Bronx Zoo Cobra Found On Twitter

Last friday the Bronx Zoo (that would be in New York for those of you unaware) announced that it was missing an Egyptian Cobra (which is poisonous) from its reptile house. According to the zoo, the 20-inch snake is most likely in the vicinity of the building, which was immediately closed off and is being searched.

An Egyptian Cobra. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The missing snake was fodder for late night comics like David Letterman, and has made a media buzz. However, for the skeptics among us who don't buy the zoo's story that the snake didn't escape into the public, there is now a Twitter account that is assuming to chronicle the snake's adventures as it roams Manhattan. Proof that the snake's more than 35,000 followers probably didn't have a whole lot to do with themselves today...but entertaining nonetheless.

Update 3/30/11 - As of 4pm BronxZoosCobra has more than 150,000 followers on Twitter. Glad to see that people can have a sense of humor about something like this.

Update 3/31/11 - At 4pm today the Bronx Zoo announced that the Cobra, which was missing for seven days, was found in a section of the reptile house which was closed to the public. The snake was found coiled in a dark corner, and will "rest" for a few days before being returned to the exhibit.

Vaccine Autism Research Fraud

For over a decade, controversy has raged about whether or not vaccinating children causes them to develop autism. British doctor Andrew Wakefield published a study in 1998 that claimed there was a solid link between the MMR Vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella) and autism in children. The study induced panic among parents world wide who refused to have their children vaccinated.

Measles Virus. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Since Wakefield's original study 12 years ago, 14 independent studies have found absolutely no link between the vaccine and autism. Yet, to this day parents still refuse to have their children vaccinated. This has led to a surge in the numbers of measles, mumps, and rubella cases.

Last year the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the Lancet, issued a full retraction of Wakefield's study and he was stripped of his medical license in England. Now, the BMJ has published the results of an investigation into Wakefield, calling him a fraud. The investigation led the BMJ to conclude that Wakefield was not only unethical in his research, he also fabricated data.

Essentially, the guy made stuff up, he scared parents and confused them about what was the best course of action to care for their children, and ultimately numerous children became seriously ill with preventable diseases. This is infuriating. It makes me mad that even with all the precautions and restrictions we impose (peer review, for one) bullshit research still manages to get published in a reputable journal causing people to panic.

This case is pretty notable for the way that the belief of a link between vaccines and autism has persisted, even though the medical community considers the theory completely debunked. I hope that the media will step up and disseminate the (relatively) new idea that there is no link to help combat the misinformation that has already become so widespread.

Yale Lab Heist Story Continues

Over the summer I reported on a story out of Yale University about a researcher who was accused of stealing laboratory equipment as part of his divorce proceedings. The New Haven Register originally reported the story, and it was slanted at best because they only based their story on public record (police reports, the divorce proceedings) and the opinion of the researcher's ex-wife.

I did a follow up to the Register story, and got the researcher to comment easily. He replied to my email right away and thanked me for the opportunity to get his side of the story. According to him, no other news source had ever contacted him directly for an interview. So I find the Register and The Yale Daily's News' claims that he didn't return repeated requests for an interview sort of suspect. I think they tried to contact him... but his Yale contacts are long defunct. His gmail is available on the web very easily if you search his name.

But anyway, the Yale Daily News did a follow up on the story based on the Register and they do mention BioTechniques and a quote that the researcher gave me, so that is sort of cool.

The Yale Daily News:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/08/27/yale-scientist-suspected-stealing-lab-equipment/

The New Haven Register:
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/06/29/news/new_haven/aa1_tue_nelars062910.txt

My BioTechniques Story:
http://www.biotechniques.com/news/22K-worth-of-lab-equipment-seized-from-former-Yale-researchers-home/biotechniques-299798.html?autnID=288841

Wisconsin & Writing

Today I ran a bunch of errands around the UW Campus. I got my student ID, got my bus pass, set up a bank account, got groceries, found my classes etc. According to my Mom my ID picture makes me look homeless. I guess its a winner. Today was my family's last full day here, they leave for the airport tomorrow at 4pm. I'm really glad they came out here to help me get settled but I think it will be good for me to just wander around a little by myself to get my bearings.

Tomorrow my article on genome wide association studies and technologies for finding rare variants is due for BioTechniques. I'm still waiting on one last interview, so fingers crossed that will come through tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I'm not sure what I'll do, quote from papers probably. I did get four other interviews so its not terrible, but they asked for five so I'd really like to deliver. Its not my best work, but given that I only had two weeks, and that I moved and have been with my family non-stop for one week of that I'm proud of myself for the progress I've made.

In other science writing news, Harvard recently found Marc Hauser guilty of misconduct. I mentioned in an earlier post that the New York Times had reported on the alleged misconduct. I thought their reporting on the case was relatively balanced, so I figured it was worth mentioning.

Reporting on Science Misconduct

I usually prefer to read the BBC for science news (and all other news for that matter) because I find their reporting, especially only US Politics, to be fairly balanced in the grand scheme of journalism. But,  as a NJ/NY native, I can't help but check out the New York Times everyday. That is where I found this article on a case of alleged misconduct at Harvard that is still under investigation, but may have a trickle-down affect to various fields that the PI worked in, and students that he worked with. 

I always found it very interesting that when we ran stories at BioTechniques about cases of scientific misconduct, they caused a huge jump in hits to the website. People love gossip, and they especially love hearing drama about their colleagues. I guess its an old journalism standard that juicy stories usually win big, even in a field that can be dry (when not done right!) like science writing. Stories about misconduct feel a little cheap to me, almost like they belong in the Star magazine of the biological research community. But, then again misconduct is a huge issue that does need to be reported on.

Integrity in any field is important, but for researchers, the "publish or perish" adage adds to the pressure to get results no matter what the cost. Conducting research requires a lot of overhead, in addition to the time and energy of students, post docs, and technicians. When a PI choses to alter their data to get more favorable results it does have a huge affect on the other members of their lab, and can tarnish their careers even if they were unaware of the misconduct. Hopefully that case at Harvard won't derail too many promising careers.