Scientists should be doing great science, not wasting time on failed grant proposals
For many of us, the getting of grants is the one thing expected of us in order to get tenured, promoted, and recognized.
Yet this function that is at the very heart of expectations for us, is one for which:
The odds of success are remote. Not quite as remote as being struck by lightning, but almost. The actual training provided in this vital skill is minimal. We’re expected to be like “concert pianists” in grant writing, and somehow a few occasional seminars ...(read more){ 0 comments }
If you’ve ever been camping at one of those RV park places, you’ve probably experienced the pay shower. In order to get hot water to flow (or any water), you have to periodically feed in quarters.
Now here’s the thing. Say you only have two quarters. And, say that each quarter only buys you 2 minutes of water.
After your first dose of precious hot water runs out, you fumble around, all lathered up, for your second quarter… by the time you ...(read more)
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“The anti-science sentiment is entirely the fault of well-funded Koch brothers and people like them.”
I was helping out with the petition to get Obama’s attention on the issue of biomedical research funding. Amongst the flurry of emails, I got one that said essentially this:
“I’m trying to get people to sign this petition, but some people are pushing back because they’re not really sure of the value of science.” The email then went on to point to this article that discussed ...(read more)
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Recently, I posted a link to a story by the Atlantic over on my Facebook page called “How Your Cat is Making You Crazy.” The article discusses Jaroslav Flegr, a Czech evolutionary biologist who has been studying Toxoplasma gondii, or the brain parasite which can be passed from cats to humans.
But this article isn’t really about that: this article discusses how Flegr and his research haven’t always been taken seriously–in fact, just the opposite. His idea (that T. Gondii actually ...(read more)
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It depends on what your definition of is is… but the white house shut down the biomedical research funding petition with only 10 hours and 446 signatures to go, with signatures coming at 4/minute. At 2PM. On a Sunday.
Weird.
Maybe it was a typical moronic computer programmed to cut it off at exactly the same time of day that the petition was started. Or maybe it was a conspiracy by the White House because they knew that if this hit the ...(read more)
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