Ask Drugmonkey: Call to the Hivemind on Behavioral Neuroscience coursework
September 23, 2015
A longtime Reader asks:
My colleagues and I are trying to finalize our revisions/updates to the courses we will require as part of a PhD in behavioral neuroscience. It would be helpful to get input on what others’ experience is: how many credit hours of classwork are required, and what are seen as the essential items? [We’re at 47 class credits currently, trying to reduce to either 41 or 38 but facing resistance to eliminating non-neuro psychology classes from requirements.]
Anyone have any thoughts on this?
I myself think that “eliminating non-neuro psychology classes” is a huge mistake and I join their local resistance. The field of so-called behavioral neuroscience already has far too many people who are insufficiently grounded in good old Behavioral Psychology.
If you take the current replication hoopla seriously, it is a bad idea to cut behavior out of the curriculum.
Question of the day
September 23, 2015
Provocation from Michael Eisen:
Has me thinking… Would you do it? Would you pay $25,000 of your own cash money to secure publication in Nature.
I think I would do that. Have to take out a loan to do it but I think I’d chalk that up to career investment.
The currency of science news
September 23, 2015
Ok, I take the point that journalism should not only talk about science upon the publication of a paper.
Absolutely.
Science news can be much more fluid and the semi-public knowledge of a finding precedes formal publication.
But if there is a paper then it should be cited. Not merely linked obscurely, but properly cited.
Scientists have been complaining about the failure of journalists to cite papers associated with their science news stories for ages. Ed knows this as well as anyone in science journalism. So I am confused as to what he is about here.
DrugMonkey 