Weblog Archive

MD Stem Cell Bill

USATODAY.com - Md. stem cell bill has support of patients seeking cures. The disparities in stem cell funding from state to state, I believe, will lead to some brain drain in those states without funding. It appears that in reaction to funds started in states such as New Jersey and California, Maryland needs to follow suit because of the large contingency of biotech firms and universities in that state. New technologies is one of the best hedges against future economic turmoil.

Rosenberg said the funding also would help Maryland's biotechnology industry, a national leader in the field. With California voters approving $3 billion in research funding over 10 years and other states considering similar moves, Rosenberg said Maryland risks losing its biotech edge unless it supports stem cell research to keep top notch researchers in the state.

The bill puts the legislature into the middle of an emotional national debate over stem cell research and whether it holds out false promises or real hope for cures to a variety of medical problems such as spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Subtle changes in pubmed

Entrez PubMed. Perhaps it was implemented before and I just didn't notice, but PubMed.org has made changes to its interface. They're not very significant changes, but noticeable. Functionally, it appears that the site has a login system now for you to save previous searches and more.

Easter eggs in my dissertation

DVD Easter Eggs. I had a friend tell me about Easter Eggs in DVDs (hidden features in DVDs) a while back, but never really appealed to me. Strangely, as I was writing my dissertation, I wondered whether all the work that I've put into it will eventually mean someone will read it. I can't even guarantee if my thesis readers in my committee will even actually read it---err, they'll probably "read" it, but not word for word. I'm sure I'm not the first person to think this. Anyway, you may find it strange why I started out about DVD Easter Eggs. I'm sure there are more than few published dissertations out there with their own set of Easter Eggs. Did you put one in yours? Or do you know of one? How creative was it? Was it some sort of puzzle game or cryptic message? A simple google query for "Easter eggs dissertation" or "hidden meaning dissertation" came up with nothing. I'm still not yet convinced that it hasn't been done.