Author: naylorsa

Doing Science on the “Fiscal Cliff”

Sequestration. It’s a dirty word for anyone whose job or paycheck relies on Federal funding. Scientists are particularly vulnerable because research plans tend to extend beyond just a few months. Often federal grant money is spent early in the funding period and a sudden budget cut could mean personnel cuts. The Budget Control Act of 2011  hoped to reduce the deficit by $1.2-$1.5 trillion dollars over the next ten years. As an insurance policy, the act included sequestration; meaning, should the committee fail to make a plan, a drastic, across the board cut would be enacted January 1, 2013.

So far, the committee has been unsuccessful in devising a plan to reduce the deficit. After the November election, Congress has been in a flurry trying to formulate a plan both parties support and get it approved in time. Continue reading “Doing Science on the “Fiscal Cliff””

Keep the Thread

The Damm Family in Their Car, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 1987, By Mary Ellen Mark

I got a notice in my inbox the other day that the NIH was implementing a pilot program for us intramural fellows called “Keep the Thread”. The program will be tested first for labs on the NIH campus and depending on the outcomes, it may be recommended to all institutions who employ post-doctoral fellows.  In a nutshell, it is a program to offer flexibility to post-doctoral fellows if they need to take time away from the lab for a variety of reasons (new child, care for a family member, personal emergency etc.). It is not to replace the normal 8 weeks of leave for a new child. It will offer a variety of options like telework, flexible scheduling or temporary effort reduction. Both women and men will be eligible for the program. While trying to create a solution for a well-known problem, this program raises a lot of questions. Continue reading “Keep the Thread”

CBD: Cute But Deadly

Leopard Seal

I love to watch animal documentaries on TV. I even own Planet Earth on HD-DVD (I know, I know, serious technology miscalculation there). One of the most beautiful animals I’ve seen documented is the leopard seal. Leopard seals are named for their spotted pelts and can grow to be as large as polar bears. They are thought to be brutal and ruthless killers of penguins, fish and sometimes humans. I recently saw a TED talk by an arctic wildlife photographer (Paul Nicklen) who ran into some leopard seals while shooting penguins. Turns out these seals aren’t always bent on “kill and destroy”. The seal tried to entice him by delivering a freshly killed penguin to him and tried to feed it to his camera.

While these seals primarily live on larger game, it turns out they are capable of feeding themselves in another way. In Polar Biology, it was reported that these seals can sieve krill out of the water just like whales can. Their teeth are structured in such a way that it’s possible for them to gulp up a cloud of krill and expel the extra water keeping the krill to swallow. While this behavior hasn’t yet been documented in the wild, there’s a possibility that these ultimate predators can snack on teeny tiny krill. Turns out, they are indiscriminate binge-eaters at just about every level of the food-chain!

 

Bees been struggling

In my random Netflix perusal, I came across a documentary about the striking loss of bee populations, The Vanishing of the Bees. I hadn’t realized this, but in industrial scale farming a large amount of pollinators are needed to pollinate fields of crops, many more pollinators than live in the area normally. Bee farmers fill this role by cultivating large colonies of bees. They move these bees around the country in semi-trucks to farms where they are needed. These bees are experiencing “colony collapse disorder” where entire colonies of bees are wiped out. Without pollinators, many crops will be drastically affected. Fellow blogger Michele has posted artwork that tries to draw attention to the plight of the bees.

While the research into colony collapse disorder is very complex and implicates multiple factors including diseases and pesticides, the documentary focuses on the potential contribution of  pesticide exposure to this disorder. Continue reading “Bees been struggling”

A benefactor lost

Over the weekend, one of the largest supporters of biomedical research in Congress, Arlen Specter passed away. We scientists often complain that Congress just doesn’t understand and won’t support our research as much as we’d like. There are, however congressmen like Specter, who do tirelessly support our cause in the senate. Specter championed the effort to double the NIH budget from 1998-2003 and encouraged the addition of $10 billion in stimulus funding for the NIH in the 2009 Recovery Act. Continue reading “A benefactor lost”