Starrylizard

Eeeeeeeee! Our paper has been accepted to BONE with no revision! It's totally unheard of!! ...and it means I am soon to be the proud owner of my very own first-author paper!!! *dances about in happiness*



In other news, I've just realised that everything is due at the moment and I'm about to be broke. *headesk* Thank goodness I've got some savings, but bleh!
OK what I need to pay before 8th Feb:
( money, money, money. Must be funny. In a rich man's world! )

...Oh well at least the paper acceptance cheers me up!

Oh and another thing that cheers me up immensely is that Dinosaur!Rodney is back...with pictures too! Go see, it's the cutest thing ever, though this time he's not plushie, but I think it's even more adorable and I really didn't think that was possible!!

The fic: http://maryavatar.livejournal.com/734063.html
The pics that go with the fic: http://spaggel.livejournal.com/96887.html

This is like the crack!fic of journals! I especially just have to giggle madly at the author notes, because it's just so true! ...and the comment on IP and making the biggest statement possible so the other researchers can't get a foothold. Also sadly very true. *giggles onto the floor!*

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/01/16/science/20060117_FRAD_GRAPHIC.html

meme spam in which I find out that I should be doing journalism!( Read more... )

I find this interesting, since I still have it the back of my brain that I'd like to go into scientific communication, promotion or journalism. I think I'd really enjoy it, even if it was just on the small scale, amaybe as a person promoting a specific institute or department. It's most likely just a pipedream, but I'm at that stage in my PhD where people say "so what are you going to do once you finish" and I just balk, back into a small dark space, change the topic or try to run. *le sigh*

Hehe! Nabbed this link in amireal's LJ. irregular web comic!

In other news I just finished writing yet another crack!fic. I just can't get away from them. This one is a weird-o crossover thing too!

Please go and read ljmckay's latest fic, especially if you've seen the movie Cube (starring the sexy man himself, David Hewlett), or even if you haven't. SGA/Cube crossover = *squee!*...and make her write more! *evil grin* Sorry ljmckay, but now I know that I can egg you on, you'll never be free!

Some real life stuff: ( under this cut )

*looks in the mirror* Oh, so that's what panic looks like! Nice to know!

*whimpers*

Hey, just out of geeky interest. What are peoples opinions on GM crops in general and this news? It's just I'm in the field...not GM crops, but genetics, and I was wondering how people who don't have a scientific perspective on these issues feel about them. Anyone who is reading this journal feel free to jump in, or feel free to ignore the question entirely. I'm not trying to rope you into a nasty debate or anything, I'm just a geeky girl who is curious...

( quote )

OMG!! Just reading the latest news on www.science.com There's this big scandal in Korea, where a research group fabricated data on stem cell research. They got all these publications on how they had managed to produce the first patient-specific stem cells and it was hailed as a huge breakthrough, but really they hadn't done any of it.

Even more freaky to me, is this:
"...claimed that despite Hwang's statements to the contrary, some of the eggs used for that research came from junior researchers in Hwang's lab. Producer Kim says the scientist provided names, donation records, and an e-mail message he had received from one of the researchers saying she had donated eggs under pressure from Hwang. The tipster also claimed that based on his knowledge of the team's work, Hwang couldn't have produced the patient-specific stem cells reported in the 2005 paper, although he admitted having no hard evidence of fabrication."

That makes me feel queasy. I can't imagine having so few morals or ethical standards!

( a few more quotes form the article )

The program was forced to not show the interviews etc, because they had used unethical tactics to obtain them... ( ...but then )

Yay for the internet. See us scientists are internet savvy too...and he was finally forced to withdraw the paper!!

Gods! It's all so cloak and dagger and scandalous and how anyone could have so little scientific integrity. A final quote - "Among the revelations, PD Notebook alleges that Hwang's team collected more than 1600 oocytes from egg donors--not the 427 originally reported--for cloning research for the 2004 and 2005 papers."

I mean with stuff like this occationally popping up, it's no wonder the public are scared about the things us scientists do. There are so many commitees and governing bodies overseeing our research and what we do...especially where genetic and reproductive research is concerned...and yet it is so easy still to skirt around them. Damn, I am a scientist and shit like this scares the pants off me! I'm fuming mad right now!


Read the article here.