palmd | January 19, 2009I can't say enough about ScienceOnline09, and about how useful meetings like this can be. When you toss a bunch of smart people from various disciplines together, add a little ethanol, and shake vigorously, you get some interesting results.
I had the chance to chat a bit with Dave Munger (hi Dave, hi Greta---great to meet you guys!) who put together researchblogging.org, an aggregator of blog posts on peer-reviewed research. It's a great tool. Let's say you want to blog about a cool journal article. You can shoot over to researchblogging.org, generate a citation, and place a badge on…
palmd | January 19, 2009I'm normally not one to believe in the improbable, but someone has laid some serious ju-ju on me. While away at my fabulous geek-cation, my computer bit it, my furnace at home died, and....(God, I can hardly type it...)...MY DSL WENT DOWN!!!1!
Just in time for the launch of my brand-spanking-new blog, just in time for me to share all of my insightful thoughts from ScienceOnline09, my tech life imploded.
So please, dear reader, give me a few days to try to fix everything (meh, the furnace can wait...it's above zero. But the computer and teh tubes...NOOO!!!)
palmd | January 18, 2009The locals say it's cold, but North Carolina rocks. It's warm (meaning greater than 20 degrees F), hilly, piney. And people here are friendly. Here at ScienceOnline09 there is so much to do, both intellectually and socially, that I'm overwhelmed. In fact, even my computer is overwhelmed and is officially useless. The ScienceBlogs intern (who may in fact not be an intern and whose youth and vivacity is surpassed only by her briliance) did a little trouble-shooting with my tablet and found the problem, which will hopefully be solvable back up north.
One thing I've learned here: there are…
palmd | January 17, 2009OK, in all the recent chaos, I finally got PalCast # 5 out. It touches on some wide-ranging issues: the screwed up US health care system, pooled risk, hospitalists, and the ethics of being a doctor-blogger.
Reference
Andrew B. Bindman, Arpita Chattopadhyay, and Glenna M. Auerback
Interruptions in Medicaid Coverage and Risk for Hospitalization for Ambulatory Care-Sensitive Conditions. Annals of Intern Medicine, Dec 2008; 149: 854 - 860.
palmd | January 16, 2009Remember those pesky conscience laws the Bush administration is trying to ram into our collective orifaces on their way out the door? No?
Let me remind you.
You see, the theocrats who are on their way out on Tuesday want to step up enforcement of the so-called Church Amendment, which protect health care providers (defined broadly) from the consequences of their own malpractice. With Church in place, your doctor (if she receives federal funds) can refuse to tell you about or prescribe birth control (as one example). Of course, she can do that anyway, but the Church Amendments protect her…
palmd | January 15, 2009As I sit in my (very narrow) seat on a DC-9 heading for North Carolina, one thing in particular strikes me: I'm really, really pleased that there is no such thing as "alternative engineering". It's not that "allopathic" or "mainstream" engineers never make mistakes---bridges collapse, cars break, computers die---but most of the time, our buildings, tools, and machines work. In fact, they work so well that we rarely think about all the work that has gone into creating them. Still, even when our houses fall down or our toys break, we don't go running for a "new kind" of engineering. We…
palmd | January 14, 2009In case you missed it, we're plugging the "diavlog" that Janet and I recorded the other night. I could talk medical ethics all day, and we spent an hour doing just that. Thankfully (for you) the thing is indexed, and you can skip around. Still, if you have the patience, try to catch the whole thing.
palmd | January 14, 2009Hope, of all ills that men endure,
The only cheap and universal cure.
---Abraham Cowley, The Mistress. For Hope. c. 1647
I was visiting my friend in the hospital the other day. She had a port put in under the skin of her chest for chemotherapy. The whole story is unfair. She's a terrific person, with a great husband and an adorable son. She's also doing remarkably well. But that's not today's story.
Another friend wondered if maybe she should recommend a macrobiotic diet or something, anything, to help stop this stupid disease. Now, you…
palmd | January 14, 2009While I wait for The Powers That Be to help fix the commenting feature on the brand new blog, let me tell you a little bit more about this place. (You can read my "About" page, but that's pretty boring, and there for technical reasons.)
I'm an internist, that is, a specialist in prevention and treatment of adult diseases (which most emphatically does not mean anything to do with porn). I'm privileged to have a back stage pass to other peoples' lives---every day is an education. This gives me both special insight and special responsibilities. When I started White Coat Underground a couple…
palmd | January 14, 2009So, remember that little summary I gave you a few weeks ago? You know, the one where I sort of laid out my blog history, etc.? Well, I have to amend that. You see, as I was writing, I realized how much I missed my White Coat Underground. It's silly really, because it's just a name, a label, but it's my label, and I just love the darned thing. When I started up the PalCast, I used the WCU name, and it's just all sort of been falling into place---as I expand my web activities, I want my own space to stretch out and be at home.
