tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6768868355353230012024-03-14T09:13:38.263-07:00Club ModThis is Jeremy Smith's blog about life in Tennessee, local science and other topics of interest. Is not endorsed by and does not, of course, represent the opinion of UT, ORNL or any other official entity.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.comBlogger308125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-75907760625602762302017-11-23T18:32:00.003-08:002017-11-23T20:14:00.726-08:00Soccer: fast lane to dementia?<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.47058868408203px; letter-spacing: -0.16470587253570557px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "sf optimized" , , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 16.47058868408203px; letter-spacing: -0.16470587253570557px; white-space: pre-wrap;">When I was 8 years old I would ferociously head heavy old leather soccer balls to the point of getting the nickname "Bullethead Smith", and this continued on as I was playing in central defense throughout my teens. After that the balls became lighter, I would say, and nowadays when I head a ball there is no shock whatsoever. But, as that fish in the restaurant aquarium tank in the Monty Python movie "Meaning of Life" said, when it saw its friend being eaten, reports like <a href="https://apnews.com/ee7f15587a524b3e96d1cd10c7d60265/Study-to-look-at-long-term-health-risks-of-playing-soccer">this</a> "make you sort of think, don't they"?</span>Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-24429225835075514892017-11-16T20:00:00.001-08:002017-11-16T20:03:07.516-08:00Just wonderful<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It was just wonderful to welcome my ex-boss, Martin Karplus to ORNL for the Wigner Lecture the 25th birthday celebrations of the ORNL Leadership Computing Facility last week.<br />
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87 years old, but still unbelievably sharp, and still working hard, he is still asking important questions in his research.<br />
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In my opinion he is among the most accomplished of the Nobel Laureates.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-29918432914906415662017-09-25T19:26:00.001-07:002017-09-25T19:26:35.562-07:0043 years of losing<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy-fAOF9TbnbWpOwcJuUpNAgXffzKDd1l5x01f0t9mzy9oFRd9nl-lG827NVWrHLnWkgWFUBBv4_pmtPQ8r402pO0icYdpN0x9slOpmhPKNB5WDNSqY6T0ZvgJUAAn7Y21xmaohNWim8o/s1600/21766731_10213522088593842_3795473979761884918_n.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="337" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy-fAOF9TbnbWpOwcJuUpNAgXffzKDd1l5x01f0t9mzy9oFRd9nl-lG827NVWrHLnWkgWFUBBv4_pmtPQ8r402pO0icYdpN0x9slOpmhPKNB5WDNSqY6T0ZvgJUAAn7Y21xmaohNWim8o/s400/21766731_10213522088593842_3795473979761884918_n.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Well, last weekend, my team, Amazingly Average, won the 2017 Knoxville Metro Soccer League Silver tournament.<br />
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There I am, in the middle at the back, victoriously brandishing our champions T-shirt.<br />
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The last time I won a soccer championship was 43 years ago, when my high school team (Earlham) won the city cup of Norwich. <br />
The 1974 City Schools team is below, with me, again in the middle, of course,<br />
holding the ball.<br />
<br />
Since then I haven't won anything. <br />
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Played a lot, every year, but never won a cup. Not a sausage. Bugger all.<br />
<br />
43 solid years of losing. Not sure I anticipated that in 1974.<br />
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Life, eh?<br />
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<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-28478042406266195782017-08-26T14:12:00.001-07:002017-08-26T14:12:38.949-07:00The Column of Nelson<br />
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Our hometown hero, he is (or, apparently, was).<br />
Born in my county of birth, went to school in my city, then commanded the British Fleet that gave Napoleon a right good spanking at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 (where, romantically, he died).<br />
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<img height="535" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/HoratioNelson1.jpg" style="-webkit-user-select: none; cursor: zoom-in; display: block; margin: auto;" width="443" /><br />
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You could always tell the difference between Napoleon and Nelson, because Napoleon held his only arm <i>like this</i>, whereas Nelson held his <i>like that</i>.(*).<br />
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Now, apparently, enlivened by the Confederate monument debate, people want to<span style="background-color: yellow;"> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/22/toppling-statues-nelsons-column-should-be-next-slavery">remove his statue from Trafalgar Square</a> </span>because he supported the slave trade. But in that case should we not also be pulling down statues of Mandela, who was a terrorist, and Gandhi, who was an anti-African racist, and Churchill, who said that 'Ghandhi-ism and everything it stands for will have to be crushed' and Reagan, who supported genocidal dictators, and for that matter, shouldn't we be destroying everything Roman and the Great Wall of China (which killed millions, including a million workers who were forced to build it)?<br />
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Go ahead if you want. I don't care. Pull down Nelson's column. I never thought much of worshipping politicians or the military and I'm not a great fan of statues. But if so, pull everything down, please (**). Just like ISIS did in Palmyra...<br />
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* quote from <i>1066 and All That</i><br />
<i>** </i>I'm not being serious, of course.<br />
