In Defense of Science

From the Evolution Directory (evoldir) mailing list today:

Governmental scientists employed at a subset of agencies have been forbidden from presenting their findings to the public. We have drafted the following response for distribution, and encourage other scientists to post it to their websites, when feasible.

Graham Coop
Professor of Evolution and Ecology
UC Davis

Michael B. Eisen
Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology
UC Berkeley

Molly Przeworski
Professor of Biological Sciences
Columbia University

---

The message, for any affected US scientists out there:

We are deeply concerned by the Trump administration’s move to gag scientists working at various governmental agencies. The US government employs scientists working on medicine, public health, agriculture, energy, space, clean water and air, weather, the climate and many other important areas. Their job is to produce data to inform decisions by policymakers, businesses and individuals. We are all best served by allowing these scientists to discuss their findings openly and without the intrusion of politics. Any attack on their ability to do so is an attack on our ability to make informed decisions as individuals, as communities and as a nation.

If you are a government scientist who is blocked from discussing their work, we will share it on your behalf, publicly or with the appropriate recipients. You can email us at USScienceFacts@gmail.com.

I’ve also heard a rumour that Michael Eisen is running for senate. That would be cool - we need fewer Trumps and more science-savvy politicians.

Visiting the Liberty Bell

I didn't get round to visiting the Liberty Bell during my time in Philadelphia. I did, however, see the Lego version in the airport, which surely counts for something.

Geek architecture at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

As well as the geeky sculptures, the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has some good geeky architecture. The tower of the Beckman Laboratory (above) stood out to me as a geneticist, with the four nucleotide abbreviations (g, a, t, c) on its four faces. There was a bit of a missed opportunity with the staircase in the middle, though, which is just a spiral up a central column rather than a double helix (right). Oh well.

As it happens, the conference was too engaging to do much exploration, so I'm not sure if it's a repeating theme across campus. If I get to go back, I will have to find out. Even if there isn't, though, it's a charming place to wander about. Apparently, it used to be a whaling station and many of the labs are in what look like large colonial houses, such as the Luke Building (below).

Geek Sculpture at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the 2013 "Systems Biology: Networks" meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has a beautiful little campus on the north shore of Long Island, about an hour or so east of New York city. One of its charms is the many pieces of sculpture dotted around the place, including "The Waltz of the Polypeptides" by Mara G. Haseltine, which we passed each time we travelled between our cabin dorm and the talks or food.

As the plaque states:

"The Waltz of the Polypeptides" is the artist's impression of the birth of a protein. As five ribosomes travel the length of a messenger RNA, a protein is created.

It's quite cute and the large subunit of the ribosome looks like it wants a hug once it's released from the mRNA, as seen to the right of the above photo.

The protein in question is identified as Beta Lymphocyte Stimulator (a.k.a. BLyS a.k.a. B-cell activating factor (BAFF)), officially called tumor necrosis factor (ligand) superfamily, member 13b (TNFSF13B). A separate sculpture of the protein backbone sits on the other side of the path. I like it!

(I stayed on for some holiday after the conference - hence the lack of posts recently - so expect a few more travel posts soon.)

Americans, please listen to the Rest of the World!

I've already had a bit of a rant that There is no "Leader of the Free World" but one thing seems clear: if Romney gets in, the Americans should finally give up all claims that there is. As blogged by A Tippling Philosopher:

"A BBC World Service opinion poll has found sharply higher overseas approval ratings for US President Barack Obama than Republican challenger Mitt Romney."

The graph says it all, really:

There is no "Leader of the Free World"

Last Thursday, the BBC News magazine had an article entitled US election: How can it cost $6bn? It's an interesting piece, not least for seeing how people try to rationalise spending "more than the entire annual GDP of Malawi" on an election. (It's not just that America is bigger, they spend an order of magnitude more per head on the election than us Brits. (This is despite, as far as I can tell, having a much more restricted set of options - it's a two party system! How hard can it be?!))

That's not really what I want to rant about here, though. The thing that riles me is that oft-repeated and ill-founded superiority that many Americans seem to have:

Michael Toner has his own favourite analogy: "Americans last year spent over $7bn [£4.5bn] on potato chips - isn't the leader of the free world worth at least that?"

Ignoring the fact that perhaps is perhaps a poor reflection on how much Americans spend on potato chips rather than a good reflection on the cost of elections, (1) There is no such thing as the "Leader of the Free World" and (2) if there was I certainly wouldn't pick an American politician for the job.

I recognise that back in the Cold War days, things were a bit different. The "enemy" was the USSR and America probably really did lead the "Free World" in opposition. Today, however, the "enemy" (such as there is one) is not communism or terrorism - it is population growth and climate change. Where does the Heartland Institute and other fossil fuel lobbying organisations find most traction? Which country failed to ratify the Kyoto Treaty? America. Not the kind of leadership that I'm after, I'm afraid.

I am not saying that I think America is terrible and Britain or Europe is perfect. However, I am saying that Britain/Europe is easily as good as America in the "Free World" stakes and, in some arenas, a damn sight better. I am happy, for example, to live in a country where guns are heavily restricted, and where it is not legal to fire someone just because they are gay.

I'm not so happy with Britain's willingness to follow our American cousins into war, or the level of support and protection that the cult of Scientology gets here, or our terrible libel laws, but other (non-American) countries, happily, do much better on those counts. America is a great nation (in both senses) but it is not the great nation and non-Americans don't spend all their time wishing that they'd been born in the U.S.

Americans sometimes remind me of the medical students that I went to University with - they have been told that they are the greatest and the best so often that they cannot understand why anyone would not want to be like them. I probably could have done medicine if I'd wanted - I had the grades for it - but I didn't out of choice. I found Genetics more appealing. I didn't have the same choice about where I was born, clearly, but I am just as (or more) often thankful for being British rather than American than I am regretful that the opposite is true. (I do like American Football!) I find Britain (and several other countries) more appealing.

So, America, please stop calling your President the "Leader of the Free World". It's annoying, it's not true, and it's counter-productive if you are after respect.