science reporting, science publishing and the public: Revere’s take

It’s no secret to loyal readers that I’m an avid reader of the blog Effect Measure which generally deals with public health issues such as swine flu. But today’s blog entry over there really nails an important issue about how science is published and what “good scientific taste” is really all about. As an editor of a 100+ year old journal myself, I take umbrage at the notion that the only good science is that published in the likes of Science or Nature.

Read today’s Effect Measure blog entry and enjoy!

Jim

What does it mean to have human identity?

Here’s a start on reading for the Fall–Benedict Carey’s piece in today’s NY Times about memory.

Money quote:
What researchers are finding is that there is no single “identity spot” in the brain. Instead, the brain uses several different neural regions, working closely together, to sustain and update the identities of self and others. Learning what makes identity, researchers say, will help doctors understand how some people preserve their identities in the face of creeping dementia, and how others, battling injuries like Adam’s, are sometimes able to reconstitute one.

Blogging break: now over

I spent my last week at the MBL taking a break from blogging–and taking in as much science as I could. We took the scenic route back to Washington, heading across Connecticut on old US-6 and then on to Scranton and Harrisburg and finally into Washington. I think we avoided the worst of the traffic and certainly all of the famed tolls on the coastal route along I-95.

Now back in Arlington, I’m getting ready to commence the new academic year. Tomorrow we’ll go look at the new Nikon A1-R confocal microscope up at their place in Baltimore and then Tuesday I’ll be back at the Institute to catch up with the faculty, postdocs and students.
I’m looking very much forward to teaching this next year–two courses: one on neuroscience survival skills and the other, in the Spring, on the functional role of the mammalian hippocampus.
In the meantime, thanks to my loyal readers and I promise to blog regularly through the Fall.
Jim

Sunday with the NY Times in Woods Hole

It was an eleven hour haul up interstate 95 yesterday–just lots of traffic. We did one interesting less well-known detour heading north at New Haven to Hartford before heading east again on ancient US Route 6 to Providence. That should give you an idea of what the main US east-coast north-south artery was like.

Here for your reading are two entirely enjoyable pieces from today’s Sunday NY Times. The first is Mary Roach’s wonderful review of Bill Streever’s new popular science book Cold.
The second is John Markoff’s piece on extremely strong AI (think HAL).

Anastasia Vasilakis’ optimistic take on Augmented Cognition

Here’s a “glass is half-full” take on the augmented cognition meme in the context of our global challenges.

In the Atlantic, partily in response to Nicholas Carr’s now seminal article on Google making us stupid, Anastasia Vasilakis has penned a smart piece that sideswipes the brain-machine interface crowd.
Money quote:

Yet in one sense, the age of the cyborg and the super-genius has already arrived. It just involves external information and communication devices instead of implants and genetic modification. The bioethicist James Hughes of Trinity College refers to all of this as “exo cortical technology,” but you can just think of it as “stuff you already own.” Increasingly, we buttress our cognitive functions with our computing systems, no matter that the connections are mediated by simple typing and pointing. These tools enable our brains to do things that would once have been almost unimaginable

Half-way through the summer

A bit over a month from now, the University will begin gearing up for the Fall semester. It just seems like yesterday that the Spring semester drew to a close. Summer is short and sweet at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study.

As we pass the mid-point of summer, with many of our PI’s away on summer travel and research, I think it would be useful to preview some of what will await them and our students upon their return and the beginning of classes.
First, in late August, we’re opening up three brand-new labs in what’s currently called the new-wing of the Institute. One of those labs will embody the site of a new much closer collaboration between the Department of Neuroscience at Inova’s Fairfax Hospital and George Mason’s neuroscience research activities. The other two will be filled by Drs. Dan Cox and Nadine Kabbani. Dan works on drosophila neurobiology. Nadine is interested in the proteomics of dopamine and nicotinic receptor interactions within the central nervous system.
Second, probably in November we’ll commence construction of Phase II, or rather the “new” new wing of Krasnow, which will include eight new wet labs and associated support space, PI offices and a laboratory commons to complement the Great Room in the original building. That construction should be finished pretty much exactly a year from now so that we’ll take delivery of the new space in time for Fall of 2010. We’ll open up an intranet blog to post construction updates so that everyone at the Institute can coordinate their science. Hopefully the inconvenience will not be too great and what we gain will be both beautiful and functional.
Also, we’ve opened up a second “satellite” facility for Rob Axtell’s research in the new Volgenau Engineering Building. This space for agent-based modeling complements the existing Center for Social Complexity Space in the Research I building.
So the Institute continues to grow, even in these economically difficult times. That’s a tribute to the science that our faculty do.
Jim