-Featured Work-
Master's thesis
The Connectome: A Unifying Boundary Object in Neuroscience
In this thesis, I argue that the connectome is a unifying boundary object in neuroscience. In the first chapter, I show that the dual realness and construction of scientific objects paves the way for the robustness and plasticity of boundary objects, a specific kind of scientific object. These two sets of qualities make up the first and second tier dualities of my thesis argument. In the second chapter, I argue that a third tier duality -- the unity and autonomy of neuroscience’s fields -- comes about through the collaboration of researchers from all walks of the discipline to describe the connectome. In the conclusion, I paralleled the connectome's role in neuroscience with the gene's role as a unifying boundary object in 20th century biology. I also discuss how my conclusions concerning the connectome and the gene may be broadened into a theory about the development of all scientific disciplines -- namely, that a more mature discipline’s methodology for explanation may lay the foundation for a younger discipline’s methodology for description, which may then lay the groundwork for explanation in that younger discipline at a later stage. In other words, I argue that disciplines may unify twice: first around a methodology for structural description and again around a methodology for functional explanation. Download my full thesis here.
FEMS Microbiology Ecology
S. Duperron, D. De Beer, M. Zbinden, A. Boetius, V. Schipani, N. Kahil, F. Gaill, "Molecular characterization of bacteria associated with the trophosome and the tube of Lamellibrachia sp., a siboglinid annelid from cold seeps in the eastern Mediterranean," FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Volume 69, Issue 3, 3 August 2009, Pages 395–409, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2009.00724.x
QuanTA
Doudna’s Confidence in CRISPR’s Research Potential Burns Bright
Scientific American
Prediction of Climate Change Impacts Not as "Limited" as Tillerson Suggest
Politicians' Most Bogus Science-Related Claims of 2016
Trump's Dubious Drought Claims
USA TODAY
Is there a link between media violence and mass shootings?
FactChecking Science Claims in 2017
Fact-checking Trump’s speech on Paris climate agreement
Scott Pruitt on climate change, again
Trump’s dubious drought claims
Sarah Palin ‘as much a scientist’ as Bill Nye?
The Huffington Post
Hillary Clinton Is Wrong On Marijuana Research
Congressman Falsely Claims Study ‘Confirms The Halt In Global Warming’
A Conspiracy Theory Links The Gates Foundation To The Spread Of Zika Virus.
Donald Trump’s Dubious Drought Claims Explained
SCIENCE FRIDAy
Could Climate Change Really Help Farmers?
Is Bacon Really Better For You Than Tilapia?
Can Opioid Addiction Be Cured?
UNDARK
The Truth About Media Violence
The Year in Misleading Science Claims
One Last Look: The Candidates on Climate and Energy
FACTCHECK.ORG
The Facts on Human-Animal Chimeras
CO2: Friend or Foe to Agriculture?
Scientific Evidence and the EU Court
Can Opioid Addiction Be Cured?
Has Autism Prevalence Increased?
Unpacking Pot’s Impact in Colorado
Debate Over Gay Blood Donations
False Claims About Flint Water
False Claims about ‘Frankenfish’
Cruz’s ‘Pseudoscientific’ Climate Claims
BIOSCIENCE
EUROSCIENTIST
Science Funding Angst: Is Rhetoric Masking What's Really at Stake?
Ebola Preparedness Starts with Dispelling Fear
Minding Replication, Mending Publication
When Real Science Falls Short in Hollywood
The Science of Sleep, The Sleep of Scientists
The Day When Science is Truly Open
OKINAWA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY
From Magic to Quantum Machines
The Beauty of Numbers
Addicted to Dopamine
Searching for Simplicity
Interdisciplinary Innovator
The Social Life of Electrons
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The Mindless Machine, circa 1664
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EARTH
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