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<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-31807576338247256062017-07-31T09:54:00.001-07:002017-07-31T10:00:21.830-07:002017 ORNL Futbol Game<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=676886835535323001" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=676886835535323001" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
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Mentors versus Interns it was. The Mentors always win, of course. We can't let those young punks get too cocky. So this time we were 3-2 down at half time and so we cancelled the second half due to rain. Now, in TN when you abandon a game before the second half it becomes invalid, meaning the result from last year (which we of course won) carries over and applies this year as well. So we won. And, anyway, as Budhu stated in the official FIFA match report, the rain 'prevented the greatest Mentor comeback in history'. So there.<br />
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Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-83260293162249352552017-07-02T05:52:00.000-07:002017-07-02T10:30:30.700-07:00Outrageous Theory<br />
I arrived to start a PhD at the Institut Laue Langevin in Grenoble in September 1982 a day late (having missed the boat and been 'repatriated' back to England with just my passport and 2 pounds). I soon found the ILL to be organized into 'Colleges' of which 'College 1' was Theory. It was lead by a brilliant chap called Philippe Nozieres and seemed to be full of theoretical physicists.<br />
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I didn't have much to do with them, but there were quite a few grumblings about the theory college over the years; about them not talking much to experimentalists, being aloof, superfluous etc. ORNL doesn't have one.<br />
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But just before I was at ILL, from 1977-1981, Duncan Haldane was there for a postdoc. He did work on quantum-mechanical spin systems that was so outrageous that nobody believed it and it was impossible to publish in a journal, residing just as an ILL preprint. This work was later found by neutron experiments to be correct, and was critical to Haldane winning the 2016 Physics Nobel Prize. If you want more details, Tim Ziman (who I had a wonderful hike in Alaska with) wrote about it <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=676886835535323001#editor/target=post;postID=8326029316224935255">here</a> and the ILL wrote about it <a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=676886835535323001#editor/target=post;postID=8326029316224935255">here</a>.<br />
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I don't think the way the national labs, and science in general, are organized particularly fosters the kind of research Haldane did at ILL. But a theory group could be a good idea, and perhaps DOE might like to consider setting one up at ORNL, after all?<br />
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<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-30941002936378417212017-06-16T14:50:00.001-07:002017-06-16T14:50:05.918-07:00Helmut Kohl<br />
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An alumnus of Heidelberg University who championed German reunification. I never really understood why the West Germans were so keen on this, as it came at a high economic cost.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-86948183101352808222017-06-16T14:46:00.002-07:002017-06-16T14:46:59.451-07:00The Tennessee Torpedo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Christian Coleman - 9.82s. The fourth fastest American ever, and he's only a Junior!</div>
Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-48379971336027541392017-05-24T07:00:00.000-07:002017-05-24T09:02:25.171-07:00The 2018 Trump Administration Science Budget<br />
Scientists don't do universal good.<br />
Take Fritz Haber, for example. He invented the technique for synthesizing ammonia, which has been invaluable to agriculture. The food production for half the world's population depends on his method for producing nitrogen fertilizers. But he was also the "Father of Chemical Warfare". Hmm...<br />
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But it is easy to show that science is what propels technological development and that government-funded science is essential for this, so it is baffling why the administration want to cut the science budget of NIH by 22%, DOE by 15% and NSF by 13%. Yes, I know they want to cut overhead grants, and a sensible discussion about that is always useful, but who would then build the buildings in which science is done?<br />
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Are they doing it just to save money? In fact I might consider myself more of a fiscal conservative than most Republican politicians. Why? Because I would be in favor of keeping both the military and mandatory elements of the federal budget under control, whereas they wish to inflate the former (through blind ideology) and ignore the latter (through fear of losing votes).<br />
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Let's hope the Congress does its job and reverses this policy. As President Obama said in 2011, cutting investment in innovation is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engines. It may make you feel like you're flying high at first, but it won't be long before you feel the impact.<br />
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<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-17571488813170838952017-04-21T09:35:00.000-07:002017-04-21T09:36:28.698-07:00March for Science?<br />
Did ancient astronauts perambulate on Earth? Does the Full Moon influence human behavior?<br />
Do we need medicine to be evidence-based; or should we try some colon cleansing, or a detox, or faith healing, or homeopathy, or Ayurveda based on quantum mysticism?<br />
