Two of the common props of the archetypal philosopher are alcohol and coffee. (Existentialism throws in berets and cigarettes.) New research from Kaiser Permanente Oakland suggests that the coffee might offset some of the alcohol’s potential harm.
From the Oakland Tribune:
Advice on protecting your intellectual property.
Occasionally I get email asking for advice in matters around responsible conduct of research. Some readers have related horror stories of research supervisors who grabbed their ideas, protocols, and plans for future experiments, either to give them to another student or postdoc in the lab, or to take for themselves — with no acknowledgment whatever of the person who actually had the ideas, devised and refined the protocols, or developed the plans for future experiments.
Such behavior, dear reader, is not very ethical.
Sadly, however, much of this behavior seems to be happening in circumstances in which the person whose intellectual labor is being stolen doesn’t have as much power as the people stealing it (or at least complicit in its theft). What this means is that one sometimes has to choose between taking a stand to expose unethical behavior and having a future in science. (One’s supervisor, after all, can determine whether one’s current position continues or ends abruptly, and that supervisor writes the letters upon which one depends to find future positions.)
What’s a scientist to do when facing this kind of snake pit?
Is all animal research inhumane? (More from the vault)
This post, originally posted 8 January 2006 on the old site, responds to an email I got after the last post. Given John’s recent post on Pro-Test, the questions are still timely.
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I received an email from a reader in response to my last post on PETA’s exposing of problems with the treatment of research animals at UNC. The reader pointed me to the website of an organization concerned with the treatment of lab animals in the Research Triangle, www.serat-nc.org. And, she wrote the following:
Some people may think that PETA is extreme. However, the true “extreme” is what happens to animals in labs. If the public knew, most would be outraged. But, of course our government hides such things very well. Those researchers who abuse animals in labs (which is ALL researchers, by my definition), cannot do an about turn and go home and not abuse animals or humans at their homes. Animal researchers are abusers, and there is enough research on people who abuse to know that abuse does not occur in isolation. The entire industry must change.
Just because they’re out to get you doesn’t mean they don’t have a point. (One from the vault.)
Wrestling overgrown rose bushes out of the ground may be harder than wrestling gators. (At the very least, it seems to take longer, while provoking less sympathy).
Anyway, while I’m recovering from that, here’s a “classic” post from the old location. It was originally posted 5 January 2006, but the ethical issues are still fresh.
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Since I’m in the blessed wee period between semesters, it’s time to revisit some “old news” (i.e., stuff that I had to set aside in the end-of-semester crush). Today, a story from about a month ago, wherein the Rick Weiss of the Washington Post reports on the University of North Carolina’s troubles obeying animal welfare regulations in its research labs.
Bringing the new neighbors some pi (a Sb 2.0 meme).
In honor of the arrival of all the new neighbors here at ScienceBlogs Towers, here’s a little getting-acquainted meme.
3 reasons you blog about science:
- To make the scientific method less scary to non-scientists.
- To examine the ways in which behaving ethically really makes for better scientific knowledge.
- Because I find science endlessly fascinating.
Point at which you would stop blogging:
If I ran out of things to say (which is hard for me to imagine).
1 thing you frequently blog besides science:
Academic stuff (pedagogical musings, rants about cheating, etc.)
4 words that describe your blogging style:
- Conversational
- Opinionated
- Curious
- Witty (sometimes … I hope!)
(More decimal places after the jump!)
You can take the girl out of the lab …
It’s time for another spin of the “Ask a ScienceBlogger” wheel! The question this time is:
Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?
You may recall that I chose to leave chemistry for a career as a philosopher of science. Near the end of my time in chemistry, I was pretty anxious to leave the lab behind — preparing solutions, calibrating (and repairing) pumps, washing glassware, etc. So I’m actually a little surprised at my own answers to the questions, since I find myself drawn back to experimentation.
Seemingly random movie recommendation.
As this week’s “Friday Sprog Blogging” was going to press:
Younger offspring: Here’s another picture for you to use.
Dr. Free-Ride: It’s nice, but does it have anything to do with insects?
Younger offspring: No … but you could still blog about it.
Dr. Free-Ride: I suppose …
Rational (cocktail) synthesis, in need of empirical data.
Ah, the power of the internets! Without them, how would I ever have discovered The Mixilator?
The Mixilator is hosted by The Internet Cocktail Database. It presents you with a form asking you to specify your cocktail variety, hour, strength, level of complexity, and special characteristics. It then returns with a recipe for a cocktail.
But, the recipe that is returned to you is not a pre-existing coctail from the CocktailDB. Oh no, it is much more wonderful than that! The Mixilator randomly generates your cocktail recipe using an algorithm based on the theories set out by David Embury in his 1948 book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks.
We are indeed living in a new age of wonders!
But we who care about science are not satisfied with the algorithmic implementation of a theory. We are the reality-based community. We seek empirical data!
Women and science: cultural influences.
Regular readers of this blog know that I periodically muse on the question of why there aren’t more women in science. But since I’m not, say, an anthropologist, my musings have been rooted mostly in my own experience and the experiences of people I know.
Well, the Summer 2006 issue of Washington Square, San Jose State University‘s alumni magazine, has an article — including interviews of an anthropologist and a sociologist — entitled “A difficult crossing: Obstacles that keep women from science” (pdf). Some evocative anthropological insight from that article after the jump.
I sense a disturbance in the Force.
It’s like the blogoverse suddenly got more concentrated or something.
Oh wait, I remember! It’s move-in day at the newly completed ScienceBlogs Towers! Look at all those moving vans! Look at all those bloggers! A quick run-down of my new neighbors (and their previous addresses) after the jump. And mad props to Sb Towers architect and interior designer Tim Murtaugh!!