terrasig | February 16, 2009I could write a post every other week, at minimum, on dietary supplements adulterated with prescription drugs - against federal law, but easy to do with bulk pharmaceuticals available from overseas and no independent product purity oversight.
But here's a new one from the Key West Citizen:
Acupuncturist arrestedAn acupuncturist who operates a business on Duck Avenue was arrested Thursday on three
felony charges. Ashley Hoyt, 45, was charged with fraud/impersonation and two counts of obtaining a controlled substance through forgery.
Hoyt operates her business Ashley Hoyt Inc. at 3420 Duck Ave…
terrasig | February 15, 2009I had occasion this week to tell friends the story of my maternal grandmother. She was born in 1906 in an eastern Pennsylvania coal mining town. Her family was so poor that she was sent at age 16 to northern New Jersey to clean houses for wealthy families. She gave me pictures of her from the late 1940s as the only woman in a machine shop and, later, continued to shop for her own groceries three-quarters of a mile away well into her late 80s. Although she drove my mother crazy (my Mom is a fantastic story of achievement for another day), I suspect that grandma had undiagnosed obsessive-…
terrasig | February 14, 2009Yes, this is what happens when two scientists stay home on Valentine's evening. PharmGirl just fed me the story from CNN about the San Jose high school kid who died yesterday after being taken unconscious from his house on Thursday.
The national and local stories indicate that "two pans containing hydrogen sulfide were found on a table in the teenager's bedroom."
Hydrogen sulfide, H2S, is a gas, one that smells of rotting eggs.
The only way it could be in liquid form is if it were bubbled through water or some other solvent.
But why would a kid have pans of liquid with H2S?
My gut made me…
terrasig | February 14, 2009So, I'm over at CVS Pharmacy this morning looking for a sympathy card for Orac and Mrs Orac and a get-well card for Sheril, and - I admit it - some 25-50% off Valentine's stuff for the PharmKid.
There, I came upon this complete and utter gem.
Frankly, this is gilling me - but what better way to share the love with your catch than a double crispy chocolate fish from the R.M. Palmer Candy Co., of Reading, Pennsylvania:
This foiled, life-like fish is the best you'll ever taste - made of our delicious Double Crisp candy. The natural-looking foil makes this fish the perfect "catch" for your…
terrasig | February 13, 2009Like many of my readers, I am continually blown away by the parenting skills and science education abilities of my friend and colleague, Dr Janet D Stemwedel (aka Dr Free-Ride). Among her many gifts is her Friday feature with her family documenting how kids learn about science. And like her commenters state, I'd love to see these posts compiled into a book.
As an aside, having children returns one, whether one likes it or not, back to the days of asking "why" about everything (or, more appropriately, being forced to answer why about things you've taken for granted for 20 or more years). One…
terrasig | February 12, 2009This guest post comes to us from a colleague and friend, Dr Michael Wolfe. Enjoy!
The simultaneous celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the births of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin today offers a special opportunity to reflect on the state of our democracy and the status of science in our society. That these two iconic figures were born on the exact same day is, of course, a coincidence. And yet, as often happens in life, a chance confluence of events can help us see connections that we might otherwise miss.
Today we lionize Lincoln as perhaps our greatest President, and his eloquent…
terrasig | February 12, 2009Coolio! I think I would've applied for this. I assume NCI means either recent MS or PhD graduates:
Applications are now open for the July 2009-January 2010 National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Health Communications Internship Program, a 6 or 12-month program for graduate students or for persons who have recently completed a graduate degree interested in a career in science writing. Applications close March 3, 2009. For additional information or to apply, visit: https://hcip.nci.nih.gov.
The NCI, the Federal Government's principal agency for cancer research and training, invites qualified…
terrasig | February 9, 2009
Twenty years ago, University of Florida junior, Tiffany Sessions, disappeared from her townhouse complex in Gainesville, Florida. What happened to her remains a mystery today.
The photo to the left shows Ms Sessions on the left as she appeared in 1989 with the photo on the right age progressed to how she would've appeared last year.
Please accept my apologies in advance for those put off by yet another bit of disproportionate public attention given to the fate of a pretty blonde young woman gone missing. While a graduate student, I lived for two years in the same complex as Tiffany up…
terrasig | February 9, 2009I know that many of you have seen this article by Matthew Perronne since it was picked up by the majority of AP outlets this morning:
Two drugmakers spent hundreds of millions of dollars last year to raise awareness of a murky illness, helping boost sales of pills recently approved as treatments and drowning out unresolved questions -- including whether it's a real disease at all.
Key components of the industry-funded buzz over the pain-and-fatigue ailment fibromyalgia are grants -- more than $6 million donated by drugmakers Eli Lilly and Pfizer in the first three quarters of 2008 -- to…
terrasig | February 7, 2009
Blogroll Amnesty Day means:
...take a moment to write a post linking to (and pointing out to your readers) 5 blogs w/traffic smaller than yours. this inclusive and magnanimous yet easy-to-do gesture will not only expose your readers to new voices and those voices to new readers, it will foster a sense of community, support and all-around kumbaya amongst the progressive infrastructure.
