I’m discussing the seamier side of science in a seven part series on what I call scientific sinning or the “seven sins of scientists”. The first four pieces in this series really stoked a great deal of interest and debate, covering Failure to Cite, Paper or grant killing, Need for Speed, and hype. Today in the fifth installment […]
Seven sins of scientists part 5: snobbery Read More »
What is fecal yogurt? Yesterday I was kind of harsh on the microbiome researchers whose work has been so widely discussed in the NY Times and elsewhere. I went so far as to call it “fatally flawed” because the researchers picked their research subjects for “normalcy” and went so far as to manipulate the subjects
Fecal yogurt and more microbiome musings Read More »
I found a mystery sculpture and it got me thinking. How often do our preconceived notions make us miss new discoveries as scientists? I fear this happens very often. What got me thinking about closed and open minds was of course inspired by my dog, Elvis. I was walking her very early one morning last
Mystery sculpture: how the brain eats up new things Read More »
This wild week started with an alarm clock ringing at 4:45AM Monday morning and me schlepping myself to Sacramento Airport to fly down to my former hometown of La Jolla, CA to meet Guv Perry of Texas. The small group had a great talk. I’m not naive enough to imagine us all singing Kumbaya together around
Scientists meeting with politicians like Rick Perry of Texas Read More »
Welcome to the NFL era of the brain injury epidemic. It’s always been an epidemic, but we as a society are only realizing it now. Remember those old anti-drug commercials that aired on TV I think in the 80s saying “This is your brain on drugs”? They showed an egg frying in a pan (see
The end of the NFL? The “new” brain injury epidemic Read More »
Yesterday I put out a post as a guide for scientists to insult each other. More insults have been forthcoming from the blog readerships including some even nastier ones. Most are just downright mean, but some are sexist or racist. Sadly these comments are real. They skewer you and roast you over the coals, often
Insults 2.0: more ways scientists skewer each other Read More »
Here is the scientist’s guide to insulting other scientists. Strap in.Scientists have special ways of using words to insult each other and believe me it can be vicious even if almost uninterpretable to those not fluent in that language. These insults are sometimes brutal or fatal career-wise, but also sometimes ironic and telling of our
The scientist’s guide to insulting other scientists Read More »
How do you use Twitter as a scientist? If you know how to Tweet (posting things on Twitter), you have a new avenue for interacting with the world including colleagues, students, editors, etc. Twitter can be a very powerful tool for scientists. If you, as a scientist, don’t use it you are putting yourself at a
The scientist’s guide to Twitter Read More »
On Monday, I made a big stink about Texas GOP Governor Rick Perry visiting a lab (that of Jeanne Loring) at Scripps Research Institute here in California because the lab in question is a leading group doing human embryonic stem cell (HESC) and Perry is a strong opponent of such research. I thought the visit
Great letter on Guv Perry’s California visit video from the artist Read More »
In terms of contact information, this site is produced by the Knoepfler Lab at UC Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento, CA, but our official address is 1 Shields Ave, Davis, CA 95616. The posts are generally written by Dr. Paul Knoepfler who can be reached at knoepfler@ucdavis.edu. You can also reach out to contact