neurotopia
Posts by this author
June 26, 2006
I'm not doing too hot on raising money for low income school districts and kids that need books because theirs were destroyed in hurricanes. Please visit my Donor Challenge by clicking on the icon below my profile and, well.... donate!!!
June 26, 2006
Inspired by Rush Limbaugh's apparent erectile dysfunction, I decided that today's Evil Journal Club should address the "other" potential uses of PDE-5 inhibitors, the most (in)famous of which is Viagra.
Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) is an enzyme that breaks down cyclic GMP. We've known for a…
June 26, 2006
Turns out Rush's Viagra was purposefully mislabeled as being prescribed to his physician for protection of Rush's privacy, which is what tipped off the Customs guys.
Darn. There goes my first SchadenFriday material on the SEED blogs... although I do wish Rushie could take a cue from me and…
June 26, 2006
Somebody tell me why Rush Limbaugh got a free pass on this the first time around? This time it wasn't just suspected illegal possession of prescription narcotics.
Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when officials found the drugs, among them Viagra.
Yes, we can…
June 25, 2006
No shortage of them lately, it seems, and not just regarding the state of global climate change.
US administration officials chose to ignore a CIA officer's warnings that an Iraqi defector's claims of purported biological labs made by Iraq for germ warfare were unproven.
The article is a bit more…
June 25, 2006
Despite the United State's disappointing loss to Ghana, I remain a stalwart Cup Addict. While rooting for the home team is fun, the US is not really my favorite team. In fact, I have many favorites...
Italy is tops, then whoever is playing Brazil comes next. Don't get me wrong, I love watching…
June 25, 2006
Just a reminder that the first edition of The Synapse should be up and running soon!
June 24, 2006
Live in the DC Metro area? Support evolution education? Come to a public meeting of the Alliance for Science on Wednesday!!!
June 24, 2006
If I had to decide what makes a good science teacher, it would be the ability to demonstrate how experiments fit into the proverbial "scheme of things". Nothing kills interest in science faster than 1. not being able to accurately relay the structure of the big picture and 2. just tossing a bunch…
June 24, 2006
I did my Ph.D. using monkeys as a model system, and as such I have quite an affinity for the little buggers. They may not be cute, they may not smell good, and they're definitely not cuddly, but they're completely endearing due to their penchant for outsmarting their H. sapiens bretheren.…
June 22, 2006
Yeah, and what's with the US soccer announcers on ABC/ESPN? Are they all Landon Donovan nut-huggers? Their annoying solution to EVERY problem the US faces is some splice variant of "Landon Donovan needs to step up". Got news for you idiots: Donovan isn't the whole goddamn team. Hell, he's not…
June 22, 2006
The fate of the US in the Cup will be decided very soon, with 2 games I CAN'T WATCH. AAAAAAAHHH! Our only hope, as I see it, is attack, attack, attack. Pound the ball at the goal. Don't give their goalie a chance to recover. Don't give them ANY chance to move the ball to our end of the field…
June 21, 2006
A recent study of 20,000 children confirmed that smoking just isn't good for kids. I don't know why this should come as a surprise to anybody, but I thought I should post it just in case....
The effects of smoking during pregnancy last up to age 12, while exposure to cigarette smoking after birth…
June 19, 2006
My dad just emailed me and told me he'll match the next $100 of contributions, so make sure you click the icon under my profile and donate!!!
June 18, 2006
Wow, that was a nail biting miracle. The US held off a penalty card massacre and a tough Italian team to draw 1-1 with only 9 players on the field. The drawback? Read on....
...we haven't scored a single goal yet in this Cup. That's right, our only "goal" actually came off one of the Italian…
June 16, 2006
Great news!!!! SEED is going to match our Donor challenge up to $10,000 bucks!!! So click the Donor icon below my profile and give some love to a cash-strapped classroom or school! If nothing tickles your fancy, scroll through the other SEED bloggers' challenges and find something that you like…
June 16, 2006
I'm sure somebody else on SB had to blog this, but just in case it got missed.... the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies released the results of a two-year study that examined the state of the Emergency Care System. The results?
Two words: Breaking point.
This article summarizes the…
June 15, 2006
...and they shall have one!! The question:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?...
Well the answer is... we don't!!! I'm definitely not going to be one of SEED…
June 15, 2006
The ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose raise-money-to-help-science-classrooms-a-thon!
Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you're reading the blogs here, chances are you feel the same way.
A lot of us fell in love with science because of…
June 15, 2006
PZ recently brought up Ann Coulter's new book. A couple other Seed bloggers have mentioned Dembski's association with Coulter, and his pride at having assisted her with writing the evolution chapter of her new pustule book entitled "Godless". Recent events lead me to wonder whether that was a…
June 14, 2006
I have just learned that Reed Cartwright successfully defended his dissertation and now joins the inner cabal of the Evil Darwinist Conspiracy!!! He is expected to report to his new job for the Department of Manufactured Evidence after a night of heavy drinking and debauchery.
Congratulations Reed…
June 14, 2006
Pure Pedantry found this paper on leptin's effects in the hippocampus, and then went on to wonder
I have never heard of a link between leptin and memory. They also make this link between ABeta mice and leptin. ABeta is a protein whose accumulation has been linked to Alzheimer's. Mice that create…
June 12, 2006
This is painful. We got back from anniversary trip bliss to see the first US game. And we're down 2-0 in the start of the second half. ARGH. Besides the fact that Czech is offsides every 5 minutes, we really should be down 1-0. Our defense kinda collapsed and let the big guy in the middle get…
June 9, 2006
...you might not know what to do
you might have to think of
how you got started
sittin' in your little room
--The White Stripes
Welcome to the second incarnation of Neurotopia! The old incarnation can be found here, although lately it has just been a collection of posts where I complain about how…