Tag Archives: writing

Tools of The Trade: The Laptop in My Pocket

Last Monday, the night before I was due to cover a big conference, my nearly brand-new MacBook Air died: suddenly, completely, and unrecoverably. After hurling a stream of expletives in the general direction of Cupertino, I paid a visit to … Continue reading

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Tools of the Trade: Timestamps and Text Editors

Quoting people accurately is a mundane but crucial task in my daily work. Over the years, I’ve tried a variety of approaches, but I think I’ve finally evolved the most efficient system for handling it. When I’m conducting an interview … Continue reading

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Tools of The Trade: Zotero

If you read a lot of scientific papers, or do any other kind of academic study, you need a way to manage the mess. I’m talking about the piles of photocopies, books, and notes – or these days, gigabytes of … Continue reading

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Tools of The Trade: Stand-Up Desk

This is the first of what might turn into a series of posts about tools and tricks I’ve found handy for my work. I figured I’d start with the thing most people would notice first on walking into my office: … Continue reading

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How about Walking the Walk?

From the inbox: Below is information about articles being published in the April 19 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The information is not intended to substitute for the full articles as sources of information. Annals of Internal Medicine attribution … Continue reading

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Elementary Textbooks: Now with 24.6% Bullshit

Researchers in Spain recently analyzed the health messages in elementary school textbooks in their country, and classified them based on the level of scientific support for each statement. Their results are disturbing, to say the least: 844 messages were studied. … Continue reading

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If you’ve ever cringed to read about someone’s “alterior motives,” or a “pigment of the imagination,” you might enjoy – or be horrified by – the ever-expanding Eggcorn Database.

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This is A Link to Something I Wish I Had Written

This is a sentence trying to claim credit for discovering this article, which in fact most interested people would have found on their own. This is a sentence fragment setting up the link, which is here. This sentence tries to … Continue reading

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One Small Step for NIH, One Giant Terminology Error

I’m sure this will be an interesting and informative talk. I just wish he could have put together a title without abusing the jargon of another field: Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and recipient of … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Nature

On this date 140 years ago, a British publishing firm began putting out a little magazine called Nature. Their latest volume cuts a transect through the book’s entire history, with samples at 20-year intervals. You can also see the first … Continue reading

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