The Scientific Activist

A More Reality-Based Poll

Thu, 06 May 2010 09:45:27 -0500

Remember that strikingly inept poll analysis about the Tea Party movement from The New York Times last month? Well, the new Washington Post-ABC News poll addresses the same topic, and the Post's analysis seems to actually be rooted in reality:

The conservative "tea party" movement appeals almost exclusively to supporters of the Republican Party, bolstering the view that the tea party divides the GOP even as it has energized its base.

That conclusion, backed by numbers from a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, also suggests that the tea party may have little room for growth. Most Americans -- including large majorities of those who don't already count themselves as supporters -- say they're not interested in learning more about the movement. A sizable share of those not already sympathetic to the tea party also say that the more they hear, the less they like the movement.

Overall, the tea party remains divisive, with 27 percent of those polled saying they're supportive but about as many, 24 percent, opposed. Supporters overwhelmingly identify themselves as Republicans or GOP-leaning independents; opponents are even more heavily Democratic. The new movement is also relatively small, with 8 percent of supporters claiming to be "active participants" -- about 2 percent of the total population.

(Emphasis added by me.)

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This Is a Very Dumb Poll

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:33:59 -0500

Actually, I should say that this is a very dumb analysis of a poll. The New York Times is really promoting its new NYT/CBS poll right now; as I write this, the top headline on the Times' homepage reads "Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated."

When I first saw that headline and read the email news alert that the Times sent out, I did agree that these appeared to be interesting and surprising findings. And, as I read the article, my interest--and then skepticism--continued to grow. According to the article, these "Tea Party supporters" are "wealthier and more well-educated than the general public", and they make up "18 percent of Americans". Hmmm... interesting. Also, they "do not think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president", and are "more likely than the general public to have returned their census forms." Well, that's quite a surprise.

The article goes on and on, but one thing should become clear: these "Tea Party supporters" sound almost indistinguishable from your run-of-the-mill establishment fiscal-conservative Republican. How could this be?

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Second UCLA Pro-Test Rally Sends Strong Message in Support of Science

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 22:10:40 -0500

Today, the UCLA chapter of Pro-Test held its second rally in support of animal research. With as many as 400 or so supporters in attendance, it looks like it was another great success! Here are a couple of early reports on the event:

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Anaerobic Animals Discovered on Sea Floor

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 09:07:17 -0500

This is pretty neat: scientists have apparently discovered the first example of truly anaerobic animal life (i.e. an animal that can survive in the absence of oxygen). This isn't some sort of fuzzy critter, though; instead, these are tiny (less than 1 mm in length) animals that were found on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. The animals belong to the phylum Loricifera (see illustration below). Significantly, these animals lack mitochondria, the sub-cellular organelles where oxygen is employed to produce ATP in aerobic (oxygen-dependent) life.

You can check out the original paper by Danovaro et al. (and two accompanying commentary articles) at BMC Biology:

Danovaro, R., Dell'Anno, A., Pusceddu, A., Gambi, C., Heiner, I., & Kristensen, R. (2010). The first metazoa living in permanently anoxic conditions BMC Biology, 8 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-8-30

Levin, L. (2010). Anaerobic Metazoans: No longer an oxymoron BMC Biology, 8 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-8-31

Mentel, M., & Martin, W. (2010). Anaerobic animals from an ancient, anoxic ecological niche BMC Biology, 8 (1) DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-8-32

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ScienceBlogs Traffic Is Off the Hook!

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:50:33 -0500

Web traffic to ScienceBlogs.com is up about 50% over last year (and has been growing at that rate since the site's inception in 2006). That's pretty impressive! Check out the stats here: SBRelease20040610.pdf

(Hat tip to DrugMonkey.)

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It's Getting Kind of Hot Out There....

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:09:55 -0500

Oh boy, it was a real scorcher in our nation's capital today... at least by April standards! With temperatures in some locales surpassing 90 degrees, several area daily high temperature records were broken.

As I sweated through the day, I got to thinking: where are all of those oh-so-clever political cartoonists and global-warming-denying Republican politicians who just a couple of months ago were incessantly using February's record-breaking snows to "mock" the idea of global warming?

(Bueller...? Bueller...? Bueller...?)

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Upcoming UCLA Pro-Test Rally: Stand Up for Animal Research on April 8th

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 20:29:48 -0500

The UCLA chapter of the pro-science organization Pro-Test has announced its second major rally to show support for science and to stand up against the ongoing campaign of intimidation being waged by animal rights activists. The organization originated in Oxford in 2006 during a streak of particularly nasty actions by animal extremists, and the UCLA chapter held their first rally about a year ago in response to the escalating threats and destruction of property aimed at animal researchers in the US.

The next rally is scheduled to start at 11:30 am, on Thursday, April 8th. It will convene on the UCLA campus, at the corner of Westwood Blvd and Le Conte Ave. You can read the full text of the Pro-Test press release on the event below:

Supporters of science at the 2009 UCLA Pro-Test rally.

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Here We Go Again....

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:51:00 -0500

I don't write much about the antics of animal rights activists these days, because while some of their activities have a very negative impact on the work of some scientists, they're really just a marginal--albeit highly vocal--bloc that thrives on attention. Still, sometimes they need to be called out, and Janet of Adventures in Ethics and Science is doing just that:

Harassment drove UCLA neurobiologist Dario Ringach out of primate research in 2006. This was not just angry phone calls and email messages. We're talking about people in masks banging on the windows of his house in the night, scaring his kids. Without support on this front from other scientists or from UCLA, Dario abandoned research that he believed to be important so that he could keep his family safe.

