Author Archives: Michael Eisen

Sean Carroll in “Cooperstown of Evolution” on NPR’s Morning Edition

By Michael Eisen | Published: February 11, 2009

For those of you still with a chance to listen to NPR’s Morning Edition, there’s a really nice piece withJoe Palca following Sean Carroll as he gets a chance to look at the notebooks of Darwin and Wallace during a recent visit to London.  Of course you can also listen to it online.

Posted in evolution | Comments closed

Bash my brother’s paper – for the good of mankind

By Michael Eisen | Published: February 8, 2009

My brother’s lab has a new paper in PLoS One, and he wants to use it to jumpstart our efforts to get postpublication commenting rolling: I am offering up my paper as a case study. If you comment and ask questions or make critiques, I will try to respond. And if you think something in […]

Posted in open access, PLoS | Comments closed

Obama and Copyright

By Michael Eisen | Published: February 8, 2009

I haven’t been so worried about the Conyers bill to end the NIH Public Access policy because I figured even in the unlikely event it got through Congress, Obama wouldn’t sign it. But then I read this post by Seth Johnson about “stacking” of the Justice Department with veteran copyright defenders. I’m still not all […]

Posted in open access, PLoS, science and politics | Comments closed

Conyers reintroduces bill to kill NIH Public Access Policy

By Michael Eisen | Published: February 6, 2009

John Conyers (D-MI) has reintroduced his publisher-backed “Fair Copyright Act”  which would effectively end the NIH Public Access Policy by eliminating the government’s right to impose conditions on grants that would give the government the right to distribute works arising from federally funded research. As many have pointed out, the whole premise of the bill […]

Posted in open access, science and politics | Comments closed

PLoS NTD features in Nicholas Kristof’s Op-Ed about Guantanamo

By Michael Eisen | Published: January 29, 2009

Last year, Peter Hotez published an editorial in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases in which he proposed that rather than just close the prison at Guantonamo Bay, we instead establish a “center of excellence on the diseases of poor that … would directly address poverty and health disparities in the worst-off nations in Central and South […]

Posted in open access, PLoS, politics | Comments closed

My favorite paragraph of snarky music commentary ever…

By Michael Eisen | Published: January 26, 2009

From a 1995 New Republic diarist by Roger Rosenblatt which frequently pops into my head (and which I dredged up in Lexis): As soon as I find out where Andrew Lloyd Webber lives I’m going to stalk him, watch his every move, get as close to him as his clothing. If he goes to a […]

Posted in misc stuff | Comments closed

Weekly Address from Obama’s Science Gurus

By Michael Eisen | Published: January 25, 2009

The scientific community is quite rightly celebrating the replacement of the ascientific Bush with the assertively pro-science Obama, and the elevation of a cadre of outstanding scientists (Varmus, Lubchenko, Chu et al.) to cabinet or advisory positions. But given how much has been written lately about an increasing divide between science and the public, and growing […]

Posted in science and politics | Comments closed

Will Saletan’s incorrect conclusions on ACTN3 and race

By Michael Eisen | Published: December 6, 2008

While I was poking around for stories about ACTN3, I came upon this Slate piece from the usually reliable Will Saletan about the ACTN3 test and race. The story has a generally accurate discussion about ACTN3 allele frequencies and race, and I agree with most of what he has to say. But Saletan makes a […]

Posted in genetics | Comments closed

The awful NYT story on ACTN3

By Michael Eisen | Published: December 6, 2008

A lot has been written about the genetic test for ACTN3 being marketed by ATLAS Research as a way to direct ones children towards the appropriate athletic endeavors since a story on the test appeared in the NY Times last week. Daniel MacArthur, in particular, has done a great job explaining the science behind the […]

Posted in genetics | Comments closed

Don’t vote for my opponent. He believes in Genetic Medicine!

By Michael Eisen | Published: November 12, 2008

A reader sent me the following letter sent out by Fresno County Superior Court judicial court candidate Jim Kelley in his campaign against Douglas Treisman: October 28, 2008 Dear Voter: My name is Jim Kelley and I am a candidate for Fresno County Superior Court Judge.  Judges play an important role in our community, yet […]

Posted in genetics, science and politics | Comments closed