free stuff

I missed this note on Friday at the Wall Street Journal Health Blog but the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has made available some great new curricular resources through their Centers of Excellence for Physician Information Program (NIDA CoEs) (press release) "Physicians can be the first line of defense against substance abuse and addiction, but they need the resources and the training," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. "Our long term goal is for doctors to incorporate screening for drug use into routine practice like they currently screen for other diseases; to help patients…
Today's free book is "Hollywood Science: Movies, Science, and the End of the World" by Sydney Perkowitz. (If you click over the Amazon page linked above, you'll see a review by scibling Brian Switek of Laelaps.) Remember: To claim the book, be the first commenter to earnestly affirm that you will read and review the book in less than 6 months. Then send me your snail mail address via my science (dot) woman account on google's mail service.
Today's free book is "Einstein for Beginners" a comic style introduction to Einstein's life and work by Joseph Schwartz and Michael McGuiness To claim the book, be the first commenter to assiduously affirm that you will read and review the book in less than 6 months and then send me your snail mail address to science dot woman @ google's mail service.
I'm very busy this week, with visitors to our department, a stack of grading, and the usual drive to do more research and be a better mommy. Alice isn't in any better shape. I was wondering how I was going to write anything for the blog. And I was also contemplating a bookshelf full of books I'll never have time to read. A ha! I'll give the books to better homes via my blog...now that's effective multi-tasking. Three times this week, I'll be giving away a book from my shelf to the first reader who promises to read the book in a timely fashion ( The first book in our giveaway is "What are you…
Another duplicate Seed magazine has arrived in my mailbox, and just in time another great Scientiae has been posted. Be the first one to identify the authors of the following three quotes in the comments, and I'll send along the Universe in 2009 issue of Seed. It's another cool issue focusing on the all awesome innovations waiting on our scientific horizon. So far, I've particularly enjoyed the feature article on the "ecology of finance" and the Seed Salon where a physicist and a social scientist discuss how networks are becoming a dominant paradigm for investigating all sorts of phenomena.…
NIH has just announced the acceptance of applications for their 7th annual conference, Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research, 5-7 May, 2008. The National Institutes of Health's Office of Medical Applications of Research (OMAR) presents a free annual training opportunity to help develop journalists' ability to evaluate and report on medical research. Now in its seventh year, the course curriculum builds on the best of prior years' offerings to create an intensive learning experience with hands-on application. This year's course will be held on the campus of…
There was really nothing more I could add last week regarding all of the turmoil at/about the US Food and Drug Administration in the aftermath of the much-debated survey results, as covered by my SiBlings and elsewhere last week. A good many of us have colleagues and former classmates who work at FDA and are busting their humps to serve the public good despite the lack of scientific support and the abundance of political pressure. As evidence in defense of the folks at the front line at FDA, here is a very nice public-service education and drug safety program developed by FDA for kids…
A renowned, non-profit curriculum development organization in Colorado Springs, CO, called BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) has developed for NIH three FREE teaching modules for middle school teachers. The first is called, "Doing Science: The Process of Scientific Inquiry," and helps students in grades 7-8 to develop and refine their critical-thinking skills. The complete press release and info on the two other modules is below the fold. BTW, have I mentioned that these modules are FREE? I'm obviously committed to doing what I can to reverse the tide non-scientific intrusions…
No surprise here: a highly-regarded climatologist declares that the Bush administration is "muzzling government scientists" and covering up the facts about global warming. Warren Washington, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, said that Bush appointees are suppressing information about climate change, restricting journalists' access to federal scientists and rewriting agency news releases to stress global warming uncertainties. "The news media is not getting the full story, especially from government scientists," Washington told about 160 people…