Misc.
tsmith | August 24, 2006If you ever wonder about some of the actual research we do here (and I know, it must keep you up at night with curiosity), our most recent center newsletter is up. (warning: .pdf)
tsmith | August 22, 2006Over at Unqualified Offerings comes this quip regarding analyst Kenneth Pollack:
In Washington, he gets to write new articles, as if he were an epidemiologist and not Typhoid Mary.
Whether you agree with the criticism or not, you have to admit it's a nice turn of phrase.
tsmith | August 20, 2006Since I've been tied to the computer this weekend, might as well take a break and do something a bit more entertaining than revising papers and books and preparing for the impending start of classes. Janet passed around the random quotations meme: scrolling through here and picking the first 5 that reflect who you are or what you believe. Mine after the jump.
"Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment." --Benjamin Franklin
"The radical of one century is the conservative of the next.…
tsmith | August 10, 2006James A. Van Allen, Discoverer of Earth-Circling Radiation Belts, Is Dead at 91
James A. Van Allen, the physicist who made the first major scientific discovery of the early space age, the Earth-circling radiation belts that bear his name, and sent spacecraft instruments to observe the outer reaches of the solar system, died yesterday in Iowa City. He was 91.
The cause was heart failure, family members said. Dr. Van Allen was a longtime professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Iowa, and, with the discovery of the Van Allen belts of intense radiation surrounding Earth, he became…
tsmith | August 3, 2006This week's "Ask a scienceblogger" is more pop culture than actual science:
What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally.
Thoughts after the jump...
I'm one of those people who forgets about 90% of the movies I watch, so I welcome suggestions from y'all in the comments about other good answers to the question. As for me, along the lines of coturnix's post on making science--and scientists--cool, one of my favorite movies ever is Real Genius. Val Kilmer plays…
tsmith | July 27, 2006So, over at the World's Fair, they've put together an unofficial ask a scienceblogger:
Are there any children's books that are dear to you, either as a child or a parent, and especially ones that perhaps strike a chord with those from a science sensibility? Just curious really. And it doesn't have to be a picture book, doesn't even have to be a children's book - just a book that, for whatever reason, worked for you.
So, I'm quite late to the party, but nevertheless I've listed some books below--some science, most not--that either I read as a kid, or I read with my kids now, or both.
My…
tsmith | July 18, 2006 Following this post about an outbreak of E. coli O157 at a daycare, I received a few emails asking thoughtful questions about food safety. One in particular asked about what food manufacturers are doing to keep their products safe, and what public health officials are doing to educate the public about how to properly handle and cook food. For the latter, I replied that we're doing what we can, but that it's difficult to reach people and get them to listen to advice on a topic where many people already feel they have enough education (I mean, food preparation and cooking isn't exactly…
tsmith | July 15, 2006More interesting stories that I didn't get to this week...
Ewen is looking for volunteer producers for his radio show. If you're in his neck of the woods and would like to learn about science journalism, drop him a line.
Mike notes that MRSA is winning the war on drugs, due in part to dirty needles and a lack of needle exchange programs.
Orac discusses the latest Geiers drama (those would be the folks who've been most prominent in pushing the vaccination/autism link here in the U.S.) Turns out a court recently laid the smackdown on them, Kitzmiller-style.
More sequence information has been…
tsmith | June 29, 2006I've heard quite a bit about pharmacists who've refused to fill prescriptions for contraceptives due to personal moral stance. But I'd not heard any who refused to fill a prescription for painkillers until yesterday.
Here's the story. A relative just had surgery to remove a lump in her breast. Her doctor sent her home with a scrip for Vicodin, which she sent her husband off to fill at the local pharmacy. They refused to give out the drug, sending him home instead with a codeine-containing drug. She's allergic to codeine, so she sent the husband back to the pharmacy to get the Vicodin as…
tsmith | June 23, 2006In many ways, I'm like my kids: it doesn't take much to amuse me. I mentioned previously my kids' enjoyment of catching all things crawly, and our "pet" wolf spider, "Wolfie." Well, Wolfie is now a mommy to hundreds of spiderlings. I'll put the pics below the fold so that those of you with an aversion to spiders won't be subjected to them.
