Adam's Blogroll: click through to the author's blog
THE MESS IN PSYCHOLOGY AND OTHER SCIENCES TOO You’d think that the just-published Science paper, recounting a massive attempt at replication of 100 selected research projects published in the top psychology journals in 2008, would be cause for much beating … Continue reading
The post Psychology cleans up its act, plus biohackers embrace gene editing, CRISPR, cyborgs appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in bioethics, biohacker, brain, CRISPR, fraud, gene editing, genetic engineering, genetics, Genomics, GMO, Human Evolution, On Science Blogs, p, Politics, psychology, Research
Do you suppose Steven Pinker’s broadside against professional bioethics oversight of CRISPR and other forms of gene editing–Pinker’s command to bioethics was brutally inflexible: “Get out of the way”–will change bioethics for the better? Or gene editing, for that matter? … Continue reading
The post Pinker’s gene editing rant ignored most bioethics issues; debunking stoner Shakespeare appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in Astronomy, bioethics, Cannabis, CRISPR, gene editing, genetic engineering, genetics, Genome, Genomics, GMO, health care, Human Evolution, media criticism, On Science Blogs, Politics, pot, Research, Science Journalism, weed
DUELING PAPERS ABOUT THE FIRST AMERICANS Oh, goody. Dueling papers. Always a treat. And dueling papers in the same week in Science and Nature, an extra-special treat. The topic a hot one, as befits dueling papers: Based on genetic studies … Continue reading
The post First Americans mystery again plus $100 million search for extraterrestrials appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in aliens, Americas, ancient DNA, anthropology, archaeology, Asia, Astronomy, ET, extraterrestrials, genetics, Genome, Human Evolution, media criticism, migration, On Science Blogs, paleontology, Research, science blogging, Science Journalism, Science Writing, Stephen Hawking, united states
WHEW! The Affordable Care Act (aka ACA, aka Obamacare) subsidies to help people buy health insurance got saved by the US Supreme Court after all, with the somewhat unexpected help (unexpected by me, anyway) of Chief Justice John Roberts. Here’s … Continue reading
The post Obamacare lives and Kennewick Man is a Native American appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in ACA, affordable care act, ancient DNA, Asia, contraception, dna, Evolution, genetic engineering, genetics, Genome, Genomics, health care, Human Evolution, human origins, human paleontology, Kennewick Man, media criticism, medical journalism, medical writing, mitochondrial DNA, Native American, Obamacare, On Science Blogs, paleoanthropology, paleontology, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Politics, Research, Science Journalism, Science Writing, united states, women
The National Academy of Sciences has confirmed officially that yes, as rumored for weeks, it will hold a meeting to thrash out issues posed by the new gene editing techniques. These will probably be ethical and policy issues mostly. … Continue reading
The post Update on gene editing of human embryos–and other organisms appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in Evolution, genetic engineering, genetics, Genome, Genomics, GMO, health care, Human Evolution, On Science Blogs, Politics, Research
Concussion, traumatic brain injury, and life’s hard knocks Search “concussion” in the media and you’ll come away thinking hard knocks to the head are chiefly a problem for kids and football players (or kid football players.) Last fall the blog … Continue reading
The post Concussion, TBI, human evolution, Neanderthal DNA, blogging news appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in 538, brain, Concussion, dna, FiveThirtyEight, HealthNewsReview, Human Evolution, medical journalism, medical writing, mild traumatic brain injury, MTBI, Nate Silver, Neandertal, Neanderthal, paleontology, science blogging, Science Journalism, Science Writing, TBI, traumatic brain injury
Lords of the zings
I don’t know why the new papers about the “hobbit,” the 2003 find of tiny ancient bones from the Indonesian island of Flores, have made such a splash. No, I take that back. I do know. …
The post H. floresiensis or H. sapiens with Down syndrome? Plus landing on a comet appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in Astronomy, Australia, comets, Down syndrome, esa, European Space Agency, Flores, hobbit, Homo floresiensis, Homo sapiens, Human Evolution, LB1, Mars, media criticism, NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Agency, On Science Blogs, paleoanthropology, Research, Rosetta, science blogging, Science Journalism, Siding Spring
Give us this day a fix for the GMO battles?
Two papers published in the last week were signal events for agricultural genomics. First was the draft of the huge, and hugely complex, genome of bread wheat, the …
The post A fix for GMO battles? Plus sexual harassment during field research appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Accidental anthrax
Which is the more likely threat to public safety? A single big release of deadly organisms by terrorists, the nightmare that fuels much bioweapons research and a string of lookalike novels that are nearly a genre in …
The post Anthrax, false research, triglycerides, mea culpa, cellphone freedom appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.
Posted by in Anthrax, bioweapons, cardiovascular disease, CDC, cellphones, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Evolution, fraud, Genomics, health care, Human Evolution, John Ioannidis, July 4th, media criticism, medical journalism, microbes, On Science Blogs, Research, Science Journalism, terrorism, triglycerides, united states, US Supreme Court
Sex roundup: Affirmative action in animal research
My list of potential topics is heavy with sex this week. First–and possibly most far-reaching–the National Institutes of Health is coming to grips with the fact that males and females are . . …
The post Female vs. male research, vaginas, elderly sperm, Nate Silver’s 538, MERS, racial genetics appeared first on PLOS Blogs Network.