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The Open Laboratory 2009 Is Out

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:23:43 -0500

This year's version of the science blogging anthology, The Open Laboratory 2009, is out and available from Lulu publishing. You can order it in paperback format or as an electronic download. Three cheers to editor Scicurious and series editor Bora Zivkovik for their great work in making this happen!

For more, check out Scicurious' announcement and the earlier unveiling of the posts included in this year's anthology. You can see my contribution here.

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More on the M2 Channel Structure Controversy

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:08:28 -0500

Last year, I wrote about a scientific controversy over the structure of the influenza M2 proton channel, particularly over the protein's binding site for adamantane type anti-flu drugs. The Schnell/Chou model, based on solution NMR, had the drug binding to the outside of the channel, within the membrane (at a 4:1 drug:protein ratio). On the other hand, the Stouffer/DeGrado model had the drug binding inside the channel (1:1 ratio), based on X-ray crystallography studies.

A new study was recently published in Nature (the same journal that published the original two competing papers), based this time on solid state NMR. This study, by lead author Sarah Cady in Mei Hong's lab, finds evidence for both binding sites, but argues that the pore (Stouffer/DeGrado model) is the higher affinity site. This subject involves a legitimate scientific controversy, and has clearly been in need of a third party to help resolve it. Unfortunately, the DeGrado group was also involved with this one, so it's not quite the impartial judgment that this subject needed. Regardless, the new study does offer additional evidence to support the Stouffer/DeGrado model, although I don't think it's quite the final word.

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More on Health Care Reform

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:14:57 -0500

Clearly, I'm not the only one who thinks that the most obvious solution for health care reform is for the House to pass the Senate bill: The New York Times just published an editorial arguing the same point:

The most promising path forward would be for House Democrats to pass the Senate bill as is and send it to the president for his signature. That would allow the administration and Congress to pivot immediately to job creation and other economic issues. The Senate bill is not perfect, but it would expand coverage to 94 percent of all citizens and legal residents by 2019, reduce the deficit for decades to come, and create pilot programs to move the medical system toward better care at lower costs.

The Times' editorial also notes the hypocrisy in the Massachusetts Senate election:

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We Need to Pass Health Care Reform Now!

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:53:14 -0500

It's been a rocky ride this year, getting heath care bills passed in the House and the Senate. It's been just over a month since the Senate passed its bill in a dramatic Christmas Eve vote (and much longer since the House passed its version), but the fate of health care reform still appears as uncertain as ever. In particular, a surprising political setback in Massachusetts has made the already difficult Senate an almost impossibly hostile environment for reform.

The most obvious solution is for the House to pass the Senate bill without hesitation; however, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has already said this is unlikely to happen. On the positive side, it looks like Democrats in the House and Senate may be close to brokering a deal allowing reform to pass. But, if this fails--and maybe even instead of pursuing this strategy--the House should do its best to pass the Senate bill.

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The Open Laboratory 2009 Winners Announced

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:06:08 -0500

The top 50 science blog posts of the year, as judged by a large panel of bloggers, have been announced and will be included in The Open Laboratory 2009. The fourth annual volume of this blog anthology will be published early this year, but you can go ahead and see the winning posts here and here. The editor, Scicurious, the series editor, Bora Zivkovic, and all of the judges deserve a round of applause for their hard work.

And, I'm happy to announce that my post on H1N1 influenza antiviral drug resistance ("Why Swine Flu Is Resistant to Adamantane Drugs" from 01 May 2009) made the cut and will be included in this year's science blogging anthology. A collection of my posts was included in the first volume (2006), and I'm excited to participate again.

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It's Not Too Late to Get Vaccinated Against H1N1 Flu

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:50:31 -0500

Have you gotten your H1N1 flu shot yet? If not, it's still not too late. Due in part to the successes of the public health campaign against H1N1 influenza, people have begun adopting a rather casual attitude toward it. This is problematic, because due to an extent to initial shortages of vaccine, a very large portion of the population remains unvaccinated and susceptible to another wave of flu outbreaks. In fact, I only managed to get my H1N1 flu vaccine about a week ago, when my place of employment began offering it to workers who weren't part of the original target group.

I imagine that many of you had been in a similar situation, so now that the H1N1 vaccine is widely available, I would encourage you to go ahead and get it--to protect yourself and to help protect those around you.

In fact, earlier today I received a press release from the Campaign for Public Health Foundation, announcing an event tomorrow (Wednesday, January 13th) aimed at raising public awareness of the H1N1 vaccine. Here's the press release in full:

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Chad Orzel on Science Blogging

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:02:07 -0500

Chad Orzel, of Uncertain Principles, has a nice article today in Inside Higher Ed about the value of science blogging, both in his own career and in the scientific process in general. This is a view that I of course agree with and think is important, and Chad brings a unique perspective on the issue.

Go check out his article, but here's a taste:

As essential as this [communication] step is, it is in many ways the weakest link in the scientific process today. While there are more scientific papers published today than ever before, a combination of technical sophistication and scientific specialization means that as far as the general public is concerned, modern scientific papers might as well be Latin cryptograms.

This is the famous "Two Cultures" problem pointed out by C.P. Snow a half century ago, and in many ways, the problems have only gotten worse since Snow's day. This is especially troubling given that the biggest problems facing human civilization today -- global climate change, pandemic disease, dwindling natural resources -- demand scientific solutions. Public understanding of science remains dangerously low, however, to the point where slick and cynical lobbyists can easily sow doubt about the state of global climate, or the safety of vaccines. When a shameless huckster like Glenn Beck can convince people not to vaccinate themselves or their children, in the face of decades of scientific evidence of the safety and efficacy of vaccines, something is dangerously wrong.

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