Category Archives: science and politics

Is John Conyers Shilling for Special Interests? [HuffPost]

By Michael Eisen | Published: March 2, 2009

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lawrence-lessig-and-michael-eisen/is-john-conyers-shilling_b_171189.html

Also posted in politics | Comments closed

I love Anna Eshoo!!

By Michael Eisen | Published: February 27, 2009

A friend posted this letter on Facebook: February 27, 2009 Dear ——-, Thank you for writing to me about H.R. 801, the Fair Copyright in Research Works Act.  As you may know, Congress directed that all NIH funded studies be available for free online. H.R. 801 would effectively overturn this important and much needed policy […]

Also posted in open access | Comments closed

Great op-ed on Conyer’s Bill

By Michael Eisen | Published: February 23, 2009

Misunderestimating open science By James Boyle Published: February 24 2009 02:19 | Last updated: February 24 2009 02:19 It is hard for politicians to do anything that would shock me but I have to say that John Conyers, a US Congressman, has done it. In the process, he has taught us a lot about how […]

Also posted in open access | Comments closed

How should the NIH spend its stimulus money?

By Michael Eisen | Published: February 11, 2009

Steve Quake has an interesting post on Olivia Judson’s blog (Quake is a guest columnist while she is on sabbatical) about what life is like for a scientist at a modern research university. The interesting stuff is at the end, when he talks about how labs are funded. It’s a particularly important time to think about […]

Also posted in politics, science | 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 […]

Also posted in open access, PLoS | 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 […]

Also posted in open access | 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

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 […]

Also posted in genetics | Comments closed

Barack Obama – Scientist

By Michael Eisen | Published: November 5, 2008

Was up working all night, and, as I should have been focusing on my grant, I instead kept trying to figure out just what it was that I was feeling about Obama’s victory. The historical nature of the election brought tears to my eyes – how could it not. And I am already planning a […]

Also posted in politics, science | Comments closed

Palin was not talking about Drosophila

By Michael Eisen | Published: October 26, 2008

Now that I’ve had a chance to look at the blog reactions to the Palin fruit fly idiocy, I’m amazed at how rapidly everyone assumed she was talking about Drosophila. This is because most of the world – including virtually all Drosophila researchers – mistakenly believe that “fruit fly” is the proper common name for […]

Posted in science and politics | Comments closed