Monday, November 9, 2009
I get things done... efficiently and with a little science-geek flair
Between this cake (our Sindbis-GFP expressing fruit fly holding Sindbis virus balloons) and my organizational emails, I think I just unintentionally secured my position as the Hardy lab party planner.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Where does our information come from?
I just read an editorial in TIME magazine on vaccinations: "To vaccinate or not to vaccinate" by Joel Stein. It was amusing, but I was caught off guard by his concluding statements,
Really? I'm not saying it's completely wrong to reason this way at times. It's necessary because we just don't have the time to seek out all the detailed answers about everything. eg I heard through my roommate, through the internet, through some meteorologist somewhere that it might rain so I'll take my umbrella. But when it comes to big stuff--like is it safe to vaccinate yourself and your kid, you need to look a little farther than your next door neighbor (unless you're living next door to a doctor of medicine or virology.) Just last week I was getting my haircut and one of the ladies next to me was saying something like "I heard that the vaccine has dangerous components that will make it worse if you get the flu." Whaaaatt? No. I've done my research. It's not bad to get information from friends but just make sure you know where they got it--hearsay? media (who are not scientists and can twist things for a story)? or from a reliable source (CDC, WHO, doctor educated on viruses, leading virologist in the field)? And don't contribute further to the false information by spreading things you "heard" as absolute fact.
*Stepping off soapbox now*
"What I do know is that I'm pretty confident in the way I get my knowledge. Even in the age of Google and Wikipedia, we still receive almost all of our information through our peers. I believe in evolution not because I've read Darwin but because everyone I know thinks it's true. When presented with doubts, I don't search for detailed information from my side. I go with the consensus of mainstream media, academia and the government. Not because they're always right but because they're right far more often than not, and I have a TiVo to watch."
Really? I'm not saying it's completely wrong to reason this way at times. It's necessary because we just don't have the time to seek out all the detailed answers about everything. eg I heard through my roommate, through the internet, through some meteorologist somewhere that it might rain so I'll take my umbrella. But when it comes to big stuff--like is it safe to vaccinate yourself and your kid, you need to look a little farther than your next door neighbor (unless you're living next door to a doctor of medicine or virology.) Just last week I was getting my haircut and one of the ladies next to me was saying something like "I heard that the vaccine has dangerous components that will make it worse if you get the flu." Whaaaatt? No. I've done my research. It's not bad to get information from friends but just make sure you know where they got it--hearsay? media (who are not scientists and can twist things for a story)? or from a reliable source (CDC, WHO, doctor educated on viruses, leading virologist in the field)? And don't contribute further to the false information by spreading things you "heard" as absolute fact.
*Stepping off soapbox now*
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