I know I'm a week late to this party but I have a couple that may interest my readers:
1. Le blog d'Acroline - not a science blog, but rather a display of the drawings of a French fashion artist now living…
terrasig | February 5, 2009
As I alluded in last week's post, a friendship struck up with Australian wine writer, Philip White, led me to the outstanding artistry of George Grainger Aldridge. I asked Philip how I might engage Mr Aldridge in designing the official avatar for The Friday Fermentable series and he set me up with George. I sent George two, real-life photos of me appropriately enjoying a Thorpe Estates McLaren Vale Reserve Shiraz (as he is also in South Australia) and suggested that he read the blog a bit to get a feel for my personality. Within two weeks, Mr Aldridge sent me these three drawings.
I was…
terrasig | February 3, 2009Following on the heels of the ScienceOnline'09 conference, I was delighted to learn this morning that our local fishwrapper has launched its own Science and Medicine blog. Led by N&O science editor, Sarah Avery, the Science and Medicine blog will expand upon the surprisingly sparse coverage of one of the most scientifically dense areas of the United States:
The Triangle is home to a wealth of medical and scientific research. While the nature of scientific advancement is incremental, many of these findings help advance our understanding of important diseases, drug therapies and natural…
terrasig | February 2, 2009I've been having this 3:30 am (EST) insomnia for about the last two months, so I often pull the laptop up and survey the blogosphere in the still of the night. A simple look at the Last 24 Hours at ScienceBlogs and elsewhere in the blogosphere tells me that some knuckleheads in the mainstream press have taken issue with Dr Jill Biden, doctor of education, using the honorific, "Dr."
Keep in mind that the article in question comes from the L.A. Times - the very same paper that graces my e-mail account weekly humping their fishwrapper's science and environment coverage. I did just look up some…
terrasig | January 31, 2009I've been terribly behind on a billion things lately, most importantly spending time with my family and calling PharmSis and PharmMom.
However, DrugMonkey's post on Mentoring 101: Let's Talk About the Money drew from me a comment I feel I should post here despite coming after 60+ other comments there.
The bulk of the discussion was on 1) what do you do to educate your lab on the actual budget of running the show, 2) do NIH research grants really support graduate and postgraduate education? and 3) does recovery of indirect costs (ICRs) represent a boondoggle for university administration, an…
terrasig | January 30, 2009Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, is a place that many have told me I must visit (although perhaps not now as they are experiencing record heat). In fact, a twist of science and friendships nearly brought me there for my sabbatical before I had a big change in my life. The University of Adelaide is outstanding (and home of colleague and Astroblog blogger, Ian Musgrave), the surrounding wine appellations are world-famous, and the mountains to the northwest would be a combination I'm told I'd be certain to enjoy.
Therefore, I was delighted to receive the following e-mail on 3 January from…
terrasig | January 28, 2009This article yesterday in the Wall Street Journal has led me to revisit and repost an old essay I had at the old place on 6 January 2006. The article addresses Oscillococcinum, an extract of the liver and heart of the Muscovy duck that is diluted so many times that, thankfully, it contains no duck organs but only water, and is then packaged into degradable beads. This product is sold by the French company, Boiron, to prevent colds and flu and you can find this stuff sold at Whole Foods and other "health" stores. There is even a children's product by the same name but I have no idea how one…
terrasig | January 27, 2009I'm stuck in the US East Coast ice and snow trying to get home after some science work for our nation's health agency (that is my rationale for posting this on my Sb blog). My four-hour equipment and weather delay has now turned into a canceled flight.
The gate agent just announced that those of us who can get out tonight will be booked on a US Airways flight.
The line came very close to breaking into outright applause.
Can anyone say "Sully for CEO?"
And if I'm going to put this out in public, let's give megaprops to Wisconsin-based co-pilot Jeff Skiles who did all the other stuff to set out…
terrasig | January 23, 2009I came home this evening after a grant submission and uploading a bunch of grant reviews hoping to open a bottle of Gruet Brut and write up my account of last week's Friday Fermentable Live!!! at ScienceOnline'09.
While sitting down, my dear PharmGirl, MD, asked me to read this op-ed essay and scrolled it such that I could not read the author. I immediately suggested that the author was Bill Clinton or Henry Kissinger.
While I was raised in an unusual form of ethnic catholicism (not Roman), I have had just as many Jewish colleagues as Muslim given where I grew up and where I have lived since…
terrasig | January 21, 2009
Many thanks for some blog publicity go out to Karl Leif Bates, editor of Duke University's online research monthly magazine, Duke Research, and co-founder of Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC). Many of you who attended this past weekend's ScienceOnline'09 gathering may recognize Karl as he was in attendance.
Completely independent of any coaxing (Karl was *not* present at my free, Friday Fermentable wine tasting), my post is currently the February 2009 feature on the Duke Research section, Voices: Science in Conversation.
The backstory is that, during our December vacation, we…
terrasig | January 20, 2009Mike Dunford has a post about how some (ok, Fox News) are already stating the Obama isn't really president because of the flub in today's oath of office during the inauguration ceremonies - never mind that the former Senator actually became president at noon, about ten minutes before the actual oath (although Orin Kerr has an informative post on who was president from 12:00 to 12:10 as prompted by Howard Wasserman.).
I'm loving Twitter right now because Carl Zimmer brought my attention to a fantastic post earlier this afternoon by his brother, linguistics expert Benjamin Zimmer:
Early reports…