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In the absence of facts and proof, people need something to cling on to, something to believe in. That's normal, and has historically determined a large part of human behavior. But in the last couple of centuries a discipline has been embraced that can separate fact from fiction: science. Science tells us what the result will be when the natural world is acted on in a certain way - what happens if we strike a ball, or mix chemicals together - and often tells us why, in a logical, theoretical framework.<br />
The West embraced science, and it fueled the technological revolution of the last century. But there is much more to do; we need to cure harmful diseases, find efficient, non-polluting forms of energy, new materials, and to understand the environment.<br />
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But since I have been back in the USA, i.e., for the last 10 years, reason, in general, and science, in particular, have been under particularly strong attack, from people who can't accept proven facts. They are denying the science because it doesn't fit their beliefs or feelings or desires.<br />
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For example:<br />
<br />
- Many people still don't believe in evolution; others think GMO is dangerous.<br />
- Many people don't believe in climate change; others think vaccines are dangerous.<br />
- Many people believe the Earth is only a few thousand years old; others believe in astrology.<br />
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These beliefs don't tally with the demonstrated facts, and so people believing them live at least to some degree in an alternate reality.<br />
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The problem is that more and more people in power in the USA are not accepting these facts as well. They are ignoring established facts in setting policy, and sometimes don't even want the truth to be determined, and so they advocate axing the science research programs that find the facts out.<br />
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Take climate change. Arguing what, if anything, to do about it is one thing. That is politics.<br />
Denying that it exists, or saying you don't want to know whether it exists (which is effectively what stopping climate research would do) is another. That is dangerous.<br />
And the same goes for other critical issues in health, technology, energy and the environment.<br />
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Now, I am probably not going to March for Science on Saturday, mainly because the marches do not appear to be just for science, but for other issues as well, such as diversity, inclusion, equity etc; and in choosing Earth Day they seem to be choosing <i>which</i> science they support most. Not that I disagree with these other issues <i>per se</i>, but I think that they are complicated and deserve separate consideration.<br />
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More importantly, though: welcome back to ignorance, America; I guess you were never very far away from us.<br />
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<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-9395444393602395112017-04-19T06:41:00.000-07:002017-04-19T06:41:02.640-07:00Snap UK Election<br />
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So Theresa May has called a snap general election in the UK. A sorry affair. Sadly, she will have scant opposition. This is regretful, given her stance destroying Britain's relationship with Europe. The British only very narrowly (52:48) voted to leave the EU. This means that, of the various choices, a Soft Brexit should have been pursued, in which the free trade area is maintained. In contrast, though, May and her cohort have insisted on a Hard Brexit, effectively cutting all ties, which will do irreparable damage to the UK. This is clearly against the will of the people.<br />
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But opposition to her party has imploded. The Labour party is useless, failing to oppose Brexit, and with a deeply unpopular Marxist leader who even his own parliamentarians hate. Nationalist UKIP has no further reason to exist. The Lib Dems, the only politicians talking any sense these days, will profit but are a tiny parliamentary party.<br />
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Things look grim in the Sceptered Isle.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-75236233092833002232017-03-13T04:58:00.002-07:002017-03-13T05:01:09.589-07:00United or City?<br />
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Well, the soccer team that I have fervently supported since I was 6 months old (ahem!) has gone down the tubes. Norwich City, languishing in the hinterlands of the English Second Division, has now lost all hope of promotion back into the limelight this year, has fired their coach and, even worse, failed to beat our sweet, dear associates Ipswich Town, even though this time I was there to see them. Inconsiderate!!<br />
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In the meantime a new entity has been born, bloomed, expanded and is enticing us.<br />
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Atlanta United!<br />
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The newest MLS franchise. 55,000 fans at the inaugural game.<br />
Excitement. Passion.<br />
The chance to give those Red Bulls a good licking.<br />
Just 3 1/2 hours down the interstate.<br />
