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Dance of the Biomek FX
My lab works in part on high-throughput screening (HTS) of libraries of small molecules. Here is my low-budget tribute to the high-tech machines that facilitate this work.
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Civil discourse
A recent, typically excellent post at Dynamic Ecology addressed the question of “How do you critique the published literature without looking like a jerk?” While I like Brian and Jeremy’s suggestions,...
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Calculations of bees’ impact on strawberries’ market value
In the course I’m currently teaching, we’ve been reading the paper Bee pollination improves crop quality, shelf life and commercial value by Bjorn K. Klatt et al. As explained nicely by Erik Stokstad,...
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The wisdom of crowds?
From the Seattle Times: 700,000 at Seahawks parade? Doesn’t add up, experts say. It’s a lighthearted article, but it touches on the methodology of crowd estimation and uses some basic math to show that...
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Reminder: correlation is not causality
A research study by Martin Hoffman and Eswar Krishnan concludes, “Compared with the general population, ultramarathon runners appear healthier and report fewer missed work or school days due to illness...
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The neurobiology of celebrity worship
The 5th edition of Biological Science by Scott Freeman et al. includes the following figure. Summarizing the study (R.Q. Quiroga et al., Nature 435: 1102-7, 2005) on which this figure was based, the...
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More juxtapositions
I have a soft spot for oddly juxtaposed teaching materials, e.g., a handout covering both lab-grown meat and the structure of the song “Hound Dog.” Here are some strange bedfellows that appeared in...
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Stephen, Be Heard!
The Dynamic Ecology and Phylogenomics blogs drew my attention to a new “must-read” article: On whimsy, jokes, and beauty: can scientific writing be enjoyed? by Stephen B. Heard (Ideas in Ecology and...
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More mandatory fun
As a follow-up to the summer’s odd teaching slides, here are some new examples fresh from this fall’s Anatomy & Physiology course (BIOL 241).
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Crowther & Crowther (2015)
Two recently completed collaborations with my 8-year-old son: 1. Green revolution: salad spinning superseded. Bricolage 33: 110-112, 2015. 2. STEM songs: not just child’s play (display case...
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Fluoridated drinking water: public-health triumph, or force-fed meds?
In general, I trust our government. I trust it to use my taxes wisely, protect the less fortunate among us, and enact policies based on sound research and reasoning. If scientists from the government...
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I’m not an ecologist, but sometimes I play one on the Internet
This fall, I’ve been teaching introductory ecology & evolution labs for BBio 180 at UW-Bothell. It had been quite a while since I had worked directly with eco-evo material, so it was interesting to...
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Fluoridated drinking water is not an elegant 21st-century solution
In a previous post, I explained why, overall, I approve of the anti-fluoridation movement. Now I want to address one specific aspect of this that is partly scientific but partly philosophical and...
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Recent videos
As long as I’m using this blog to support family causes such as my parents’ anti-fluoridation work, I should also throw in a plug for my sister’s company’s new video, which nicely showcases their...
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Marshall & Warren: cinematic science
Portrayals of science and scientists on television and in movies are often hilariously fanciful. In the generally wonderful BBC/PBS series “Sherlock,” for example, the title character sees the chemical...
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Special announcement: an online conference devoted entirely to educational...
Here is something I’ve been working on behind the scenes for a while: VOICES: Virtual Ongoing Interdisciplinary Conferences on Educating with Song I’ve made a few quick comments about this at my other...
View ArticlePreviewing my first lab at my new job: an internal monologue
OK, in this part the students will add a drop of sheep blood to different solutions to see whether/how those solutions affect the shape of the red blood cells. …SO HOW COME I CAN’T SEE ANY RED BLOOD...
View ArticleWhen is it fun to be married to a biostatistician?
Always, if that biostatistician is Leila. But especially during scenes like the following…. It’s dinner time for 7-month-old Ben, and two types of orange mush are on the menu: sweet potatoes and...
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My Ph.D. adviser, Kevin E. Conley
Last night I received the news that my Ph.D. adviser had just died of cancer. For me, this was one of those moments of asking myself, “Did I ever thank this person adequately for what they did for me?”...
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…And my other Ph.D. adviser, Martin J. Kushmerick
image taken from http://depts.washington.edu/tcmi/ In my haste to note the passing of Kevin Conley, my primary graduate school adviser, I failed to mention a sad coincidence, which is that my OTHER...
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