Code for life

Scratching open your brain in your sleep and other stories (Best American Science Writing 2009)

Grant Jacobs • Oct 22, 2009

• science communication,
• writing

Among a wide range of topics, this book explains why one woman scratched through to her brain in her sleep. More on that later. Read More

Textbook proposals

Grant Jacobs • Oct 21, 2009

• science communication,
• textbook,
• writing

If you’re planning to write a textbook, or are tempted to, try reading this blog article by Nature senior editor Henry Gee. It’s good food for thought. Any non-fiction or textbook writers here? (Or publishers, or editors for that matter.) What are your experiences or advice? … Read More

Buddies, annoyances and depression

Grant Jacobs • Oct 21, 2009

• Depression,
• post-doc support,
• Science policy,
• student support

Reading an article on Destigmatizing depression among medical trainees or graduates which, in turn, points to an article by Karen Hebe “Destigmatizing Depression” on Science magazine’s Science careers website, reminded me of an idea I had to improve the grad students’ and post-docs’ lot a few years ago. The original article focuses on … Read More

Metagenomics-finding organisms from their genomes

Grant Jacobs • Oct 20, 2009

• bioinformatics,
• DNA sequencing,
• metagenomics,
• microbiome

Scientists are surveying the genomes found in environments, a modern way to find what micro-organisms live there. There has been an explosions of "-omics" over the last decade. Metagenomics is the moniker given to genomic, or DNA sequence, surveys of environmental samples. Basically metagenomics involves researchers collecting DNA samples from, say, the ocean, beach … Read More

Where's here? (Hearing with one ear.)

Grant Jacobs • Oct 19, 2009

• deafness,
• hearing,
• hearing aid

My mother used to call out to me in the house as a kid. I'd ask where she was and she'd reply "here". It drove me nuts. You see, when you can only hear in one ear it's hard to tell the direction a sound comes from and it's frustrating to … Read More

Sidebar scientists

Grant Jacobs • Oct 19, 2009

• science communication,
• writing

One suggestion I made as the Science Media Centre (SMC) was set up was to encourage media to use experts to complement journalists’ stories with a sidebar of the “bare bones” of the science associated with the story. Everyone will know how this works. Readers who want more than the storyline or who want “just the … Read More

Medical remedies-burden of proof lies with seller

Grant Jacobs • Oct 18, 2009

• natural health remedies,
• psychics

Imagine going to a doctor, asking about the treatment they're offering and getting in reply: "The treatment is implausible, it flies in the face of established science, there's no sound evidence for it, there are some studies showing it probably does nothing, but a bunch of people who think they have special powers like me think it's OK." … Read More

Digital smiles

Grant Jacobs • Oct 16, 2009

• digital cameras

I have a nightmare vision of a near-future world of inane smiles. Read More

Sales-fest or science?

Grant Jacobs • Oct 14, 2009

• natural health remedies

Like many biologists and medical professionals, I'm disturbed by the plainly wrong and misleading nature of anti-vaccine and natural remedy claims I've seen. An advertised "Natural Health Expo" to be held this weekend in New Zealand has caused me to revisit how an earlier blog article on Crank ’scientific’ conferences suggested one simple test for … Read More

Monkey business, or is my uncle also my Dad?

Grant Jacobs • Oct 13, 2009

• pygmy marmoset

For a short while I had a temporary gravatar as a infant pygmy marmoset, clutching a human finger. I've revised it to a posterised image of me. It's not as if I was convincing anyone I was as cute as the baby marmoset... While reading about these cute little guys (and gals), I … Read More