MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'The Daily Transcript' source. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:54:27 +0100 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/456452978/grad_school_musical.php This was just sent to me by an unnamed source at UCSF: Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1968907 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:36:39 +0100 1968907 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/453108134/shameless_self_promotion_1.php If you were flipping through the latest issue of Cell, you may have noticed an article entitled Tough Challenges for the Next NIH Director. Yes, way at the bottom that's yours truly making some remarks about the problems of postdoc-hood and how the next NIH director may have to rethink the academic pipeline. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1960787 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 16:35:36 +0100 1960787 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/451940334/protein_expression_and_3_untra.php Traditionally, gene expression patterns were seen as mostly dependent on transcription ... yes those nasty bits of DNA that seemed to be ignored by most "science journalists". But the picture that is imerging is that transcription is looking more and more sloppy, and this "sloppyness" is built into the system so that the act of transcription tends to influence the organization of that part of the genome, regardless of what is being transcribed. It also appears that processes upstream of transcription, (such as mRNA processing, mRNA export and translation) play a greater role in determining expression patterns. In a recent issue of Current Biology there's a nice example of post-transcriptional regulation of genes. In their manuscript, Merritt et al., demonstrate that in the ovaries of C. e... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1960788 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:20:34 +0100 1960788 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/449739834/100_years_of_genetic_research.php If you missed it, today's NY Times Science section has been dedicated to "The Gene" a concept invented 99 years ago by Wilhelm Johanssen. Overall, the articles were very good, however as a scientist who wants to explain basic concepts of molecular biology to the masses, I have a few problems. First, there is a misplacement of emphasis on how information flows from DNA to phenotype. The idea that the articles try to convey is that in the old model went along theses lines: DNA contains genes, each is copied into RNAs that are then translated into a certain type of protein ... and then presto the end result is a fully formed organism. Now apparently the new model is that the DNA encodes more than genes, it has all sorts of weird stuff mostly noncoding-RNAs, and that there is mass confusion ... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1951958 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:24 +0100 1951958 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/448904483/nature_network_pub_night_with.php After a hiatus, Nature has relaunch its Pub Nights, but this time there's a twist. Here's the email that I just got from my good fiend Anna Kushnir: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1947242 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:43:52 +0100 1947242 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/448844533/a_good_weekend.php This weekend a group of postdocs and grad students got together for a spontaneous celebration. Yes, the economy is in the tank, job prospects for even us academics are looking worse, but over the past week we've all felt a sense of relief. To quote a cliché that has never felt more true, the nightmare is over. Perhaps now we could once again cherish what makes America so special for all of us. So there we were, Americans, Canadians, Germans, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese having a great time. We toasted to Obama and kissed an anti-American administration goodbye. You might be wondering, who are you guys to call Bush, his cronies and the greed-industrial complex anti-American? Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1947243 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:29:01 +0100 1947243 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/445696364/new_details_on_how_cytoplasmic.php There are plenty of large mRNA agregates in cells. In the past few years, two of these structures have gained quite a bit of attention, Stress Granules (SGs) and Processing Bodies (PBs). mRNAs in SGs are loaded with 48S complex, which consists of the small ribosomal subunit, the cap binding complex (aka eiF4F) and the eIF3 complex. SGs are transient structures that are formed in cells experiencing stress such as arsenite, elevated temperatures and amino acid starvation. The key step in forming these structures is the inactivation of eIF2alpha, the protein that carries the initiator tRNA-methionine to the 48S complex. mRNAs that get shuttled into SGs are thought to be stored for future use. PBs on the other hand are present in most cells constitutively (that means all the time). What's in... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1943392 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:25:03 +0100 1943392 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/445020154/the_fight_continues_the_first.php The following was lifted from an email I sent to a friend yesterday. I've since modified it by incorporating David Brooks and Paul Krugman's columns as they clearly support my arguement that the framing wars have begun - it is a critical time and we must all continue the fight. OK here the email: As for Obama, the expectations are high, maybe too high. But politics is a constant battle. We progressives have won a major victory for now, but there's still more to do. We'll see if Obama makes the right moves to enact change, or if the whole thing collapses either due to the DLC, pressure from the GOP, or disarray from within the Dems. Right now there is a struggle to define just what his victory means. Gerson, Rove and others are launching their attack by pointing out that Obama ran as a cen... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1943393 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:45:37 +0100 1943393 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/443720259/economic_woes_hit_academic_job.php From confidential sources I have heard of at least two academic institutions, one in the Boston area and one on the West Coast, that have canceled their new faculty searches due to the current financial crisis. How widespread is the problem? We'll have to wait and see. