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Revisiting the Cranial Anatomy of the Thalattosaur Anshunsaurus huangnihensis
Cheng, L., Chen, X., Zhang, B., and Y. Cai. 2011. New Study of Anshunsaurus huangnihensis Cheng, 2007 (Reptilia: Thalattosauria): Revealing its Transitional Position in Askeptosauridae. Acta Geologica...
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What to discuss in the Discussion?
The postdoc gets back from his Christmas break tomorrow, and I plan to have a revised version of his uptake-bias manuscript waiting for him. I've been working through the last part of the Results, and...
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Review of the Year
The time of the year has arrived, where we all collectively look back, and go, what the hell was that ? I remember starting this year, with the absolute certainty that it was going to be terrible. VAT...
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Professorial oversight, availability bias and the Sheri Sangji case
There's a new twist on the tragic case of Sheri Sangji, a UCLA student working in the lab of Prof. Patrick Harran who died from burns resulting from her handling of tert-Butyllithium, a notoriously and...
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How a university works - administrative leave
Let's save money by shutting down the university between Christmas and New Year's Day. Hard to argue with the basic concept, but then comes the practical side of things. None of our organisms got the...
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The Skeptical Optimist
Some readers of this blog may be surprised to learn that I'm very optimistic about the future of science and medicine. Over the past few years, I've criticized many different frauds, fakes, bad...
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New Hampster devolving
This is a new twist on the usual state legislative attempts to limit the teaching of evolution. Jerry Bergevin's (R - 17th district) bill would "[r]equire evolution to be taught in the public schools...
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Don't drink the water
"Don't drink the water from the sink!” read a sign taped to the mirror. As I was in rather desperate need of a glass of water before rehearsing the piece I would sing solo at Christmas, I was glad to...
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2011 in virology at Ruleof6ix
2011 was a big year for me and blogging; my first post on the site was during the first week of this year so this makes it a perfect opportunity to now review what I have actually been talked about...
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The Phytophactor Person of the Year - Jon Stewart
After long and careful consideration, after tallying the diverse inputs of readers and suggestions of offspring, the person who made the biggest difference in the world this year, and who affords us...
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Friday Fabulous Flower of the Year
Oh, it's so hard to choose; you're all so lovely, so much fun to blog about, and so important to the Phactor's livelihood, but the Phactor can always fall back on his usual plan, which is when in...
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Be Fear Free
(This post first appeared in April 2011. See you all next year!) If you have a fear of heights, called acrophobia, you probably consider activities such as standing on a glass ledge 103 stories high...
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The worst quackery of 2011: battlefield acupuncture
Pseudoscience continued to thrive in 2011, making my choice for the worst quackery of the year a difficult one. So much nonsense! Promoters of both new age and old-time hocus pocus continued to sell...
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Is it too early to ask for automation in lab safety?
Let's face it. Graduate students do work occasionally without lab coats. Sometimes you have to do a quick procedure and sometimes you can just get bored of wearing the coat. I don't recall a time when...
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How to celebrate New Year's Eve in style: Fun in a Fossil
To promote the international exhibition in the Crystal Palace (Sydenham , London) for New Year's Eve 1853 twenty-one distinguished guests were invited to a banquet inside the unfinished model of an...
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New Year's Eve - 2011
2011 was not an outstanding year; it will only be remembered as a footnote to pinpoint when some personal family events took place. Probably it will be remembered as the year the pond was rennovated,...
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HIV restriction factor blocks respiratory viruses - but not how we thought
Measles virus - is it targeted by an HIV restriction factor? Cellular organisms have evolved multiple defences to keep viruses and other genetic parasites at bay. One such shield is the development of...
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It's that time of year! Garden catalogs begin arriving
If you are a gardener, a plant-loving person of any type, you know what happens just after the Christmas mail rush: garden catalogs begin arriving! Yes, all those promissory pictures telling you that...
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Must stop analyzing data....
The postdoc is back and we are driving each other nuts with ideas for more analyses (both of us), more analyses (him), and requests to stop analyzing the bloody data and finish writing the damned paper...
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