Monthly Archives: January 2014

Links 1/31/14

Posted on January 31, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Cheap Battery Can Store Energy for a Rainy Day Is it really worth having your gut bacteria tested? An open letter to Nature editor Philip Campbell Kudos to the DOE-JGI for organizing a genomics meeting w/ … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | Comments Off on Links 1/31/14

The Arachnophobes Probably Won’t Like This…

Posted on January 31, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

…but the Australian huntsman spider seems kinda cool: And this short video is hillarious (you can jump to 0:30):

Posted in I For One Welcome Our Arachnoid Overlords | 2 Comments

Yes, A Tax Would Help Lower Urban Housing Costs–But We Need the Right Tax

Posted on January 31, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

Last week, the intertoobz were all abuzz with the proposal that San Francisco’s housing problems could be solved with a land tax. Rather than taxing property (i.e., housing), you tax the value of the land, so someone who doesn’t build … Continue reading →

Posted in Boston, Economics, Housing | 2 Comments

Links 1/30/14 and Programming Note

Posted on January 30, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

A family emergency has summoned me away, so now I have a legitimate excuse for not responding to people. That doesn’t mean, however, that we don’t have links for you. Science: An guide to white-anting climate science The $1000 human … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 5 Comments

Back Bay, Back Lit

Posted on January 30, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

A couple of weekends ago, there was an outdoor evening hockey game at Fenway Park. With the heavy fog, it made for some very nice light pollution pictures. Marlborough Street, looking towards Fenway: Commonwealth Mall, looking towards Fenway:

Posted in Boston | Comments Off on Back Bay, Back Lit

Sequencing Has Always Been Undemocratic

Posted on January 30, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

We just never realized it, thanks to hidden subsidies. Mick Watson asks: It seems such a long time ago (in reality: 5 years) that many people hailed next-generation sequencing as the “democratization” of sequencing. The heart of the idea was … Continue reading →

Posted in Genomics | 1 Comment

Links 1/29/14

Posted on January 29, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Is there connection between Type 1 diabetes and cleanliness? Finland serves as a model. What caused a 10-year winter starting in 536? Flying the Coop: Antibiotic Resistance Spreads to Birds, Other Wildlife H1N1 is back. Here’s … Continue reading →

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Vaccination Still Has a Slight Right-Wing Bias: The Dan Kahan Edition

Posted on January 29, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

I’ve been one of the few people (perhaps the only one) who has noticed that, when you look at data, the popular misconception that anti-vaccinationism is not a left-wing phenomenon; in fact, it has a slight right-wing bias. Dan Kahan … Continue reading →

Posted in Vaccination | 3 Comments

Obama’s Executive Order to Raise the Minimum Wage: Symptomatic of His Presidency

Posted on January 29, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

If you haven’t heard, last night Obama said he would sign an executive order mandating that all federal contract employees receive a minimum wage of at least $10.10. This isn’t inconsequential: it would raise income for about 600,000 workers. Had … Continue reading →

Posted in Basic Human Decency, Democrats, Economics | 7 Comments

Links 1/28/14

Posted on January 28, 2014 by mikethemadbiologist

Links for you. Science: Woman with flu miscarries, battles for her life Why do Sloths Really Poop on the Ground? (there’s a ‘bear shits in the wood’ joke in there somewhere….) On outing in the sciblogging community Useful Unix/Linux One-Liners … Continue reading →

Posted in Lotsa Links | 1 Comment