Blog dump
Pretty busy this week with some applications, so I’ll leave you with a few links: Why we still pay for academic journals even though everything is now onl...
Month: February 2011
Small, slow changes in the works
It’s been just over a year since I started blogging, and as my readers know I traverse an eclectic mix of topics. I’ve blogged about climate change,...
Obama is a politician, not a philosopher
I’m glad to see Ryan Myer blogging again after a long break. His recent post does a typically good job dissecting the Obama administration’s ratchet...
Diversity in science and creationism in schools
I’m busy this week preparing for the AAAS Annual Meeting and specifically this panel. I convened this panel to try spark a debate on how we should think a...
Discovery is not a synonym for innovation
My last post discussed Lehrer’s column on the increased difficulty of making scientific discoveries. Lehrer should have stuck with that topic alone instea...
The slowdown of meaningful discovery
Jonah Lehrer has again written a provacative piece, arguing that growing collaboration and teamwork among scientists is a response to “all the low-hanging...
Science changes in response to economic pressures
To finally talk about something other than basic and applied research (although I’ll shortly return to the topic!), I strongly recommend this interview wi...
Is academia even supposed to be useful?
If you’re wondering why I keep harping on basic research, it’s because I want to write an essay on the topic and I’m using this venue to hash ...
Maybe politicians and policymakers are smarter than scientists
To continue with the basic research meme, here’s Lewis Branscomb distinguishing the goals of research with how it’s conducted (emphasis added): I be...