Comments on: Links To The Damn Paper

Links To The Damn Paper

Blasdelb — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:39:28 -0800

Hello and welcome to Links to the Damn Paper, an open discussion community showcasing the best in freely-available biology research. If you've ever tried to have a discussion about science on the Web and been stymied and frustrated by inaccessible articles, misrepresentation of research in science journalism, or a community that seems uninterested in digging into the actual research behind a topic, then welcome: you are our people. If you've ever wished for a place to talk about the Science of Life where you could be sure that the actual articles were available, where compelling research was presented in a way that allowed it to speak for itself, and where you could discuss science with actual scientists and with other people who are passionate about science for its own sake, then you have found your haven.

Links to the Damn Paper strives to be an oasis away from shallow and misleading science media, from the abuse of science as an excuse to have the same tired arguments about the "controversies" of the day, and from the Ontological Oncological Quest (the quest to sort all substances, foods, and activities into things that either Cause or Cure cancer). We are a community of people with a deep interest in making real biological research interesting and accessible, who really dig on digging into the research process and its results. We are striving to keep alive the unpopular notion that scientific research is inherently interesting and doesn't need to be dressed up and sensationalized to be worth discussing substantively, and for that matter that substantive discussion of primary research is even possible outside the halls of academia.

This is in many ways a continuation of the kinds of posts I've been making on metafilter under the linkstothedamnpaper tag only now with help from metafilter's own amazing Scientist and ChuraChura.

By: Scientist

Scientist — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:55:12 -0800

Yay! Blasdelb's excellent science post series was indeed a major inspiration for this project. We've been working on this for a month or so now, and I'm really lleased at how well it's turning out. We've already got quite a few excellent (if I do say so) posts up, with more coming all the time. Blasdelb and ChuraChura have long been users whom I've admired, and it's been a pleasure to work together with them.

We'd love it if you'd comment! This blog is meant to be a discussion space in a somewhat Metafilterian vein, and its long-term success depends on quality commentary from smart, sexy people like yourselves. And for that matter if you have a paper you'd like to see discussed then we encourage you to submit us a draft! There's a page on the blog for that.

Thanks for checking us out!

By: Blasdelb

Blasdelb — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 09:01:41 -0800

This is what we have so far,

Fascinating academic slap fight over what exactly a virus is and the poison-syringe/grappling-hook wielding madmen looking to feed off of your guts

Do Seasons Stress Monkeys? Does Stress Change Monkeys' Life History?

Men more likely to commit misconduct in the Biological Sciences

Towards a new tuberculosis drug?

The players in a mutualistic symbiosis: insects, bacteria, viruses, and virulence genes.

Two papers demonstrate empirical evidence for related models predicting the origin of virulence

A look into the global bushmeat crisis

Simple selection techniques evolve multicellularity in brewer's yeast

By: RolandOfEld

RolandOfEld — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:07:03 -0800

Well done gents.

By: you must supply a verb

you must supply a verb — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:23:56 -0800

(ahem.) ...and female gent.

By: ChuraChura

ChuraChura — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:37:05 -0800

That's me - female gent :-)

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:31:56 -0800

So great.

By: gauche

gauche — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 08:55:37 -0800

This is very cool.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 12:48:23 -0800

Great - BUT - does it have an RSS feed?

By: snofoam

snofoam — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 03:06:38 -0800

This is fantastic! Kudos!

the man of twists and turns, there may not be a link, but Google Reader found the feed, so there definitely is one.

By: Scientist

Scientist — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 00:37:53 -0800

I'll make sure that it has an RSS link on it, man of twists and turns.