But...
While my own writing is the reason I'm a successful…
mstebbins | November 6, 2008SEA has put together a list of state ballot measures that involved science including info on what the end result was. The list can be found here and below. It was particularly interesting that Colorado rejected an amendment to the state constitution that defined "the moment in which an egg becomes an established "person."" Also heartening was the passing of the Minnesota constitutional amendment to "allocate funding for protecting Minnesota's water sources, environment, cultural heritage through an increased sales and use tax rate."
California, Proposition 7
By 2010, government-owned…
mstebbins | November 4, 2008The day is finally here. You've heard it from everyone, but I'll pile on...VOTE! Our final tally on the YouTube AVoteForScience challenge is 30 something videos from scientists endorsing Obama....and not one video from a scientist endorsing McCain. That seems to reflect a general consensus on the issue of who is better on science policy issues. It's too bad, really. It would have been nice to see a good justification for voting the other way if such an argument could be made on science issues. Here are two entertaining videos from the submissions.
Happy voting everyone!
mstebbins | November 1, 2008We have our first submission from a couple! Bernice and Loyal Durand, two theoretical physicists from the University of Wisconsin have both endorsed Barack Obama. I think it's great that a couple would speak out about the importance of science together. Shouldn't be natural to vote together as well? Maybe this election day we should all take the tiny step of making sure all our loved ones vote.
Bernice Durand Endorses Barack Obama
Loyal Durand endorses Barack Obama
mstebbins | October 31, 2008In the latest issue of Science, an article on grass-roots efforts by scientists in the last weeks before the election brought up a startling point, that there have been a lot of letters to the Editor and OpEds published in newspapers either endorsing Obama or pointing out the errors of the McCain campaign rhetoric on science. What is absolutely amazing, is that there has not been a single letter or OpEd by a scientist endorsing McCain. Not ONE? Here is a partial list of OpEds and letters that have appeared. This is by no means a comprehensive list. In fact, these are almost all in…
mstebbins | October 31, 2008Our latest AVoteforScience videos are up and a new article in Science talks about the effort and other grass roots efforts this year. I will note that Science forgot to mention that the AVoteForScience effort was done in partnership with Seed Magazine/ScienceBlogs. In fact, it couldn't have been done without them.
Of particular interest will be the video by Murray Gell-Mann who received the Nobel prize in physics in 1969. Murray reads the letter from he and 75 of his fellow Laureates in science encouraging the public to vote for Obama.
mstebbins | October 28, 2008This is unbelievable. The Nobel Laureates for Obama effort just sent me an updated letter with an additional 11 names bringing the total to 76 Nobel laureates in science endorsing Obama. That completely eclipses the previous record of 47 endorsing Kerry and it is more than have ever endorsed anything in history.
Now, this is no group of sycophants, these are some of the greatest minds of our nation, so it is really impossible to view this as some sort of partisan blindness. I can't help but think that the recent ridiculous comments of both McCain and Palin on science have something to to do…
mstebbins | October 28, 2008Here are the latest videos in our AVoteForScience YouTube Challenge. They include videos from Dr. Jose Morales at Columbia University, Dr. Robert Dottin of the Center for Study of Gene Structure and Function (below) and beloved scienceblogger and marine scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum. You'll never guess who they are voting for this year? Now there is one little issue. Sheril has decided not to tell you who she is voting for. Hoy coy. Perhaps some polite nudging in the comments will get her to tell you.
Here is Robert Dottin...
mstebbins | October 27, 2008Today's AVoteForScience video comes from Dr. Kirsten (Kiki) Sanford, the incredibly talented host of This Week in Science, my favorite science radio show. If you haven't heard it, you can download it as a podcast from iTunes or here. OK, cards on the table, I am a regular on the show so I am a little biased, but seriously it is an entertaining romp through the world of science. So, check the show out.
Kiki speaks frankly about innovation, education and technology and the importance of electing a President with a track record of supporting science. If you are a scientist and want your voice…
mstebbins | October 24, 2008In a striking video that includes footage of the old Bell Labs building and a frank discussion of the loss of competitiveness in the US, Physicist Larry Jackel explains why he is endorsing Obama for President. See all the AVoteForScience videos HERE
mstebbins | October 24, 2008Here is the latest video from our YouTube AVoteForScience challenge. We will have a lot more videos coming in the week before the election. It is by John Dunbar, a microbiologist from New Mexico. He explains that leadership that is dedicated to fighting global warming is needed in the US and that he believes that Barack Obama is the right guy for the job. His disembodied head-style video is as ominous as his message. You can see all the videos HERE.