nodalpoint.org

I discovered a nice tutorial on searching Entrez using EUtils and Python. The tutorial is part of the larger Scripting Bioinformatics course, available from the University of Aarhus Department of Computer Science. What I liked about this tutorial was the inclusion of more advanced of python techniques such as generators and iterators.

Spitshine over at A Bioinformatics Blog muses over the importance (or otherwise) of impact factor. I was going to comment over there but it involved some registration with which I wasn't too comfortable (sorry mate).

I agree with his post - impact factor has always struck me as one of the great lies of science and one that I don't want to live. I'd even say that how someone feels about impact factor is one of the criteria that I use to determine what kind of scientist they are - the stuffy, traditional unimaginative kind or the enlightened and serene type that inhabit Nodal :).

Unfortunately, many people that I know are happy to live this lie. Whenever I'm writing up a paper, there is always discussion about where to send it and the impact factor. It's an entrenched attitude that won't change until more people are willing to just "put it out there", in an appropriate forum, as opposed to worrying about status.