Hmmm.......City or United? Will allegiance here be threatened?.....Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-83014712640820609902017-02-17T15:18:00.000-08:002017-02-17T15:18:07.503-08:00Lignocelluose + cellulase<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSt5VlQ1-85Co6Tr1yrQbcEeENCWW8pbm_nQ5RiEMtGdat2wJr4yDmyGlXmpyxP0kxGI-DW28fdAh-czoDlYSD2Zo7YTe3K1rKuwmPt_3KDfrJMCRsfwIbtiJv_XhUhxWLiPwA8R_2Bw/s1600/lignocellulose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSt5VlQ1-85Co6Tr1yrQbcEeENCWW8pbm_nQ5RiEMtGdat2wJr4yDmyGlXmpyxP0kxGI-DW28fdAh-czoDlYSD2Zo7YTe3K1rKuwmPt_3KDfrJMCRsfwIbtiJv_XhUhxWLiPwA8R_2Bw/s400/lignocellulose.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-69799937047189761272017-02-10T15:17:00.000-08:002017-02-10T15:17:01.616-08:00Untreated lignocellulose<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5FHWpnay7N1R9XfBPQ9018XFwj161s4z4rMhHfldTDJlV9QvODGoCatECi-kYwZWcoDv8wGCORYkcZmexOzcqxdD3jhlNhRN1sr9cw6J_pNQ0rKVcCPyoXz7t1GY4qz5ENUfDhqDpxA/s1600/lignocellulose_untreated_670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs5FHWpnay7N1R9XfBPQ9018XFwj161s4z4rMhHfldTDJlV9QvODGoCatECi-kYwZWcoDv8wGCORYkcZmexOzcqxdD3jhlNhRN1sr9cw6J_pNQ0rKVcCPyoXz7t1GY4qz5ENUfDhqDpxA/s400/lignocellulose_untreated_670.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-60116696134010845602017-02-03T15:15:00.004-08:002017-02-03T15:20:09.715-08:00Gorgeous pictures (of our simulations). Thanks to Thomas Splettstoesser of scisstyle.com for doing these graphics. This one is lignocellulose with cellulase enzymes. More to follow....<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA-vd7EPord1nCdpJqWQ5DYx_MnJ28NKAyJ-rsa9RYvW50i3SaUPDvRuLs_EFEc91PpW28fv92Qc0l5HYpxPuKfQCKeF295eRBGYzTG9hFuhkoEWUcxqkStJQMXtqfOV4UiBllzFyVAOM/s1600/jsmith_3840x3840.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA-vd7EPord1nCdpJqWQ5DYx_MnJ28NKAyJ-rsa9RYvW50i3SaUPDvRuLs_EFEc91PpW28fv92Qc0l5HYpxPuKfQCKeF295eRBGYzTG9hFuhkoEWUcxqkStJQMXtqfOV4UiBllzFyVAOM/s400/jsmith_3840x3840.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-73101171356952944972017-01-30T20:09:00.001-08:002017-01-30T20:09:10.586-08:00The Trump Travel BanOK, here's a "drunk blog". I may regret it in the morning.<br />
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I don't like too many immigrants, even though I am one. The reason is I don't like them is that immigration is fueling the population explosion in the USA and this is leading to environmental stress.<br />
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And I don't like terrorists. 57 virgins? Good luck with that.<br />
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And I don't mind 'racial profiling'. Makes sense to me.<br />
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And I don't cow-tow to this 'welcoming refugees' soppiness (although I do think that, having been a major initiator of their distress, we should do a hell of a lot more to alleviate their problems wherever they happen to be right now).<br />
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But a blanket ban on LEGAL immigrants? On scholars? Entrepreneurs? SCIENTISTS?<br />
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An INDISCRIMINATE blanket ban? <br />
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The collateral damage is just too great from this one.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-59876823423819710712017-01-17T05:03:00.001-08:002017-01-17T05:05:18.450-08:00Welcome back to the Dark Ages<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQytFch0NKxfKEtiTHV246nJAVkQmX9kC07o5QNmkDaxMkF3MnBe7WcdYlHDjNY5NFZXfTrYDcHUdoqog84Yt45tuByTR67aky2Od0L6rAog-hiHepp070dgqPnGZWVJhnu-Wnl2wNBo/s1600/darkages.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmQytFch0NKxfKEtiTHV246nJAVkQmX9kC07o5QNmkDaxMkF3MnBe7WcdYlHDjNY5NFZXfTrYDcHUdoqog84Yt45tuByTR67aky2Od0L6rAog-hiHepp070dgqPnGZWVJhnu-Wnl2wNBo/s320/darkages.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Just finished watching Theresa May's "Brexit speech". So a "hard Brexit" it is then. She claims Britain cannot remain in the single market because then it would be "just as if we hadn't left". Not true, Theresa. The UK voted to leave the EU, and that is exactly what a soft Brexit, in which the UK remains in the single market and accepts free movement of people, would do. The UK voted very narrowly to leave, by 51% to 48%. The narrowness of this victory should obviously be interpreted as a vote for a soft Brexit.<br />
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Now I agree with all who state that the EU has failed miserably in protecting its borders. Putting in place practical measures to strengthen this should be central to talks. But May's speech shows that the wingnut, Empire-harking isolationists have taken over the Government, in a foretaste of years of political uncertainty in the UK; years of efforts wasted in massive renegotiations that could have been avoided.<br />
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Welcome back, the Dark Ages.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-19631917719156063462016-12-21T18:08:00.000-08:002016-12-21T20:11:43.925-08:00My MRI Light Experience<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3ctWuD1sMlkYhXohfjYZUdd-GGDwHG6iuEZ0dhnSZNM1Hyed-UuRMfB-Tta2LT7LEQ7JCGVSj2JYSaRNmJQgbDx16dCvh3rVZ3YbfuLvfMs348eoRA7Ddd5MhGbAtivlAz-On-B1tCc/s1600/mri-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl3ctWuD1sMlkYhXohfjYZUdd-GGDwHG6iuEZ0dhnSZNM1Hyed-UuRMfB-Tta2LT7LEQ7JCGVSj2JYSaRNmJQgbDx16dCvh3rVZ3YbfuLvfMs348eoRA7Ddd5MhGbAtivlAz-On-B1tCc/s320/mri-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I had an MRI recently. (Nothing serious). How many of you have had an MRI, then, huh?<br />
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Well, one has certain thoughts going into that tunnel. The first I had was "Don't think about being buried alive". And the second was "How do they get anyone to go in there at all?" I mean, your nose, your toes, and all the rest of you is an inch from bloody solid confinement. I thought that if they put in a UV source as well, it could double as a tanning machine, giving patients extra incentive, "scan and tan". Then I thought "Oh my God I had iron-fortified breakfast cereal just before coming here". But it was too late. They slid me in. The MRI sounds started, a kind of deafening dubstep, I believe. Has anyone made a No 1 hit out of that? Then I thought "Why am I in here?". Because conventional medicine would say "Take an aspirin" whereas in the absence of tort reform it says "MRI and CAT scan". Of course, once in, and only once in, I got an uncontrollable and violent urge to scratch everywhere. But you mustn't move, not an inch. Aaaargh! Still, too late, wasn't it? Kept saying to myself "Too late".Then you realize they're going to see through you. Your insides. I never wanted to know what has become of that stuff. But then you think someone might finally get to see your six-pack. Yes, its there, just under a lot of protective coating. Not so bad then. I tried to look at my watch. The bastards had stolen it. I counted sheep. But when I got to where they should pull me out the machine kept going for an eternity. No! No! They were torturing me. I could imagine their wicked grins.<br />
