neurotopia | July 18, 2008I'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 the Joker. Heath's acting has always been a mite bit unpredictable for me; he was amazingly good in Brokeback Mountain, for example, but bored me to tears in Ned Kelly.
Turns out that very unpredictability makes him perfect for a "reimagined" darker, grittier, noncampy version of the Joker. In…
neurotopia | July 17, 2008I 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 background. Consequently, I told them I'd make it up to them by having this test be painfully easy and with opportunities for extra credit abound. So one would think that a student who's barely pulling a D would prioritize this exam, right? Especially since I was kind enough to send out a…
neurotopia | July 16, 2008I'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 transitional career mode. There are more opportunities out there than I figured there would be, but knowing how to find them is a challenge. Additionally, it's time to start blogging about my horrific postdoc a bit. That should be entertaining. Who knows, maybe I'll even feel like posting actual science…
neurotopia | May 19, 2008FOR 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 essay on either "Agriculture and Evolution" or "Climate and Evolution". Neal Desai, a 10th grader at the Pembroke Hill School in Kansas City, Missouri won the top prize. Neal's insightful essay addressed the tradeoffs between the benefits obtained from genetically modified crops and the potential…
neurotopia | April 24, 2008Well 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 other, better news, the local community college needs a Gen Bio prof for the summer, so I'll at least get some good teaching experience doing that. They also have fall positions, which is good; it keeps me in academia at least part time. I'm hoping that will round out my CV enough to nab that primo…
neurotopia | April 14, 2008Let'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't get into the gritty details, outside of a number of family-related issues and illnesses, and an anxiety disorder-related meltdown on my end, balanced with a phenomenal clusterfuck of mismanagement and bad mentorship on the part of my governmental employer. Where does this leave me? Beyond the…
neurotopia | February 29, 2008Here 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 infections by lentiviruses.
This is the second time a TRIM5-CypA hybrid gene has been identified in monkeys. The other one -- TRIMCyp -- was found in South American owl monkeys in 2004. But it's not likely that these two gene combinations arose from a single common ancestor, the Harvard researchers…
neurotopia | February 28, 2008Tomorrow 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! Remember, the science teacher of the winning essay writer gets rewarded too, and deservedly so; our teachers work hard and deserve something back.
neurotopia | February 21, 2008Abel 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 the public from the idiocy of animal rights extremists. Consider this a legal "counter offensive" on behalf of academia, if you will.
Personally, I'm happy as a pig in it's own feces. It's time somebody stood up to these so-called animal rights activists who can't seem to comprehend that people…
neurotopia | February 21, 2008They 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 evolutionary biologist
Massimo Pigliucci
In an event co-sponsored the University of Iowa Department of Biological Sciences to celebrate Darwin Day in Iowa City featuring renowned evolutionary biologist, philosopher, and professor at SUNY Stonybrook, Dr Massimo Pigliucci. His book Denying Evolution has…
neurotopia | February 21, 2008Looks 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 recalled asking, "Why is she always around?"
That February, Mr. McCain and Ms. Iseman attended a small fund-raising dinner with several clients at the Miami-area home of a cruise-line executive and then flew back to Washington along with a campaign aide on the corporate jet of one of her clients,…
neurotopia | February 14, 2008If 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 technical language, but that also avoids potentially misleading colloquial language. It strives to be accessible to the non-scientist and so it represents a general outline, merely scratching the surface of the large body of research in the many facets of this topic. For more detailed information,…
neurotopia | February 7, 2008Actually 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 astronomy, appeal for tenure. After a private deliberation, the Board voted down the appeal which has already been denied by Iowa State University and ISU President Gregory Geoffroy.
No details at this point. But look for the Discovery Institute Spin Room to start kvetching at any moment, if they…
neurotopia | January 25, 2008Maybe 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 about 1.1 million. Also, in the 1990s, Dobson was drawing audiences of 15,000 or more to his speeches; but in the lead-up to the 2006 mid-term election, only about 1,000 people heard his anti-abortion speech at the 2,500-seat Mt. Rushmore National Monument amphitheatre. Daly explains that the event was…
neurotopia | January 23, 2008If 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 findings in a very accessible fashion.
I wanted to take a quick moment to plug their book The DANA Guide to Brain Health: A practical family reference from medical experts. This book and CD-ROM, with over 100 scientists and clinicians contributing to the contents, is an excellent primer in a whole…
neurotopia | January 19, 2008And 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 sessions on Public Heath and Medicine, and also Gender/Minority issues. We've had sessions on the uses of technology and also using blogging as a resource for K through Ph.D. education!
Bora's got more on how you can check the conference out online. So, check it out!
neurotopia | January 16, 2008After 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 coordinator for undergrad neuro labs, where I can get a little teaching experience and still enjoy lab work. Problem is, I'm still waiting for the job to get posted.
Today I got a smidgen of good news; I can do some part-time work doing a lot of the same stuff, which is really nice. It lets the…
neurotopia | January 14, 2008Memantine 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⢠(rivastigmine). Attempts to develop drugs that block the action of glutamate by a considerable number of pharmaceutical companies and researchers were not successful for a long time, since these receptors are also required for normal brain function, learning and memory in particular. It was therefore…
neurotopia | January 3, 2008I 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 of precincts reporting in, the Edwards/Hillary/Obama trio are all receiving about the same support, with the former two around 31% and Obama with a slight edge at 34% or so.
Edwards has always impressed me. I like his populist progressive message after the last 8 years, and I do think it would…
neurotopia | December 12, 2007I'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 foot tall pine tree in the front yard is now on the ground, so I'll have to find some way to get rid of that mess.
In the meantime, I'll have my hands full gutting out the drywall behind the toilet and shower; a leak in the shower is making it crumble and triggered a growth of mold that needs to be…