apalazzo | September 15, 2008I've been neglecting science lately but I just wanted to point out that Victor Ambros, Gary Ruvkun and David Baulcombe just won the Lasker Award in Basic Sciences for their work on miRNAs, small non-coding RNAs that are encoded in the genome. These 19-23 nucleotide long RNAs regulate the stability, localization and translation of mRNAs and have been implicated in almost every biological process from stem cells, to cancer to development.
Ambrose and Ruvkin are well known for their work on miRNAs and worm development, while the lesser known Baulcombe made similar discoveries in plants. These…
apalazzo | September 15, 2008Here we are going to look at the best available figures for offshore drilling, specifically the areas that are currently off-limits. That's what the fight is about.
First, how much oil we consume and how much we "produce":
The bottom line is that we consume a heck-of-a-lot more, close to twice what we currently produce.
And how much more could we get "offshore" from areas that are currently off-limits? Well if you comb all the literature out there, the simple answer is that we don't really know. Here's the closest that I've been able to get from an article in Scientific American:
The…
apalazzo | September 15, 2008Again here's a simple graph that says it all.
And they say that Democrats are fiscally irresponsible.
apalazzo | September 14, 2008We've been told by the talking heads on teevee that Americans will decide this election based not on the issues but on personality. However, as a scientist I firmly believe that we must make conclusions based on the data. In this series of posts, I'll try to give you access to all the available facts.
So let's start off with taxes, there's a clear difference between Obama and McCain's plans.
(ht: Digby, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post)
apalazzo | September 13, 2008Well since the current US election has taken over my blog, I've done a couple of things. First, I've created a new category Election '08 where you can find all my rants on this year's federal elections. Second, I've joined a new group blog, A Vote for Science. About nine of us sb bloggers will be contributing and the site will be up shortly is live, go check it out.
And yes, elections have also been called in my home country. For the record, I have been living in the US for 11 years now but that might be changing in the near future. In fact, I'll be up in Toronto late next week for a quick…
apalazzo | September 12, 2008WOW! This website is order of magnitude better then Pubmed. I am totally converted!
And check this out, on the top right hand corner of Pubget are direct links to all the top journals:
(here's a close up)
With one click, BAM! You can browse through Science!
To try out Pubget, click here. And while you're at it, visit the facebook page here.
apalazzo | September 12, 2008We ask our volunteer army to go out and fight for our country, the least we could do in return is to treat them well, regardless of whether any one of us supported the decision to send the army in the first place. One of the best pieces of legislation ever to be passed was the GI bill - it send many WWII vets off to college and helped build the large middle class. In contrast, the Bush administration has treated its soldiers and vet like crap. But let's focus on John McCain, of all politicians we should have expected that HE would have supported legislation that would have improved the lives…
apalazzo | September 11, 2008In a comment to yesterday's post Rev Matt stated:
There is also a correlation between teen pregnancy and religion.
I tried to look up the stats for the US and couldn't find any. What I discovered (mostly from this study) was that in the US religiosity correlates with a lower rate of contraception use (not surprising), a delay in the age of a person's first sexual experience (not that surprising) and a decrease in abortion. So in the US it is not clear what the correlation is between teen pregnancy and religiosity. (If any one can find that data, let me know.)
ON THE OTHER HAND there does…
apalazzo | September 10, 2008A certain segment of the US population is obsessed with "family values" and the "culture wars". This has been on full display ever since Sarah Palin was nominated as McCain VP. But let's face it, the facts are often at odds with the religious right's core beliefs. This idea that the country's problems have to do with a lack of "family values" and the spread of "liberal, secular ideals" is wrong on so many levels.
So where to start? Well I'm here to point out some facts. And here's one for you: divorce correlates with religiosity. Yes it's true, the more religious you are the more likely you…
apalazzo | September 8, 2008Sorry folks, my new apartment is not yet hooked up to the web and on top of that I was down in NYC last week. As a result no new posts. And no facts ... but as soon as I have some time I'll continue that series. If you have some facts or stats about the current state of the US please post it (them) and alert me. These last few years have culminated into a horrible empirical result, a GOP lead government leads to failure. However the focus of this election has not been on that simple fact but instead seems to be about CRAP.
