I think hip-hop just had a significant thing happen

amirite?

language NSFW, as you might expect.

I gotta say I have no idea WTF he’s talking about with the gay mafia thing, tho. anyone?

h/t: guanabee

Petition your Congress Critter

I ran across a Change.org petition on the Twitts today that asks Congress to support scientific research in the current budget discussions. This one is focused on the NIH:
Congress: increase federal research funding for the National Institutes of Health

The text reads, in part:

Dear Members of Congress

I am writing to you today to implore you to support the House proposal to increase the 2012 National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget by 3.3% ($31.7 billion). Since the 1930’s, the NIH has been a fundamental supporter of basic biomedical research in the U.S. Funding from the NIH supports research in all 50 states. These awards are made to over 3,000 universities, medical schools, and research institutions, and they support more than 350,000 researchers. NIH funding to basic research has supported findings that were honored by 121 Nobel Prizes, including this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The nonprofit coalition United for Medical Research concluded that funding by the NIH in 2010 produced $68 billion in new economic activity, which is a greater than 100% return on our investment!

I urge you to add your name to the petition.
___
The bumpersticker is from Zazzle.

A thought exercise for readers

Consider the last few manuscripts you reviewed.

How many labs could credibly have submitted that manuscript if you didn’t know who the authors were?

Assume they had been written without any “as we previously showed” type of language but with citations otherwise unchanged. What would be your confidence in your bets as to lab identity?