Posts
May 17, 2013
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… The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’m currently reading The Secrets of Alchemy by Lawrence Principe. It’s a really enjoyable book, and I’ve learned so many things from it. I hope to share some of my favorites. But, I’ve just read a bit of Principe’s research in the book that seems poignant for my profession (chemistry) in these times. (In any book, there is always some bit: character, place, situation, or story that seems very relevant to […]
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New faculty members Randall Hughes and David Kimbro set up shop at the Marine Science Center this winter after spending several years studying oyster reefs at Florida State University. During their time in Tallahassee, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill devastated the region, dumping nearly 5 million barrels of oil into the ocean over a period of 87 days. [...]
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With the government's spending review looming, the Royal Society of Chemistry is calling for an Olympic effort to persuade politicians to make a long-term commitment to creating growth and jobs through scienceWhen it comes to Olympic sport, the UK is a small nation making a big impact. Last year's games saw us finish third in the medals table, behind only the United States and China and ahead of Russia, despite our comparatively small population.The UK has a record of punching above its weight
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10:20 AM | Crabs
North Norfolk this weekend will witness the Cromer and Sheringham Crab and Lobster Festival, a grand jamboree of fun and frolics, not all of which are connected with our crustaceous compadres. All three of you will be aware by now … Continue reading →
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5:36 AM | Targeted psychiatric medications
Buffer Interesting lecture on the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders and their treatment. Modern psychiatric drugs treat the chemistry of the whole brain, but neurobiologist David Anderson believes in a more nuanced view of how the brain functions. He illuminates new research that could lead to targeted psychiatric medications — that work better and avoid side [...]
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2:05 AM | Voyage Preparations – Cape Town
Cape Town is a pretty amazing place to start a research voyage. The food is fantastic so I have been filling up my quota of vitamins and minerals, from amazing full breakfasts with Boerewors sausages and fluffy scrambled eggs to thin crust pizza and sourdough smoked salmon sandwiches.Apart from pre-fuelling the body, we have been hard at work to prepare the yacht, from the sails, engines, supplies and sheets to the batteries and electrical systems that will support our science equipment while […]
May 16, 2013
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EARLY CANCER RESEARCH: The Laboratory of Experimental Oncology
In 1947, the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology (LEO) was created as a collaborative effort between the city of San Francisco, the National Cancer Institute, and the UC School of Medicine. The above photo shows three researchers performing blood counts in the hematology lab.
(We found this photo through our friends at the UCSF Bioengineering Tumblr, who recently shared some throwback photos.)
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The site of seminal research by UC Berkeley prof Robert Lane on Lyme disease. #themicroscopemakesit
Lyme Disease in California PDF →
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7:32 PM | The Government's Student Loan "Profit"
Is the federal government making a huge profit on student loans? Are students going broke sending hard-earned cash to the Department of Education? That’s the allegation made by many pundits in reaction to Congressional Budget Office report.
As Mandi Woodruff over at Business Insider puts it:
Student loan debt is now one of the Obama Administration's biggest cash cows.
The government is poised to pocket a record $51 billion profit from federal student loan borrowers this year….
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A bunch of school students with help from researchers at the University of Arizo...
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6:56 PM | The Sexual Harassment Police
In an effort to curtail sexual abuse on campus the Obama administration is working on a new policy on harassment. This comes after widespread revelations of colleges (e.g. the University of Montana and Yale) failing to address or report sexual crimes.
The new policy, according to a piece at The Atlantic by Wendy Kaminer (right), looks like this:
In a joint letter to the University of Montana, (intended as "a blueprint" for campus administrators nationwide) the Justice Department (DOJ) and
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3:39 PM | Understanding Niall Ferguson
Niall Ferguson is a history professor who also gives paid lectures, including a notorious recent event where he made an offhand commend dissing John Maynard Keynes for being gay, marrying a ballerina, and talking about poetry. Ferguson later characterized his own remarks as “stupid.”I blogged a bit about this already, but I just wanted to repeat one point, after reading a couple of comments by some observers who, I think, misunderstood his remarks, taking them more seriously than
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3:22 PM | On review repetition
One of the biggest concerns I hear about NSF review is that reviews vary from one panel to the next. People who get good scores in one round and just miss funding scream bloody murder when their proposals doesn't score as well in the next round. "Damn inconsistent panels! Last year they loved it and [...]
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This is re-posted from the Entomological Society of Canada’s blog, and is written by Chris Buddle (McGill University) and Dezene Huber (University of Northern British Columbia) Last autumn there was quite an interesting discussion on twitter among some entomologists in Canada about the ‘job search’ – more specifically focused on the process of seeking tenure-track […]
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This is the third post in a series called “Cretaceous Cold Cases” in which the science of taphonomy, or prehistoric forensics, is explained by fascinating cases from the files of Terry “Bucky” Gates, a research scientist with a joint appointment at NC State and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. One brisk fall day
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1:34 PM | You might be deadwood if...
