ScienceBlogs Channel : Education & Careers

"Too busy for a pie contest" chicken pot pie [Sciencewomen]

ScienceWoman none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:18:06 -0500

When the Overlordz announced a pie contest in honor of Pi day, I thought that I might be able to muster something up. But after seeing Janet's seven(!) delectable pies, Maria's pie + cocktail, Jess's "yes pecan" pie, and Zuska's bird pie, I realized that I don't have the skills or the time to compete with these kitchen mavens. I'm a busy woman. Most nights dinner is done in a hurry and deserts are a rare luxury. Baked deserts even more so.

But I can make a mean pot pie. It's quick, it's easy, and it's comfort food. I got the original inspiration from Real Simple, but the recipe is accommodating to your tastes and fridge contents. Recipe and pictures below the fold.

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Hope, Hype and Communicating Climate Change [A Blog Around The Clock]

Coturnix none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:53:17 -0500

From SCONC:

Tuesday, March 17
7 p.m.

"Hope, Hype and Communicating Climate Change" The Asheville SCONCs welcome nationally prominent science writer Rick Borchelt to speak on making climate change information intelligible to the lay public. This is the first in a series of three public education lectures on climate change to be held in April and June. Diana Wortham Theatre, Asheville.

Details Here (PDF) More Info: Pamela McCown, Education & Research Services, Inc. pamela@education-research-services.org

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Oh, wait, that's right, I have a BLOG [See Jane Compute]

Jane none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:43:56 -0500

Um, hi. Apparently I've been gone for a while. Yeah. Sorry about that. Life's been a bit crazy around here lately, and I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water. I'm not sleeping. I'm not taking care of myself. I'm sick. I'm stressed to the gills. I have way too much to do. I feel like I work all the damn time. Hmmm, maybe that's because I *do* work all the damn time.

In addition to not having time to ~~breathe~~ blog, I haven't really been in the headspace to blog. I have a ton of stuff on my mind, but I'm not sure how to blog it. It's all about tenure, of course: the price of it on my health and relationships, the continued hazing aspects of it, my yearning for a less-encompassing job, the weirdness of starting to think about your long-term relationship with your institution, and how who I consider to be my "peers" is changing as I go up for tenure. It's all swirling around in my head, but not in a way that I can easily put into words. And of course there's a lot of student stuff going on that I feel like I should talk about, and the phone call incident that refuses to be resolved (still).

The good news is that things are starting to calm down and slow down a bit---or at least, that's how it looks now. And I think sitting down and blogging about some of the stuff that's on my mind will help me focus more clearly on what needs to get done. So you'll hear from me soon---I promise. For now, I'm going to do something good for myself for a bit before I get back to that huge pile o' work.

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World's Biggest Scientific Fraud? [A Blog Around The Clock]

Coturnix none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:18:56 -0500

Wow! This is massive!

From Anesthesiology News:

Scott S. Reuben, MD, of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., a pioneer in the area of multimodal analgesia, is said to have fabricated his results in at least 21, and perhaps many more, articles dating back to 1996. The confirmed articles were published in Anesthesiology, Anesthesia and Analgesia, the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia and other titles, which have retracted the papers or will soon do so, according to people familiar with the scandal (see list). The journals stressed that Dr. Reuben's co-authors on those papers have not been accused of wrongdoing.

There is more about it in New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

My SciBlings Orac, Janet and Mike have more details, thoughts on ethics and implications.

This case is Big!

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Why Cheaters Should Be Reported [Uncertain Principles]

Chad Orzel none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:48:37 -0500

The Female Science Professor has been having a hard semester, and recently caught some students cheating on an exam:

In the situation I had to deal with recently, I saw one student glancing repeatedly at another student's exam. I kept the two exams separate when they were handed in, compared the documents, saw the same strange but identical wrong answers on each one, and knew for sure that I had a Cheating Incident. I suppose if cheaters knew the answer to a question well enough to make a stab at it themselves, they wouldn't write down the word-for-word strange wrong answer of the person sitting next to them.

