Category Archives: Funding

In A Zero-Sum Funding World, Proposals To Aid Some Should Also Describe Who Gets Hurt

Posted on November 6, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Otherwise, you’re a jackass. Recently, eLife published a report about a workshop held at the University of Wisconsin, “Strategies from UW-Madison for rescuing biomedical research in the US“. The title tells most of what you need to know: it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH | 3 Comments

The Judean People’s Front Microbiome Initiative

Posted on October 30, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Or is it the People’s Front of Judea’s Microbiome Initiative? All kidding aside, we learn, by way of Ed Yong, about two proposed initiatives to support microbiome research: the Unified Microbiome Initiative (UMI) and the International Microbiome Initiative (IMI). I … Continue reading →

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Paul Ryan And The Long-Term Game

Posted on October 26, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

With Republican Congressman Paul Ryan likely to be House Speaker, it’s worth noting if he can keep the Insane Beserker wing of his party under control (that’s not a trivial if), he could be an incredibly effective Speaker–and that’s really … Continue reading →

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Remediation In the Era of PARCC Exams

Posted on September 25, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

From Politico‘s morning roundup (boldface mine): Critics say the Ohio State Board of Education is practicing some fuzzy math on the Common Core, having voted earlier this week to depart from general benchmarks on the PARCC exam. Students who are … Continue reading →

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How to Make a Bad Idea Worse: Privatize It!

Posted on July 28, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

The science bloggysphere is all atwitter–in a bad way–about the proposal by two House Republicans to give out prizes instead of grants for research to the tune of $80 million per year. Steven Salzberg lays out all of the reasons … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH | 2 Comments

They’re Models, Not Mimics: NY Times Calls For An Unfunded Research Mandate

Posted on July 22, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Have to disagree with the Grey Lady about this (boldface mine): Scientific research has a gender gap, and not just among humans. In many disciplines, the animals used to study diseases and drugs are overwhelmingly male, which may significantly reduce … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Rodents | 1 Comment

A (Very) Partial Solution to the Orphan Diseases Problem

Posted on July 20, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Like many, I found this article by Brian Vastag, who is suffering from an orphan disease, heartbreaking. And like the Mistress of the Animals, I also realize, given ideological constraints, the NIH budget is a zero-sum game (boldface mine): But … Continue reading →

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NIH Budgets and Zero Sum Games

Posted on July 16, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

The ridiculous belief that the government can run out of money–which then leads to stupid austerity policies such as spending caps–is really harmful to scientific research. I’ve also described how Republicans have used these imaginary austerity constraints* have been used … Continue reading →

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Post-Docs And Overtime Pay

Posted on July 7, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

Justin Kiggins makes an interesting observation about Obama’s new overtime pay rules–most post-docs get paid less than the new overtime ceiling of $50,400 (boldface mine): These changes probably won’t affect postdocs who are funded through fellowships like the NRSA F32. … Continue reading →

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All NIH Restructuring Proposals Need to Explicitly State Who Gets Culled

Posted on June 25, 2015 by mikethemadbiologist

My first reaction to this Cell article by Ronald Germain which offers a supposed solution to some of science’s funding problems was, “I love it when the Very Serious Scientists reinvent ideas the riff-raff discarded as unworkable years ago. Genius, … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, NIH | 3 Comments