apalazzo | January 28, 2007First you destroy those who create values. Then you destroy those who know what the values are, and who also know that those destroyed before were in fact the creators of values. But real barbarism begins when no one can any longer judge or know that what he does is barbaric.
Ryszard Kapuscinski, famed Polish writer/reporter who died this past Wednesday.
apalazzo | January 28, 2007The article is here. A snippet:
For a six-month fee of $300,000 to $500,000, Dezenhall told the association's professional and scholarly publishing division, he could help -- in part by simplifying the industry's message to a few key phrases that even a busy senator could grasp.
Phrases like: "Public access equals government censorship," and "government [is] seeking to nationalize science and be a publisher."
The publishers liked what they heard. "Eric helped us see the issues in a few high-concept messages," one member summarized in an enthusiastic follow-up to the meeting.
In the article,…
apalazzo | January 27, 2007First the former Enron chief Jeffrey Skilling hired him, then ExxonMobil, now ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS?
This ain't good.
From Nature News:
The consultant advised [Elsevier, Wiley and the American Chemical Society] to focus on simple messages, such as "Public access equals government censorship". He hinted that the publishers should attempt to equate traditional publishing models with peer review, and "paint a picture of what the world would look like without peer-reviewed articles".
Dezenhall also recommended joining forces with groups that may be ideologically opposed to government-mandated…
apalazzo | January 27, 2007Yeah, it's going to happen.
From Corie Lok's blog:
The 69-page report - PDF, submitted [Jan 11th] to the Boston Redevelopment Authority for review, proposes some pretty big changes to the Allston landscape. Here are the highlights:
-putting part of Soldier's Field Road, the road that snakes alongside the river on the Boston side, underground
-building a new footbridge
-rebuilding and widening the existing Weeks pedestrian bridge to make room for bicycles and shuttles between the campuses
-creating a new Harvard Square-like Barry's Corner at the corner of North Harvard Street and Western Ave…
apalazzo | January 26, 2007OK I give up.
Actually Muftafa's comment reminded me of a recent development that I had let slip by ... and so I'll use Map that Campus as an excuse to post it and to collect your thoughts on the new project. Here it is:
Click here for a larger image.
Leave your answers or general thoughts on the whole endeavour in the comments section. I'll post more about the project this weekend.
apalazzo | January 26, 2007This week I've spoken too much (I got to pitch my work to a couple of visiting seminar speakers), but written so little, so in some cosmic way my total quota of verbal diarrhea has been met. On top of that I haven't read a single paper in the last two weeks ... I've glanced at a few, but not really sat down and read. I haven't even flipped through the journals to see what's out there. Anything cool recently? (In the realm of cells and cellular biochemistry?)
I haven't even thought about Map that Campus, although I'm tempted to place that feature on hiatus and start a new Friday feature. Any…
apalazzo | January 25, 2007That must be how it is.
It can't be any other way.
Just prove it.
Hilarious, n'est ce pas?
apalazzo | January 22, 2007Look at this beauty:
Go kiddies! Now you can be the proud owner of a Gilbert Polarizing Microscope. This must have been inspired by Shinya Inoue! ;)
For more see: A microscope is a scientific instrument. Think of it like a musical instrument: practice, practice, practice.
apalazzo | January 22, 2007OK I'm a cell biologist. I spend my time at a 'scope (as we microscopists like to say). And I have one thing to say to you and only one thing ... my brain is fried.
Here is my theory, if you sit in front of a microscope in the dark for more than four hours, energy is sucked out of your body, through your eyeballs and gets transferred to ... well I'm not sure. You are left feeling like a deflated Dictyostelium fruiting body that has let out all of its spores.
This lost energy, where did it go? Perhaps it dissipates into pure thermal energy, or maybe it ends up in the secret place where all the…
apalazzo | January 19, 2007Spotted in the "Elle Beauty News" section:
(The only question left is ... telomerase????)
apalazzo | January 19, 2007This one should have been posted Monday.
hint: Encyclopedia Galactica?
Leave your answers in the comment section (or email me).
apalazzo | January 18, 2007Want to impress your fellow coworkers? Send your prettiest photos and micrographs to the European Molecular Biology Organization's Journal (aka EMBO Journal) and you may get your own EMBO J cover. Last year a grad student from our lab, got a couple of covers.
For details read the following email:
Dear authors and referees of the EMBO Journal, dear contributors to previous cover contests, dear friends and colleagues,
The time has come again--we are happy and excited to announce another one of our annual contests: the one for the best scientific and non-scientific cover images for 2007. Please…
apalazzo | January 17, 2007It looks like many cell biologists are ditching positions where they are at the mercy of decreased NIH funding for grants. Late last year Claire Waterman-Storer told me that this was in part why she moved from the Scripps to the NIH, where she would have a stable source of funding (no grant writing there!) Now I just found out that two big guys from Yale's excellent XX department will be departing soon ... one will be heading overseas, the other will be moving to the private sector.
Things are not looking good.
P.S. I would tell you who the big shots are, but the news isn't official ... and I…
apalazzo | January 17, 2007A couple of weeks ago I was happy to see that Cell had launched a podcast. From my experience with Nature and Science, podcasts are a good way of keeping up-to-date with the latest papers published in these journals while performing mind numbing activities, like mini-preps or cell quantitation. Cell's podcast was great - with interviews (Craig Mello, Roger Kornberg, Paul Nurse ...) and a wrap up of some of last year's biggest findings. So I've been waiting, waiting, and waiting for the second podcast ... but it seems like it ain't comming. Whatzup Cell?
apalazzo | January 16, 2007It's late at night, I have to read a manuscript that we're reviewing for MBC, and what am I doing? Watching Little Mosque on the Prarie. Here's part 1 of episode 1:
Get the rest on Youtube.
apalazzo | January 16, 2007Coturnix has announced that the Anthology of the Best Science Blogging, 2006 is now available. Click here to get the paper back and/or PDF file from lulu.com. For more details visit A Blog Around the Clock.
PS Two of my posts (combined into a super post) were selected for the publication: The Worst Parts of Scientific Life and The Best Parts of Scientific Life.
apalazzo | January 14, 2007Inspired by amnestic, I was perusing the videocasts of lectures given at the NIH, when I bumped into this lecture given by Thomas Silhavy on how the outer membrane of gram negative bacteria is synthesized. At the end of the lecture Dr Silhavy brought up some interesting statistics. In 1997, 38% of essential genes in E. coli were unannotated and thus have names that begin with "y". Now "essential" means that the knockouts of these genes give a lethal phenotype, and the products of these genes must serve key roles in various basic cellular functions. Unannotated, does not mean that we know…
apalazzo | January 13, 2007As you can guess from my name, I am of Italian heritage. My mother was born in Italy and moved to Montreal when she was 9, my father's parents came from Italy after WWI. Food has been an important part of my life. When I travel to Montreal, almost all our activities revolve around food. When I come home from a long day at work, I always have the energy to cook dinner. I even bake my own bread.
And yes, I love eating out, provided that the restaurant offers something new and interesting. What I hate is Italian restaurants. It's always the same fare and it is usually done badly ... you could…
apalazzo | January 12, 2007
This year is a special one for this week's mystery campuses (campi?)
Leave your answers in the comment section.