My colleagues who have brought cheating incidents to the attention of the scholarly conduct committee that deals with such things say that it is not worth the effort, especially if the only things you have to go on are (1) observation of a student glancing at another student's test; and (2) similarity of tests. What if the student was gazing into space or finding inspiration in the dance of the dust motes and wasn't actually focusing on someone else's test? What if the two students studied together? Yes, they studied together and somehow this studying together involved their practicing the same bizarre wrong answer to a question they anticipated.

I've never had an exam cheating incident (that I noticed, anyway), but I've had a couple of instances of pairwise identical lab reports. In one memorable class, I had three sets of them.

I can't say I had a good experience with reporting the students in question to the Dean, but I did report the six students in that class. I talked to a bunch of different people about it at the time, and there were two good reasons people gave as to why they should be reported, even though it was an unpleasant experience all around:

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Unchallengeable Orthodoxy in Academia and Science [Stranger Fruit]

John Lynch none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:29:55 -0500

Next week there is a big conference here at ASU - hosted in conjunction with University of Cambridge - examining the concept of "Unchallengeable Orthodoxy in Academia and Science." The general purpose of the conference is:

To critically examine the precept that American and British universities and the scientific communities in these countries are, and should be places, in which people are free to "think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable." (Quoting 1975 Statement of Yale Committee on Freedom of Expression).
Specifically, the conference will investigate if there are in fact "unchallengeable orthodoxies" in these communities, and to the extent there are, whether there should be.
Case studies of restrictions on ideas and research on racial differences, treatment of dissenters about global warming and the exclusion or marginalization of those who believe in creationism or intelligent design.

I am offering the case study on creationism/ID. I've been asked to be as neutral as possible and to restrict myself to laying out the claims and counterclaims of both sides without any normative interjections. And I've only got twenty minutes to do so. The participants are largely trained in the law, so this should be an interesting experience.

There is a public session on Thursday evening covering the topic of "Academic Freedom and the Treatment of Dissenting Ideas in the Modern University." More details here.

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Pre Dr. Isis Isis -- Isis is 7 Months Pregnant and Panics [On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess]

Isis the Scientist none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:48:58 -0500

Another entry from the old blog. This time on the inner workings of Isis.

My husband and I have an arrangement in our home. We have a two bathroom house and we have an agreement that we will not use the upstairs bathroom, which is near our bedroom and offices, to drop the kids off in the pool. That way no one has to suffer at the hands, or should I say bowels, of another. So far it has worked out as a pretty good arrangement.

So about an hour ago I collected the necessary items and headed off for what has affectionately become known as "The Poopy Potty" to take care of a little biddness. I did what I needed to do and then turned around to give myself a courtesy flush. I figured I deserved it. I happened to glance down (because you know that you all do) and noticed that everything was a deep, deep red. A blood red, in fact.

I tried to let out a little shriek, but it wasn't coming. I went from glancing to staring in horror thinking that I was either hemorrhaging from deep within or on the verge of losing the little life within me...

Until I came to my senses. You see, sometimes there are unanticipated side effects to pregnancy cravings and yours truly has eaten at least 4 cans of beets in the last 24 hours. My little porcelain depository was not full of my own hemoglobin, but with the remnants of said delicious, juicy beets.

Well, at least I'm not dying...

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Martin Rees Against Fundamentalism [Uncertain Principles]

Chad Orzel none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:01:43 -0500

There's a really good article from Martin Rees in the latest issue of Seed, on the scientific challenges that won't be affected by the LHC:

The LHC hasn't yet provided its first results, the much-anticipated answers to questions we've been asking for so long. But they should surely come in 2009, bringing us closer to understanding the bedrock nature of particles, space, and time -- toward a unified theory of the basic forces. This would push forward a program that started with Newton (who showed that the force that made the apple fall was same one holding the planets in orbit), and continued through Faraday, Maxwell, Einstein, Weinberg/Salam, and others in a distinguished roll call.

Most exciting of all would be clues to the ultimate unification between the force of gravity, which governs cosmic scales, and the forces of the microworld. Indeed, the quest for a unified theory engages huge numbers of the most talented young theorists (too many, in my opinion -- most would derive more satisfaction, and contribute more to science, if they focused on other scientific frontiers that are less intensively studied). But while unified theories are sometimes called "theories of everything," this phrase is misleading and hubristic. Such theories offer absolutely zero help to 99 percent of scientists. Chemists and biologists don't fret about their ignorance of subnuclear physics, still less about the mysterious "deep structure" of space and time.

