Comments for Alan Dove, Ph.D.

Comment on How to Make $75,000/Year Writing (And Hate It) by ronw

ronw — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:46:07 +0000

I hope a lot of high school and college kids read this post and the last. They would learn a lot about the real world.

73F and sunny.

Comment on 15 Years of Income as a Freelance Science Journalist by Alan

Alan — Fri, 10 May 2013 12:12:47 +0000

Thanks! Sounds like I can milk this topic for at least another post or two. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, it’s 56F and foggy/misting here in WMA.

Comment on 15 Years of Income as a Freelance Science Journalist by steve

steve — Fri, 10 May 2013 02:23:13 +0000

Hi,

It’s 66F and raining here in the Saint Louis, MO area. (long time twiv listener :) )

Something that I would find informative is how you got started. How do you find jobs? What type of writing do you do? How much writing do you do? How much work is a typical job? How long does it take? Things like that.

steve

Comment on The DSM-5: What’s Your Alternative? by Alan

Alan — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:41:05 +0000

Yes, that’s a major downside of such a system; some people will use it blindly because that’s easier than thinking. That just brings us back to my main question, though: what’s the alternative?

Comment on The DSM-5: What’s Your Alternative? by Don Monroe

Don Monroe — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:46:25 +0000

Good post.

But I wish I had more confidence that everyone was as clear about the limitations of these arbitrary DSM categorizations as you (and apparently your spouse) are. I encountered a psychiatrist who seemed completely willing to count up a patient’s answers on a ten-question questionnaire to determine whether to hand out mind-altering drugs with serious withdrawal risks.

Comment on NEC-4 and Software Security Revisited by marcia stone

marcia stone — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 17:22:46 +0000

I just contacted Congresswoman Maloney and urge others to contact their elected officials on this matter. Advances paid for by public funds (and not a security risk) should be openly available. Good job Alan.

Marcy

Comment on Threading the NEIDL by marcia stone

marcia stone — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 20:18:01 +0000

The neighborhood wasn’t the major problem with NEIDL, the fact that three researchers working in one of their existing BSL-3 labs became infected with Francisella tularenis in 2004, the ‘select agent’ that causes tuleremia, wasn’t reported for months was. The Boston Public Health Commission, the state health department, the CDC and the FBI were considerably displeased. A Massachusettes state court rejected an early version of the Environmental Impact Report and a bunch of other stuff. The BSLp4 facility at the University of Texas Galveston National Lab (GNI) was completed at the same time (2008) and went online immediately –it’s in the middle of a dense community as well. Even an NIH-convened blue-ribbon panel couldn’t save NEIDL. BU caused its own problems.

For more information see the February issue of Microbe.

Comment on Betrayals of Trust by marcia stone

marcia stone — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 23:38:49 +0000

I’m speechless. I had no idea that the wrong vaccine was being used to save a few dollars and the polio eradication program was interfering with construction of broader-based health services. I need to think about this. Thanks once again Alan for this information.

Comment on Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad ORF? by Alan

Alan — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:39:38 +0000

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. The whole GMO story would take at least another post or ten to dissect, as the story tangles up a lot of complex issues. At the extreme ends, both opponents and proponents of the technology often take advantage of that complexity to hide information they’d rather avoid talking about. Speaking strictly as a biologist, though, it’s very hard to find evidence that biotech manipulation of crop plants is inherently any more dangerous than the blind genetic modifications humans have been performing on plants and animals for 10,000 years. Nobody ever did a randomized controlled trial to show that heirloom tomatoes are safe, and nobody seems concerned that organic farmers spray Bt toxin proteins all over their vegetables.

That said, the main company that owns most of the GMO patents has exhibited exactly the kind of behavior one might expect from a huge corporate monopoly with immense power over an entire industry. Meanwhile, modern agriculture in industrialized countries relies on a Byzantine system of government welfare that stifles innovation and distorts the global economy. GMOs certainly didn’t cause that situation, but they’ve become a lightning rod for it.

Comment on Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad ORF? by Katie

Katie — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:41:18 +0000

Hi Alan,

This was a great read, thanks for putting so much time into it. I’m pursuing my biology (botany! ftw!) undergrad right now, so I don’t have a real nuanced assessment of GMOs. My understanding is that there wasn’t a lot of lab testing prior to them being released into grocery stores, so how do we know that they’re not toxic? Just because we’ve been eating them and everything appears to be fine? I tend not to by into the GMO hype, and that seems reasonable enough, but isn’t very scientific. Would you mind expanding on that for me? Thanks.