scientificactivist

Recent polls have shown that voters trust Obama over McCain in addressing the economy by a margin of about 10-15%. But, what do the experts think? The Economist conducted its own poll of economists (appropriately), and found that they agreed that Obama is the stronger candidate when it comes to…

Yesterday, The New York Times reported on the latest prominent medical doctor to be outed for not reporting the vast sums of money he was receiving from drug companies: One of the nation's most influential psychiatrists earned more than $2.8 million in consulting arrangements with drug makers from…

For the month of October--and for the third year in a row--ScienceBlogs will be teaming up with the DonorsChoose Bloggers Challenge to raise money for worthy classroom projects. This year, they've added a nifty blog widget, which I've posted at the top of my left sidebar. So, if you're in a…

On Saturday, 20 September, Mo Costandi (Neurophilosophy), Selvakumar Ganesan (The Scientific Indian), Kara Contreary (Pure Pedantry), and I hosted a gathering at the Calthorpe Arms in London to join others in celebrating ScienceBlogs' one millionth reader comment. In addition to footing the bill…

Yesterday, the Obama campaign released a letter of endorsement signed by 61 Nobel Laureates (click here for a nicer looking pdf). Michael Stebbins of Scientists and Engineers for America points out that "this is the largest number of Nobel Laureates to ever endorse a candidate for office." And,…

Yes, these are really the front and back covers of this week's issue of Nature. Really. The dog on the left looks so hopeful. The dog on the right... confused. On a more serious note, Nature does have a full section on the upcoming election, including Obama's answers to some science-related…

Since our paper on the role of blogs in academia was published earlier this week, we've received quite a bit of feedback from the across blogosphere. Befittingly, the authors of the paper have contributed to this, as Tara gave her thoughts on her blog, I gave mine on my blog (Shelley has been busy…

Earlier today, Elias Zerhouni--who has been the director of the NIH since 2002--announced that he will resign at the end of this October. According to the NIH press release, he is stepping down "to pursue writing projects and explore other professional opportunities." The Hill has more from…

Yesterday, I blogged about the paper that Shelley Batts, Tara Smith, and I just published in PLoS Biology on integrating blogging into academia. As promised, we have a very long list of people we would like to acknowledge for their contributions to this work. As I noted yesterday, this paper was…

Just over a year ago, I joined fellow science bloggers Shelley Batts (Of Two Minds) and Tara Smith (Aetiology) in setting out to catalogue the accomplishments--and pitfalls--of the scientific blogosphere and to explain why people should pay attention. In a sense, we wanted to say "We are the…

As ScienceBlogs prepares to receive its one millionth reader comment, ScienceBloggers are planning parties around the globe in celebration of the event. For our readers in London, Mo Costandi (Neurophilosophy), Ed Yong (Not Exactly Rocket Science), Selvakumar Ganesan (The Scientific Indian), Kara…

If so, you should check out EcoliWiki, which you might find a useful resource, and you might even find yourself compelled to contribute some of your knowledge to it. Since I'm already blogging about E. coli today, I thought I would also bring up an interesting project I found out about earlier this…

Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life by Carl Zimmer Pantheon: 2008, 256 pages. Buy now! (Amazon) I come face-to-face with Escherichia coli every day. In a sense, we all do--as billions of E. coli inhabit every individual's intestines. But for me, E. coli is a protein factory. I'm a…

If you've gone to ResearchBlogging.org lately, you may have noticed that it's been given a face-lift. Actually, it's more than just a face-lift, as cofounder and president Dave Munger points out, including these new features: Multiple language support (and 30 new German-language bloggers!) Topic…

On Saturday, ScienceDebate 2008 and Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA) announced that Barack Obama answered a fourteen-part questionnaire that they put together along with several other scientifically oriented organizations. Major props to ScienceDebate, SEA, and these other organizations…

...apparently involves reposting others' blog posts without permission or proper attribution. I'm being facetious here, of course, but it is quite ironic that Mike Dunford of The Questionable Authority just caught anti-open-access warrior Elsevier copying the majority of one of his blog posts and…

You may have noticed a link on the right sidebar advertising the ScienceBlogs/Seed reader survey. Either way, I'd encourage you to spend a few minutes of your time to give some feedback. The powers that be certainly take your comments into consideration--and you could even win an iPhone 3G, a…

Because they've let in another Aggie. Matt Springer, who writes ScienceBlogs' newest blog, Built on Facts, is a graduate student in physics at Texas A&M University, my alma mater. His blog is live now, so go check it out.

Below is the second part of my interview with planetary geologist Bethany Ehlmann. In the first part, she discussed two of her recent papers on Martian geology (see citations below). In this segment, she discusses water on Mars more generally. Bethany Ehlmann Nick Anthis: Would it be possible to…

Planetary geology is a fascinating area--particularly when it pertains to the search for extraterrestrial life. I wrote about it once during my brief stint as a student science writer, but it's not an area that I've really covered on my blog. However, a former colleague of mine from Oxford,…

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), which is responsible for higher education in the UK, is seeking feedback to help it develop its new science strategy. The DIUS has put together a website for this purpose: interactive.dius.gov.uk/scienceandsociety/. There, you can…

For those of my readers in the UK (or anywhere else where you have access to Sky News), I'll be appearing live on Sky News at about 10:30 11:30 BST this Friday to talk about Barack Obama's visit to the UK and his support among Americans living abroad. I'm not sure if the video will be posted…

When I published my review of Sizzle yesterday, I felt like adding a reluctant-parent-disciplinarian-esque "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you" qualifier. Although I felt that Randy Olson's heart was in the right place, I just didn't have many positive things to say about his new…

Today, science bloggers from across the web (and particularly here at ScienceBlogs) are reviewing Sizzle, a new film by Randy Olson, maker of Flock of Dodos. Sizzle, billed as a "global warming comedy" is part mockumentary and part documentary, and in that sense is difficult to pin down. And,…

My main overriding goal here at The Scientific Activist is to publicize and comment on issues that I feel are important--particularly issues that would otherwise be under- or misreported in the media. In doing so, I hope to spark productive conversations on these issues, and one place in which…

Legendary heart surgeon Michael DeBakey passed away Friday night at the age of 99. From the Houston Chronicle: Medical statesman, chancellor emeritus of Baylor College of Medicine, and a surgeon at The Methodist Hospital since 1949, DeBakey trained thousands of surgeons over several generations,…

Earlier today, I posted a review of The Animal Research War, which details the lengths that animal rights extremists are willing to go to in order to further their cause. Coincidently, the AP yesterday published a detailed article on the rise of animal rights extremism in the US. Here's a taste:…

The Animal Research War by P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker Palgrave Macmillan: 2008, 224 pages. Buy now! (Amazon) In a dark room, buried in a nondescript building somewhere in London, an orderly array of new trainees sits silently, listening intently as a senior police official delivers a…

I guess this just goes to show how out of touch I am with things going on in Texas after being gone for almost three years. I didn't know until I saw it on a ScienceBlogs homepage buzz that Chris Comer--who was forced out of her job as the Texas Education Agency's director of science curriculum…

Am I taking crazy pills, or do people honestly believe that saying that being a prisoner of war doesn't automatically qualify you to be president is the same as attacking someone's service record? Because, this latest media flare-up over Wesley Clark's remarks is getting exceedingly absurd. John…