Tonight I attended the twitter-inspired 'Blue skies ahead?' debate in which science minister Lord Paul Drayson gamely engaged a youthful panel (and audience) of scientists on 'the prospects for UK science'.
The first half of the debate was dominated by one word: 'impact'. It's an unfortunate word choice, really: it's vague, loaded and unidirectional, suggesting science impacts society but not the other way around. There was lively disagreement regarding the extent to which science funding should hinge on retrospective and/or predicted impact.
As evidenced by my flush of tweets during and after the event, I have a lot to say about 'impact', but in this post I'm going to set aside my opinions and instead tell a personal story of how 'impact' impacted me.
I wouldn't have thought to tell this story (it happened a while ago and as it has a happy ending I don't give it too much thought anymore), but after two respected tweeps, Ed Yong and Evidence Matters, specifically asked for it, I thought it might merit daylight.
In 2002, shiny new PhD in hand, I was looking for a job in the UK. I was casting a wide net, applying and interviewing for not only postdoctoral research positions but also assistant editorships at peer-reviewed journals and various jobs involving popular science communication. During my PhD years, I had enjoyed writing and communicating science to both expert and non-expert audiences, and moreover I think it is a scientist's civic duty to engage the broader public, to improve general science literacy but also to pave the way for future science funding.
One of the postdoc fellowships for which I interviewed seemed perfect; the project addressed some fascinating evolutionary developmental-genetic questions using a range of new and old techniques, the lab seemed like it was thriving, and the lab head had written books and popular science articles which I not only admired but which also suggested that he might be a good mentor for that element of my training.
My interview seemed to go very well: my CV was strong, I was happy with my presentation, I had good discussions with the lab head and the other members of the lab during which I asked questions, made suggestions and I even proposed an experiment that it turned out they hadn't thought of yet.
At one point during my interview, I mentioned how keen I was to stay active in public outreach, through writing and perhaps other forms of engagement, and that I admired his own accomplishments in that area.
And that's where it all went wrong. In a sudden change of tone, the lab head started asking me probing questions about my commitment to the project, suggesting that I might not be up to seeing it through. He said I might be more suited to a career as a journal editor or science communicator. I reiterated my commitment to the research project, and said that I thought that shouldn't preclude engagement with the wider public; indeed, his own success in both research and popular science writing showed that it was possible to do both, and to do them well.
But it was too late. He had made up his mind. He wanted the people in his lab to have their noses to the research grindstone; he saw public outreach as icing on the cake, something you did only once you'd achieved success in your research career and were running your own lab.
Sure enough, a few weeks later he emailed me to say he'd decided to give the job to someone else. He cited his concern about my 'level of interest and commitment to the project', repeating a phrase he had used the day of the interview after I'd divulged my sordid secret interest in improving public understanding of science.
For a while I had some regret, but then I came to realize that it was better this way. I'm glad I didn't go to his lab only to find out too late that my 'extra-curricular' interests wouldn't be looked upon favorably.
Ultimately I found a job at an institution with a genuine commitment to both scientific research and public engagement with science. There will always be a natural tension between the two - after all, there are only so many hours in the day and science is a demanding career - but I'm glad to be in a place where public outreach isn't considered a character flaw.
Coming back to the 'Blue skies ahead' debate, I hope my story illustrates what every research scientist already knows: career progression depends primarily on one's (peer-reviewed) publication record and, to a lesser extent, one's history of winning research grants. Anything that takes time away from these two activities is therefore by definition a drag on one's career. Many of us do it anyways, because we enjoy it and think it's important. But there will not be any significant increase in the number of scientists engaging in public outreach until recognition of these activities is incorporated into research career progression criteria.
Showing posts with label little ol' me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label little ol' me. Show all posts
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
Sunday, 6 September 2009
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Saved by Science (NHM) Photo Series
I'm now six installments into a twitter photo series I've been calling "Saved by Science (NHM)" and I've decided I'm enjoying myself enough to warrant formalizing it a bit more.
It all started when I was browsing SEED magazine's special Darwin bicentenary collection (as a professional Darwin groupie is wont to do) and saw a link to an article by Carl Zimmer called 'The Awe of Natural History Collections'. I clicked it (as an Natural History Museum employee is wont to do) and was immediately enthralled, from the subtitle--'visiting the hidden side of natural history museums, where the vast collections of scientific specimens are kept'--through to the end. It's a real Zimmer gem, if you ask me.
Anyways, the article links to an audio slide show by Justine Cooper called "Saved by Science". It's not your average window-dressing to an article, it absolutely steals the show. And considering how good Carl Zimmer's writing is, that's really saying something. It's a brilliant piece of stand-alone journalism. Some of the slides are astonishingly intimate and poignant. Go there now and watch (and listen to) the whole thing.
I was immediately struck by the familiarity of the photographs. They were so similar to scenes I'd witnessed myself at the Natural History Museum in London, where I work. And then I realized that there was a communication void just waiting to be filled; I realized that I really should start taking candid behind-the-scenes photos at 'my' museum along the same lines as Justine Cooper's photos of AMNH.
And so began "Saved by Science (NHM)", a series of tweets (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...) with my Cooperesque NHM photos attached as twitpics. Of course, my photos are usually taken with my iPhone, not a large-format camera, and of course they're not nearly as good as Cooper's, but the point is to reveal the hidden side of the Natural History Museum to a wider audience.
To keep up on my series you can follow me on twitter, but as twitter is a pretty ephemeral thing, and as not everyone tweets (I know--shocking), and as I'd hate for the series to get lost in that ever-growing graveyard of old, unarchived tweets, I've created a permanent archive on my website.
It all started when I was browsing SEED magazine's special Darwin bicentenary collection (as a professional Darwin groupie is wont to do) and saw a link to an article by Carl Zimmer called 'The Awe of Natural History Collections'. I clicked it (as an Natural History Museum employee is wont to do) and was immediately enthralled, from the subtitle--'visiting the hidden side of natural history museums, where the vast collections of scientific specimens are kept'--through to the end. It's a real Zimmer gem, if you ask me.
Anyways, the article links to an audio slide show by Justine Cooper called "Saved by Science". It's not your average window-dressing to an article, it absolutely steals the show. And considering how good Carl Zimmer's writing is, that's really saying something. It's a brilliant piece of stand-alone journalism. Some of the slides are astonishingly intimate and poignant. Go there now and watch (and listen to) the whole thing.I was immediately struck by the familiarity of the photographs. They were so similar to scenes I'd witnessed myself at the Natural History Museum in London, where I work. And then I realized that there was a communication void just waiting to be filled; I realized that I really should start taking candid behind-the-scenes photos at 'my' museum along the same lines as Justine Cooper's photos of AMNH.
And so began "Saved by Science (NHM)", a series of tweets (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...) with my Cooperesque NHM photos attached as twitpics. Of course, my photos are usually taken with my iPhone, not a large-format camera, and of course they're not nearly as good as Cooper's, but the point is to reveal the hidden side of the Natural History Museum to a wider audience.
To keep up on my series you can follow me on twitter, but as twitter is a pretty ephemeral thing, and as not everyone tweets (I know--shocking), and as I'd hate for the series to get lost in that ever-growing graveyard of old, unarchived tweets, I've created a permanent archive on my website.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Darwinius has left the building
So there I was earlier today, minding my own business at home (I attached a day of annual leave to the bank holiday weekend in order to take care of a few pressing things like, apparently, writing this blog post), and all the while, over at my workplace, the over-hyped but nevertheless stunningly complete and aesthetically beautiful fossil Darwinius messilae was on display for a few hours on its way from New York to Oslo.
