Category Archives: Politics

April 15

Why UC student researchers need a union

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Right now, a group of graduate student researchers across the University of California are working to form a union.  What does this mean?  How is science made?  The process of becoming a full-time (“tenure-track”) neuroscientist or biologist at a university or other research institution involves a long training process.  Students must obtain an undergraduate degree […]

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August 15

“Neurorights” and Why You Need Them

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[En español] Most of us, especially those with an interest in technology, are fascinated by all that AI (Artificial Intelligence) and neurotechnologies are achieving. We use it on a daily basis, more than we even realize. For instance, I use Google’s AI-powered predictions pretty much every day to figure out how I can get to […]

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September 20

Glioblastoma: John McCain’s final battle

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On August 25th, I received a news notification on my phone that Arizona Senator John McCain had passed away, just one day after halting treatment for glioblastoma and little more than one year after diagnosis. I was taken aback. I’d known this was coming, but not that it would happen so quickly. Moreover, the sorrow […]

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March 08

The Art of Brainwashing

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[En español] Have you ever tried to convince someone of something? Or have you ever been convinced of something? Of course you have. Everyone has. We are constantly bombarded with commercials for products to buy, and exposed to people’s rants, in real life or online, about how we should be voting, and what we should […]

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December 12

GOP tax bill would cripple biomedical science and higher education

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Graduate students have it pretty rough. But we knew what we were getting into — being underpaid for several years in the hopes of contributing to an important scientific discovery and eventually getting that PhD. What we didn’t know was that Congress would draft legislation to make our lives even harder. The version of the […]

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August 10

It’s a Fine Line Between Utopia and Gattaca

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In a previous piece, we talked about why scientists and innovators around the world are so excited about CRISPR, a powerful new gene editing technology. The tool was first published 2012, but it still regularly makes headlines. Less than a month ago researchers in Portland, Oregon announced the first successful use of CRISPR in human […]

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September 22

Left Brain, Right Brain, Red Brain, Blue Brain

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[En español] With the first presidential debate of 2016 quickly approaching, it’s a good time to consider whether your brain has already cast its vote. There is no shortage of articles that imply your political leanings are reflected in your brain’s structure and function (e.g. Is your brain liberal or conservative?—Fox News, Experts say liberal […]

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