She's now dropped the egg sac and is just carrying around the babies. We plan to put her into a box or somewhere where I can get a few better photos, and then send her and her family back out into the garage from whence she came. In the meantime,…
tsmith | June 12, 2006About two weeks ago, Cognitive Daily linked an article discussing The Paradox of the Perfect Girl.
The perfect girl is everywhere. She is your niece, your daughter, your friend's genius kid. She is the girl who makes the valedictorian speech at your son's graduation and the type-A class president in the skimpy black dress that he brings to the prom. The perfect girl is thin and hungry, not for food, but for honors, awards, scholarships, recognition. The Princeton Review book is the perfect girl's bible. Her appointment book, even at 14, is filled morning to night with scheduled activities…
tsmith | June 10, 2006I talk a lot on here about making science more available (and interesting!) to the public. And I've posted previously about "sexy scientists" before. So you might think I'd be all for an effort to combine the two--but is this really necessary?
Ugh.
(Via new Scienceblog, Pure Pedantry.)
tsmith | June 9, 2006Lots of changes here at Scienceblogs today. The editors of Seed magazine give the lowdown at Stochastic:
Welcome to the new ScienceBlogs! Beginning today, you'll notice a newly designed homepage (built from your feedback) at scienceblogs.com and the addition of 25 new blogs to our network.
***
We believe in providing our bloggers with the freedom to exercise their own editorial and creative instincts. We do not edit their work and we do not tell them what to write about. We have selected our 40+ bloggers based on their originality, insight, talent, and dedication and how we think they would…
tsmith | June 6, 2006A friend of mine is riding this weekend in the MS 150 bike tour in Minnesota. This is an annual event that raises money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which works both to fund research into the disease and to serve people who've been diagnosed. I've never tackled the bike tour (150 miles in 2 days; this particular one runs from Duluth to the Twin Cities), but I've done the MS walks previously and will be doing another later this year. This is an important cause for me, as my mother was diagnosed with MS when I was 6, so if you have a few bucks (donations are tax-deductible)…
tsmith | June 4, 2006Janet has already mentioned this, but I know I have a number of artistic readers here, so take note:
Teaming up with leading editorial and strip cartoonists, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today announced an editorial cartoon contest to draw attention to political interference in science. Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest will bring together aspiring cartoonists to compete to win a number of prizes, including an all-expenses paid trip to meet the celebrity judge of their choice. A second contest for professional cartoonists will run concurrently with…
tsmith | June 3, 2006Via Science magazine's NetWatch:
If you know a thing or two about animal behavior, remote sensing, pollution, or related topics, you might want to contribute a chapter to the nascent Encyclopedia of Earth. Bucking the trend toward user-written--but sometimes inaccurate--content, the environmental reference will feature some 1000 peer-reviewed articles penned by experts. Sponsored by the nonprofit National Council for Science and the Environment, the project seeks writers and editors.
Homepage and more information is here; topic areas can be found here.
tsmith | May 30, 2006Leftover from last week's zoonotic diseases course: I do sometimes get away from the hind end of animals.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/roland98/IMG_6134_JPG.jpg"
tsmith | May 17, 2006So as mentioned elsewhere within the Scienceblogosphere, the Ask a Scienceblogger Question of the week is:
"Will the 'human' race be around in 100 years?"
Short answer: yeah. Long answer: I'm not sure why there were scare quotes around "human" (are we going to mate with cyborgs or something?), but I think it will take quite a lot to totally wipe us out. We may not be as hardy as cockroaches, but we're adaptive as hell, and even major events (volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, massive infectious disease outbreaks, etc.) haven't done much to put a dent in our population. I do think, though,…
tsmith | May 10, 2006 It's funny sometimes being a Yale graduate with my upbringing--a blue-collar, middle-class kid from rural America. One thing in particular I just never quite got was the whole secret society thing. As such, it's been a bit amusing to see all the attention they've gotten in the years since my graduation. The Skulls came out in 2000, trading on the name of Yale's most prominent "secret" society, Skull and Bones. A few years later, a classmate wrote Secrets of the Tomb, an exposé of Skull and Bones. And then, of course, the Skull and Bones memberships of both George W. Bush (and his…
tsmith | May 10, 2006Over at bootstrap analysis, an appeal to just say no to decorative birdhouses--or at least to take care of them correctly. Some timely advice for the season.