Portrayals of Women in Science: thoughts on Big Hero 6

This past week I saw Big Hero 6, the recent animated film from Disney. I enjoyed the movie and thought the animation was really cool. It definitely hit all of origin-story motifs and so was a bit predictable. But one of my favorite things about the movie was the portrayal of academic science as cool. …

Privacy in the digital world

Privacy of information is sort of a joke in this day and age. When we download apps onto our phones and tablets, usually there's a statement what data the app wants to access and how that data will be used. This statement is a list of terms of which we have to agree to by …

Genetics as a component of natural history

This week John Avise, a well-known leader in the field of evolutionary biology, visited Texas A&M. He founded the field of phylogeography (integrating population genetics and phylogenetics), and has done some really groundbreaking research. He's also written several books that I recommend checking out. During his visit he gave a talk titled "Genetics in the Wild" …