The brief display was occasion for a press conference (or is it the other way around?), but there was also a short time during which staff were invited to viewIda* the fossil. I found out at about 3pm when I stumbled across a BBC News story which led me to an NHM press release:
You can imagine how I felt when my colleague told me that the staff viewing time had ended at 2pm and that the fossil was no longer in the building. Actually, you don't have to imagine how I felt because my disappointment is documented for posterity on twitter (thanks to Rowan and Mun-Keat for the consolatory tweets).
The wave of disappointment that washed over me, though, was quickly followed by introspection. Why was I so disappointed? Had I actually succumbed to the hype? I could tell you (and more importantly, myself) that I was just disappointed not to get to see a beautiful, complete 47-million-year-old primate fossil, but if I'm honest, I have to admit that I also wanted to see the the source of all the commotion and get to feel like an insider. So I did succumb, but more in the way gawkers slow down to look at traffic accidents than in an "OMG THE MISSING LINK" way. Following this analysis, I felt a little less disappointed. Hooray for analysis!
Of course, this doesn't mean that tomorrow morning on my way up to my newish digs in Phase II of the NHM's Darwin Centre I won't stop off and have a look at the cast of Darwinius, which, though not the real thing is still one of maybe only two casts in the world (the other at the AMNH in New York).
But seeing the cast won't quite make up for not seeing the real thing (Rowan Hooper tweets that the cast doesn't quite do the original justice), and I still will have missed the press conference, which would have been interesting because, judging by the BBC video coverage, Jørn Hurum (the most hyperbolic of the scientific authors) and David Attenborough seem to be toning down the hype a little:
Attenborough even says - tellingly - that Darwin "would have been absolutely riveted by it - I have no doubt about that, and he would - I am sure - have sat and looked at it and thought about it - probably for a decade - before he said anything about it. Maybe that's quite a wise thing to do." Might this final sentence signal that David Attenborough feels a twinge of regret about the way the project was handled?
Similarly, Rowan Hooper's blog and video coverage of the event shows Hurum apparently backpedaling a bit in the face of recent criticism that the paper was weak on evolutionary analysis - I can only imagine he's referring to Brian Switek's excellent critques of the scientific paper - by claiming that this only ever meant to be a descriptive paper and that a more rigorous phylogenetic analysis was still in the pipeline.
But there's a problem: as Rowan Hooper writes, "Phylogeny [evolutionary history], he says, is not the most important part of the paper, and is only mentioned in the discussion. But, of course, it is the phylogeny of Ida - and the claims that it is an ancient human ancestor - that have made it such a big news story."
*Like pretty much everyone else, I have been using the nickname "Ida" for Darwinius massilae, but I'm stopping today for three reasons: 1) the ICZN have - at short notice - worked their proverbial tails off to guarantee the nomenclature of this specimen, and calling it "Ida" seems to me to diminish their efforts specifically and the importance of nomenclature generally, 2) I feel a little queasy about how one of the paper's authors, Jørn Hurum, has been fanning the hype, saying things like "this is the first link to all humans" (whatever that means), and he's the one who named the fossil "Ida" so using it feels like an approbation 3) "Darwinius" has a nice ring to it.
The brief display was occasion for a press conference (or is it the other way around?), but there was also a short time during which staff were invited to view
Upon realizing that "the lucky scientists" might in fact include me, I leapt towards the telephone to call a colleague in the NHM press office to find out how long it would be on display today. Annual leave or no, if there was a chance to see it, I was going to get onto my bicycle and get myself over there pronto!Visitors to the Natural History Museum in London will be able to see Ida, the fossil of the ancient lemur-like creature, when a cast goes on display from tomorrow.
[snip][snip]
The Ida cast was donated to the Natural History Museum today by the University of Oslo Natural History Museum. Sir David Attenborough will be there to see the cast and is also narrating Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor: The Link, a one-off documentary about Ida on BBC One at 21.00 tonight.
Scientists at the Natural History Museum, London, will get a glimpse of the real specimen when it is brought to the Museum for just a few hours.
The lucky scientists will see the most complete fossil primate ever found. It is so well-preserved that the remains of its last meal are still in its stomach and you can see an outline of where the fur once was.
You can imagine how I felt when my colleague told me that the staff viewing time had ended at 2pm and that the fossil was no longer in the building. Actually, you don't have to imagine how I felt because my disappointment is documented for posterity on twitter (thanks to Rowan and Mun-Keat for the consolatory tweets).
The wave of disappointment that washed over me, though, was quickly followed by introspection. Why was I so disappointed? Had I actually succumbed to the hype? I could tell you (and more importantly, myself) that I was just disappointed not to get to see a beautiful, complete 47-million-year-old primate fossil, but if I'm honest, I have to admit that I also wanted to see the the source of all the commotion and get to feel like an insider. So I did succumb, but more in the way gawkers slow down to look at traffic accidents than in an "OMG THE MISSING LINK" way. Following this analysis, I felt a little less disappointed. Hooray for analysis!
Of course, this doesn't mean that tomorrow morning on my way up to my newish digs in Phase II of the NHM's Darwin Centre I won't stop off and have a look at the cast of Darwinius, which, though not the real thing is still one of maybe only two casts in the world (the other at the AMNH in New York).
But seeing the cast won't quite make up for not seeing the real thing (Rowan Hooper tweets that the cast doesn't quite do the original justice), and I still will have missed the press conference, which would have been interesting because, judging by the BBC video coverage, Jørn Hurum (the most hyperbolic of the scientific authors) and David Attenborough seem to be toning down the hype a little:
Attenborough even says - tellingly - that Darwin "would have been absolutely riveted by it - I have no doubt about that, and he would - I am sure - have sat and looked at it and thought about it - probably for a decade - before he said anything about it. Maybe that's quite a wise thing to do." Might this final sentence signal that David Attenborough feels a twinge of regret about the way the project was handled?
Similarly, Rowan Hooper's blog and video coverage of the event shows Hurum apparently backpedaling a bit in the face of recent criticism that the paper was weak on evolutionary analysis - I can only imagine he's referring to Brian Switek's excellent critques of the scientific paper - by claiming that this only ever meant to be a descriptive paper and that a more rigorous phylogenetic analysis was still in the pipeline.
But there's a problem: as Rowan Hooper writes, "Phylogeny [evolutionary history], he says, is not the most important part of the paper, and is only mentioned in the discussion. But, of course, it is the phylogeny of Ida - and the claims that it is an ancient human ancestor - that have made it such a big news story."
