Fabiana Kubke • Sep 06, 2013 •
Try entering “failure to replicate” in a google search (or better still, let me do that for you) and you will find no shortage of hits. You can even find a reproducibility initiative. Nature has a whole set of articles on the topic. If you live in New Zealand you have probably not escaped the […] … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 09, 2013 •
Science! thou fair effusive ray From the great source of mental Day, Free, generous, and refin'd! Descend with all thy treasures fraught, Illumine each bewilder'd thought, And bless my lab'ring mind. But first with thy resistless light, Disperse those phantoms from my sight, Those mimic shades of thee; The scholiast's learning, sophist's cant, The visionary bigot's … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Oct 25, 2012 •
Correct and appropriate presentation of graphs matters. It’s worth taking time to consider how to present your data, to convey the information clearly in a way that is readily perceived and accurate. Not just for scientists, either. Graphs are used ubiquitously, after all. [caption id="attachment_10074" align="aligncenter" width="640"] 'Convincing', xkcd. Original: http://xkcd.com/833/[/caption] On-line there is some … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Sep 14, 2012 •
You know that thing where a media report splashes out about some new ‘discovery’ as if it’s the definitive thing, then a few months later when new research calls it into question there’s little more than a ripple or, more often than not, silence? A group of French scientists decided to look into how media portrayed … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Oct 12, 2011 •
This is a different style than my usual material.* The setting and narrator is fictional - not me, but a character and scene invented for the story. The article is several years old now and the science is consequentially slightly dated. Sitting on my balcony this early Spring morning, my elderly neighbour … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Jul 28, 2011 •
Science fiction has humans cured of genetic diseases by tailored re-engineering of their genes. It’s coming closer to a reality, with a recent report on treating mice with haemophilia B by re-engineering the ‘broken’ gene in mice. Haemophilia B Haemophilia is an inherited genetic disorder that disrupts blood clotting. Read More
Grant Jacobs • Apr 01, 2011 •
I have previously written about the origins of bioinformatics as a field, starting by reposting an article I wrote in 2002, The Mythology of Bioinformatics, and subsequently introducing the first and second articles in the Roots of Bioinformatics series published in PLoS Computational Biology. A third article in the series,* The Roots of Bioinformatics in Theoretical … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Mar 26, 2011 •
A very short collection of snippets for the weekend. Scientists are sometimes accused of being over-analytical and that this, supposedly, spoils seeing beauty in things. I beg to differ. You can debate it in the comments! This newspaper article has Andrew Wakefield apparently assisting setting up an … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Jan 19, 2011 •
Most of us know anecdotally that print media on occasion present immunisation information incorrectly, but you can’t put a finger on how often and when without hard numbers. A recent research article examining New Zealand newspapers puts numbers to the errors. Helen Petousis-Harris led a team surveying the immunisation statements in articles printed in four national … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Nov 08, 2010 •
In New Zealand reports of whales stranding on the beaches make headlines, such as the recent stranding of pilot whales at Spirits Bay.[1] They’re mammals like us and New Zealanders have grown up with news stories of whales and their inquisitive cousins, dolphins. It’s pitiful to see these creatures sprawled helpless on the sand. Frequent … Read More