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A new paper that I’m an author on has just been published in DNA and Cell Biology! It’s a slightly atypical paper, though. When I was a senior undergraduate at Purdue, the Department of Biology staff nominated me to help develop the curriculum of a new NSF-funded, research-based, freshman honors biology laboratory course called CASPiE [...]
Archive for the ‘biology’ Category
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Guest Post: Skeptical dog training
March 23rd, 2012 
Jen The following is a guest post by Julie Lada, a veterinary student and skeptic who blogs at My DVM Vacation. Dog training is a hot button issue right now. Dozens of TV, magazine and book personalities are dying to tell you the best way to get your dog to stop jumping up on your guests [...]
Another thing fruit flies and humans have in common
March 15th, 2012 Jen I’m kind of loving this research published in the latest issue of Science, titled “Sexual Deprivation Increases Ethanol Intake in Drosophila.” Science NOW has a good general summary of the paper: Offer a male fruit fly a choice between food soaked in alcohol and its nonalcoholic equivalent, and his decision will depend on whether he’s mated [...]
Scientific publication title of the day
January 31st, 2012 Jen “Desperately Seeking Stable 50-Year-Old Landscapes with Patches and Long, Wide Corridors” in PLoS Biology. I’m not sure if the authors purposefully came up with a title reminiscent of a personal ad, or if it’s just my overactive imagination. Either way, it makes me giggle. I mean, “long, wide corridors”? What a size queen. For anyone [...]
INJUSTICE
December 28th, 2011 Jen I was playing Cranium with my family, and as luck would have it, my team got an evolutionary question. My dad and grandma turned to me, since, you know, I’m an evolutionary biologist and stuff. This was the question: “True or False: Dogs are more closely related to cats than they are to bears.” I [...]
A lesson in botany
December 15th, 2011 Jen Friend: “Flowers are basically a place where insects go to masturbate.” Typical Thursday night.
My Skepticon talk: Skeptical Genetics
November 30th, 2011 Jen My talk from Skepticon is now online! If you ever wanted a quick and dirty summary of basic genetic concepts, now’s your chance. I try to address a lot of common misconceptions about genetics and address some of the shoddy ways genetics is portrayed by the media: That was my first time giving that talk. [...]
More damning revelations about Burzynski’s “research”
November 30th, 2011 Jen Yesterday I picked apart the Burzynski clinic’s list of “scientific studies supporting antineoplason research since 2006.” Unsurprisingly, a majority of these citations were just abstracts of conference presentations lacking peer review, and a couple studies published in terrible (and even sketchy) journals. I wasn’t able to comment on specifics about the papers since I didn’t [...]
A look at the Burzynski clinic’s publications
November 29th, 2011 Jen The Burzynski clinic has responded to the flood of skeptical bloggers with a press release. They’ve apparently fired (in so many words) Marc Stephens for his harassment, yet still plan to send attorneys after UK bloggers. I’m not sure if the targeting of UK bloggers has to do with UK libel laws, or if the [...]
For shame, Burzynski clinic
November 28th, 2011 Jen Why am I directing my ire at the Burzynski clinic? Any one of these reasons would be enough, but let’s go through the list, shall we? 1. Pseudoscience. The Burzynski clinic claims to be able to cure cancer with “antineoplaston therapy.” What’s that? Mainly a load of bunk (emphasis mine): Some people promote antineoplaston therapy [...]
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