String theory, or some alternative to it, might indeed unify two great scientific frontiers, the very big and the very small -- and that would be an immense intellectual triumph. But a third frontier, the very complex, is perhaps the most challenging of all.

It's a refreshing change from the usual run of LHC hype, which loudly proclaims the problems of high energy physics as the most "fundamental" and important problems in science. As I've said before on the blog, though, high energy physics isn't really "fundamental" in the usual sense; or, as Rees puts it "Even if we could solve Schrödinger's equation for all the atoms in [a turbulent fluid] flow, the solution would offer no insight into turbulence."

this is also a good opportunity to please the Corporate Masters by plugging the newly redesigned SEEDMAGAZINE.COM, which is so shiny and new that you'll want to SHOUT about it...

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Announcing the Guest Editor for The Open Laboratory 2009! Envelope, please.... [A Blog Around The Clock]

Coturnix none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0500

It is:

SciCurious!

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Announcing the Guest Editor for Open Lab 2009! [Neurotopia]

Scicurious none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:00:00 -0500

*drumroll*

And the winner is....

me.

Yup! Scicurious will be the guest editor of Open Lab 2009! I'm super thrilled to be involved, and it's a big honor to be asked to do something like this, especially because it means I'll be buried typing-fingers deep in the best science blogging to be found!

For those not in the know, Open Lab is a yearly, printed-on-the-flesh-and-blood-of-real-trees version of the best that science blogging has to offer. All submissions will be evaluated by a jury of fellow science bloggers, and the top 50 will be selected for publication. The end result is a wonderful compilation of the greats in science blogging, and is a rare note of permanence in internet world, where nothing last more than about 15 minutes. If you are curious to see, Sci recommends that you check out the new and shiny Open Lab 2008, because she's in it.

And so, I hereby open up for 2009 submissions! To submit a post for Open Lab, please go to this submission form. You can nominate as many posts as you wish, and Sci encourages you to have no shame about nominating yourself. But keep in mind that posts must date no earlier than Dec. 1, 2008.

So start submitting! And also...just in case...Sci would like to point out that she is not judging, and so if you wanted to submit anything of HERS...just sayin'.

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Just like being in class again... [Laelaps]

Brian Switek none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:05:22 -0500

This is pretty cool. The new website Academic Earth has posted real college lectures from a variety of courses for free viewing. Since they are videos of actual courses it is just like being in class. There are only a smattering of subjects presently available but it might be a good resource if there's a course you always wanted to take but never got the chance to. Even better, no grades!

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Today's Mystery Bird for you to Identify [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]

"GrrlScientist" none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:59:59 -0500

tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz

[Mystery bird] photographed at Newton Hills State Park in southeastern South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]

Image: Terry Sohl, June 2007.

Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.

Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.

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Notes Toward an Improbable Result: Grade Points per Pound [Uncertain Principles]

Chad Orzel none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:25:13 -0500

Inside Higher Ed has an article on grade inflation this morning, which reminds me of my improbable research theory.

Academic scolds are always talking about grade inflation, saying that the average grade years ago used to be lower than it is now. Medical scolds are always talking about the obesity epidemic, saying that average weights used to be lower than they are now.

Has anyone ever considered that the two might be related? That is, might it be that the grade points per pound has remained constant over the years?

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Massive Academic Fraud in Anesthesia Research [The Questionable Authority]

Mike Dunford none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:19:28 -0500

Several news agencies are reporting that a massive academic fraud case has surfaced. A single researcher apparently fabricated data used in the publication of at least 21 journal articles published over a 12-year period.

After an internal reviewer raised concerns, Baystate Medical Center conducted an investigation into research conducted by Dr. Scott S. Reuben, who was - at that time - the chief of their acute pain service. As the phrase "at that time" suggests, the results of the investigation did not exonerate Dr. Reuben. Anything but, in fact. In late January, Baystate sent out a letter to a number of journals recommending the retraction of articles, and Dr. Reuben is now reported to be on "medical leave".

I'll tack the full list of affected articles on the end of this post for those who are interested, but the problems go well beyond just those 21 papers. The extent of the revealed fraud will necessarily call into question all of the work that Reuben has ever published. Any other work - clinical protocols, published articles, ongoing research - that relies on the veracity of Reuben's articles will also need to be re-examined.

