Category Archives: science

Are scientists becoming an endangered species? The way we live–now

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Steve Caplan

What spurred me to put pen-to-paper, if that phrase has any remaining meaning, was reading about the recent proposals at the US National Institutes of Health to again revamp the grant review system. The previous revamp, just several years ago, … Continue reading →

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Let My People Go!

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Steve Caplan

This evening being Passover, and me being an admitted anti-socialite Israelite who eschews any connection with organized religion–I find it necessary to search for my own unique way to celebrate. This year, the onset of this holiday, the celebration of … Continue reading →

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

Posted on March 10, 2013 by Steve Caplan

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

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Steve Caplan

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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Captions invited (Please, fund me!)

Posted on February 24, 2013 by Steve Caplan
Posted in humor, research, science, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Experiments, hypotheses, volcanoes, newtons and free downloads

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Steve Caplan

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 →

Posted in Education, research, science | 6 Comments

Canada then and now: If you are sick, see a doctor!

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Steve Caplan

I’ve been to Canada many times over the past few years, including a visit this summer to that stellar city of the prairies, the center of Canadian Siberia, Winnipeg. So cold, in fact, that while watching the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s … Continue reading →

Posted in research, science, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Getting the boot–entropy in the absence of enforcement

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Steve Caplan

6 pm on a cold Thursday evening, I bundled myself out of the research tower and headed down 3 flights of stairs to the car park. I moved to this new parking lot a year ago, and have been extremely … Continue reading →

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Reverse genetics, ok, but reverse shoplifting?

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Steve Caplan

Most of us in the biomedical sciences will be familiar with the term coined “reverse genetics-” namely the use of DNA sequences to understand the function of a gene by testing for phenotypes. But how about “reverse shoplifting?!” I recently … Continue reading →

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Frustrated, Flummoxed and (just plain) Fed-up

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Steve Caplan

I am sick of the middle-east–or more accurately, the middle-east is making me sick. I have spent a good deal of my adult life actively defending the State of Israel; both by bearing arms in the military, and by serving … Continue reading →

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