Blast from the past - Stephen Jay Gould on the "Planet of the Bacteria"
An influential article in my career development was this piece on the Washington Post in 1996 by Stephen Jay Gould. I was already convinced bacteria were important and interesting. But it was nice to see the person who got me interested in evolution (via his books and then a class I took from him in college) emphasizing the bacteria. Here is a link to the Post archive of it.PLANET OF THE BACTERIA - The Washington PostWell, my mom sent me a copy of it and I kept it all these years. Just scanned it so, I thought I would share what it looked like in the paper since this is VERY different from looking at the ...
Source: The Tree of Life - July 2, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
True Must See TV: John Oliver on Science, Hype, and Science Reporting
This is really really really worth watching. I was pointed to it by dozens of people. And they were all right about it. Thanks people. Also see these stories about itJohn Oliver’s rant about science reporting should be taken seriously by John Timmer in Ars TechnicaWhen Science Reporting Goes Horribly, Horribly Wrong - Phil Plait in SlateJohn Oliver explains why so much ‘science’ you read about is bogus - Rachel Feltman in the Washington PostMegan Thielking in Stat
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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 Califo...
Source: The Tree of Life - May 12, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Pleasantly surprised by the National Microbiome Initiative
So I got this email a few weeks ago inviting me to the White House. Not every day that I get invited to the White House. And I thought I was probably on their shit list after removing my name from the "Unified Microbiome Initiative" paper due to it being non open access. So I asked a colleague if she could teach in my large introductory biology class for me on May 13 and she said yes. So I RSVP to the meeting and told my mom I would be coming to the DC area (where I grew up). And I told everyone, proudly "I am going to the White House".I realized I had a tight schedule for flying in and out since I ...
Source: The Tree of Life - May 12, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
And now for some good news from UC Davis - teaching and research awards
And now for some good news from UC Davis [View the story "#UCDavis Teaching and Research Awards" 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 of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.
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Source: The Tree of Life - May 2, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
On my evolving thoughts on the #UCDavis saga involving Chancellor Linda Katehi
Still trying to wrap my brain around the controversy at UC Davis involving our Chancellor (the head of the University) Linda Katehi (see some of these news stories if you are not aware of what is going on). In some sense I could just watch this all from the sidelines and see what happens. But that is not in my nature. And, over the last month I have gotten a near endless stream of comments and suggestions (some in private, some in public) about the topic. Some say I need to be more vocal in condemning Chancellor Katehi (e.g., a student in my lab told me the other day that they have talked to faculty...
Source: The Tree of Life - April 29, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Spring at #Yolo Basin
As many know, I just love Yolo Basin. Here are some of the better pics I have taken this Spring.
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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 - April 26, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Letter from #UCDavis Profs to Janet Napolitano about possible sexism in responses to Chancellor Katehi's activities
The current Chair of the UC Davis Division of the Academic Senate forwarded an email to UC Davis faculty today. This email included a letter that had been send from from Linda Bisson (past Chair of the UC Davis Division of the Academic Senate) and Rachael E. Goodhue (Chair Elect of UC Davis Division of the Academic Senate) to the President of the University of California Janet Napolitano. The letter's overall message is concern about possible sexism in how the Chancellor of UC Davis is being treated in regard to recent events at UC Davis. I note - I have received many (over a dozen) private messages also e...
Source: The Tree of Life - April 25, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
American Academy of Arts and Sciences - where men choose men to be cheered
So - I saw multiple posts by colleagues on Facebook and Twitter about gender skew in the newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. So I decided to take a look at the list. And it is indeed really skewed. Here is my analysis of gender ratio for mathematical and physical sciences and biological sciences. Field Male Female Math and Physical Sciences Totals 32 10 Math 5 1 Physics 6 1 Chemistry 7 1 Astronomy 3 4 Engineering 5 1 CS 5 2 Intersection 1 0 Biology Totals 31 8 Biochemistry 4 2 Cell and Development 7 1 Neuroscience 6 2 Ecovo ...
