Posts

August 15, 2012

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4:51 PM | More cannabis hyperemesis Cases emerge

Just as our most fervent defender of pot posted the most scientifically offensive clause in the legalization initiative defeated by California voters: 5. Cannabis has fewer harmful effects than either alcohol or cigarettes, which are both legal for adult consumption. Cannabis is not physically addictive, does not have long term toxic effects on the body, [...]

August 14, 2012

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7:04 PM | A problem at PLoS ONE

As you know, Dear Reader, I have been pondering the role of the open access journal PLoS ONE of late. In particular, pondering whether my subfield of science should use this journal more and, obviously, whether I should use it for any of my various publishing purposes. This pondering includes paying attention to peoples' experiences [...]

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5:55 PM | Why aren't they citing my papers?

As the Impact Factor discussion has been percolating along (Stephen Curry, Björn Brembs, YHN) it has touched briefly on the core valuation of a scientific paper: Citations! Coincidentally, a couple of twitter remarks today also reinforced the idea that what we are all really after is other people who cite our work. Dr24hrs: More people [...]

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3:55 PM | United Airlines loses an unaccompanied minor and doesn't give a crap

Whoa, this is so whacked out I had to post about it. United Airlines basically lost and ignored a 10 year old for whom they were responsible as an unaccompanied minor traveling with them. The only way it got figured out was through some of their employees breaking the corporate "rules" to do things they [...]

August 13, 2012

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7:54 PM | A smear campaign against Impact Factors...and the Sheep of Science

Stephen Curry has a nice lengthy diatribe against the Impact Factor up over at the occam's typewriter collective. It is an excellent review of the problems associated with the growing dominance of journal Impact Factor in the career of scientists. I am particularly impressed by: It is time to start a smear campaign so that [...]

August 11, 2012

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2:56 AM | Will Washington State leegalizeetmon?

From here we learn that WA voters are to consider Initiative 502 which would legalize marijuana. For recreational purposes. Seems to be the same deal as the initiative that failed to pass muster with voters in our dope smokingist, weed growingist and reputably most individual "thing" friendly state of California. Perhaps the good folks of [...]

August 10, 2012

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9:25 PM | The real problem with the NIH budget is the growth in the number of mouths at the trough

From the latest entry at the Rock Talk blog we find out the truth(r)! These are data for the investigator-initiated Research Project Grants only and exclude the ARRA largesse. It shows the number of applications received in 1998 (25,000) and then the gradual increase to just under 50,000 applications for the 2011 FY. The color [...]

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1:08 AM | Self-portraits.....on DRUGS!

This is pretty interesting. An artist decided to draw a series of self-portraits after consuming different psychoactive compounds. There are 45 of them so click on over. I gotta say, I'd really like to have seen him do his study project blinded to drug identity. Perhaps even more interestingly, he's been doing one self-portrait per [...]

August 08, 2012

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2:09 AM | Non-Paternity, or the Interloper Rate

Over at the Salon, a Dear Prudie column discusses the issue of miss-attributed parentage. My husband was estranged from his parents for many years. He reached out to them when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness. They didn't have enough time to discuss and resolve their past, but they were at peace with each [...]

August 07, 2012

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2:27 AM | On the Sikh temple shooting

What a fucking summer. First the guy in Aurora, now some white supremacist shot a bunch of people in a Sikh temple in Milwaukee. It is horrible. Tragic. Each of these people killed had family or other loved ones. Friends. Coworkers. Teammates. Each one of them will be missed. Each one of them was robbed [...]

August 04, 2012

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8:36 PM | Clarifobfuscation?

Maybe I am just feeling obtuse today, but this clarification RE: the time limit on resubmitting applications to NIH does not at all clarify the issue for me. I am more confused now! Before reading this, my understanding was that it was A1 and done, and that the 37 month thing just meant you better [...]

July 25, 2012

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10:12 PM | Annoying Google gaming

ZOMG, this is really ridiculous: I'm trying to Google multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) proteomics to gather resources and references for a workshop talk I'm giving in a couple of weeks. Searching for "mrm proteomics" brings up a neverending list of permutations of this ONE company's information (including every page on their website individually, as well [...]

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9:30 PM | Single oral dose MDMA neurotoxicity revisited

I have been awaiting this paper since I saw the poster a few meetings back, Dear Reader. It contributes to an ongoing theme of posts on MDMA (Ecstasy) that I have neglected for some time. Some of you may recall the topic of my third blog post which noted the current attempts to get MDMA [...]

July 24, 2012

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9:21 PM | Self-Citation will not make you go blind

From this post at Scientific American: Fowler and Aksnes (2007) did another research on the Norwegian database, but this time it was author rather than publication oriented. The percentage of author self-citation was rather low – 11% – but every self-citation yield, on average, 3.65 citations from others in 10 years. Fowler and Aksnes concluded [...]

