Category Archives: Education

On the connection between (April) fools and trolls

Trolls seldom have anything worthwhile to say. They twist, bully, rant and rave and insult, putting forth their worst drivel to provoke a response. All behind a cloak of anonymity. That is the nature of a troll; inevitably a loser … Continue reading

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Costa Rica – Part 1: The Tree House

Our Casa de Rana (frog) Tree House, recently Costa Rica is an incredible country, often described as the “Switzerland of Central America” (apologies to my UK friends, but Ben Nevis and the Munroes don’t quite compare with the Alps…). A … Continue reading

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Shulamit Aloni (1928-2014): The Death of a Giant

With great sadness I submit this short post on the recent death of one of my heroes: Shulamit Aloni. As an Israeli politician and winner of the Israel Prize for her life’s work, she is perhaps best known as a … Continue reading

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A week of betrayal

Winter has finally arrived here in Nebraska; from mid-50 degree F weather just a few days ago, we hit a chilly low of 1 degree F early this morning. Even some of the local youth actually abandoned their gym shorts … Continue reading

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The Circle Game

Over the last 6 weeks, 2 of my 6 graduate students have defended their dissertations and graduated–which brings me great joy in that they were each highly sought after and both will be heading to outstanding research labs of their … Continue reading

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Professor

This 4th of July marks almost 10 years of my life in Omaha, Nebraska, and in addition to celebrating Independence Day, I am also personally celebrating my new title: Professor. Well, sort of. Because it’s not exactly a time for … Continue reading

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Peggy Wheelock-the ultimate in research and mentorship

This blog has been long in the making. Long, because until recently, I’m not sure I would have been able to type out these words without flooding my keyboard with tears. But the time has come for me to write … Continue reading

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Parental pride–and a lesson in resilience by a brilliant scientist

When I answered my phone this past week, I found myself frequently saying, “Caplan’s Cabbies.” My partner being out of town leaves me ‘in the driver’s seat,’ literally and figuratively, regarding all of the extracurricular activities of my children. As … Continue reading

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Science education: the generalist vs the specialist

Well, here I am. I promised. No funny pictures and weird self-promotion campaigns. Just a blog about a topic that might interest some of us in the sciences. I was discussing the writing of an “Introduction” for a paper with … Continue reading

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Experiments, hypotheses, volcanoes, newtons and free downloads

It’s been an exciting week of experiments: in the lab and at home for my son’s school science fair—and for the psychology of marketing. But I’ll come to that later. Let’s start at the annual school science fair. An elementary … Continue reading

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