nodalpoint.org

Following the meme:

• Is Peer Review Broken ? - Probably, but do you have any better ideas ?
• Re-thinking the Semantic Web, part 2. (Jan/Feb 2006 link) - Simplify the SW by getting rid of classes, relationships and identity. And then you have the Named Entity Web... okay then.
• Blogging the biotechnology revolution - Conference blogging and paper reviews. [blog]
• Kids draw before and after pictures of scientists - A grade 7 class visits the Fermilab, discover scientists look normal and do nothing all day.
• Nature Erratum - The world's scientists on your desktop. [blog] Someone get Venter off my desk please!
• Sex, Drugs and DNA - Science Policy. [blog]
• TAMO - Python tools for finding, scoring and comparing sequence motifs. I was able to do something useful this week because of this kit !

See here for more.

It is not easy being a scientist. There are the four-plus years of struggle getting your PhD only to find yourself on the postdoc treadmill dealing with lab politics, grants, PIs and the distinct possibility that your current project might end up being a total waste of time. This postdoc limbo is valuable time, that if not spent productively leads to less papers and less career opportunities. And the whole time the only people that will ever appreciate your situation are your fellow scientific competitors. Well that may be about to change with the publication of Allegra Goodman's new novel Intuition. I came across this novel via the Nature Genetics Free Association blog. Read on for a mini review of the first three chapters.