All academic misconduct is bad, but this particular case is particularly destructive. Dr. Reuben's work has served as the basis for the use of what's known as "multimodal anesthesia" - using a combination of NSAIDs and neuropathic pain medications after orthopedic and spinal operations instead of narcotics. This practice has become very common in the field, and the vast majority of the evidence-based support for these protocols no longer exists.

Anesthesiology News' report on the case provides a good description of the extent of the problem:

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Best science headline of the week [The Island of Doubt]

James Hrynyshyn none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:08:50 -0500

"Neuroscientists fear brain drain" (Globe and Mail, March 12, 2009)

It's about research funding drying up in Canada, while Obama pours more into U.S. labs.

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Magic Tricks, Science Facts [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]

"GrrlScientist" none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 07:59:59 -0500

tags: Robert Friedhoffer, kitchen science, magic tricks, science facts, streaming video

This streaming video is an interview with science teacher and book author, Robert Friedhoffer, who likes to use magic tricks to help kids learn scientific principles. I was especially pleased when he asked the interviewer to predict what would happen to the newspaper (near the beginning of the interview) -- what a great way to let the audience know that scientists are actually doing experiments rather than "just blowing up stuff" [7:09]

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Course redesign cont: thinking through the context [All of My Faults Are Stress Related]

Kim Hannula none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:27:52 -0700

I'm working on re-designing an upper level general education course called "The Control of Nature. Yesterday, I talked about the problems I've had in the past. Today, I'm going to start thinking about the context of the course, and what that means for improving it.

One of my commenters yesterday made exactly the same suggestion as the course design tutorial that I'm working through. Yes, I've been doing it all backwards, deciding what I want my students to read and discuss and write about before I've defined my goals. The first step is recognizing that things aren't working. The next step is to start from the beginning, and figure out what I'm doing before I try to fix it.

(Below the fold: I'm going to ease into this goal business, and start with thinking about the course context.)

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Check out the brand new homepage of Seed Magazine! [A Blog Around The Clock]

Coturnix none@example.com — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:06:42 -0500

Check out the SEEDMAGAZINE.COM. W00t! Looks nifty!

What they say:

Our online magazine team has been hard at work creating a new look for SEEDMAGAZINE.COM, the magazine's homepage. As you'll see, it has a ton of new features and pretty new colors.
The content of the site is now divided into four departments with subcategories in each, which makes for a total of 11 areas of coverage. The departments are: World (politics, development and environment), Ideas (findings and theory), Innovation (technology, design and business) and Culture (books, art and events). You can go straight to one department, or view the latest stories from every department on the homepage, color-coded according to which they fall under. There's also a new tagging system- each article is tagged with relevant keywords, and a tag menu on the left hand side of the page also allows you to search for all articles tagged with a specific keyword ("globalization," for example, or "proof," or "democracy").

If you click on the yellow "Studio" button in the upper right corner of the site, you'll see all slideshows, videos of Salon dialogues, Revolutionary Minds, an interactive rendition of the Universe of 2009 and more to stimulate the senses. The Zeitgeist, highlighting four of the top stories in science every day, and featured blog posts are still there, too (but of course).

I love it - go check it out.

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Interview with a PLoS ONE frequent author: Seyed Hasnain [A Blog Around The Clock]

Coturnix none@example.com — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 23:50:53 -0500

Last week, I conducted an e-mail interview with one of the PLoS ONE most frequent authors, Professor Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain . The interview is now live on the PLoS Blog

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Chambers Street/WTC Subway Art, 5 [Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)]

"GrrlScientist" none@example.com — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:59:58 -0500

tags: Chambers Street, Park Place, World Trade Center, Oculus, Andrew Ginzel, Kristin Jones, subway art, NYC through my eye, photography, NYC

Oculus, #5 (1998).

Stone mosaic on walls throughout Chambers Street station complex (A, C & E trains); also, there is a stone and glass floor mosaic at Park Place entrance, which connects to this station via a tunnel.

Artists: Andrew Ginzel & Kristin Jones.

Image: GrrlScientist, 3 January 2009 [larger view].

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