May 2009 - Posts - Lab Rats

May 2009 - Posts

Say no to lobbying on No Tobacco Day

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Today is World No Tobacco Day. Time, once again, to write stories, edits, and now blogs, about why we should stop the use of tobacco. On this occasion, the World Health Organization has called on governments to ensure that all tobacco packages include pictorial warnings on tobacco use, which kills more than 5 million people every year and by 2010, it...

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When can you hire someone with a criminal record?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Never, some would say, but new research in the current issue of Criminology says that after five years of staying ‘clean', an individual with a criminal record is of no greater risk of committing another crime than other individuals of the same age. What's the basis? A computer model, what else! Carnegie Mellon University researchers have created...

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Aila! what does this storm mean?

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
Aila , my Oriya colleague tell me, is slang for 'coming.' And it means pretty much the same in Marathi. Logically, it sounds absurd to name a threating, tropical storm that has now swept Orissa and West Bengal as 'Coming.' What will hapless, stranded fisherman tell his colleague: 'Hey! Aila Aila (Coming is coming!)' By the time...

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Viral epidemic to go mobile

Posted by Seema Singh at 
This is not to create panic (we are just emerging from the swine flu scare -- sorry to use this name even though not politically correct, as I wrote earlier ) as it's about a different kind of viral epidemic - sweep of bugs of the mobile world. New research in today's Science explains why so far, despite having hundreds of millions of mobile...

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Private fund managers for public R&D money?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
The Max Planck Society, one of the largest research organizations in the world, today said it has appointed the European venture fund manager Life Science Partners to manage its new €100 million VC fund. LSP would look after all its life sciences research. More about it here. This has got me thinking if Indian scientific establishments should follow...

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Why not "To kill a Mockingbird"

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Well, the blog title has nothing to do with the Pulitzer-prize winning Harper Lee's book but since it has been such a phenomenal success I thought using the name might attract some traffic! (All is fair in blogosphere I think, especially since not many are fascinated by birds.) Now the news: did you know that mockingbirds can recognize and remember...

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Who wants the science ministry???

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
Like the average hack, i'm curious who's going to take what portfolio in this post-election "yes-we-can" Delhi.. Specifically, what's going to happen in science and technology. Unlike the powerful Home ministry and the remunerative telecom industry, science and technology isn't among the to-die-for posts. That's because...

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Which is mutating faster: swine flu virus or its name?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
Anybody closely following the news of the spread of the flu virus that originated in Mexico (or did it?) and has spread to at least 30 countries would notice that the name of the virus itself has undergone some evolution - swine flu, Mexican flu, A (H1N1), la epidemia , North American flu, California flu, et al. Today's issue of Science has an interesting...

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election puzzle special

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
All of you puzzle-loving folks, here's a variant of a well known puzzle--suitably modified to capture the mood of election 2009--that should help you sharpen your left brain, sherlock holmes cells. 3 first time voters, extremely good at logical deduction, are trying to decide between the Congress and the BJP. To help them, as well as test their...

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Hulaballoo over conflict of interests in cancer research

Posted by Jacob Koshy at 
Let's say you read a brilliant research articled, and at the bottom a tiny asterisked note that says: "The author received funding from xyz company for this research." Would you be put off, or discard the just-a-few-minutes-ago-brilliant work as "compromised," "doubtful,"or worst of all "biased?" A paper published...

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Daydreaming isn't lazy thinking

Posted by Seema Singh at 
And some of us thought it's just letting your mind wander on a trip of its own. After all, daydreaming is often associated with laziness or inattentiveness. But now scientists say the brain is much more active during daydreaming than previously thought, even more than when we focus on routine tasks. In fact, the brain employs two networks simultaneously...

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Privacy in public funded research

Posted by Seema Singh at 
How about having a directory of public-funded research? This could be a place where a large number of projects, definitely not all, funded by the agencies like the Department of Space, Department of Atomic energy, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science and Technology, CSIR, et al can be listed for the benefit for many. Sounds like a highly...

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Who will question the Gates Foundation?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
After all, charities are not corporations, though increasingly they are being run like one to ensure efficiency in operations and outcomes. But a paper in today's issue of the medical journal Lancet raises questions about transparency, accountability and governance of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the biggest charity in the world that is...

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Flu scare: fake or real?

Posted by Seema Singh at 
As the fear of a flu pandemic subsides, questions ranging from preparedness, to preventiveness, access (developing vs developed countries) to outright fear-mongering are cropping up. I don't know where the truth lies. But here's an interesting insight into the whole thing. Stephen Lendman of Global Research writes here a soul-searching piece...

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Business not as usual for biotech

Posted by Seema Singh at 
...Despite delivering a solid financial performance in 2008, says the Ernst & Young's 23rd annual report on the biotech industry titled Beyond borders: Global biotechnology report 2009. " The prolonged funding drought is placing the business model that fueled biotech growth for the past 33 years under unprecedented strain." Many biotechs...

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