neurotopia
Posts by this author
July 18, 2008
I'm going to try to review a movie without discussing the plot much. Last night we trudged out to the theater at midnight for the first screening of the new Batman flick The Dark Knight. I went in with high expectations given the stellar cast, but a bit nervous about Heath Ledger in his role as…
July 17, 2008
I teach class as an adjunct at the local community college from MTWTh, from 1-3 pm. Today I'm giving an exam over evolution and biotechnology. The last exam was pretty rough. I made one that would've been tough for biology majors but this is a nonmajors course and the students don't have as much…
July 16, 2008
I've been enjoying my first teaching gig at the local community college. The students are plenty bright and have taught me quite a bit as well. Although they definitely didn't like the midterm...
I'll probably start talking a bit about my experiences, and about my job prospects in this…
May 19, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary Detweiler,
The Alliance for Science
info@allianceforscience.org
Falls Church, VA -- May 17, 2008. The non-profit Alliance for Science announced the results this week of its second annual National High School Essay Contest. Students were asked to write a 1,000 word…
April 24, 2008
Well I'm kind of miffed. The teaching postdoc I really wanted decided that I'm not in the first round of interviews, which makes me sad. They really have their shit together and do a thorough job of preparing profs. Oh well. Maybe they'll need to dip into tier 2 of their applicant pool.
In…
April 14, 2008
Let's not kid ourselves. Finding a job in science these days is rough. Finding the job you want, once you get past your postdoc years, is even rougher. And landing your ideal job? Unless that postdoc was picture-perfect, you're screwed.
Case in point; me. I had a rough postdoc. For now I won'…
February 29, 2008
Here we have yet another example of evolution cobbling together new proteins from existing structures. And what do you know, it kinda matters:
The TRIM5-CypA gene found in Asian macaques is a hybrid of two existing proteins, TRIM5 and CypA. This combination creates a single protein that blocks…
February 28, 2008
Tomorrow is the last day to get your Alliance for Science Evolution Essay contest submissions done! You know you want a shot at some money for school books and some free, signed media materials. This year looks to be even better than last, so we look forward to reading what you have to say!…
February 21, 2008
Abel broke the news on Scienceblogs, where he's been following the events at UCLA for a while now, and Orac has the details on why it matters. UCLA has taken the initiative to protect its researchers and hopefully kicked off a nationwide-- or maybe even global-- campaign to protect scientists and…
February 21, 2008
They put on a fantastic Darwin Day celebration in Iowa City. Excellent camaraderie, good times good people good beer and whatnot, and the turnout for all the events was exceptional.
Massimo Pigliucci gave a nice interview for the local NPR station which you can find here.
Darwin Day with…
February 21, 2008
Looks like the Straight Talk Express took a detour through Dependswhatyoumeanby"is"ville.
From the NYT:
Mr. Black said Mr. McCain and Ms. Iseman were friends and nothing more. But in 1999 she began showing up so frequently in his offices and at campaign events that staff members took notice. One…
February 14, 2008
If you're looking for a website that gives a nice intro to the nature of science and evolution, but doesn't use lots of jargon, you should check out This View of Life. From the About page:
The aim of this project is to present the topic of evolution in a scientifically accurate manner that avoids…
February 7, 2008
Actually this is completely anticlimactic. The Regents rarely take a differing view on tenure decisions from the tenure committee itself. So sorry Tara, you got it wrong... the decision is already out:
The Iowa Board of Regents has denied Guillermo Gonzales', associate professor of physics and…
January 25, 2008
Maybe we should call this one SchadenThankFuckingChrist. It appears that Dobson's influence has been steadily falling off.