*Like pretty much everyone else, I have been using the nickname "Ida" for Darwinius massilae, but I'm stopping today for three reasons: 1) the ICZN have - at short notice - worked their proverbial tails off to guarantee the nomenclature of this specimen, and calling it "Ida" seems to me to diminish their efforts specifically and the importance of nomenclature generally, 2) I feel a little queasy about how one of the paper's authors, Jørn Hurum, has been fanning the hype, saying things like "this is the first link to all humans" (whatever that means), and he's the one who named the fossil "Ida" so using it feels like an approbation 3) "Darwinius" has a nice ring to it.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Live-blogging the Darwn-200 Anniversary Conference in Istanbul
Update Saturday 25 April: The conference is now over, so I've removed the twitter widget below and replaced it with the twitter history of the event, that is, my tweets from the conference in order. In a second update I will thread them with replies and retweets from the twitter community. Thanks to everyone in twitterdom who followed and participated!Background here. This live-blog session
Test tweet from Turkey!2:50 PM Apr 23rd from txt
Test text tweet two from Turkey!6:48 AM Apr 24th from txt
Okay everyone, the conference is starting now! Just joining in? Wondering what's goin' on in Istanbul? http://tr.im/jAcp http://tr.im/jAcs7:17 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
First talk of the day: Prof. Vidyanand Nanjundiah [Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore] ‘The Evolution of Cooperativity’7:18 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Nanjundiah: "I hope you won't mind if I quote extensively from Darwin" - no, not at all! First quote = the 'problem' of the social insects7:20 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Nanjundiah: Darwin's four solutions to the problem (to his theory) of the social insects. 4th solution: Descent of Man, Chapter V.7:22 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
@milagro88 It's the Darwin200 Anniversary Conference in Istanbul. Tweeting it now!7:24 AM Apr 24th from Nambu in reply to milagro88
Oh ffs. RT @edyong209 WSJ not accepting comments on blogging=opinions piece. Even after arcane registration process. Hmph. http://ow.ly/3yaO7:26 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Yes, exactly, Grace! RT @grace_baynes @rpg7twit @kejames except if you want to bring said 120 ml home again and have hand luggage only :-/7:27 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Nanjundiah: Haldane &'s Wright group selection vs. Williams who said group selection doesn't exist & when it does, it's just individual sel.7:29 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Nanjundiah: Dictyostelium discoideum and D. giganteum as a model for group selection (if it exists, that is)7:32 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Nanjundiah: Why do Dicty stalk cells behave altruistically? He's begging the question "what is an organism" & "what is a group"?7:36 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Nanjundiah: even before the initiation of sociality in Dicty, there are tendencies that hint towards which cells will become sacrificial7:47 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Nanjundiah: phenotypic plasticity (from stochastic gene expression) suggests 'sociology' > important than kinship in cooperative behaviour7:51 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Q for Nanjundiah: this has become widely accepted among those who study social insects, so this talk very welcome; 'farewell kin selection'!7:52 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Darwin200 Istanbul, next up: Prof. Hüseyin Atay [Faculty of Theology, Ankara University] ‘Science, Evolution & the Qu’ran’7:54 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "I owe my practice to being non-dogmatic to the Qu'ran"7:56 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: 'the desire [for God] originates in infancy & continues to death' (I'd say ''from the point of indoctrination' instead of 'infancy')8:00 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "from my study of the Qu'ran" & "according to the Qu'ran" but he assumes we think, like he does, that the Qu'ran is a source of truth8:06 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "listen to every word" but I can't understand HIS every word (he's reading an English translation of his talk in Turkish)8:09 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "whoever argues for his faith should be tested" ...oooh, it's getting good now (the bit I can understand)8:12 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "the Qu'ran does not refer to the first creation of other beings" & on origin of man it describes man's origin in developmental terms8:14 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "the Qu'ran speaks of science but is not a book of science"; it aims to draw man's attention to (not to instruct in) these things8:16 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "the mind is not subject to the Qu'ran" and "reason does not produce knowledge, it makes use of knowledge produced by mind"8:17 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
From Atay's abstract: "Creationists have misunderstood God."8:21 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Also from Atay's abstract: "Evolutionists attribute awe to evolution; in so doing, they ascribe divine provenance, just as creationists do."8:23 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "The mind knows the unknown by using inference."8:24 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
If Dawkins, PZ et al are the "new atheists" then I think Atay is a "new moderate" for saying things like this: (...continued in next tweets)8:28 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: Creationists say God created everything; then he also created evolutionists, so to criticize evolutionists is to criticize the creator8:31 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay: "Evolutionists say man evolved; since creationists are men, to criticize creationists is to criticize evolution." <--see what I mean?8:33 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
On this last point Atay assumes we are reluctant to criticize evolution. Does he think we adhere still to the great chain of being?8:38 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Q from a self-professed "former religious fanatic" that I couldn't understand a word of. :(8:41 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Atay's talk will be published on the conference website and/or in a newspaper, which is good b/c I only understood every 5th sentence or so.9:18 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Darwin200 Istanbul: Next up: Prof. Francisco Ayala [University of California] ‘The Intelligent Design Movement – a Critique’9:19 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: "Darwin's discovery of natural selection provided the main process which accounts for the design of organisms by natural processes"9:20 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: "Intelligent design is not science. Even worse, it is bad religion"9:22 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: the famous mosaic of images of butterfly wings that make all the letters of the alphabet; doesn't mean they were designed for wri ...9:26 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: The Copernican revolution is really a commitment to the idea that laws that explain observable phenomena can be discovered & tested.9:27 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: William Payley expressed idea of intelligent design better than modern talking heads, and with much better biological understanding.9:28 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
For anyone just joining - I'm tweeting live from the Darwin200 Anniversary Conference in Istanbul. Background here: http://tr.im/jAA99:31 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala reading now from The Origin of Species, Chapter IV, Natural Selection, "As more individuals are produced than can possibly survive..."9:32 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
A privilege to hear Ayala explain evolution, natural selection, intelligent design (which he is critiquing, in case that wasn't clear)9:33 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
@TEDchris Thanks for the mention!9:35 AM Apr 24th from Nambu in reply to TEDchris
@USelaine Thanks! FYI @nytimeskristof Tonight's public session is on Turkish TV & attended by journalists including, rumor has it, from NYT9:38 AM Apr 24th from Nambu in reply to USelaine
Ayala now using famous melanic moth example. Though correct, I think this story's effectiveness tainted by bad press (wrong but still bad)9:43 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala now hammering it home with a detailed explanation of the step-by-step evolution of molluscan and vertebrate eyes. Yesssss!9:46 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
@rpg7twit Unfortunately it's the size of the container, not the amount of liquid remaining.9:49 AM Apr 24th from Nambu in reply to rpg7twit
Ayala: "the vertebrate eye has an imperfection that the molluscan eye doesn't" namely, the blind spot. Heh. Man IS but a worm!9:50 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: "I will now criticize the design movement in 2 ways: 1) my own criticisms & 2) those of John Jones (Dover judge)" *sits up straight*9:52 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: Philip Johnson (ID proponent) claimed "Give us 5-10 years, and you'll see sci breakthroughs biologists hadn't dreamed of before I ...9:54 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: ...well that was 1998!9:55 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: "The ID proposal has several probs" (holy understatement, batman!) including "Imperfect Design" e.g. human jaw, human birth canal &c.9:59 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala! Snap! If God intelligently designed organisms then high rate of human miscarriages implies that "God is the greatest abortionist"10:04 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala: "Science is methodologically naturalistic not philosophically materialistic."10:05 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala's final slide: "Evolution: Darwin's gift to religion"10:06 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Q to Ayala: "Sci & religion are 2 different approaches but are they really compatible?" Ayala: "yes, as it is w/ aesthetics, economics, &c."10:10 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Ayala's book (for any tweeps interested) is "Darwin's Gift To Science And Religion" Joseph Henry Press, 200710:11 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Next up: Prof. Aykut Kence [Middle East Technical University, Ankara] ‘Creationism – Historical and Contemporary Perspectives’10:13 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Kence: "evolution is most controversial theory in history of