Important wisdom of the month, from NPR
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This is from the "Tree of Life Blog"
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.
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Source: The Tree of Life - August 24, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
The Massry Prize is a #YAMMA (yet another mostly male award) #MatildaEffect #Massry #GenderBias
I was really pleased to see the announcement that the 2017 Massry Prize was awarded to Norm Pace, Jeffrey Gordon and Rob Knight. Alas, then someone pointed me to the web site listing past winners of the prize. Massry Prize. And I compiled the list (with some help from Wikipedia)Massry PrizeYet Another Mostly Male AwardYAMMA1996Michael Berridge 1997 Judah Folkman 1998Mark Ptashne 1999Gunter Blobel 2000Leland H. Hartwell 2001Avram Hershko2001 Alexander Varshavsky 2002Mario Capecchi2002 Oliver Smithies 2003Roger Kornberg2003 David Allis 2003 Michael Grunstein 2...
Source: The Tree of Life - August 9, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
#SciFoo 2017 here I come
Well, I am going back to SciFoo. This is a meeting that happens at Google, is organized by O'Reilly Media and Nature and Google and Digital Science and others. I went in 2012, 2007 and 2006. And every single time it was life altering. I will try to post while there but it can be distracting ...Here are some notes and posts from the past scifoos I have attended.2012Storify I made:[View the story "scifoo 2012" on Storify]A very deep blog post: Holy s$&# - I am going back to #SciFoo2006SciFoo Camp, the prequelSciFoo Camp impressions Day 1My 18 month old daughter is in love with googleSciFoo Camp H...
Source: The Tree of Life - August 3, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Another white men's microbiome meeting from Kisaco #YAMMM #manel #STEMDiversity
Discussion of speaker diversity triggered by a #manel (Storify)Speaker gender balance at Society for the Neurobiology of Language conferences 2009 –2015Countering gender bias at conferences Carrie Arnold in ScienceTen Simple Rules to Achieve Conference Speaker Gender Balance by Jenny Martin How to Add More Women Speakers to Your Meetings by Michelle Russell in PCMA ConveneWelcoming Women at STEM Conferences – and Beyond - the StoryExchange To Get More Female Conference Speakers - GenomeWebFemale Scientists Turn to Data to Fight Lack of Representation on Panels NY TimesHow li...
Source: The Tree of Life - July 24, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Today in misleading, dangerous, overselling of the microbiome - UNC on babies and cognitive development
Uggh. Was pointed to this on Twitter:In baby's dirty diapers, the clues to baby's brain development | EurekAlert! Science News@phylogenomicshttps://t.co/whMlHNlk6d— Dylan Mackay (@DylanMacKayPhD)July 22, 2017And I read the PR and made a quick Twitter response but decided to fill that in here a bit.Some ridiculous overselling of the#microbiome in that press release#microbiomaniapic.twitter.com/zGElsVCOoV— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics)July 22, 2017Basically the study being discussed found a correlation between the microbiome in babies poop and their cognitive development. There are 100s of possible causes for such a co...
Source: The Tree of Life - July 22, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Worth a look: Formalised data citation practices would encourage more authors to make their data available for reuse
This is something I have been thinking about recently and seems spot on overall. Definitely worth a look: Impact of Social Sciences – Formalised data citation practices would encourage more authors to make their data available for reuse
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This is from the "Tree of Life Blog"
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.
-------- (Source: The Tree of Life)
Source: The Tree of Life - July 19, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Human microbiome studies really are oversold, new study suggests #UCLA #Microbiomania
Blargh. I saw this headline and I was suckered in. I thought there might actually be something novel behind it::Human emotions really are affected by gut bacteria, new study suggests - ScienceAlert But no - despite the headline, this is just about a paper that showed correlation between microbiome community patterns and various behavioral traits. Not a shred of cause vs effect tested. And yet despite that this is just a correlative study, the article just completely overstates the implications"But it's clear that there's something going on between the organisms in our gut and the thoughts and feelings we exp...
Source: The Tree of Life - July 4, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
A time capsule from my father's youth - the secrets of a 62 year old Bar Mitzvah book on his 75th birthday
Today, July 3, 2017, is my father - Howard Jay Eisen's birthday. He would have been 75 today. I am sure we would have had a grand celebration of some kind. I will make a toast in his honor tonight.Sadly, he is no longer alive. He passed away in 1987, when I was a freshman in college. It was a painful ending of his life. I have written about this. As has my brother Michael. As have some other people here and there. If you want to know more about that, well, here are some links to read. A day to think, to pause, to ponder. Posted by me February 7, 2013. My quest to free my fa...