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1939162 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:05:48 +0100 1939162 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/443256728/the_morning_after.php Just like a giant, well controlled, negative result right wing ideology has been repudiated. If I were a card-carrying member of the GOP, I would take a long look at the last 8 years, and a hard look at the demographics of this election. I won't reiterate my displeasure of libertarian fundamentalism with respect to the market, instead we'll be looking at what happened yesterday. Here are some eye popping numbers for you: In 2050 more than 50% of American will be a member of a racial minority group, be it Hispanic, Black or Asian. So how did they vote? Black: 95% Obama, 4% McCain Hispanic: 66%, 31% Asian: 62%, 35% And for Joe the Plumber who spouted this nonesense that a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel Jews: 77% Obama, 22% McCain If I were a Repulican, I would look to see... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1939163 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 13:50:02 +0100 1939163 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/441448177/cheesy_review_titles.php C'mon you've all seen them. Here's one I just spotted in the most recent issue of Molecular Cell: Methed-Up FOXOs Can't In-Akt-ivate Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1933290 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:21:49 +0100 1933290 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/441029179/why_the_vast_majority_of_scien.php OK this will hopefully be my last entry on the election - From Seed's endorsement of Obama to the comments of various bloggers on ScienceBlogs and elsewhere it is obvious where most scientists stand on the political spectrum, but why? Yes, it is true that most scientists I know are lefties in when compared to the American political landscape. Is it that surprising that those who pursue a career in discovering deeper truths also tend to be slightly idealistic? But these statements neglect a deeper truth, this being the fundamental problem with American conservatism in 2008. In the past 30 years scientists, and other professionals, have felt alienated from the GOP. The GOP has become griped by an ideology, that of free-market fundamentalism. As in all ideologies, this core belief has been... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1933292 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:37:25 +0100 1933292 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/437632744/dumping_on_fly_research.php This is what happens when a politician gets advice from political operatives instead of professionals who have dedicated their lives to understanding the topic in question. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1924519 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:36:49 +0100 1924519 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/437423172/combining_high_thoughput_scree.php I have a second to blog - forgive me if it's full of typos (chances are, if you read this blog on a regular basis you're use to them) but it has been a while and I need to get back into the swing of things. Last week, Jonathan Weissman came over to Harvard Medical School. I had the opportunity not only to hear him talk but also to attend a dinner with Dr Weissman and a handful of fellow postdocs. The Weissman lab has perfected a particular type of science, one that combines high throughput technologies and small reductionalist biology. This approach is the future of biomolecular science. Let's take an example. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1924520 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:43:30 +0100 1924520 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/430705194/tid_bits_financial_crisis_edit.php The New York Times Editorial Board on Proposition 1: Courting Chaos in Massachusetts From NPR, Brian Lehrer interviews Naomi Klein. Also check out her latest book, The Shock Doctrine. And if you missed it here's Klein on the Colbert Report: Note trhat even Colbert is shocked by Klein's last line on the prison industrial complex. Thomas Frank, Columnist for the Wall Street Journal and author of What's the Matter with Kansas?, wrote an excellent expose on how right wing ideology drove the current wave of corruption in Washington. This new book is called The Wrecking Crew and I highly recommend it. Alan Greenspan on the unfettered free market: Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity, myself included, are in a state of... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1905948 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:09:13 +0100 1905948 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/428529243/proposition_1.php If you live in Massachusetts, one of the most important votes you'll be casting is for or against proposition 1. What is proposition 1? It's the right-wing libertarian delusion that the best government is no government. Written by that societal piranha, Grover Norquist, proposition 1 would cut the state income tax by half next year and eliminate it by the following year. Now let's get this straight, no one likes paying taxes, but running a state costs money. And in this financial climate where the state can expect less revenue from property taxes, sales taxes and income taxes, and when joblessness and homelessness and other societal problems are likely to rise, the proper functioning of the government is even more crucial. Eliminating the income tax can either lead to a decrease in gover... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1901579 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:59:19 +0100 1901579 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/427971282/secasecy_the_subject_of_a_thou.php Yesterday I wrote to you about the great work that came out of the Rapoport lab describing how the SecA motor pumps secreted proteins across the protein conducting channel, SecY (aka the translocon). Today I would like to make a couple of remarks on the publication of these results in the last issue of Nature. First, let's start off with the cover. Now what in the world were they thinking when they chose that title? Channel hopping??? For any non-Brits, "channel hopping" is slang for crossing the English Channel ... get it? And yes, I realize that Nature is a British rag, but this title is just too cute and UNINFORMATIVE - why do all the journals do this? Just look at Cell's Pop-art covers - are the science journals overrun with new PR-type gurus who think that they can sell more issues... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1895035 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:12:48 +0100 1895035 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/426546596/come_one_come_all_and_witness.php Last week was a big one for the Rapoport lab. Throughout my years here, I've come to realy apreciate how structure biology can realy lead to insight. In the latest issue of Nature, two papers describe how proteins are pumped out of cells by the SecA secretory protein. Background: You can divide proteins into three classes, those that stay inside the cell, those that are pumped out of the cell and those that must be incorporated into the membrane. The problem with the last two classes of proteins is that they must cross a membrane. This is accomplished by the translocon, a protein conducting channel that is conserved throughout life. In bacteria it is reffered to as SecY and in eukaryotes (that wuld be us), Sec61. Secreated proteins completly traverse the channel while membrane bound prot... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1895036 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:00:43 +0100 1895036 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/421698361/gfp_researchers_endorse_obama.php A message from Marty Chalfie, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of GFP: Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883371 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:48:59 +0100 1883371 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/421687891/the_canadian_election_my_2_cen.php You may not have noticed, but yesterday, the US's largest trading partner had an election. Watching the returns with my wife, I was struck yet again how different Canada is from US. Just like Americans, Canadians get upset at the government, but unlike Americans, Canadians want the government to work and are ready to punish their leaders if they feel like they are getting screwed. About three elections ago, the Liberals were punished for a financial scandal (incredibly small for US standards, but too big for the patience of most Canadians). What was the result? In 2004 Canadians couldn't vote Conservative, because most of the population is just not conservative enough, so the Liberals lost many seats in parliament but held on to enough ridings to form a minority government. The government ... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883372 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 16:36:08 +0100 1883372 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/420996527/george_palade_19112008.php Last week one of the fathers of Cell Biology died. I found out Friday during happy hour - but I just haven't had the time to write anything until now. George Palade and Keith Porter, were the first scientists to peer into the depths of the cell using electron microscopy (EM). This all started in 1945 when Keith Porter, a researcher at Rockefeller University, snapped the first known EM micrograph (right). A year later Palade joined Albert Claude's group to work on the electron microscopy of large structures isolated from tissue culture cells. Palade and Porter started a revolution - they were the first to see ribosomes, the endoplasmic reticulum and countless other subcellular structures. Much about what we know about the cell can be traced back to Palade's famous EM studies from the 50s a... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1879915 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:05:18 +0100 1879915 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/416047106/npr_interview_with_douglas_pra.php Over the past two days, many have pointed out that the one person left out of the Nobel Prize was Douglas Prasher, researcher who cloned GFP from jellyfish, Aequorea victoria. Sadly, Prasher lost his funding and his lab just after he performed the ground work that led to Chalfie and (some of) Tsien's Nobel Prize winning work. It turns out that NPR recently found Prasher - he's now driving a bus in Huntsville, Alabama. Listen to the interview here. As one former colleague states, his case is an example of "a staggering waste of talent". (ht: Abel) For more on GFP, visit Marc Zimmer's History of GFP page. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1865520 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:57:55 +0100 1865520 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/414805026/microscopists_of_the_world_cel.php From the Nobel site: 8 October 2008 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2008 jointly to Osamu Shimomura, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA, USA and Boston University Medical School, MA, USA, Martin Chalfie, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA and Roger Y. Tsien, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP". Well I certainly nailed this one. In fact I got up this morning thinking, "let's find out if Tsien got the Nobel". This is a well deserved prize. Flip open any biomedical journal and you'll see why - Green Fluorescent Protein (aka GFP) is probably the most used gene in the world. It is safe to say that you can clearly div... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1862804 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:06:16 +0100 1862804 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/413123115/ig_nobel_pics.php Here are some photos from last week's Ig Nobels: First up a group photo of my companions for the evening, including (from right to left) Stephanie Miller, Karl Erlandson, Anna Kushnir and baymate (who is apparently signing an ode to the Ig Nobels). Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1859580 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:27:19 +0100 1859580 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/412785951/nobel_for_viralbased_diseases.php Well I was slightly off in my prediction (but not too far): If you wanted a discovery that dramatically changed life, how about anti-HIV drugs? (I'm not clear on the history here, you'll have to tell me who are responsible or if this is feasible). Of course this prize will raise the issue of the pharmas vs. providers of generic drugs ... Instead the Nobel prize selection committee did one better and gave the prize for the basic (and controversial) discovery of the HIV virus by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier. The discovery of the Papilloma virus by Harald zur Hausen was also important as it was one of the few viruses linked to cancer (in this case cervical cancer). The awards are well deserved. If I have time today I'll try to write more on these topics. 2008 Prize in Phy... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1859581 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:08:18 +0100 1859581 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/410246999/nikons_small_world_competition.php (Fresh water rotifer feeding among debris (200x). First prize 2001, Harold Taylor - Kensworth, UK) Now in it's 35th year, Nikon's Small World Photomicrography Competition is one of the biggest events in the microscopy world. The finalists of this year's competition are up at http://www.nikonsmallworld.com/. You have until October 10th to vote for your favorite. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1852644 Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:16:48 +0100 1852644 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/409400354/big_event_tonight.php Some words come to mind, wacky, crazy and fun. Give up? Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1851042 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:20:26 +0100 1851042 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/408360924/gaze_into_the_crystal_ball_nob_2.php This is the third year that I update this list of potential winners. A warning, the list is highly biased towards basic biomedical research. In addition, some of the prizes may be more appropriate for the Chemistry prize. We'll start with my favorite, Membrane Traffic. This finding is one of the most basic discoveries in cell biology. The two obvious winners would be James Rothman and Randy Schekman. Last year there was a rumor that intracellular signalling may win. Tony Hunter could get it for phospho-tyrosine, Tony Pawson for protein signalling domains, and Allan Hall for small G-protein switches. Maybe Lew Cantley for modifiable lipid signals. Structure of the first virus. Steven Harrison and Michael Rossman. Structure and function of the ribosome. Here the list is long. Some have ... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1844772 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:50:22 +0100 1844772 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/407752429/financial_crisis_some_links_on.php One great aspect of the Internet is the amount of information that is to be found out there. Here are some links about the current financial crisis. First up, a discussion between Bill Moyers and Kevin Phillips from the site: Bill Moyers sits down with former Nixon White House strategist and political and economic critic Kevin Phillips, whose latest book BAD MONEY: RECKLESS FINANCE, FAILED POLITICS, AND THE GLOBAL CRISIS OF AMERICAN CAPITALISM explores the role that the crumbling financial sector played in the now-fragile American economy. Next up a couple of recent shows from This American Life. The first episode is from way back in May when the increase in foreclosures started rising rapidly, The Giant Pool of Money. The second show was from a few weeks ago (Enforcers). Part II of thi... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1844773 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:23:38 +0100 1844773 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/403196322/obama_mccain_in_nature.php Umm ... Seriously, the latest issue of Nature has a special section on the US presidential election, including another Q&A with the candidates: Barack Obama accepted Nature's invitation to answer 18 science-related questions in writing; John McCain's campaign declined. Obama's answers to many of the questions are printed here; answers to additional questions (on topics including biosecurity, the nuclear weapons laboratories and US participation in international projects) can be found at www.nature.com/uselection. Wherever possible, Nature has noted what McCain has said at other times on these topics. Link to the Nature article. Link to Nature's election coverage. Link to ScienceDebate's Top 14 Questions. (photo courtesy of Ed from Not Exactly Rocket Science) Read the comments on this... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1833245 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:03:49 +0100 1833245 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/403057205/a_change_in_nih_leadership.php Elias A. Zerhouni, is stepping down as head of the National Institutes of Health. I heard about the announcement last night at the NERD meeting. Many were happy. Many blog commentators have added their two cents. Here are mine: 1) He's stepping down real soon (the end of October). Why so quickly? Did something happen? And why is this happening just before the elections and not closer to January when the next administration takes over? 2) Zerhouni is an MD, and under his direction there has been more of an emphasis on translational-research and less on basic research. (Read all about it at the NIH Roadmap).You can imagine that most basic researchers have felt neglected. Thus the big question is Will the next NIH director be an MD or a PhD? Or perhaps as a compromise, we could get the som... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1833246 Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:59:28 +0100 1833246 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/401158694/open_access_under_attack.php I'm back from Toronto. And now I'm just trying to keep up with all the crap I haven't dealt with in the last few days. Tomorrow we have an RNA Data club meeting (info here) and then I got this interesting email about some terrible legislation that might actually come to a vote tomorrow: On September 11, 2008, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (Rep. John Conyers, D-MI) introduced a bill that would effectively reverse the NIH Public Access Policy, as well as make it impossible for other federal agencies to put similar policies into place. The legislation is HR6845: "Fair Copyright in Research Works Act". You can read more about the intentions of this legislation here. Please contact your Representative and Senators no later than September 24, 2008 to express your support for p... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1825782 Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:09:23 +0100 1825782 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/395601352/off_to_toronto.php My posting frequency may go down as I will be off to Toronto for a little while. There I'll be meeting up with Larry Moran and checking out what it means to be a Torontonian. (Larry, it looks like I'll win the bet, but we won't know for sure untill after Nov. 2nd.) Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1806331 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:57:21 +0100 1806331 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/393739112/mirna_pioneers_take_the_lasker.php I'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 findings (along with RNAi in general) have led to one of the most important conceptual advances in biology within the past few decades. -Boston Globe article -Video from the Lasker site Read the comm... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1798190 Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:31:18 +0100 1798190 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/393623490/lets_talk_about_the_facts_this_1.php Here 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 Minerals Management Service (MMS), part of the U.S. Department of the Interior responsible for leasing tracts to oil and gas companies and collecting the royalties on them ... has estimated that there a... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1798191 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:40:31 +0100 1798191 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/391874490/blogging_about_politics_update.php Well 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 visit. And just to show that the Canadian elections can also be idiotic, here's a clip for you: Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1791650 Sat, 13 Sep 2008 23:59:14 +0100 1791650 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/390987603/pubget_the_next_step_in_the_ev.php WOW! 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: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1788745 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:58:19 +0100 1788745 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/390643172/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_7.php We 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 of our current and ex-soldiers. Let's look at his voting record: McCain voted against the Webb amendment calling for adequate troop rest between deployments. McCain voted against an amendment that ... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1788746 Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:49:54 +0100 1788746 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/389883847/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_6.php In 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 exist quite a bit of data comparing the stats between different countries. Here the story is quite clear, the more religious a country is the higher the incidence of teenage pregnancy, teenage abortion... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1785991 Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:22:11 +0100 1785991 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/388795678/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_5.php A 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 are to get a divorce. That's the facts. From a famous study from the Barna group: Religion, % have been divorced Jews 30% Born-again Christians 27% Other Christians 24% Atheists, Agnostics 21% Y... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1785992 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:04:12 +0100 1785992 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/387049117/back_after_a_delay.php Sorry 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 is by far the best book I've read in the past few years. And if you've never read it be sure to get a copy of her other great book, No Logo. PPS There's a Documentary out on Klein's book directed by... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1779288 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:58:35 +0100 1779288 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/381364871/lets_talk_about_the_facts_this.php This 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. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1754750 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:24:06 +0100 1754750 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/378898452/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_4.php And 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 better. Money for alternative energy research has been flat through both Democrat and Republican Administrations. You would think that after 9/11 there would be a push for this type of research. Here's t... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1746355 Sat, 30 Aug 2008 13:41:41 +0100 1746355 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/378860057/saturday_morning_video_5.php This 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. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1746356 Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:18:32 +0100 1746356 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/378324323/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_3.php One 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. Hundreds of thousand dead for what? I was against the Iraq war, but even worse than this misguided adventure was the fact that we failed to rebuild the country after we got rid of the regime. Why did w... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1742779 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:59:37 +0100 1742779 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/378036280/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_2.php Conclusions: The gap between U.S. and Canadian spending on health care administration has grown to $752 per capita. A large sum might be saved in the United States if administrative costs could be trimmed by implementing a Canadian-style health care system. Ref: Steffie Woolhandler Costs of Health Care Administration in the United States and Canada NEJM (03) 349:768-775 So who's in touch with reality? Those who believe in invisible hands, or those looking at the situation on the ground? Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1742780 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:30:17 +0100 1742780 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/377661356/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_1.php Again here's a simple graph that says it all. And they say that Democrats are fiscally irresponsible. Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739211 Fri, 29 Aug 2008 02:46:58 +0100 1739211 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/377109788/bill_clinton_tells_america_to.php Instead 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: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739212 Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:56:20 +0100 1739212 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/376484586/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele.php Fact #1: There's a clear difference between Obama and McCain on taxes. (ht: Digby, Crooks and Liars, Washington Post) Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739213 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:37:12 +0100 1739213 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/transcript/~3/376145194/political_check_in_kucinich_an.php Last 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: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1739214 Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:30:51 +0100 1739214