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Then it was over. Ahhhhh! And the result - well, I got a crummy MRI. Bad resolution. All because workers changed a lightbulb while no-one was looking and it screwed up the magnetic field. So all the Doc could say was, "Well, we proved you are capable of laying in a closed, confined space for two hours".<br />
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High-tech health care - you can't beat it.<br />
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<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-57392015638248405222016-11-25T08:54:00.001-08:002016-11-25T08:54:01.613-08:00Open Sesame?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPYO0ChLW9lWxU3KcZ2yE6HHGJtrXD2_dpschvHS9MIoZS0ucSJ0kroqneSiJoFxRjYAgxuoQ4R5GfWwrMywspPhXBPBNHSQYEIkpu3yCbD7VhlNrO0KFHR3S287ye93lZQfO_O6O_d-g/s1600/SESAME-new-roof.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPYO0ChLW9lWxU3KcZ2yE6HHGJtrXD2_dpschvHS9MIoZS0ucSJ0kroqneSiJoFxRjYAgxuoQ4R5GfWwrMywspPhXBPBNHSQYEIkpu3yCbD7VhlNrO0KFHR3S287ye93lZQfO_O6O_d-g/s320/SESAME-new-roof.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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When I visited Jerusalem for the second time, in the late 1990s, although the first Intifada had just ended peace in the Middle East seemed remote. For this reason I was astonished to learn of plans for SESAME, a Middle Eastern synchrotron which is a cooperation between Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the Palestinians and Turkey. What an idea! Mortal enemies cooperating in one scientific institution in Jordan.<br />
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Well, now, in 2017 it appears that, despite 20 years of delays and the assassination of two directors, the thing <a href="http://www.sesame.org.jo/sesame/news/401-installation-of-sesame%E2%80%99s-storage-ring-begins.html">will finally open</a>. <br />
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Congratulations, and <i>OPEN SESAME</i>!<br />
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Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-83677694711039653622016-10-31T11:06:00.001-07:002016-10-31T11:06:33.176-07:00Chancellor Search: Public or Private?<br />
Being a member of the Search Committee for the new Chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, I have been interviewing candidates over the past month or so, and am sworn to secrecy as to their identity.<br />
<br />
Why is this? For a public institution, such as UTK, shouldn't the whole community know who the candidates are, be able to talk to them, and have a say in who is eventually picked? After all, the Chancellor's position is incredibly important, with pivotal roles in academics, athletics, research, governmental relations, student relations and much more. Many communities are impacted.<br />
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This secrecy is now leading to <a href="http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/breakingnews/story/2016/oct/28/ut-withholds-names-chancellor-search/394926/">arguments</a>. The Tennessee 'Sunshine Laws', require transparency from UTK on the announcement of the finalists who are then subjected to public scrutiny, but the university is holding back until the very last day before the candidates arrive. <br />
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For me, the university is absolutely right to do so. The fact is that maybe three candidates are coming, two of whom at least will not get the job. For these, the fact that they were candidates in the first place will become public knowledge. This can be harmful for their positions in their current institutions, to the point, in fact, where they might still refuse to come at all. What can happen, in fact, is that the the very best candidates often withdraw before the public phase, or may refuse to even be candidates in the first place. I am not saying that this has happened in the UTK case, and I would not be allowed to say so either way. Just that it is often the case.<br />
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My suggestion for the future would be to have campus participation in the vetting and selection of the Search Committee, and then let the Committee, the President and the Board of Trustees do their job. <br />
At any rate I can say that the candidates who will come to UTK over the next couple of weeks are fantastic people, extremely well qualified, and it would be a privilege for us to have any of them to lead the campus.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-71369062956315908212016-09-30T12:57:00.002-07:002016-09-30T13:01:42.796-07:00The Real Sins of Scientists – More Pervasive than Fraud.<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Fraudulent scientists seem to be everywhere
these days. In recent years we have been regaled with cheats trying to foist
upon us that </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">rabbit blood can be turned into an AIDS vaccine,
eating meat makes people more selfish and that transistors can be made out of
virtually anything. Normal folk don’t know where to turn, so they doubt
everything: evolution, climate change, vaccination. What is happening? Has
science become propaganda from PhDs perverted by the search for research money and
prizes? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">The popular ideal image of us scientists is as disciples