science not b/c of 'drawbacks' but b/c so many non-scientists can't accept it"10:16 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Kence now giving us a history of creationism in USA and Turkey (which are, as a poster reminded me, top 2 countries for evolution denial).10:17 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Kence: "The 'problem' w/ evolution didn't exist at the founding of Republic of Turkey" ergo rejection of Darwinism a recent development.10:26 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Kence: "In 1970s Fethullah Gulen started giving anti-Darwinism conferences. He said sci textbooks should be written by 'our religious men'"10:27 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Kence: US creationist talking points were simply adopted and modified to Islam. Specific examples in textbooks show cut-and-paste approach.10:28 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Now a romp through tragic Turkish textbook quotes e.g. "to give creation to Allah makes things easier/saves scientists from wasting energy"10:35 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Turkish textbook: "contrary to what evo'ists claim, it was demo'd that frog, mouse & snake blood more similar to human blood than monkeys"10:35 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Kence: huge amounts of money in Turkey going to defamation of Darwinism. One tactic is 'vilifying evolutionists as Marxists, communists'10:38 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Kence: younger Turkish teachers less likely to 'believe' in scientific validity of evolution than older Turkish teachers. Awful.10:39 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Quote from Mustafa Ataturk: "My moral legacy to Turkish people is Science and Reason. The only salvation for Turkey (& middle East!) is ...10:41 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
...to embrace that legacy again. Wow. Powerful.10:41 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Turkish creos have branded science as "vulgar philosophy"; It appears the Discovery Institute's Wedge doc has been translated into Turkish.10:43 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Beautifully put! RT @crc2008 faith is personal, all dogma is dogma, science is public acknowledgement of doubt and verification...10:44 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Now for lunch.10:55 AM Apr 24th from Nambu
Just caught the end of 2pm talk ‘The Challenges of Science Education Today’ by Prof. Nidhal Gessoum [American University of Sharjah, UAE]about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Gessoum: More girls pursuing science in university in Middle East than boys; anecdotal evidence that boys want to go into the Army. Scary.about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Gessoum: What we need most: training and workshops for teachers, and more science endowments and patronage (two words: Beagle Project!)about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Up next: Prof. Sema Ergezen [Marmara University] ‘Teaching Evolution in Turkey: Present and Future’about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Good morning America! If you're just joining in, I am live-tweeting the Darwin200 Anniversary Conference in Istanbul http://tr.im/jBepabout 22 hours ago from Nambu
Ergezen exploring causes & consequences of systemic anti-evolutionism in Turkish teaching. Wow, & to think we thought it was bad in the US.about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Ergezen: Turkish teachers complain of not having had specific courses on evolution at University, or that those courses are superficial.about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Ergezen: Turkish teachers say they don't know how to teach evolution; others don't know how to defend evolution (against creat'ist students)about 22 hours ago from Nambu
62% of 1st year biology students in Ergezen's class "don't accept evolution" i.e. they arrive at school biased against evolution.about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Ergezen: we are failing to help teachers think evolutionarily, and to infuse evolution throughout all biologyabout 22 hours ago from Nambu
@imascientist Why thank you! *blushes* (or is that the Turkish coffee?)about 22 hours ago from Nambu in reply to imascientist
@flascience Thanks, we're hearing now about one of your fave topics: evolution education! Pro development for teachers an important theme..about 22 hours ago from Nambu in reply to flascience
Ergezen: we must 1) create collaborations between scientists and teachers, provide pro. development to teachers, promote evolution-thinkingabout 22 hours ago from Nambu
Ergezen: We must take action! We must start now! A passionate call not to be passive! (*cough* Beagle Project *cough*)about 22 hours ago from Nambu
Welcome to Twitter friend, wordsmith, Yorkshireman & Beagle Proj co-founder Peter McGrath! @pietromcg (a.k.a. the Ben Goldacre of the North)about 21 hours ago from web
THIS IS WHAT CENSORSHIP LOOKS LIKE http://pic.im/1Veabout 21 hours ago from Nambu
Up next: FInal Panel Discussion ‘A Better Vision - The Public Understanding of Evolution in Turkey and Beyond’about 21 hours ago from Nambu
Panel Discussion Chair Prof. Aslı Tolun giving us background on Turkish evolution education & outreach situation. To paraphrase: it's bad.about 21 hours ago from Nambu
Hearing inside scoop from Tolun on the (most recent) Darwin censorship incident http://tr.im/jBxs (aside: even Iran teaches evolution!)about 21 hours ago from Nambu
Tolun asks: why is evolution edu important; what are the major problems; what are the challenges; what are the means for effective teaching?about 21 hours ago from Nambu
Panelists' answers to "why is evolution important": 1) b/c scientists need frameworks to link their findings w/ a context...about 21 hours ago from Nambu
2) nothing in bio makes sense w/o it; 3) b/c it helps us take greater meaning fr. your interactions w/ nature (kids shouldn't be afraid ...about 21 hours ago from Nambu
...of insects!); 4) human health and disease prevention all founded on evolution (<--panelists' answers to 'why evolution important')about 21 hours ago from Nambu
I asked panel: is evolution denial demographically linked to climate change denial in Turkey as it is in USA? ...about 21 hours ago from Nambu
... answer is "No, it's a more general problem of apathy & ignorance. Even those who support evolution do so w/o knowing why; it's ideology"about 21 hours ago from Nambu
Good morning West Coast! If you're just joining in, I am live-tweeting the Darwin200 Anniversary Conference in Istanbul http://tr.im/jBepabout 21 hours ago from Nambu
First-year Turkish university students, presented with an 18-million-year-old fossil and asked to guess how old, will answer 50-200yrs.about 21 hours ago from Nambu
@CR_Fauchald Many at this conference would agree w/ you. Others wouldn't. Sadly all this 'haggling' is hurting our science & our society.about 21 hours ago from Nambu in reply to CR_Fauchald
Turkish panelist informs us that though Turkish academy founded to advise government, it doesn't work that way anymore.about 21 hours ago from Nambu
Another panelist says there is no professional community for science education scholarship in Turkey: there's a lack of associations & unityabout 21 hours ago from Nambu
Solution offered to panelists by audience member: need to boost cultural support for evo; to do this, must know history of their alienationabout 21 hours ago from Nambu
The quality of curricula on evolution is a big problem in Turkey, USA, UK, France; they put too much emphasis on particular bio processesabout 21 hours ago from Nambu
Juxtaposition giving me goosebumps: In session on evolution & religion & can hear the mosque next door to the hotel calling to prayerabout 20 hours ago from Nambu
Great comment from audience: consensus at this conference is that religion & evolution are compatible, but society at large it's 'either/or'about 20 hours ago from Nambu
Panelist: "evolution has been used as an ideological battleground; teaching evolution is not about converting people, it's about explaining"about 20 hours ago from Nambu
Comment: getting the mullahs to tell their followers to accept evolution is NOT the point; the point is to inspire critical thinking.about 20 hours ago from Nambu
@crc2008 First of all, I said "evolution and religion are compatible" is the consensus of this conference, not necessarily my own view!about 20 hours ago from Nambu in reply to crc2008
@crc2008 Second of all, I would have like to have said 'acceptance of evolution' not just 'evolution' but such is twitter ;-)about 20 hours ago from Nambu in reply to crc2008
Only when the religious stop meddling w/ sci edu! RT @tuibguy teach the biology let the religious worry about their part. Will it work?about 20 hours ago from Nambu
Commenter: better science education is needed in the seminaries. (Yep, that'd be good, I agree. Good luck though.)about 20 hours ago from Nambu
@mwinther @rdmpage @neuro100 Heh. Unfortunately all of the spokesmen for this view (Dawkins et al.) were specifically *not* invited here.about 20 hours ago from Nambu in reply to mwinther
OMG this is scary. Someone is standing up and saying 'the problem is democracy' because culture is king in democracy.about 20 hours ago from Nambu
Double OMG! He called Dawkins "an extreme vulgar ideologist"! ...then said people need to be persuaded not forced to accept evolution. Hmm.about 20 hours ago from Nambu
Me: In all our talk about the education-ignorance dichotomy & how to argue better, let's not forget about the apathy-inspiration dichotomyabout 20 hours ago from Nambu
Phew! My talk is over and now enjoying a production of Re-design, a dramatization of the Darwin-Gray correspondence.about 17 hours ago from txt
This is the public portion of the symposium w/ 300+ Turkish students in attendance. Next up a televised panel discussionabout 17 hours ago from txt
Still tweeting live from Darwin200 Istanbul though less frequently b/c by text. Televised panel discussion beginning!about 15 hours ago from txt
Audience questions!about 15 hours ago from txt
One questioner practically reading out of Hurun Yahya; he just won't accept the existence of transitional fossilsabout 15 hours ago from txt
Panelist: Science uses hypothesis & experiment to find out truth. Religion uses... uh... something else.about 14 hours ago from txt
@pseudonymTrevor Love that Thoreau is your avatar (*follows*). Glad you found DCP. Darwin-Online is also good resource http://tr.im/jG5Uabout 1 hour ago from Nambu in reply to pseudonymTrevor
Damn, missed my chance. RT @pietromcg Harun Yahya sounds like he's doing a pavement pizza in a shop door after 7 pints & a curry. Tell him.about 1 hour ago from Nambu
Thanks to all who replied to & RT'd my live tweets from Darwin200 Conference in Istanbul. Conf over now, but I'm in Istanbul through Monday.about 1 hour ago from Nambu
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Plans to live-blog the Templeton-funded Darwin conference in Istanbul
Do I win the award for most lightning rods in a blog post title yet?