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9:17 PM | The 2nd Amendment and Idiotic Leftie Rhetoric

This picture is circulating the Facebooks, I snagged it from "The Pragmatic Progressive Page". It is absolutely, one hundred percent wooly headed leftie-libby insanity. The 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, [...]

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7:45 AM | Walking that narrow line

The key to being a science rockstar, if you like that sort of thing*, is to become legendary in the minds of others while never believing it for a second yourself. If you fail on the second part, you are just kind of a jerk. __ *I don't, obv.

July 20, 2012

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4:59 PM | Moderates

My observation of today is that the large scale, society based horrible things that happen are not the fault of the fringe extreme. Yes, the wackanuts are the ones coming up with the bad stuff and driving it forward. But these are usually a minority. The problem comes about when the so called moderates let [...]

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12:08 AM | Kudos to Senator McCain

From the WaPo: “Ultimately, what is at stake in this matter is larger even than the reputation of one person. This is about who we are as a nation, and who we still aspire to be. What makes America exceptional among the countries of the world is that we are bound together as citizens not [...]

July 18, 2012

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4:00 PM | There is no secret information that your NIH Program Officer is withholding from you

Chill. Really, my friends, you are going to drive yourselves completely insane if you don't step back and wait. The examples can be found over on writedit's mondo thread on paylines, scores and whatnot for NIH grants. Start here and page up. I find it alternately saddening, maddening and hilarious to read these comments. In [...]

July 17, 2012

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7:43 AM | Is an NIH intramural postdoc worth it?

In your field, does it come with any particular value? Good or bad? Is there something about the "NIH name on the CV" that advantages a trainee? Are there critical connections of lasting worth? Or perhaps critical career opportunities- the K22 or the chance to stay intramural for ever? Are there other Universities or research [...]

July 16, 2012

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9:14 PM | Open Thread: PIs v Postdocs and other assorted yelling at each other

In case you absolutely must continue the 300 comment thread which developed under Alternate careers" is just the next exploitation strategy? you can have at it here.

July 14, 2012

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11:22 PM | It's just the place you live

One of the categories of people that crack me up, just like they did Vonnegut, are those that have an unhealthy obsession with the coincidence of where they live. Or were born. You know the type....they are endlessly fascinated with being from New York, Chi-town, LA or The Bay Area. I imagine you non-USians have [...]

July 12, 2012

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11:13 PM | Their reaction to Mitt Romney is worth 2,000 words, easy.

The captions practically write themselves, don't they? (AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM) from here.

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10:20 PM | Wait. Full stop. Ann Romney's HORSE nets them a $77,000 tax CREDIT???

How any person in the US who makes under a MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR can even remotely contemplate voting for this clown is a mystery to me. Complete and utter mystery. Rafalca, the Romney's Olympics-bound dressage horse, nets the family a $77,000 tax credit, $2,000 of which, according to Current's calculations, is for what they [...]

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7:00 PM | Estimating the Purchasing Power of the NIH Grant

You are probably aware, DearReader, of the concept of inflation. This means that the amount of money that you pay today for a good or service is higher than the amount of money that you paid yesterday. On average. So for example, this US inflation calculator tells me that the purchasing power of $12,000 in [...]

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3:46 AM | Are you a better scientist than your mentors?

Wow. I am addicted to comment threads for just this reason. Someone comes up with an offhand remark...and I've never thought about this before now. Have you surpassed any of your mentors as a scientist? I think my answers are hell yes, apples-to-oranges, yes (in some ways), yes (in many ways), not yet and meh. [...]

July 11, 2012

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8:14 PM | More data on historical success rates for NIH grants

Thanks to a query from a reader off the blog and a resulting request from me, our blog-friend microfool pointed us to some data. Since I don't like Tables, and the figure on the excel file stinks, here is a different graphical depiction: The red trace depicts success rates from 1962 to 2008 for R01 [...]

July 10, 2012

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11:39 PM | Reviews

Do you save the manuscript reviews you've written? I've never purged that directory. I have no idea why not.

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5:32 PM | On contradicting your own stuff

I am struck, today, by the thought that a significant benefit of growing old and comfortable as a laboratory is that you don't care anymore. I was just reading a paper, published in a fairly pedestrian journal. It was authored by a postdoc in a fairly well-established laboratory which has published extensively with their.....Bunny Hopper [...]

July 05, 2012

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4:52 PM | "Alternate careers" is just the next exploitation strategy?

The recent Rock Talk posts on graduate student and postdoctoral training are putting data behind truths that many find self-evident. I am struck by the ensuing commentary threads which say the NIH must do better at tracking the fates of trainees. The subtext seems to be that the NIH should 1) care about large numbers [...]