of the pursuit of knowledge.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With scant
regard for the trivialities of life, we refuse bodily pleasure, food and sleep
in our endless search for the ultimate truths of life, the universe and
everything, scrupulously obeying the doctrine of the scientific method as we solemnly
unroll the red carpet of transformational discovery. Little wonder then, that,
whereas the uncovering of lawyerly or political fraud is met by <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>knowing snickering, each new revelation of
science misconduct is considered tantamount to apostasy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">Serious scientific fraud - the fabrication
of some high-impact but plausible new phenomenon - propels the perpetrator ephemerally
into the academic stratosphere, while misleading large numbers of fellow
researchers and misdirecting precious resources. But serious fraud in science is
relatively rare, if only because the perpetrators, if not delusional, know they
are likely to eventually be exposed by curious colleagues. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Serious fraud must, of course, be
unearthed and punished, but my contention here is that is the least of
science’s problems. You see, we scientists commit many sins, all of which lead
to some sizeable proportion of our published work being at least partially misleading
or wrong. These sins, which do not involve fraudulent</span><span style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> deception, </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">are
far more widespread and more damaging to scientific progress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Let’s delight with a troll through seven
deadly sins of scientists. We start with <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">incompetence</i>
and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ignorance</i>. Our hypotheses may be balderdash,
logically inconsistent. Our work may be ‘shoddy’ or ‘sloppy’; we may not
perform<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>experiments that actually test
our hypotheses, failing to test alternative explanations, and not knowing to
perform elementary “control“ experiments. Our computer programs may contain
critical errors. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We may not estimate the statistical errors in our
data. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We
may look at data and draw completely the wrong conclusions because we don’t
know the underlying principles that govern the phenomenon under scrutiny. We may
write our papers as if a logical sequence of experiments had been done when in
fact we randomly tried things then assembled them into something that makes a
pretty story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">We can also be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lazy</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We may only do one or
two quickie experiments, nowhere near enough to justify the grandiose
conclusions we then draw, and hope the reviewers and editor of our papers are
themselves too lazy or busy to read our manuscript properly. We may not even
bother to properly search the literature to find out who has done anything
related to our study. We may take the path of least resistance, that of
expediency, to spin a story aligned with our vision. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Then there is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">illiteracy</i>. We may be unable to describe our findings in a way that
anybody else can possibly follow; we may omit steps in our argument, and our
writing may be grammatically awful, leaving even qualified readers flailing.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia"; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">True to our nerdy stereotype, we are
often <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">myopic</i>. Our publications may deliberately
ignore closely related but highly pertinent findings of others, concentrating
only on our own past achievements, such that we do not put our work into
context. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">Citations made
to others that we do include are to papers we have not even read. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We are also <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">self-aggrandizing</i>. In print and in
person, and especially in grant proposals, we puff up the importance of our
work and castigate other, legitimate studies. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">I may have been cited 20,000 times, but
of course it should have been 200,000!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">Great scientists can be highly intuitive,
but this intuition also blinds us all. Many Nobel laureates have suffered from
this. Take, for example, my ‘academic grandfather’*, Linus Pauling, arguably the
greatest chemist of the last century. He spent his last decades misleading
humanity by trumpeting unsubstantiated ideas about the health benefits of mega-doses
of Vitamin C. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 5.05pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 16.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">You see, Pauling, in his later years,
fell victim to that ubiquitous scientist’s plague: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>that of <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">wishful</i>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thinking</i>. This arises naturally from
the initiating, creative act in science, in which </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">various half-formed ideas shape into a concept to which we cling and may
base our careers, fomenting long-held desires, and prejudices. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">We <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">believe</i> in something, a beautiful process or an imagined principle.
