Politics vs. Science, Again

Even given the "unnamed sources," I can't say that this sort of censorship would really surprise me.

clipped from blogs.wsj.com More allegations this morning that the White House is muzzling top docs in the administration. Julie Gerberding, the physician who runs the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before the Senate yesterday on health and climate change. But her prepared remarks were “severely edited” by the White House, the Associated Press reported, citing two unnamed sources.

I'm off!

Tomorrow morning I will venture to DC for my very first post-doc interview. I say first, and in thinking about that, I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not that I'm assuming and/or hoping? there will be multiple interviews...could go either way.

Anyway, this one is definitely at the top of my list, so wish my luck.

One of the things that I will be required to present on and talk about are my dissertation findings.....since there really aren't any yet, I will have work on the spin....

Improving Schools Results in Greater Health Impact than Most Medical and Public Health Interventions

Simpler interventions that reach more people pay off in the end. Complex medical interventions for the very sick or public health interventions following the high-risk model have a much more limited impact.

clipped from fridayletter.asph.org Reducing the number of students per classroom in U.S. primary schools may be more cost-effective than most public health and medical interventions, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Virginia Commonwealth University. The study indicates that class-size reductions would generate more quality-adjusted life-year gains per dollar invested than the majority of medical interventions.

Leftish Leaning Universities? Ahmadinejad and Summers

The Becker-Posner blog recently had a a debate about the lefty nature of American Universities.

Posner started off the relatively anecdotal discussion by contrasting the recent invitation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (you know the one, Holocaust-denier, supporter of terrorism, etc.) to speak at Columbia and the recent dis-invitation of Larry Summers, (ex-Harvard president who was ousted for talking about the distribution of female vs. male IQ.), who had been invited to speak to the Board of Regents of the University of California.

This strange contrast and all of its potentially deeper meanings aside, the blog digresses into a general discussion of liberalism in U.S. universities.

We're certainly leftish in my field, which is concerned with population- patterns of health and disease, a topic inherently concerned with inequality and social responsibility. But please, think of the average medical school or finance department! It's pretty simplistic to talk about the "leftyness" of universities overall. But personally, I do not equate "PC-ness" with being liberal. There may well be a correlation but to me, left-leaning and liberal are far larger things. Also it's important to look at universities across the globe, many of which house students and faculty who openly study and promote socialism.

Although Becker made a good point...that perhaps it's not the universities that have moved to the left, it's the American public that has shifted to the right.

Another Reason I Can't Wait until Next November (My Hope Runs High)

clipped from www.seedmagazine.com The next president of the United States of America will control a $150 billion annual research budget, 200,000 scientists, and 38 major research institutions and all their related labs. This president will shape human endeavors in space, bioethics debates, and the energy landscape of the 21st century.

Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists™

A recent post by Angry Professor just reminded me that we scientists (through our sheer poverty and lack of grooming) can be so sexxxy!

It's Been A While...

Sorry, faithful 3 readers. It's been a while. I have been pretty busy with critically important work, like with my marathon West Wing session (I heart CJ) in which I watched the entire 7th and final season (yes, that's 22 episodes) in 25.5 hours. Speaking of, for anyone who is a fan of Stockard Channing or revenge flicks or noir strangeness or generally fine acting, check out this flick.

Anyway, when that little fantasy was over, I flipped on the t.v. to CNN with baited breath and anticipation for news about the latest campaign information but just found more
of the
same. My sister (while crude) was right. The West Wing is, fundamentally, just a Democrat's wet dream.

And, finally, there has been some progress on the dissertation front. I am writing and downloading data. I am also applying for a couple of post-docs (wtf is wrong with me?!) and I scored an interview for one of them. So, in addition to all of the above, I get to line up the next experiment in academia.