The Chronicle’s Paul Fain has a brilliant analysis of what’s happening to the large public universities here (hat tip my wife).
This is pretty funny and quite germane to our current H1N1 pandemic…
From Science, Science-Signalling–your brain without sleep. Abstract is here. Shorter version: looks like PKA dependent LTP is diminished in mice forced to pull all-nighters.
The current project is preparing a course for both undergraduates and doctoral students in neuroscience for next semester on the function of the hippocampus. For many in the field, this is an already answered question–the hippocampus is the biological substrate for human episodic memory. Others see it still as the neuronal seat of the so-called cognitive map. I’m not so sure. For all the experimental data collected on this beautiful brain structure over the years, the problem of biological function remains tantalizingly unclear.
Well the Augustine Commission Report on manned space flight is out and initial reports suggest a change in course for NASA may be in the offing. Specifically, the Shuttle may not retire as per schedule and the planned Ares launcher program may be in trouble.
I drove home this evening along the George Washington Parkway which parallels the Potomac River opposite the city’s monumental core. The maple trees have achieved peak Fall color (as we say on the East U.S. coast referring to the change from green to orange/red) and were actually reflected in the River. I had the top down on the car and it was simply beautiful.
I just ran into my colleague Giorgio Ascoli who has just returned to the Institute from the Society for Neuroscience meetings. He had one instruction for me: go and google “whole brain catalog, all one word”
Here is the result. Enjoy!
From ScienceInsider, an excellent look at proposed changes to the way the European Research Council administers research grants here.
A key target in the panel’s harshly worded review, published in July, was the managerial dichotomy at the ERC. A Scientific Council, made up of volunteers and chaired by Imperial College London biologist Fotis Kafatos, sets the ERC’s scientific agenda. But day-to-day-management is in the hands of civil servants at the Executive Agency in Brussels, which is controlled by the European Commission. The two clash frequently.
Here’s the top ten list from Huffington Post. Note how highly represented the National Capital Area is. Not being on this list and delivering excellent education in the Washington D.C. area: that’s a major competitive advantage for George Mason.