I mean, there's Turkey's ...uh... ...how shall I say... delicate relationship to Darwin and evolution (and atheism, *cough* not that that has anything to do with Darwin and evolution *cough*), there's the general distaste evolution advocates have for the Templeton Foundation and then there's Turkey's recent censorship of Blogger and Wordpress blogging platforms. Thrrreeee lightening rods, Ah Ha Ha!
But before I explain about the conference, how I will be live-blogging it and what on Darwin's entangled bank I was thinking about when I agreed to accept the Templeton Foundation's support for my participation, let's all just get this out of our systems first shall we?
In case you're wondering, yes I do love the They Might Be Giants cover, but this original* is pretty swingin' and I figured its existence might be news to a certain percentage of my readers.
With that obligatory Obnoxious AmericanTM preface to all blog posts with 'Istanbul' in the title out of the way, let's get down to business:
Starting at an undisclosed time later this week, from an undisclosed location in Istanbul (undisclosed presumably to keep Oktar's ilk away), I will be participating in the Darwin-200 Anniversary Conference. I've been invited give a short talk about The HMS Beagle Project during the final, public session, which follows a more exclusive two-day scientific symposium on the scientific, historical, cultural and religious implications of evolution including a 'critique' of intelligent design by a famous person (*rubs hands*) and panel discussions on "Evolution and Purpose" and "Public Understanding of Evolution in Turkey and Beyond".
What, my evolution peeps might be wondering, 'possessed' me to accept an invitation to a Templeton conference? Don't I know that "Templeton funds stealth religion, and the good work they support is a façade to conceal their aims", paying "hefty bribes to get scientists to cross that line [between science and religion]"? Why yes, I do, but I figure if I can use up some of that money to get me to Turkey where I can do my fly-in-the-ointment thing, live-blog it and also proselytize a bit for the Beagle Project, a project that will promote science in general, evolution in particular, and a rational approach to solving our most pressing problems, well, then, that's a good appropriation of their money as far as I'm concerned.
Moreover, if Bernard d'Espagnat, who, on winning a Templeton Prize, didn't reject the prize but said:
Rationalizations safely behind me now, here are the details my impending coverage of the conference:
I've scheduled a post to go live here at approximately the same time I expect to start tweeting from Istanbul later this week. The post will consist mainly of an embedded twitter feed, but I will also try to update the post itself a few times during the conference with more substantive stuff.
I have to confess that - in a Rebel Girl kind of a way - I'm actually kind of excited to try my hand at tweeting and blogging from a place that has censored both evolution and blogging in the recent past. There are potential hazards. For example, if for some reason Blogger is still banned in Turkey (though Reporters Sans Frontieres says it was restored), this might not go as planned. I would think my tweets should still get through, though (unless Turkey suddenly bans twitter).
To stay in the loop, follow this blog's feed or follow me on twitter.
One last thing before I go, a little test of ye olde twitter widget:
Update Friday: Hmm, well it's working, but only if you have Flash (and not everyone does!) and formatting not great. Think I will use the html widget instead in the live-blog post.
*which itself is so similar to Irving Berlin's Puttin' on the Ritz (here's a classic performance by Fred Astaire), I'm not even sure 'original' is the right word
I mean, there's Turkey's ...uh... ...how shall I say... delicate relationship to Darwin and evolution (and atheism, *cough* not that that has anything to do with Darwin and evolution *cough*), there's the general distaste evolution advocates have for the Templeton Foundation and then there's Turkey's recent censorship of Blogger and Wordpress blogging platforms. Thrrreeee lightening rods, Ah Ha Ha!But before I explain about the conference, how I will be live-blogging it and what on Darwin's entangled bank I was thinking about when I agreed to accept the Templeton Foundation's support for my participation, let's all just get this out of our systems first shall we?
In case you're wondering, yes I do love the They Might Be Giants cover, but this original* is pretty swingin' and I figured its existence might be news to a certain percentage of my readers.
With that obligatory Obnoxious AmericanTM preface to all blog posts with 'Istanbul' in the title out of the way, let's get down to business:
Starting at an undisclosed time later this week, from an undisclosed location in Istanbul (undisclosed presumably to keep Oktar's ilk away), I will be participating in the Darwin-200 Anniversary Conference. I've been invited give a short talk about The HMS Beagle Project during the final, public session, which follows a more exclusive two-day scientific symposium on the scientific, historical, cultural and religious implications of evolution including a 'critique' of intelligent design by a famous person (*rubs hands*) and panel discussions on "Evolution and Purpose" and "Public Understanding of Evolution in Turkey and Beyond".
What, my evolution peeps might be wondering, 'possessed' me to accept an invitation to a Templeton conference? Don't I know that "Templeton funds stealth religion, and the good work they support is a façade to conceal their aims", paying "hefty bribes to get scientists to cross that line [between science and religion]"? Why yes, I do, but I figure if I can use up some of that money to get me to Turkey where I can do my fly-in-the-ointment thing, live-blog it and also proselytize a bit for the Beagle Project, a project that will promote science in general, evolution in particular, and a rational approach to solving our most pressing problems, well, then, that's a good appropriation of their money as far as I'm concerned.
Moreover, if Bernard d'Espagnat, who, on winning a Templeton Prize, didn't reject the prize but said:
I feel myself deeply in accordance with the Templeton Foundation's great, guiding idea that science does shed light [on spirituality]. In my view it does so mainly by rendering unbelievable an intellectual construction claiming to yield access to the ultimate ground of things with the sole use of the simple, somewhat trivial notions everybody has....then I figure I'm in pretty good company.
(via Darwin's Teapot)
Rationalizations safely behind me now, here are the details my impending coverage of the conference:
I've scheduled a post to go live here at approximately the same time I expect to start tweeting from Istanbul later this week. The post will consist mainly of an embedded twitter feed, but I will also try to update the post itself a few times during the conference with more substantive stuff.
I have to confess that - in a Rebel Girl kind of a way - I'm actually kind of excited to try my hand at tweeting and blogging from a place that has censored both evolution and blogging in the recent past. There are potential hazards. For example, if for some reason Blogger is still banned in Turkey (though Reporters Sans Frontieres says it was restored), this might not go as planned. I would think my tweets should still get through, though (unless Turkey suddenly bans twitter).To stay in the loop, follow this blog's feed or follow me on twitter.
