjunction with Nature Network, is sponsoring a program on science blogging this Thursday (28 February): Blogging science Dr Ben Goldacre, Dr Jennifer Rohn, Ed Yong Thursday 28 February 2008 7.00pm-8.30pm What is it like to work in a lab? What's the latest science news?…

Two weeks before what could be a decisive Texas primary, Barack Obama picked up the endorsement Monday of Congressman Chet Edwards, whose district includes Texas A&M University, the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library, and George W. Bush's Crawford ranch. I'm not going to go so far as to say…

Two years ago, The Scientific Activist introduced the world to valinetines, scientifically-themed valentines named after the amino acid valine. Last year, I recycled the same valinetines from the first year, but today--on this Valentine's Day 2008--I bring you all new material: Your nuclear pore…

Yesterday, Barack Obama won all three contests (Maryland, Virginia, and DC) in the "Potomac Primary", all by sizable margins. This means that he has won all eight contests that have occurred since Super Tuesday. He now leads the delegate race--even when superdelegates are included--and he…

The New York Times reported yesterday that "scientists find new receptor for HIV," referring to a paper published online in Nature Immunology on Sunday by Arthos et al. This is basically correct, although it would be more accurate to call the new receptor a co-receptor, since the infection of a…

As the Holiday That Will Not Be Named approaches rapidly, I have a little request for my readers and the blogosphere at large. Two years ago, The Scientific Activist introduced the blogosphere to valinetines, scientifically-themed valentines named after the amino acid valine. Here's a classic…

Barack Obama swept all three Democratic contests yesterday, winning the popular vote convincingly in Louisiana (57-36), Washington (68-31), and Nebraska (68-32). In case there were still any doubts about his broad appeal, for the record that's a largely African-American Southern state (Louisiana…

When I first arrived in Oxford, about two and a half years ago, I found myself face to face with a very vocal and determined animal rights movement. Thriving on misinformation and intimidation--through their visible rallies and underhanded techniques of arson, grave robbing, and constant threats…

The Guardian reports today that Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, raised eyebrows last night when he suggested that the UK ought to recognize sharia law. Sharia law, or Islamic law, forms the basis of the legal systems in Islamic theocracies, but is often practiced informally within…

On the morning after Super Tuesday, the dust has mostly settled, although all results aren't set in stone quite yet. There weren't any huge surprises last night, so there's no need to go into a detailed accounting here (at least not right now), but for a little more, The New York Times has a nice…

Although Hillary Clinton has been the perceived favorite to win the Democratic nomination since the 2008 presidential race began, Barack Obama has been picking up momentum continuously for the last week and a half, starting with his unexpectedly large win in South Carolina and leading up to today's…

For one reason or another when I was a student at Texas A&M University, I seemed to find myself in the student paper, The Battalion, fairly frequently--whether I was writing a letter to the editor, being quoted in a story, or reporting science news (as I did during my last semester there). It'…

A few interesting items have recently come up in the news and in the scientific literature about various methods for preventing the transmission of HIV. First up is a study (1) published in PLoS Medicine this week that demonstrated the effectiveness of a combination of antiretroviral drugs in…

Since the movement for an official presidential debate focused on science was launched in December 2007, Science Debate 2008 has gained momentum continuously. For evidence of this, just check out its news page, or take a look at the long lists of influential organizations and individuals,…

Pro-Test, Oxford's pro-animal research organization, will be holding its third major public demonstration this Saturday, 9 February: 09.02.08: Pro-test marching on two year anniversary On Saturday 9th February 2008 Pro-Test will march for a third time in support of animal research. We march to:…

Today John Edwards officially dropped out of the race for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. However inevitable this was, it was still sad to see it finally happen. Edwards fought a clean, issues-driven campaign, but it wasn't enough to compete against the wild but justified excitement…

Dare I be so presumptuous to suggest that you've checked out the About page on my blog in the last couple of days, you may have noticed a few new photos. The first one was taken last summer in front of the Wellcome Trust building in London: Yes, that's right: I'm standing in front of a giant…

The Democratic Party is doing the very cool thing this year of giving Americans living abroad their own delegation to the 2008 Democratic Convention. This means that anyone currently living outside of the US can vote in the Democratic Presidential Primary for their own 11 delegates. Voting will…

Last night, Barack Obama won the South Carolina Democratic Primary with 55% of the vote, doubling second place finisher Hillary Clinton's 27% share of the vote. John Edwards came in third with a disappointing 18% of the vote. Nobody should have expected Obama not to win South Carolina, but a…

Back in October of 2007, Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting (BPR3) was launched in order to (one day) aggregate blog posts about the scientific literature on one site and to provide a universal icon to identify posts on peer-reviewed literature. Now BPR3 version 2.0 is out, manifested…

As the 2008 elections swing into full gear, Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) today launched a new resource--the Science, Health And Related Policies (SHARP) Network--which allows you to track how various elected officials and candidates stack up on a variety of science and health policy…

Although it feels like the 2008 Presidential Election has been going on for ages, it only officially kicks off tonight with the Iowa Caucuses. According to a recent poll, the main issues on the minds of Democratic caucus-goers will be Iraq (28%), health care (22%), and the economy (20%). Despite…

An individual cell inside the human body is in a dynamic environment: it not only has to anchor itself to its surroundings but also be able to communicate with them and respond as appropriate. One group of proteins--the integrins--play a central role in all of these tasks. The integrins are…