So, blinded by our belief, we may see a trend in our data that is not really there,
or a small peak in a spectrum that is really just noise. We may remove that
lone, recalcitrant data point that doesn't fit our model – that’s not fraud
because we really believe the data point can’t be right. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">The temptation to airbrush data is irresistible. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lets add a calibration factor, fudge factor,
cosmological constant. We smooth, filter and transform data onto scales that
make them look more accurate. Some run an experiment ten times until they get
the result they want then publish only that one. We may refuse to give access
to our raw data to others – after all, we haven’t finished analyzing them ourselves
and, anyway, others would misuse them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 5.05pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So, we scientists are ignorant, incompetent,
illiterate, lazy, myopic, self-aggrandizing wishful thinkers. Each of these seven
sins has the same effect as outright fraud – wrong results, erroneous interpretations,
false conclusions. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;">So shoddy, dubious science is everywhere, leading
to a</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"> large
proportion of submitted papers being rejected after anonymous peer review, and
a fair proportion of manuscripts that do manage to sidle past peer review being
still wrong. In my, of course unbiased, opinion, about half the interesting papers
in my field published in the top journals such as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nature</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Science,</i> are basically
wrong – they may be brilliant,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>thought-provoking, beautiful and even inspirational, but they are still
wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 5.05pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">Every
Wednesday my lab holds a Journal Club, in which we select one or two papers to
read, and we try to understand what was done, its significance, and its
validity. Sometimes we leave the room exalted by a timely and impactful piece
of research. But often, when we try to ascertain whether the main conclusions
of the authors are justified by the data presented, we regretfully must conclude
that the answer is “no”, and occasionally we go ballistic, especially me. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A while ago I had one of those ballistic days.
We read a published paper on the computational design of drugs to overcome
antibacterial resistance, and concluded that every one of the main conclusions
was wrong. The paper was total pigswill. If anyone reads this paper and starts
a program of drug design based on it they will have been sadly misled. [Naturally,
though, that it is inconceivable that anyone would hold such a subversive
meeting criticizing our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">own</i> work.
Inconceivable (ahem).] <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 5.05pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 5.05pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;">Why then, is there so much fluff and junk
out there? Well, unlike other professional pursuits, scientific research
tackles the unknown. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This makes it inherently
very difficult to know which questions to ask and how to go about things. Also,
we scientists are condemned to membership of a certain species of animal
endowed with primitive, instinctual, jealous and lustful traits. So each new
problem will have each of us looking at it with our own biases, framed by our
own imperfect training and experience. So it’s hardly surprising that there can
be a lot of trash to wade through before an advance can be solidified.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: large;">So,
what to do about it all? Well, the world could try a science detox, doing
without science completely, but then there will be no cures for cancer, no
saving the environment, no endless supply of energy, no technological terrorist
foiling. Another option is to keep doing what the authorities are concentrating
on now; fraud detection, witch hunting, setting up Offices of Scientific
Integrity and Research Integrity and the like. But that is no panacea. You see, the seven
scientific sins are juxtaposed by seven virtues: curiosity, intelligence, vision,
drive, rigour, integrity and insight, virtues propelled by appreciation of the
beauty of truth. The virtues win out in the end.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">*academic grandfather: the adviser of my
adviser, Martin Karplus. Pauling has hundreds of such grandkids..</span><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-69272376374752817422016-08-24T16:23:00.000-07:002016-08-24T16:23:01.142-07:00How to find Big Science Questions<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
The second in a series of "How To" articles :-))<br />
<br />
Here at ORNL we are pondering which Big Science Questions the National Lab should attack over the next years. Good question. National labs were invented for a big science question - the atomic bomb, are tailor made for problems involving big teams of scientists, and later started the Human Genome project.<br />
<br />
What Next Then? "The Sustainable City"? "Personalized Medicine"? "Cancer Moonshot"? "Complexity Science"?<br />
<br />
Here's how to find out what to do next:<br />
<br />
(a) Send around an e-mail to all national lab employees, postdocs and students asking for a "Big Science Question" written in one sentence only.<br />
<br />
(b) Get a committee to sift through them and select some to be expanded an sculpted.<br />