One last thing before I go, a little test of ye olde twitter widget:
Update Friday: Hmm, well it's working, but only if you have Flash (and not everyone does!) and formatting not great. Think I will use the html widget instead in the live-blog post.
*which itself is so similar to Irving Berlin's Puttin' on the Ritz (here's a classic performance by Fred Astaire), I'm not even sure 'original' is the right word
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Proud to be one of thirteen twits
Two days ago I found myself inundated with literally hundreds of new twitter followers (as of today, ~450 and counting). After sending a delighted if baffled tweet asking my new followers what the trigger might have been, I was kindly informed by quite a few that it was probably because I was featured on mashable in an article by Andrew Maynard:
13 "Twits" who will change your perspective on reality"
In his preamble to the list, Maynard writes, "Is there profundity to be found on Twitter? Indeed there is. The service plays host to some real gems; seemingly off-the wall users who get inside your head and challenge you to think differently. Some of them are big names like CTO of Cisco Padmasree Warrior and Web 2.0 guru Tim O’Reilly, with followings in the six digits. Many of the best tweets, however, come from regular folk who have something worthwhile to say. Here are just 13 with a penchant for science and technology that make me think in new ways."
And so, without further ado, here's the list of us "Twits":
- Charles Darwin: tweeting from the Beagle, where else?
- Chris Anderson: runs the TED conference
- Laura S. Marshall: publishing editor
- Marcus du Sautoy: the “Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science” at the University of Oxford in the UK (until recently held by Richard Dawkins)
- Lord Drayson: British government Minister for Science and Innovation
- Joerg Heber: senior editor for the scientific journal Nature Materials
- Karen James: Maynard describes me thusly: "A self-confessed Darwin groupie, Karen works at the Natural History Museum and is heavily involved in attempting to rebuild the Beagle: The ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world. Her tweets will give you an unashamedly Darwinian view of life—entertaining and provocative."
- Tim Harper: entrepreneur, investor and emerging tech adviser
- Alexis Madrigal: Wired.com’s energy and science staff writer
- Eric Berger: science reporter for the Houston Chronicle
- David Bradley: writes the Sciencebase blog where he maintains a growing list of “scientific Twitter friends”
- Arjun Basu: Maynard describes his tweets as "thought-provoking fiction, in bite-sized chunks"
- Tim Jones: freelance science communicator
Holy good company, Batman. Do visit Maynard's mashable article for a lot more information about each Twit including 'sample tweets' and the specific reasons you should follow them. And I can't end without saying a huge "thank you" both to Andrew Maynard and all my new followers: I hope I live up to your expectations!
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Preboot
Hello again, world! I'm just about to reboot this here sadly neglected blog, but before I write my big comeback post I thought I'd break the ice by posting this rather exciting little missive. Let's call it a 'preboot', shall we?
We might also call it "Karen's femtosecond of fame" though it's really more like a few flashes of curly hair on either side of a close-up of my hands preparing DNA samples using white Whatman FTA cards, spread across a three-minute segment squarely in the middle of the hour-long first episode of a three-part series. Under normal circumstances this might not even be noteworthy at all, except that IT'S THE BBC, BABY, and no matter how bit my part is, I will always be proud to be associated with the network of David Attenborough.
The series is called Darwin's Garden and this episode, Dangerous Ideas* , is available to watch until the 26th of March. The segment I'm in, about a project I'm involved with through my work at the Natural History Museum to resurvey Great Pucklands meadow at Down House, runs from 30:10 through 33:15:
That's me on the left, squishing bits of our voucher specimens onto FTA cards for DNA sequencing later.
*You'd think that someone, somewhere in Beebdom would have noticed and bothered to mention to the filmmakers that Andrew Marr was planning on using the same title for his three-part BBC series.
We might also call it "Karen's femtosecond of fame" though it's really more like a few flashes of curly hair on either side of a close-up of my hands preparing DNA samples using white Whatman FTA cards, spread across a three-minute segment squarely in the middle of the hour-long first episode of a three-part series. Under normal circumstances this might not even be noteworthy at all, except that IT'S THE BBC, BABY, and no matter how bit my part is, I will always be proud to be associated with the network of David Attenborough.
The series is called Darwin's Garden and this episode, Dangerous Ideas* , is available to watch until the 26th of March. The segment I'm in, about a project I'm involved with through my work at the Natural History Museum to resurvey Great Pucklands meadow at Down House, runs from 30:10 through 33:15:
That's me on the left, squishing bits of our voucher specimens onto FTA cards for DNA sequencing later.*You'd think that someone, somewhere in Beebdom would have noticed and bothered to mention to the filmmakers that Andrew Marr was planning on using the same title for his three-part BBC series.
Thursday, 27 November 2008
Five Things
Michael Barton tagged me with the Five Things Meme. And so, without further any ado:
5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:
5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:
Mourning the loss of my father- Mourning the loss of my grandmother
- Enduring the mid-PhD doldrums
- Enjoying the company of my the fellow residents at 2333 N. 58th Street in Seattle (including Luna the malamute, may she rest in peace)
- Starting my second season of telemark skiing
- Finish manuscript for submission to Molecular Ecology Resources (or Systematics and Biodiversity, haven't decided yet) and circulate to co-authors
- Assemble, edit, align and export DNA sequence data for another paper I'm working on
- Buy plane tickets to North Carolina for ScienceOnline'09
- Try to forget that, back home, everyone is getting today off of work and gorging themselves on turkey and stuffing
- Write this blog post (check!)
- Tortilla chips and homemade guacamole
- Whole wheat toast with butter and raspberry jam
- Green & Black's Milk Chocolate
- Pretty much anything from the deli at Carluccio's
- Innis and Gunn
- Give £60,000 to the Galapagos Conservation Trust for their Floreana mockingbird campaign
- Give £5 million to to The HMS Beagle Project
- Send anonymous money-grams to friends and family in financial stress
- Donate to various environmental, humanitarian and progressive charities
- Buy a small house with a big garden and then hire Ten21 Architecture to make it into the eco-home of my dreams
- Washington, D.C.
- Colorado Springs
- Fort Collins
- Seattle
- London
- Veterinarian's assistant
- Tour guide at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs
- Research assistant
- PhD student (yes, that most certainly does count as a job, thankyouverymuch - worked hard, got paid ...a little)
- Research scientist
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Down syndrome research pop quiz: fruit flies 94, Sarah Palin zilch
This story has already been covered to death (or at least I hope so) on teh interwebs, but I must have my say. You see, when Palin dissed fruit flies...
...she didn't just diss fruit flies and the general and specific importance of model organism research (for which she is rightly and expertly skewered by Christopher Hitchens, Kevin Berger and others). She also dissed me.
As mentioned previously here and here, I did my PhD research on the fruit fly* Drosophila melanogaster. Specifically, I worked my butt off for six years to understand some of the myriad and complex functions of a fruit fly gene called Ras (the human counterpart of which plays a role in the onset and/or development of almost every kind of cancer) on the ovarian and embryonic development of the fruit fly, and how this has been modulated during fruit fly evolution.
That's right, friends, I am officially (and, it must be said, very proudly) on Sarah Palin's shit list: not only did I do research on fruit flies (booooo!) but I also did research on evolution (hissssss!).
But enough about me.
Almost unbelievably, Palin's sneer came directly on the heels of her own call to help families with special needs kids like her nephew with autism and her son with Down syndrome. See, in Palin's (surprisingly young) universe, it cannot possibly be fathomed that something as obscure as a fruit fly could help special needs kids. But a quick search on PubMed for 'Drosophila and "Down syndrome"' yields 94 peer-reviewed research articles including this one [my emphases]:
And here's where Palin's mocking is even more resonant: the reason fruit fly biology illuminates human biology is because our genomes are so similar and the reason our genomes are so similar is because we inherited them from the last common ancestor of humans and fruit flies [cue Sarah Palin's head popping off and steam shooting out].