Source: The Tree of Life - July 3, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Thank you Gizmodo and Ryan Mandelbaum for anti-poop-doping story
Thank you Gizmodo and Ryan F. Mandelbaum for this: Athlete Poop Won't Improve Your Athletic Performance. I like this in particular“A bunch of elite cyclists have a microbiome that looks like this,” the way Petersen describes, fecal transplant expert and professor Elizabeth Hohmann from Massachusetts General Hospital told Gizmodo. “So what? Is that because of the foods they eat?” After all, it could be the lifestyle tha t makes their microbiome look the way it does, not the microbiome that makes them better performers. “There are associations, but not causal. The idea that [microorganisms like] Methanobr...
Source: The Tree of Life - June 30, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
More awful reporting on the "poop doping" claimed by Dr. Lauren Peterson
UggBeen trying to stamp out the awful reporting on the poop doping claims of Dr. Lauren Peterson. SeeIrresponsible reporting on "poop doping" from the Washington PostKudos to Bicycling Magazine for pedaling so so so much overselling of the microbiomeBut the crap keeps flowing. Here is the last - in the NY Post: Poop transplants are the final frontier in athletic doping | New York PostHere are some quotes from the story and my comments about them."The treatment helped her battle Lyme Disease, however, there was a downside."No evidence exists that this treatment helped her battle Lyme disease." “I had no mic...
Source: The Tree of Life - June 28, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Wrap up of recent posts of relevance on microBEnet
I have been doing a lot of blogging at microBEnet and don't always do a good job of cross posting or even posting here to let people know of the cross talk / related posts.So I am trying to do that briefly now. Here are some posts from the last few months on microBEnet that may be of interest, These are posts from March through today.Great article by Maryn McKenna on the hunt for new antibiotics w/ crowdsourcing helpWorth a look: Are Pets the New Probiotic? in the NY TimesAlleged mishandling of Flint Legionnaire ’s outbreak leads to manslaughter charges for MI health chiefReport: Guests leave Las Vegas ’ Rio hotel...
Source: The Tree of Life - June 25, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Irresponsible reporting on "poop doping" from the Washington Post
Went on a bit of a Twitter tirade last night. See more below[View the story "Irresponsible reporting on "poop doping" from The Washington Post #microbiomania" on Storify]The Washington Post story, by Marissa Payne, requires a log in but the article is now in other papers that are free onlineincluding the Denver Post here.It is just really bad reporting because the claims of one scientist are presented as facts without any scrutiny and these claims need lots of scrutiny.Recently this story was covered in Bicycling Magazine and Igave them an "overselling the microbiome" award for their reporting on it. I guess I am pret...
Source: The Tree of Life - June 21, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Kudos to Bicycling Magazine for pedaling so so so much overselling of the microbiome
Well ... this was not a fun read.There is an article in Bicycling Magazine by Berne Broudy and it is pretty painful to read. The article is Is Poop Doping the Next Big Thing? | Bicycling.And the answer should be "We have no $(*#()$()@#)@# idea if this is a good idea". But instead the answer was hype, overselling, and some bad microbiology reporting.Here are some parts I am not a fan of.The results showed she was populated by 96% gram-negative pathogens so toxic that if they got into her blood stream they could kill her. “I had no microbes to help me break down food, and I had picked up bugs in the lab w...
Source: The Tree of Life - June 12, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Storify of Day 1 of "An open digital global south meeting" at #UCDavis
I made a Storify of Tweets and some pictures from the "An open digital Global South" meeting that I am a co-organizer of. This was organized by my "ICIS project and was, to be honest, really put together by other people on the project (I helped, but definitely was not one of the major organizers). Much of the credit should go to Michael Wolfe and Alexandra Lippman. See more in the Storify below.[View the story "An open digital Global South at #UCDavis - Day 1 - #OpenGlobalSouth" on Storify]
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This is from the "Tree of Life Blog"
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University...
Source: The Tree of Life - May 25, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Paywall the movie - trailer
Hat tip to Mackenzie Smith for pointing this out to mePaywall The Movie Trailer fromPaywall The Movie onVimeo.
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This is from the "Tree of Life Blog"
of Jonathan Eisen, an evolutionary biologist and Open Access advocate
at the University of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.
-------- (Source: The Tree of Life)
Source: The Tree of Life - May 18, 2017 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
