Skinside out

Some people wear their heart on their sleeve. Diana Eastman wears her bones on her back: Now that’s what I call an anatomical model. It’s done with body paint I believe, and is not a tattoo. But if you want the hardcore tattoo anatomy, be sure to check out Street Anatomy. Be sure to check…

The publishing revolution

Morgan, in her latest post here at Naturally Selected, makes the point that indirect action is more effective than confrontation at getting your ideas accepted. The thought occurred to me that the real staring-eyed prophets–you know the ones I mean, we’ve all had those emails–probably wouldn’t be convinced by such an argument, and as they’re…

Getting new ideas accepted: persuasion vs attack

Last week I discussed “Why Science Is Broken (and how to fix it).” I got some interesting responses, but one in particular is worth noting. This fellow wrote to me with his story of woe while trying to get some of his alternative theories accepted in the physics community. His bottom line was this: “as…

London Lectures

If you’re around the Great Metropolis in October, you might like to check out these two upcoming public lectures (as well as dropping by F1000 Mission Control for a coffee). First, for the princely sum of £5 you can listen to comedy writer Daniel Maier as he examines the stranger side of the Victorian polymath…

Contemplative science

Meditation and science may not be two things immediately associated with each other (except for when you’re taking deep breaths and thinking of your happy place after another failed experiment), but contemplative science is an emerging interdisciplinary approach to studying how cognitive and emotional processes are affected by contemplative experience. Erika Scilipoti, a cognitive scientist…

The Balance Sheet, by Ruth Padel

For Darwin fans (and, seriously, who isn’t?), here’s British poet, and Darwin’s great-great-granddaughter, Ruth Padel’s recasting of the the great man’s thoughts on whether to marry in verse: THE BALANCE SHEET Against ‘Freedom to go where I please. Conversation of clever men at clubs. Choice of society: and little of it… No one to interfere…

What's your backup plan?

My doctorate supervisor was fond of telling me that I had to keep a good lab notebook in case I “walked under a bus” one morning. Although I was utterly convinced of the necessity of accurate records, somehow this particular exhortation didn’t have quite the desired effect on my attitude. Maybe he should have warned…

Why Science is broken (and how to fix it)

Bell Labs was a remarkable enterprise which, according to Wikipedia, contributed to the development of cell phones, wlan (wifi), semiconductors, compression algorithms, and many more developments that changed the way people interact with technology. Bell Labs worked well because they brought together innovative thinkers, and let them innovate.  People there didn’t have to write grant…

Of mice and men and meta analyses

Q: When is a gene not a gene? A: When it’s a paralogue. As a joke, that could probably use some work. But it touches the core of genome annotation, and how we can estimate the functions of genes in non-model organisms (i.e. in organisms where it is difficult if not impossible to directly determine…