A daily log of concerns by a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

A humour piece by David Grimes which wonders what you'd hear if you could listen in on the thoughts of such a scientist on a minute by minute basis. Here is the start but it's worth a read all the way through at this link.

Why does my hair keep falling out? Why would it skip going gray and go straight to falling out?

What if my lab coat has a stain on it and I just can't see it? Will people be able to tell this is the same lab coat I wore yesterday?

Is it going to rain? What if it rains? Do I have an umbrella in the car?

If I leave too late, am I gonna get caught in traffic and be late to work? If I leave too early, am I going to get to the lab and no one will be there and I'll feel weird and alone for a half hour?

I've seen like three TV shows in the last year that featured a water heater bursting while the man of the house was away at work. What if that happens to me? Do I have things I need that can't get wet too close to the floor?

Has the large-scale restructuring of university science programs in the past 25 years from a model based on non-proprietary science for the 'public good' to the 'academic capitalism' model based on the 'knowledge economy' led to the failure of the science community to oversee the transition of transgenic crop technology from the research stage to commercialization?

To read the rest go here.

More like this

This is a tell-all from one of the mice in the trenches. It in fact stands as a historical document, the first published piece co-written by Ng and Cohen (back in the Spring). And it's a pin-up, for your own home and office and car and garage and lab. And bunker. People Magazine says, "A must…
This is prompted by two emails. Both from good friends. Email #1 is from a friend who got Shingles, I think - (hope you get better, we'll all drink to your health Saturday during food-orgy ... I mean bookclub). The second email I received yesterday from a friend down in NYC asking me if I was still…
Mrs. Pal registered the kiddo for kindergarten this week. What a kick in the gut. The first time she went to a pre-school class without us, I cried, so what's going to happen when she gets on the bus? The other day we were watching TV, and she said, "You know that Jonas brother with the straight…
Jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I can now read the full lyrics and realise I haven't got a clue what they are on about. Wiki doesn't know either, but does include the curious line "The song is often mistakenly attributed to Bob…