Source: The Tree of Life - April 20, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
UC Davis Storer Lecture series - since 1963 87% of speakers are male
I wrote this blog post a while ago but never published it partly out of fear for upsetting some of my colleagues. I try to be brave about such things, but I guess I just did not quite get up the poxy. Well, today something came up that stimulated me to write the post. I got an email announcement for a talk that seems potentially quite interesting. The problem is not the talk. The problem is with the endowed Lectureship that this talk is connected to. So here is the post I have worked on on and off over the last year or more.UC Davis has an endowed lecture series- the Storer Lectureship in the Life S...
Source: The Tree of Life - April 20, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
A #YAMMMY #manel brought to you by #UCSF #QB3 "Medical Devices Reimagined"
And in today's #YAMMY #manel we have "Medical Devices Reimagined": the Third Annual Rosenman Symposium Tickets, Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 1:00 PM | EventbriteWith the following very diverse array of speakers. Good times. If you are on of the right kind.Adam Gazzaley Hanson Gifford Darrell Johnson Bryan LarsonRon Leuty Brian Otis Firat Yazicioglu Reza Zadno
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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 - April 12, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Microbiomes of the Built Environment NAS Meeting Webcast 4/11 10:30-5 EST
This study is intended to provide an independent, objective examination of the current state of science regarding built environment microbiomes and their impacts on human health, and then attempt to bridge gaps in moving this research to an application stage, in which building materials and architecture will be designed with microbiomes in mind. The study is being conducted by a committee of experts and the consensus report is expected to be released in 2017.The study’s first public meeting will be held on April 11, 2016 in Washington, DC. You may view the webcast of the public sessions, to be held from 10:30am – ...
Source: The Tree of Life - April 10, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Storify of talk by Robert Edgar at #UCDavis
[View the story "Robert Edgar at #UCDavis: not metagenomics, not humble, not open" 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 of California, Davis. For short updates, follow me on Twitter.
-------- (Source: The Tree of Life)
Source: The Tree of Life - March 31, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
If you want to go to a #manel or a #YAMMM check out Cold Spring Harbor Asia meetings - where men get to speak about stuff
I just got an email about this meeting: CSH Asia 2016 Conference on Microbial Communities in the Environment: Emerging Technologies and New Frontiers:So the first thing I did was to look at the gender ratio of speakers. I dug into each person listed here as much as a I could and attempted to infer what their gender is. I realize this is fraught with problems and have written about this previously. So as much as possible I looked for what pronouns were used to describe these people before infer their possible gender. I was unable to get any clear gendered pronouns for one person but the others I think...
Source: The Tree of Life - March 29, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Some notes on requesting for 700s for UC Admins ...
How to find form 700s for UC officials?This turns out to be simple yet slow and offline. Here is what I found from the UC Davis Counsel site.Accessing UC Davis RecordsIdentifying Records: To help us provide records promptly, please provide specific information about the records you seek including the record name, subject matter, author's name, date, office, or department that created the record.Time Deadlines: UC Davis has 10 days to determine if it will disclose the requested records. A limited 14-day extension may apply. If records cannot be provided within these deadlines, we will provide an esti...
Source: The Tree of Life - March 27, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
Blast from the not so distant past - special issue of JMBE on Scientific Ethics
Discussions in Your Science Class Author: Kelly C. SmithCitation: Smith K. 2014. Ethics is not rocket science: how to have ethical discussions in your science class. J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 15(2):202-207 doi:10.1128/jmbe.v15i2.784DOI 10.1128/jmbe.v15i2.784[+] MORE Cautionary Tales: Ethics and Case Studies in Science Author: Clyde Freeman HerreidCitation: Herreid C. 2014. Cautionary tales: ethics and case studies in science. J. Microbiol. Biol. Educ. 15(2):208-212 doi:10.1128/jmbe.v15i2.761DOI 10.1128/jmbe.v15i2.761[+] MORE Infusing Bioethics into Biology and Microbiology ...
Source: The Tree of Life - March 25, 2016 Category: Microbiology Authors: Jonathan Eisen Source Type: blogs
