Category: Editorials

  • Ten Years of Natural Selections

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    By Daniel Briskin Continuing on with our salute to the tenth anniversary of Natural Selections, here is this month’s republished comic from 2004.

  • Ten Years of Natural Selections

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    By Daniel Briskin The first issue of Natural Selections was published in February of 2004. In these past ten years, much has happened, on campus and off. For all that has happened, however, much has stayed the same, including the humor. This year we are republishing the best and most timeless pieces from the corresponding…

  • Ten Years of Natural Selections

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    By Daniel Briskin This month’s issue marks the tenth anniversary of Natural Selections; issue one was published in February of 2004. In these past ten years, much has happened, on-campus and off. For all that has happened, however, much has stayed the same, including the humor. This year we are republishing the best and most…

  • Crisis in Congress

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    by Jason Rothauser This is what a government in crisis looks like. Last month, on October 1, the federal government entered its first shutdown since 1996, when an impasse between President Clinton and congressional Republicans led to the government’s doors being shuttered for almost two weeks. Our most recent shutdown beat that record, coming to an…

  • WISeR (Women In Science at Rockefeller): A New Initiative

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    By Asma Hatoum, Mariko Kobayashi, and Alessia Deglincerti This summer, a small group of postdocs came together to launch a new initiative called wiser (Women In Science at Rockefeller) to begin to tackle a persistent problem: the underrepresentation of female leaders in academic and non-academic sectors of science. While women hold 60% of all bachelor’s…

  • Academic Governance: A Model

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    by Daniel Briskin An unfortunately high proportion of our elected officials are highly opinionated, but irrational people who let their guts drive their politics; many more of them are voters. With the same concerns in mind as the architects of the Electoral College, I don’t want this type of person making decisions for me. We…

  • For Your Consideration—Cannes Edition

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    by Jim Keller In this installment, For Your Consideration kicks off the 2013 Oscar season with a look at the films to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. This year’s festival, overseen by Jury President Steven Spielberg, will open on May 15with Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby, which will screen out of competition.As I’ve stated…

  • Fiscal Cliff: The Next Big Challenge for Science

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    by Christina Pyrgaki A version of this article appeared on The Incubator blog on February 14, 2013. For the last 35 years, the University of Lake Superior has published a list of banished words—words in the English language that are deemed overused, misused, or useless. Topping the 2013 version1 was a term that no American…

  • Hitting the Paywall

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    by Daniel Briskin Approximately two years ago, in March 2011, The New York Times introduced their paywall, the digital barrier against accessing more than 20 articles per month without subscribing (subsequently, access has been further reduced to only ten articles per month for non-subscribers). Although the Times was not the first publication to limit access…

  • For Your Consideration—Crystal Ball Edition Part II

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    by Jim Keller Admittedly, last month’s column was thrown together between health battles, and birthday and Oscar celebrations—oh wait, those last two were on the same day, no lie! Without further ado, I give you the remainder of a short list of films—some of which you might be hearing about for years to come as…

  • Directed Acts of Kindness: A Citizen’s Weapon Towards a Better Society

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    by Christina Pyrgaki The Wednesday before Nemo hit NYC and after a successful journal club meeting, which involved a combination of good science, brainy company, and fine liquor, I left the university with two friends and colleagues of mine at around 8 p.m. The three of us strolled in the cold evening all the way…