Terry, over at SmallPondScience, has a post up about the misuse of the term "deadwood" and how many who are labeled as such are still deadicated to their jobs, but have inadvertently drifted away from what we consider productive colleagues. These colleagues have become driftwood. You might be driftwood if your teaching relies on concepts [...]
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1:00 PM | Mendelife – Meet Branden Faulls
Branden is our VP Product, known online by the mysterious alias of “omphe”. To pronounce it, he explains, imagine being hit in the gut with a sack full of marshmallows. How long have you been with Mendeley for? Since May 2012 Where did you work before coming to Mendeley ? I was a [...]
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12:09 PM | Deadwood or Driftwood?
I’ve always disliked the phrase “deadwood” when referring to a certain class of senior faculty. It’s disrespectful. The term exists to identify a set of negative characteristics, after all. I used it in an earlier post, addressing how I’ve gotten a bit stale. Nobody seemed bothered by it, at least not that I heard. I’m […]
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For any of you who may be interested, Macquarie University Department of Biology is advertising for an Evolutionary Genomics faculty position: http://jobs.mq.edu.au/cw/en/job/492822/lecturersenior-lecturer-in-biological-sciences-evolutionary-genomicsTo translate for non-Australians, a lvl B/C faculty position is approximately the equivalent of an Assistant Professor in US terms.The architectural highlight of Macquarie Uni- the new library
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12:35 AM | How to Measure Education Outcomes
A hallmark of leading business management and public policy design today is an increased reliance on measuring results. If you don’t track your performance, you can’t tell if you’re improving, and you have no reliable way to know whether your improvement strategies are having the desired effects. Resistance to measurement can often reflect a reluctance to face up to the need for sometimes unpleasant but vitally important change. Yet measuring outcomes badly or incompletely […]
May 15, 2013
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Infant vocalization & the emergence of language
A recent paper in PNAS finds that the squeals, coos, and growls used by infants may be uniquely human and critical to the development of language.
Unlike crying and laughter (which tend to represent the same emotional states) — squealing and cooing are connected to different emotions on different occasions (as seen through facial expressions). This is known as functional flexibility.
“For example, the same infant might one morning
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9:32 PM | Nota Bene
I was not surprised to receive some push back on my last blog. I have also had a chance to revisit some of the issues I raised and the way they sounded. They are important, and it is certainly my … Continue reading →
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Invasive Species: the Asian citrus psyllid
From the NY Times:
“Florida’s citrus industry is grappling with the most serious threat in its history: a bacterial disease with no cure that has infected all 32 of the state’s citrus-growing counties. …
The disease, which can lie dormant for two to five years, is spread by an insect no larger than the head of a pin, the Asian citrus psyllid. It snacks on citrus trees, depositing bacteria that gradually starves trees of nutrients. Psyllids fly
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8:03 PM | Neanderthal notebook
Neanderthals are, of course, central to much of the research going on at the MPI-EVA. To be honest, I didn't know all that much about them and had to do some reading. I found that a lot of great stuff has been written about Neanderthals and I began to put together a little notebook on Spundge to have it all in one place. I have now made it public, please feel free to take a look. I am not a... Read more
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7:15 PM | Blaming the Coach for Everything
An Oregon bill scheduled for public hearing today would hold coaches at state universities financially responsible for any damages that occur as a result of violations of National Collegiate Athletic Association rules.
According to an article in The Oregonian :
House Bill 3524 provides that coach at public university who intentionally or recklessly commits or causes to be committed major violation of rules of National Collegiate Athletic Association is liable for university's actual damages
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Offspring of female horses and male donkeys, mules are often associated with caution and hard work. While they’ll never be mistaken for thoroughbreds, mules play important roles in modern society – performing grunt work in areas from developing countries to the forests of Colorado. But even though mules have worked alongside people for countless generations,
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ucsdhealthsciences:
Angelina Jolie and the oncogene
It’s not surprising that Angelina Jolie’s announcement that she had preventive double mastectomy is big news. You can read about it here, here, here and here – among myriad places.
The fact remains, though, that Jolie’s dilemma and decision is far from novel. It’s one faced by many women, almost all without the glare or notice of media.
With that in mind, we reprise a pair of Q&As posed to breast cancer experts at UC San Diego:
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4:46 PM | Random bullets of 7th week spring term
We’ve now officially reached the point in the term/school year where there is no schedule—there is just running from one crisis to another. I am too tired for planning anything beyond the next half hour. Signs your job might be adversely affecting your family life: You joke about quitting and your spouse says “can you? […]
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4:13 PM | Instead of Asking for Education Transparency, Maybe We’ll Just Ask for Another Study About It
For years politicians and education pundits have called for more “transparency” in higher education. What programs graduate their students on time? What colleges produce graduates with the highest salaries? How are students paying back their education loans?
Despite years of this stuff, it turns out Congress is still not going to demand that colleges provide this information. Instead, according to Amy Laitinen at the New America Foundation, there’s another call to […]