*Though not technically correct, 'fruit fly' is the colloquial name for the monumentally important model organism Drosophila melanogaster. True fruit flies belong to the insect family Tephritidae and it was in fact a research project on these Tephritid flies that Palin was so gleefully skewering as wasteful earmark spending. Some have argued that this fact exonerates Palin-- i.e. that she was not mocking D. melanogaster research because she knows how important that is (right, as if Palin knows the difference between true fruit flies and model organism 'fruit flies') but rather she was mocking Tephritid fruit fly research. Problem is that the project she mocked is more applied to human benefit (in this case agricultural productivity) than most D. melanogaster research, not less, so there's that argument out the window.
...she didn't just diss fruit flies and the general and specific importance of model organism research (for which she is rightly and expertly skewered by Christopher Hitchens, Kevin Berger and others). She also dissed me.
As mentioned previously here and here, I did my PhD research on the fruit fly* Drosophila melanogaster. Specifically, I worked my butt off for six years to understand some of the myriad and complex functions of a fruit fly gene called Ras (the human counterpart of which plays a role in the onset and/or development of almost every kind of cancer) on the ovarian and embryonic development of the fruit fly, and how this has been modulated during fruit fly evolution.
That's right, friends, I am officially (and, it must be said, very proudly) on Sarah Palin's shit list: not only did I do research on fruit flies (booooo!) but I also did research on evolution (hissssss!).
But enough about me.
Almost unbelievably, Palin's sneer came directly on the heels of her own call to help families with special needs kids like her nephew with autism and her son with Down syndrome. See, in Palin's (surprisingly young) universe, it cannot possibly be fathomed that something as obscure as a fruit fly could help special needs kids. But a quick search on PubMed for 'Drosophila and "Down syndrome"' yields 94 peer-reviewed research articles including this one [my emphases]:
Dscam guides embryonic axons by Netrin-dependent and -independent functions.In other words, research on fruit flies is helping us to understand Down Syndrome better. The same can be said for almost all human biology, both pathogenic and 'normal' (whatever that means).
Andrews GL, Tanglao S, Farmer WT, Morin S, Brotman S, Berberoglu MA, Price H, Fernandez GC, Mastick GS, Charron F, Kidd T.
Development. 2008 Oct 23. [Epub ahead of print]
Developing axons are attracted to the CNS midline by Netrin proteins and other as yet unidentified signals. Netrin signals are transduced in part by Frazzled (Fra)/DCC receptors. Genetic analysis in Drosophila indicates that additional unidentified receptors are needed to mediate the attractive response to Netrin. Analysis of Bolwig's nerve reveals that Netrin mutants have a similar phenotype to Down Syndrome Cell Adhesion Molecule (Dscam) mutants. Netrin and Dscam mutants display dose sensitive interactions, suggesting that Dscam could act as a Netrin receptor. We show using cell overlay assays that Netrin binds to fly and vertebrate Dscam, and that Dscam binds Netrin with the same affinity as DCC. At the CNS midline, we find that Dscam and its paralog Dscam3 act redundantly to promote midline crossing. Simultaneous genetic knockout of the two Dscam genes and the Netrin receptor fra produces a midline crossing defect that is stronger than the removal of Netrin proteins, suggesting that Dscam proteins also function in a pathway parallel to Netrins. Additionally, overexpression of Dscam in axons that do not normally cross the midline is able to induce ectopic midline crossing, consistent with an attractive receptor function. Our results support the model that Dscam proteins function as attractive receptors for Netrin and also act in parallel to Frazzled/DCC. Furthermore, the results suggest that Dscam proteins have the ability to respond to multiple ligands and act as receptors for an unidentified midline attractive cue. These functions in axon guidance have implications for the pathogenesis of Down Syndrome.
And here's where Palin's mocking is even more resonant: the reason fruit fly biology illuminates human biology is because our genomes are so similar and the reason our genomes are so similar is because we inherited them from the last common ancestor of humans and fruit flies [cue Sarah Palin's head popping off and steam shooting out].
*Though not technically correct, 'fruit fly' is the colloquial name for the monumentally important model organism Drosophila melanogaster. True fruit flies belong to the insect family Tephritidae and it was in fact a research project on these Tephritid flies that Palin was so gleefully skewering as wasteful earmark spending. Some have argued that this fact exonerates Palin-- i.e. that she was not mocking D. melanogaster research because she knows how important that is (right, as if Palin knows the difference between true fruit flies and model organism 'fruit flies') but rather she was mocking Tephritid fruit fly research. Problem is that the project she mocked is more applied to human benefit (in this case agricultural productivity) than most D. melanogaster research, not less, so there's that argument out the window.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Friday, 4 July 2008
By the dawn's early light
This is my fifth Independence Day as an American expat in the UK. Every year, I take a few minutes to read the Declaration of Independence, copied in its entirety below, and every year I am surprised afresh by feelings of homesickness and nostalgia that wash over me on this day to remember the high ideals to which we aspire.
Today is an especially good Independence Day for me, because for the first time in a long time, I have real hope that in November this year, we will "throw off" our current government and "provide new guards for our future security". Of course, I'm talking about the potential that we might signal, both to ourselves and the rest of the world, by the election of Barack Obama as our 44th President, that we as a nation are finally waking up and shaking off the last eight years of bafflingly woolly-headed nationalism in favour of a fresh new progressive, globally aware patriotism.
I look forward to the possibility that on Wednesday the 5th of November this year (which, coincidentally, is a big night for fireworks in the UK - how handy!), I might wake up and be able to hold my head up high again as an American abroad, proud of the corrective action that we have taken by electing Barack Obama and in so doing taking a first step towards healing the many wounds, both inside and outside of our country, that have been either inflicted or infected by the present administration, for which, I might add, I most certainly did not vote. Either time.
John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Today is an especially good Independence Day for me, because for the first time in a long time, I have real hope that in November this year, we will "throw off" our current government and "provide new guards for our future security". Of course, I'm talking about the potential that we might signal, both to ourselves and the rest of the world, by the election of Barack Obama as our 44th President, that we as a nation are finally waking up and shaking off the last eight years of bafflingly woolly-headed nationalism in favour of a fresh new progressive, globally aware patriotism.I look forward to the possibility that on Wednesday the 5th of November this year (which, coincidentally, is a big night for fireworks in the UK - how handy!), I might wake up and be able to hold my head up high again as an American abroad, proud of the corrective action that we have taken by electing Barack Obama and in so doing taking a first step towards healing the many wounds, both inside and outside of our country, that have been either inflicted or infected by the present administration, for which, I might add, I most certainly did not vote. Either time.
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Sunday, 25 May 2008
Christmas in July, or, how to set a girl-scientist's heart a-flutter
I organise. It's heritable, too; my mother is a world grand-master list-maker who taught me, among other things, how to use the backs of envelopes to survive paper shortages (which pose a serious psychological risk to list-makers) and save the planet at the same time (list-makers love killing two birds with one stone).
Through my life, I've met a few others like me, most notably my friend Jennie with whom I sat back to back during grad school. She and I fanned the flames of each other's list-mania and to this day we exchange new and improved ways of making, keeping and organising our lists.
And oh boy, do I need my lists. I've gotmy country's Charles Darwin's five two hundredth anniversary to plan, my wedding Beagle Project science programme to arrange, my wife research to murder publish, and Guilder to frame for it. I'm swamped. (If you're really confused right now, stop reading this and go watch The Princess Bride.)
