Professors abusing power
I have only great things to say about my doctoral mentor, David Botstein, and my post-doctoral mentor, Alexander van Oudenaarden. …
Category Archives: Science
Chalk talks are awesome!
Interviews for tenure track positions are not to be feared but to be anticipated and enjoyed. If your experience is anything like mine, you will meet many thoughtful colleagues and perhaps even start new collaborations. Enjoy the adventure!
Why I did not quit
The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) asked why doctoral students do not give up their research despite the …
Science and failures of authority
One of the key milestones in the emergence of the scientific method was placing empirical evidence above authority. This shift …
Which publications are citable?
The number of references to a scientific publication is frequently used as an objective measure for the significance of the …
Ideas
I have heard many biomedical researchers express the opinion: “In biology, ideas are cheap. It is the doing that matters.” …
Evolving scientific culture
Scientific research depends crucially on the scientific culture. Unhealthy culture cannot support healthy research.
High quality journals with low quality peer-reviews
There is much outcry about the increasing competition in scientific research. Yet, I do not hear comparable outcry about the …
The dark age of 20th century science
Dogma held reason back for half a century. It happened in the age of “modern science” and the atomic bomb. It happened because of sloppy reasoning and twisting arguments in favour of the preferred conclusion, the dogma of the time. What could be more antithetical to science ? What is the antidote ?
Exceptional papers do not need exceptional journals
If you are truly convinced your research result is important and you are right, you may not need to publish it in a “high impact” prestigious journal. The success of incremental research depends upon being published and promoted by prestigious magazines and journals.
Forest Vista 