scientificactivist

Yesterday's Washington Post reported that several environmental groups have obtained strong evidence that Bush Administration political appointee and deputy assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks Julie MacDonald has actively censored scientific information and given…

When you live in the wealthiest nation in the world but can still claim over 40 million people without health insurance--despite spending more than twice as much per capita on health care as any other nation--you might have a problem. Nowhere is this more apparent than in my home state, Texas,…

Last month, a group of prominent scientists launched the new organization Scientists and Engineers for America (SEA). The organization has already received quite a bit of press (including a nice article in The New York Times, but I would be remiss if I didn't give them a shout out and let readers…

One of the goals of modern structural biology is to integrate the two traditionally distinct subfields of structural molecular biology (determination of the structures of macromolecules at atomic resolution) and structural cell biology (general architecture of of the cell and the localization of…

I think I can finally call myself a legitimate scientist (whatever that means), since last week one of the papers I worked on during my undergrad at Texas A&M University was published in The Journal of Cell Biology (JCB). I'm the fourth author on the paper, meaning that I was only peripherally…

A new study from the Research Defence Society (RDS) indicates that medical doctors in the UK overwhelmingly support the role of animal research in contributing to important medical advances. The RDS questioned four hundred general practitioners from across the UK about their feelings on the…

After Monday's announcement of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, followed yesterday by the announcement of the Prize in Physics, the Oscars of the sciences continue today with the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Roger Kornberg for his work on elucidating the molecular…

What they clearly lack in substance, they attempt to make up for in style, but global warming denialists certainly aren't winning any points for class. In a September 25th speech in the Senate, Crazy Ol' James Inhofe--who once called global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the…

The 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced this morning, with one half going to Andrew Fire and the other half to Craig Mello, both for the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi). The discovery of RNAi added a new layer to our understanding of how cells regulate gene expression and…

Since I've gone over a week without any blogging, I feel that I owe my readers an explanation. Basically, I've just been incredibly busy in the lab. I've had a lot of time on the NMR machines, and I've been trying to make the most of it. On top of that, and in addition to my other work around…

Yep, that's what I was up to last night. I've added some useful content to the left-hand sidebar of the site. Specifically, I've listed a few recommended books that readers of my blog might enjoy, and I've also listed several worthy science-related causes for prospective donors. The causes come…

This post doesn't have anything to do with science, but I felt the need to pay tribute to former Texas Governor Ann Richards, who passed away Wednesday. Elected in 1990, Richards led a bold wave of progressive reforms statewide, capitalizing on the Democrats' continued electoral support in Texas…

Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future by Jeff Goodell Houghton Mifflin: 2006. 352 pages. Buy now! (Amazon) Coal tends to inspire a few common images in our collective minds. Grizzled and hardened miners, working in deep, dark underground tunnels, piece by piece haul out the…

Since I reported yesterday on a letter in Science describing the current decline in funding of NIH (National Institutes of Health) R01 grants, several others have chimed in as well. PZ Myers of Pharyngula gave the post a mention, and Mike the Mad Biologist as well as Orac of Respectful Insolence…

In a letter in last week's issue of Science (subscription required), two scientists from the National Caucus of Basic Biomedical Science Chairs--H. George Mandel and Elliot S. Vesell--describe in detail the funding crisis currently plaguing American scientists. The authors demonstrate a shocking…

When I was a freshman in college, at Texas A&M University, on Tuesday and Thursday mornings I had two classes back-to-back in the same lecture hall. Because of a weird scheduling fluke, these classes were about 45 minutes apart, though. During that break, sometimes I would go eat breakfast,…

The Scientific Activist will be taking a break from Fantastical Fridays for a while, starting with last week. (Yes, I know, this post is a little late). Things have been pretty busy in the lab lately and that, combined with the fact that I haven't had home internet access for over a month (until…

Robert Trivers was the first to describe the theory of reciprocal altruism and Noam Chomsky is... well... Noam Chomsky is the man (not to be confused with The Man). What happens when you bring together in one room the evolutionary theorist who changed the way we think about cooperation and social…

Student Pugwash USA (SPUSA), an organization that encourages the inclusion of social responsibility considerations in our scientific dialogue, has started a new blog called MindFull. The blog has already tackled a variety of issues from "ethical stem cells" to defense policy, and it should be an…

OK, I'll admit that this is more than a little scary. In a recent entry, I expressed skepticism toward a recent finding in Nature that had been hailed as a way to extract "ethically sound" lines of human embryonic stem cells. The technique involves removing a single cell from an eight-cell…

...my internet connection, that is. So, it looks like, after a month-long saga involving many many many angry phone calls to BT, I finally have internet access in my home sweet home. Let the blogging resume in full force! Yay!

It's on now. Janet of Adventures in Ethics and Science has challenged us all to a nerd-off. It doesn't look like David Bowie is going to be there, but, hell, we can do better. Maybe James Watson? Anyways, here's the challenge: Perhaps not every ScienceBlogger is hot, but almost all of them are…

OK, bad news first. Although I was told I would have internet in my house today, I still don't, despite the militaristic tactics I've resorted to using with BT. However, BT tells me I should be online tomorrow. We'll see. Once that happens, I should be able to get back to some actual serious…

Yes, that's right, you're looking right at him (on the sidebar, at least). No? Go down a bit... ...a little bit more.... There you go. According to the blog Flags and Lollipops, yours truly is the third hottest science blogger (and the hottest male science blogger) on the internet. Yes, screw…

In the comments of a recent post, one reader asked for recommendations of good science-related causes to donate to. Not having much (or any) disposable income myself--being a poor grad student and all--I realized that I didn't have many suggestions myself. So, I asked around, and I found, not…

For such a small planet (or non-planet now), Pluto sure has been making waves the last couple of weeks. I haven't really weighed in and instead deferred to the experts. I'm not going to really say much now either, but, hell, I'll admit it. I'm going to miss Pluto. A lot. Losing Pluto shakes…

...but I needed an excuse to congratulate The Scientific Activist for it's 100th post since the move to ScienceBlogs.com. So, happy one-hundreth-post-iversary (huh?) to me! It's a sign of just how much more prolific I've been on the new site that what took over four months on the original site…

I don't have my copy yet of the latest edition of Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science, but I've been told that it's on its way. And, believe me, I'll bump it up to the top of my reading list when I get it, so you can expect a review sometime soon. I'm embarrassed to admit that I never…

...since Bush announced his restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, according to SexDrugsandDNA.com. Well, not exactly, but close enough. I think it's actually been five years and seventeen days, but who's counting? ... Ummm... anyways.... From the site that brought us the Bill Frist Stem…

...Or at least that's the impression that college freshmen with US Department of Education Smart Grants are getting, the The Chronicle of Higher Education reported Tuesday: Like a gap in the fossil record, evolutionary biology is missing from a list of majors that the U.S. Department of Education…