Monthly Archives: June 2012

Apparently, People in Boston Don’t Like Left-Footed Shoes

Posted on June 24, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

I can understand how this happens–small children are geniuses at dropping things: (Exeter and Newbury Streets) But grownups should do better: (from the Esplanade) At least someone tried to recycle….

Posted in Boston, WhatEVAH! | 2 Comments

Boston’s Boot Scrapers

Posted on June 24, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

No, this is not some weird amphibian found only in Boston. Something I’ve noticed walking around Boston’s Beacon Hill (a neighborhood that has existed in one form or another since the founding of the city in the early 1620s) are … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Links 6/23/12

Posted on June 23, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Informed consent: A broken contract A Brazilian crane fly with leg warmers It’s Settled: Dishwashers Beat the Lowly Hand, Almost Every Time Whole-genome sequencing for investigating hospital outbreaks Morbid Floral Fantasies Action Urged to Curb Racial … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment

One Way to Think About Efficiency

Posted on June 23, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Randall Wray raises an interesting question about efficiency using a thought experiment: First, a purely hypothetical one. Let us say we’ve got a society of 150 people, of whom 100 work and 50 are dependent aged and young who do … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | 4 Comments

Links 6/22/12

Posted on June 22, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Missing Foxes Fuel Lyme Disease Spread An alternative “temperature-based” definition of summer and the seasons What’s changed in evolution and ecology since I started my Ph.D. How To Stop Science Alienation Syndrome (interesting, not sure how … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | Comments Off on Links 6/22/12

In Boston, A Humongous Fungus Among Us

Posted on June 22, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Last week, it was cool and rainy, which is perfect fungus weather. That led to this fungus, at the corner of Darmouth and Marlborough Streets, shooting up over a two day period: Just to give you some idea of scale, … Continue reading →

Posted in A Fungus Among Us, Boston | 1 Comment

Fabulous Friday Fish Phylogenetics

Posted on June 22, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

If you haven’t been to the Harvard Museum of Natural History in a while, they’ve recently revamped the fishes exhibit. It still is full of all sorts of weird fish, but now it actually discusses evolution (TEH DARWINISMZ! AAAIEEE!!). Without … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Fish | Comments Off on Fabulous Friday Fish Phylogenetics

Links 6/21/12

Posted on June 21, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: The first eyewear designed for seeing…people The Humans With Super Human Vision Will the Taliban Succeed with Polio Warfare? (the key point is that China’s first case in a decade came from Pakistan) Vaccine Safety: Why … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | Comments Off on Links 6/21/12

The Human Microbiome Project Was About Non-Diseased People, Not ‘Normal’ Ones

Posted on June 21, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

After reading this article by Gina Kolata and this post from the Knoepfler Blog, it seems there’s some confusion about how the Human Microbiome Project (‘HMP’) was designed to look at “normal” people. Having been involved in the project pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in Microbiome | Comments Off on The Human Microbiome Project Was About Non-Diseased People, Not ‘Normal’ Ones

It’s Not Hard to Find Ways to Spend Money: The MBTA Edition

Posted on June 21, 2012 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the frustrating things during the ‘stimulus debate’–which should have been called the jobs debate–was the repeated claim that it’s really hard to spend $800 billion. Never mind that any politician who can’t spend money is staggeringly stupid–’forget how … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments