October 4, 2010

Science-Based Medicine

For those with ADD, the condensed-soup version of my previous post.

Read this blog:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/

Science-Based Medicine (note: should there be any other kind?)

So, I have fallen off the horse that I once so valiantly declared I would ride fast and true... the horse of science journalism. Maybe I haven't fallen off, so much, but taken a detour called grad school. And while I have never before been bombarded with so many amazing ideas, ripe fodder for my blog, I have also never been so busy.

My dilemma is this: I refuse to write about something (usually a current popular and controversial science/health issue) without doing sufficient research on the subject that I feel I can write an educated, unbiased, and hopefully enlightening commentary. This usually takes me a long time... and extra-curricular time has been in short supply lately.

So let me present you with a blog that does just what I would like to, and that has the man-power and credentials to back itself up. Science-Based Medicine is a blog written by a number of physicians and scientists, who identify controversies in health and medicine (eg. vaccine safety, alternative medicine), and thoroughly research the subjects and do an excellent job of detangling the myths and pseudoscience from the well-founded science. To be fair, the odd article does exhibit the author's contempt for pseudoscience and crankery, but in the end, the facts speak for themselves.

Props to the crew of SBM... I wish everyone would read this blog!

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/

July 21, 2010

Monkeying around at the beach

Feeling the summer heat? Heading to the beach? Bringing your favourite cool, refreshing beverages with you? Watch out for the alcoholic monkeys!



As you can see from the video, alcoholism isn't unique to humans. Maybe these guys should be the next organism I study for my fetal alcohol exposure research... any excuse to do a research project in the Caribbean!

January 30, 2010

To boldly go where most young Ontarions have gone before...

I have recently become the proud owner of an Honours Bachelor's of Science degree in Biomedical Toxicology. And with this degree in hand (or on the wall), I have traveled from Southern Ontario to the mecca of the Canadian youth... British Columbia.

But, unlike many, I have not come to pick fruit or live in a camper van on the west coast of the Island, while the spray of the ocean tickles my face and the breeze of freedom tousles my hair. Here, at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, I have begun my Master's of Science degree in Medical Genetics. Here, I hope to bring new light into the fields of epigenetics and fetal programming. And here, I hope to conduct research that, partnered with the various hospitals and research centres in Vancouver, will contribute something translatable and tangible to diagnostic or therapeutic medicine.

Here, I begin my next adventure in science!