<br />
(c) Pick one every year to get serious about.<br />
<br />
That'll create a buzz around the place.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-61436743464080434982016-08-08T16:14:00.001-07:002016-08-08T16:15:12.997-07:00How to Run a Conference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I go to quite a lot of scientific conferences - maybe 10-15 per year - and they all tend to be in posh hotels with entry restricted to those able to find the registration fee, which normally is hundreds of dollars, and which pays for renting the conference room at the posh hotel, speaker travel, exorbitant cookies etc.<br />
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Sometimes there are not many people there. I remember once flying all the way over from France to Seattle to give a talk to about 10 people. But many more than that would have been interested - its just that they were blocked by the gnashing costs. A very recent conference I was at had trouble attracting enough attendees, even though I know dozens of young local scientists would have liked to attend.<br />
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So here's what to do (for some of the conferences, at least):<br />
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(a) stop holding conferences in posh hotels - hold them in university lecture halls.<br />
(b) stop providing free meals<br />
(c) stop providing free coffee and cookies<br />
(d) stop funding speaker travel<br />
(e) reduce the registration costs as the conference approaches if there are not enough attendees<br />
(f) let in all students free<br />
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Then conferences would be what they really should be: a transmission of passion and knowledge to an enthusiastic and inspired young audience.<br />
<br />Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-13176590898091201952016-07-05T19:49:00.001-07:002016-07-05T20:32:57.028-07:00Our Role in the Clinton E-mailsWell, we have deep ties to the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal. Oh, yessiree!<br />
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Well, maybe not deep, but perhaps a shallow connection, and rather remote.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrFgIMOifzjKf_BJv0PVYEZWqztkqoqcXeNt2EqzGRgyvjP5kgEGdPtBBNbSCr8HNLs7TLhThQ-RFPP7JbzFu583-3QCMdyWzU_CJuP2DLhfBDAzqPlVme-4rWWr_nju4Wl-Ws9Zv2nXA/s1600/Hillary_Clinton_official_Secretary_of_State_portrait_crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrFgIMOifzjKf_BJv0PVYEZWqztkqoqcXeNt2EqzGRgyvjP5kgEGdPtBBNbSCr8HNLs7TLhThQ-RFPP7JbzFu583-3QCMdyWzU_CJuP2DLhfBDAzqPlVme-4rWWr_nju4Wl-Ws9Zv2nXA/s320/Hillary_Clinton_official_Secretary_of_State_portrait_crop.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
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But here it is:<br />
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1) Xiaolin Cheng, here was a postdoc with Andy McCammon at UCSD, as is presently our ex-postdoc, Yinglong Miao. Tongye Shen also worked with Andy. Andy himself was a postdoc with Martin Karplus, as was I. And we have a paper in press together. So we have several connections with the McCammon group.<br />
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2) In the seventies Andy was a grad student of John Deutch, a chemistry professor at MIT.<br />
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3) Deutch became Director of the CIA in<span style="background-color: white;"> May 1995 but stored and processed hundreds of files of highly classified material on unprotected home computers that he and family members also used to connect to the Internet, according to an internal CIA investigation.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for this, and was only few hours away from signing a plea bargain when Bill Clinton pardoned him on his last day in office!<br />
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4) As a result of that presidential pardon the FBI today could find no precedent for indicting Hillary for storing secret information on her personal computer. So they didn't recommend indictment, thus paving the way for her presumed victory in November.<br />
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Ta-da! Cool, huh? Not.Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-676886835535323001.post-41814720015070774832016-07-01T11:05:00.004-07:002016-07-01T11:05:56.664-07:00Frank Munger<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-kCXLrd7KKzQa8A_B_LpJp95MKgCyYuDGKMpLa8zK8kNawfdVrwk8N8kPzyGXXlbuVKblrF0RbWthtfwAuicNjXtR2qbjZAXUZE-WsSZ0cW8p8VQXHX1HgN5pV-4oTVGE-jyrYvFLhVo/s1600/munger3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-kCXLrd7KKzQa8A_B_LpJp95MKgCyYuDGKMpLa8zK8kNawfdVrwk8N8kPzyGXXlbuVKblrF0RbWthtfwAuicNjXtR2qbjZAXUZE-WsSZ0cW8p8VQXHX1HgN5pV-4oTVGE-jyrYvFLhVo/s320/munger3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frank Munger</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Yesterday Frank Munger, the local journalist who wrote about Oak Ridge science for the Knoxville News Sentinel and in the associated "Atomic City Underground" blog, retired.<br />
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His blog kept us informed daily about what was going on at Y12, other areas of ORNL and the region. He was also a strong supporter of Club Mod. He was given the "Muddy Boot Award" yesterday for his contributions to building the local community's economic base.<br />
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We're all sad to see you go, Frank! We wish you a fulfilling and rewarding retirement! Maybe you'd consider writing a book about Oak Ridge. Nobody would be better positioned to do so.<br />
Jeremy Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03426355083905119386noreply@blogger.com0