Category Archives: Bioinformatics

Understanding Antibiotic Resistance: Finland and Why We Need a National Healthcare System

Posted on March 2, 2009 by mikethemadbiologist

If the Finns can track antibiotic use for the entire country, why can’t we?
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Posted in Antibiotics, Bioinformatics, Healthcare, Public Health | 5 Comments

Eigenfactor and Carl Bergstrom Feature in Seed

Posted on December 19, 2008 by mikethemadbiologist

Carl Bergstrom, the driving force behind the Eigenfactor metric for measuring publication use, is written up in Seed magazine.
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Posted in Bioinformatics | Comments Off on Eigenfactor and Carl Bergstrom Feature in Seed

The Problem with Publication-Driven Science

Posted on December 8, 2008 by mikethemadbiologist

There is a serious problem when breakthroughs are delayed in being tested in the ultimate crucible of science–which is not journal peer review–but use by and utility to other scientists.
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Posted in Bioinformatics, Publishing | 12 Comments

Healthmap.org: It Will Make You More Paranoid Than the Weather Channel

Posted on July 11, 2008 by mikethemadbiologist

After watching the Weather Channel for a while, you actually start to worry about that cold front moving through some other part of the country. Well, I’ve got an even better way to drive yourself nuts about scary things that won’t affect you.
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Posted in Bioinformatics, Internet, Microbiology, We're Really Fucked | 3 Comments

Barcoding in Biology: A Tale of Two Meanings

Posted on March 11, 2008 by mikethemadbiologist

Barcoding has two very different meanings, even though both techniques are used in genomics–and often, at the same time.
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Posted in Bioinformatics, Ecology, Genetics, Genomics, Microbiology | Comments Off on Barcoding in Biology: A Tale of Two Meanings

Some Help for SQL Beginners

Posted on February 16, 2008 by mikethemadbiologist

I agree with ScienceBlogling Sandra: many biologists need to know SQL.
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Posted in Bioinformatics | 1 Comment

Is the Microbiome Being Driven by the Right Biologists?

Posted on December 12, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

Decoding the human microbiome will be easy…except for…oh crap.
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Posted in A Fungus Among Us, Bioinformatics, Genomics, Microbiology, Statistics, Viruses | 5 Comments

Sometimes, Phylogenetic Analysis Takes a Really Long Time

Posted on September 5, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

This analysis is never going to end (stupid GTR models).
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Posted in Bioinformatics, Evolution, Likelihood, Statistics | 4 Comments

eigenFACTOR: Lots of Shiny New Buttons to Push!

Posted on August 29, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

A while ago, I posted about eigenFACTOR, a bioinformatics tool that can be used to calculate the relative impact of scientific journals. Well, the eigenFACTORials have developed a whole buncha new stuff you can do with the program.
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Posted in Bioinformatics, Publishing | 3 Comments

The Public Health Reasons for Monitoring Prescriptions

Posted on April 19, 2007 by mikethemadbiologist

One of the things that has been revealed by the VA Tech shooting is that the government keeps a database of prescription drug users. While I think the data should be de-identified (not linked to a specific individual), those data are critical for public health.
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Posted in Antibiotics, Bioinformatics, Civil Liberties, Drugs, Healthcare, Public Health | 7 Comments