How many hours a week should science trainees (postdocs and graduate students) work per week? I raised this question in a poll recently (you can still vote here) and a big turnout. The results are above. The results are interesting. Nobody thought trainees should work less than 40 hours a week. Only 11% felt that …
Surprising results of our hours per week poll for science trainees Read More »
Thousands of kids in America get cancer each year and need our help. One of the best organizations in the world, St. Baldrick’s Foundation, is dedicated to helping these kids. This is a wonderful foundation! St. Baldrick’s describes itself as “a volunteer-driven charity committed to funding the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers …
Make a difference for kids through St. Baldrick’s Read More »
A recent article in Nature News about a stem cell transplant company called Celltex got me thinking again about safety. The safety of stem cell-based therapies is kind of an obsession of mine. A question comes to mind. Are people realistic about what stem cells can do for them and the risks involved? The answer …
Celltex, RNL and phony worst case stem cell scenario comment Read More »
Biomedical science is all about data, discoveries, brainstorming, and ultimately making a difference in patients’ lives, right? Isn’t it true? Well, hmmm….. I wish that were true and maybe at some point in the past it was true. Nowadays there is a different reality. The black hole at the center of most biomedical scientists’ universes …
The black hole: grants eat up most of scientists’ lives Read More »
We have another Vatican stem cell meeting coming up this spring. This meeting raises some extremely important questions and complex issues at the interface of science, religion, philosophy and ethics. From the perspective of scientists, an important issue is whether (assuming one is invited) to attend such a meeting and if one does attend, is …
Vatican Stem Cell Meeting 2.0: from stem cells to prison cells to hell? Read More »
There is a bill being considered here in the U.S. called the “Research Works Act”. This is without a doubt one of the dumbest bills I have ever heard of in my life. The bill is bad for science and bad for America. If passed it would be an epic fail for America. Why? This …
Some colleagues of mine (not all faculty) around the country have been having a heated email debate on which I have been an eavesdropper of sorts. The topic? How many hours should trainees in science (grad students and postdocs) work in the lab per week? Or as they put it in their emails: “Can trainees …
I confess. I have stem cells on the brain! Yeah, I probably have a few stem cells left in this old brain of mine, but that’s not what I mean….rather, I mean that I am really curious and excited about how stem cells do their jobs in our brains. More specifically, I wonder about things …
Why do people have such a big brain compared to other animals? Vertebrate embryonic development is a highly conserved process, particularly in the earliest phases. (note: you may find this September 2020 post on regulation of bee brain size to be interesting.) A wide variety of vertebrate animals including humans start out with embryonic body plans …
I recently did a poll to which we’ve gotten a large number of responses asking the question: Is Obama anti-science? You can still take that poll here. The result so far indicate that vast majority believe that Obama is not anti-science. While 18% believe his policies are a mixed bag, only 2.6% flat out say …
Are Republican leaders anti-science? Take our poll Read More »