PS Over the weekend I picked up Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine, it…
apalazzo | September 2, 2008This weekend I moved from the Backbay to Cambridgeport, aka Junior Faculty ghetto. It's conveniently located at the near BU, Harvard and MIT. It is probably one of the most overeducated (if such a term existed) neighborhoods on the planet.
So, in today's "let's talk about the facts" entry I'll encorage you to check out JuniorProf's entry.
apalazzo | August 30, 2008And I won't even talk about the whole Global Warming issue. Governmental funding of science is fundamentally important to our economic future.
First let's look at funding for the National Institutes of Health, the main source of money for biomedical research in the US:
Joseph j7uy5 @ Corpus Callosum points out:
I can't help but notice that the funding leveled off the same year that the Iraq War started.
How about the Physical Sciences, Engineering, Math & Computer Sciences? They have all flat-lined since GWB came to power:
On the biggest issues of our time, energy, the story is no…
apalazzo | August 30, 2008This one is dedicated to the residents of New Orleans who for the past three years have been rebuilding that beautiful city.
Long live The Big Easy.
apalazzo | August 29, 2008One of America's strengths was that people looked up to the US. In WWII soldiers would give up to the US on purpose, because they knew that they would be treated fairly. How do I know this - my grandfather who fought for the Italians was one of them. Imagine that power. You are so highly regarded that your enemies would rather give up to you than fight you.
But we've squandered that. In the name of fighting terror, we torture. In the name of justice, we invade a country without justification. And it's worse then that - we actually bombed a country and then fail to build it back up again.…
apalazzo | August 29, 2008I'm Canadian. Back when I lived in Canada, health insurance was never a worry. Sure you might have to wait a bit before you got it, but you could always count on being sen by a doctor when ever something is wrong. If you want you can get additional health insurance that will pay for upgrades, but almost all Canadians will never let go of Universal Healthcare. But what is the situation down here in my adopted land? (I've lived in the US for ten years) The Democrats want to change things, they recognize that the system is broken. In contrast the GOP claims that the status quo is just fine, that…
apalazzo | August 28, 2008Again here's a simple graph that says it all.
And they say that Democrats are fiscally irresponsible.
apalazzo | August 28, 2008Instead of vague platitudes, Clinton uses empiricism to make his points in last night's speech - America needs to look at what happened over the past 8 years. From last night's speech:
The choice is clear. The Republicans in a few days will nominate a good man who has served our country heroically and who suffered terribly in a Vietnamese prison camp. He loves his country every bit as much as we do. As a senator, he has shown his independence of right-wing orthodoxy on some very important issues.
But on the two great questions of this election -- how to rebuild the American dream and how to…
apalazzo | August 27, 2008Fact #1: There's a clear difference between Obama and McCain on taxes.
(ht: Digby, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post)
apalazzo | August 27, 2008Last night we spent the night at the Cambridge Brewing company and said goodbye to Marius Wernig who is leaving today to start his lab at Stanford. If you are looking for a lab working on a hot topic and want a patient smart and generous mentor APPLY TO HIS LAB. Trust me. (To read more, click here.)
When we got home we watched Clinton's speech at the MSNBC site. It was great. If you missed it, I'll present it to you via the magic of the intertubes:
She said all the right things - "we can't sit on the sidelines" - McCain is just more of Bush. I hope that will convince all these lingering…
apalazzo | August 24, 2008Joe Biden. How do I feel about the pick? It's okay, nothing to get excited over. At least when Biden attacks McCain, the media will echo it.
So we spent the day packing and listening to all the "pundits" on all the MSM websites. It is amazing how vacuous all these shows are. Not one iota of useful information. All sound bites that mean nothing. Listening to all this crap can really fry your brain. Is this why after such a disastrous 8 years McSame is only 2 points behind Obama? And what's up with all this Clinton supporters who are leaning on the fence towards McCain. I know that PP and Gwen…