Comments for first half of February, 2012

The SeaMonster blog points out that it’s hard to discuss issues when there are people lying loudly and repeatedly. That doesn’t absolve you of responsibility to be a better communicator.

The Scholarly Kitchen doesn’t understand why people are boycotting Elsevier.

Janet Stemwedel looks at the predictive power of GRE scores.

Bradley Voytek justifies basic research, as it is often justified, by saying it’s practical.

Drugmonkey looks at the Elsevier boycott and obstacles to it getting traction in the medical research community.

Jerry Coyne asks how many have read Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. I have. If you want a short version of the book in Darwin’s own words, look at the Introduction to The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication.

The cool profs are wearing teal berets, according to Namnezia.