SfN Desperately Seeking Neurobloggers and NeuroTwitts

The Society for Neuroscience is encouraging members to blog and twitt the annual meeting in Chicago (Oct 17-22). As part of this they plan to highlight a subset of members on their website. The notion being that this will enhance the profile of your blog.

Benefits
* Increased exposure to your blog before, during, and following the annual meeting
* An official “SfN Social Media” ribbon to wear at the annual meeting
* One Neuroblogger will be selected in a drawing to receive a new iPod nano
* The honor of taking part in SfN Interactive’s flagship year
Important Considerations
* By applying to be a Neuroblogger, from October 17 to 21, you are expected to write one or more blog entries per day about activities, events, and experiences related to Neuroscience 2009 in Chicago.
* SfN cannot provide blog hosting or online content management services. Your blog must be hosted by a third party host or yourself.
* You must be a current SfN member to submit an application.
* On the application, provide a link to your current blog(s) or writing samples from entries you’ve composed in the past, preferably during a previous scientific meeting.
* Selected bloggers will be categorized by theme but will not be limited to blogging about just that theme.
* Selected blog links will be posted on this Web site two weeks before the meeting and will remain until two weeks after the meeting.

You will need to fill out an application form by Sep 24 to be considered for official linkage.

SfN Committee on Animals in Research Issues Challenge to the NIH

A recent press release from the Society for Neuroscience informs us of the recent publication of two opinion pieces in the Journal of Neuroscience. One is by Professors Jentsch and Ringach and strikes a tone similar to their Letter to the Editor published Journal of Neurophysiology I mentioned previously. The J. Neurosci opinion by Ringach and Jentsch concludes:

We must now face the many threats to animal research in general and to neuroscience in particular. We must prove that “scientific community” means something more than the mere fact that we publish in the same journals and attend the same conferences. We must stand together to defend those colleagues under attack and defend the research we believe to be ethical and critical for our understanding of the brain in health and disease. The public is ready to listen.

Slightly more provocative is a call to NIH action from the current head of the SfN Committee for use of Animals in Research.