The ministry apparently has been "flat" for some time. For example, in 1994 Dobson's monthly newsletter had a circulation of 2.4 million copies. Today, that circulation is…
January 23, 2008
If you haven't checked out the DANA Foundation, well, you should. The DANA Foundation and DANA Alliance for Brain Initiatives are dedicated to providing up-to-date scientific information to the public, as well as supporting research and the arts. And they do a heck of a good job at laying out new…
January 19, 2008
And wouldn't you know it, we're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow. In NC. I lived here for 8 years and saw hardly any snow, and what we got didn't last but for a day or two.
At any rate, I'm having a good time. Getting to meet a bunch of colleagues from Seed again, and attending some good…
January 16, 2008
After the Big Relocation, I've had not much to do while I wait for a job to open up. Specifically there is a university position that is (was) supposed to become available. It's about the perfect position for somebody coming off a rather disappointing postdoc experience (to put it mildly); a lab…
January 14, 2008
Memantine is the most recent weapon in the fight against Alzheimer's. There's been a lot of hype surrounding the drug because....
The first-generation of compounds aimed to boost the brain's acetylcholine levels led to the development of drugs such as Aricept⢠(donepezil) and Excelon⢠(…
January 3, 2008
I make no secret that I'm pretty liberal, which means I don't generally support the Democrats (especially after spending 8 years as a NC/VA resident, since they ain't always that liberal in those parts). This year I find myself musing over what would be best for the Dems; currently, with about 1/3…
December 12, 2007
I've scarcely been back in the Midwest and already I have to tunnel out from under a layer of frozen crazy. Funny enough, we can't remember losing power in ice storms for more than a few hours when we were kids, but it was out for a good 14 hours on Tuesday. To make matters worse, half of the 60…
December 6, 2007
Intelligent Design is a career-killer. There's just no two ways about it. And not because of how peers treat the ID supporter; they throw their own productivity under the bus, to use Casey Luskin's overworked cliche. We saw the same thing with Behe and Dembski. Behe has published ONE peer-…
December 5, 2007
Phil over at Bad Astronomy has it a bit backwards, but hey it's not his fault. He didn't have to sit through that nightmare of a press conference.
I still stick by my own conclusion too, that by trying to say that Gonzalez's religious freedom has been curtailed, they are admitting ID is religion…
December 4, 2007
Yesterday the Discovery Institute held a press conference at the capitol building in Des Moines, to announce Guillermo Gonzalez's plans to sue Iowa State University over their decision to deny him tenure. Supposedly the lawsuit will be filed pending the rejection of an appeal to the Board of…
November 15, 2007
Abel over at Terra Sigillata got is writ in a tinger over bad grammar and was concerned that Alzheimer's Disease had been tied to risky sexual behavior. His conclusion was that he got a poorly worded email notice about two separate problems that were linked inappropriately by a semicolon. So…
November 14, 2007
Here we see the consequences of social promotion; no, not the practice of advancing students who haven't demonstrated competency in their subject matter, but of inappropriately advancing a concept that hasn't attained scientific credibility.
When said concept, in this case Intelligent Design, is…
November 12, 2007
My simian brethren are taking over:
"Wildlife officials are trying to find them. As police we're not experts in dealing with monkeys. We can deal with mad bulls but monkeys are more difficult," he said.
Along with an estimated 35,000 sacred cows and buffaloes that roam free in the capital,…
November 12, 2007
Great, I'm 33 now. More gray in my beard. Whohoo!
I have good news, at least. I'm getting the hell outta Dodge (aka Maryland) and heading west this weekend. Hopefully, I'll have good news on a new job in the next two weeks or so. One that will allow me to blog without feeling like the fury of…
November 7, 2007
Those crazy folks over at the Alliance for Science are putting up the notice for their 2nd Annual Evolution Essay contest!!! The first contest, while thrown together at the very last minute, turned out to be a success. Five high school students received cash prizes and a slew of autographed…
October 26, 2007
Steve at Omnibrain has been discussing a deep-fried turkey and turducken event in the back channels, and that has led some of us to ponder the ramifications of deep-frying a turducken itself. In the spirit of that discussion, I wrote a really dumb poem. I also apologize that it is rife with…