I've tried a few different organising systems, including but not limited to:
I really like how the calendar is on the left hand side of the opened diary, and on the right there is a simple ruled page to jot down notes (that way your notes are instantly traceable by date). I love my Moleskine, and I look forward (as all list-makers do) to the end of the year when I can start with a shiny new Moleskine with fresh, clean pages.
Problem is, I'm already starting to accumulate things for 2009 and my Moleskine ends in December. What to do? I turn to the last page and keep a list (I'm so predictable) of things that will have to go into my 2009 Moleskine. It's not very satisfying but at least I know I won't forget anything important.
You can imagine my delight then when I found in my in-box an email from UK online Moleskine dealer MojoLondon that Moleskine is now selling 18-month diaries that start in July and go through the end of the following year. That means I can start my clean and shiny new Moleskine this July ...a mere four weeks away. And here I thought I had to wait until Christmas.
The big decision is whether to get the Large Weekly Notebook Hard Cover or the Extra Large Weekly Notebook Soft Cover. What a lovely decision to have to make. I think I'll go put it on my to-do list for tomorrow.
Update, 2 June 08: Lacy has discovered an even better way to make sure you don't forget any of those important t0-dos.
Through my life, I've met a few others like me, most notably my friend Jennie with whom I sat back to back during grad school. She and I fanned the flames of each other's list-mania and to this day we exchange new and improved ways of making, keeping and organising our lists.
And oh boy, do I need my lists. I've got
I've tried a few different organising systems, including but not limited to:
- Ansel Adams Engagement Calendar
- Uncalendar
- A teacher's planner (courtesy Jennie's organised mother Ruth)
- iCal (comes with Apple OS)
- Microsoft Excel
- Moleskine Weekly Notebook
I really like how the calendar is on the left hand side of the opened diary, and on the right there is a simple ruled page to jot down notes (that way your notes are instantly traceable by date). I love my Moleskine, and I look forward (as all list-makers do) to the end of the year when I can start with a shiny new Moleskine with fresh, clean pages.Problem is, I'm already starting to accumulate things for 2009 and my Moleskine ends in December. What to do? I turn to the last page and keep a list (I'm so predictable) of things that will have to go into my 2009 Moleskine. It's not very satisfying but at least I know I won't forget anything important.
You can imagine my delight then when I found in my in-box an email from UK online Moleskine dealer MojoLondon that Moleskine is now selling 18-month diaries that start in July and go through the end of the following year. That means I can start my clean and shiny new Moleskine this July ...a mere four weeks away. And here I thought I had to wait until Christmas.
The big decision is whether to get the Large Weekly Notebook Hard Cover or the Extra Large Weekly Notebook Soft Cover. What a lovely decision to have to make. I think I'll go put it on my to-do list for tomorrow.
Update, 2 June 08: Lacy has discovered an even better way to make sure you don't forget any of those important t0-dos.
Thursday, 15 May 2008
Apparently, celebrity Nature editor Henry Gee and I both:
- work from home on Thursdays
- suffer a gag reflex from the close proximity of over-perfumed/cologned train passengers
- think 'presenteeism' is so not Web 2.0
- advocate an expansion of London's new ban on alcohol on public transport to include talking, overt sexual display and smelly grooming products
P.S. Please, dear reader, kindly vote for my new SciFri blog name, upper right.
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Radio Ga Ga
I'm on the radio! Listen again (mp3) and/or visit Atheists Talk. It's a full hour of Peter McGrath and me stumping for The Beagle Project, so you might want to use the loo and get some popcorn before you click.
Sunday, 23 March 2008
On my honour, I will try (3/4)
This is the third post in a four-part series, begun over on the Beagle Project Blog in Part 1 (which includes an introduction to The Science Scouts) and Part 2.
Here is the third batch of my Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique badges:
The "I've done science with no conceivable practical application" badge. Well, maybe I lack imagination but I simply cannot conceive of a practical application that might come from an understanding of the evolutionary mechanism of interspecific variation in fruit fly eggshell morphology. The whole point was to understand evolution just a little bit better, and to me that is enough to make it worthwhile. That said, science for curiosity's sake also sometimes leads to practical applications that are only as yet inconceivable but may very well become earth shatteringly important at some later stage. For example, there's the story of that guy who was fascinated by the mold spores that landed on his petri dish (inconceivable!) but then it turned out to be the source of Penicillin. 'Nough said.
The "science has forced me to seek medical attention" badge. More people can claim this badge than probably realise it, especially if we count mental health, which I think we should. I get the badge for a number of reasons: 1) repetitive strain injury, numbness in my right hand and a strained muscle in my neck, all from writing my thesis, 2) astigmatism partly due to looking through a microscope for too many hours per day in grad school and 3) Temperomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) from PhD related stress.
The "somewhat confused as to what scientific field I actually belong to" badge. This badge was made for me. During my PhD I moved from developmental genetics to evo-devo. Now it's even more pronounced; you see, sometimes a geneticist can feel rather alone in a natural history museum. For example, whenever I meet a new member of staff or visitor, the question always comes up, "so, what group of plants do you work on?" Me: "Uh, um, well, see, I work on genetics/genomics as they apply to just about any group of plants." Them: "oh" *walks away*. It turns out that when one's "specialty" is (or was) Drosophila melanogaster, that doesn't seem to count. Sometimes this transdisciplinary thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. Oh well, it seems to be working out okay.
The "works with acids" badge. Two words: deoxyribonucleic acid. Then there are all the other acids which come with working in any wet lab. I won't bore you with the details. They really are boring. Really.
One batch of badges to go! Sneak preview in the sidebar.
Here is the third batch of my Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique badges:
The "I've done science with no conceivable practical application" badge. Well, maybe I lack imagination but I simply cannot conceive of a practical application that might come from an understanding of the evolutionary mechanism of interspecific variation in fruit fly eggshell morphology. The whole point was to understand evolution just a little bit better, and to me that is enough to make it worthwhile. That said, science for curiosity's sake also sometimes leads to practical applications that are only as yet inconceivable but may very well become earth shatteringly important at some later stage. For example, there's the story of that guy who was fascinated by the mold spores that landed on his petri dish (inconceivable!) but then it turned out to be the source of Penicillin. 'Nough said.The "science has forced me to seek medical attention" badge. More people can claim this badge than probably realise it, especially if we count mental health, which I think we should. I get the badge for a number of reasons: 1) repetitive strain injury, numbness in my right hand and a strained muscle in my neck, all from writing my thesis, 2) astigmatism partly due to looking through a microscope for too many hours per day in grad school and 3) Temperomandibular joint disorder (TMJ) from PhD related stress.The "somewhat confused as to what scientific field I actually belong to" badge. This badge was made for me. During my PhD I moved from developmental genetics to evo-devo. Now it's even more pronounced; you see, sometimes a geneticist can feel rather alone in a natural history museum. For example, whenever I meet a new member of staff or visitor, the question always comes up, "so, what group of plants do you work on?" Me: "Uh, um, well, see, I work on genetics/genomics as they apply to just about any group of plants." Them: "oh" *walks away*. It turns out that when one's "specialty" is (or was) Drosophila melanogaster, that doesn't seem to count. Sometimes this transdisciplinary thing isn't all it's cracked up to be. Oh well, it seems to be working out okay.The "works with acids" badge. Two words: deoxyribonucleic acid. Then there are all the other acids which come with working in any wet lab. I won't bore you with the details. They really are boring. Really.One batch of badges to go! Sneak preview in the sidebar.
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