Biology Library News

Interesting reading for researchers

This article, just published in Nature Genetics, outlines a common standard for data tagging currently in use in several diverse databases: Toward interoperable bioscience data Nature Genetics 44:121–126 (2012) doi:10.1038/ng.1054 Published online 27 January 2012. "Although ongoing activities hold promise, they are a drop in the ocean compared to the daunting challenges ahead: for example, the integration of clinical and biological data in translational medicine and the establishment of mechanisms to support credit for data sharing, which would benefit data producers for making their data accessible." More info on the ISI metadata tracking framework. News story: Researchers agree on standard for data sharing across the world.

The science of better science, by Gregory Goth. Communications of the ACM 55(2):13-15, Feb. 2012. This article talks a bit about some uses for VIVO, which is a system that has been implemented for WU medical faculty, but not yet all of WU. "Researchers are exploring networked computational analysis, formal classification, and topic modeling to better identify relevant scientists, ideas, and trends."

For fun you may be interested in these videos: Doodling in Math Class: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant

History of science events

I posted a list of Spring 2012 talks related to history of science at WUSTL. If you know about other events, please let Ruth know.

How to cite data

We now have a page on citing data available on Citing Your Sources & Writing Styles. This was inspired by a recent blog post, Draft boilerplate text for journal policy on data citation.

A new creature in the biodiversity world: the data paper is an interesting post on a related topic.

See also Researchers failing to make raw data public Nature news, Sept. 14, 2011, about research published in PLoS One: Public Availability of Published Research Data in High-Impact Journals and Who Shares? Who Doesn't? Factors Associated with Openly Archiving Raw Research Data.

HHMI Holiday Lectures on Science 2011

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute 2011 Holiday Lectures on Science will be "Bones, Stones and Genes: the Origin of Modern Humans." You can watch live Oct. 6 at 9 am. The archive will be available October 11, 2011. I will request the DVD copy as soon as it is available. Most of the previous HHMI holiday lectures are available in the library, for example, Viral outbreak : the science of emerging disease, Exploring biodiversity: the search for new medicines, Making your mind: molecules, motion, and memory, and many more.

Deadly medicine exhibit and events

Deadly Medicine - Creating the Master Race exhibit is now available at Becker Medical Library. It runs through October 30. In addition to the exhibit, several lectures are scheduled. WU Record article: Exhibit highlights biomedical travesties of the Holocaust.

I have begun to collect Fall 2011 talks on the history of science, medicine and technology at WU. Send additions to Ruth. Thanks.

NIH Public Access Policy class, Sept. 7, at Medical Campus

An NIH Public Access Policy class will be offered Sept. 7, 10 am on the Medical Campus. Please preregister if you plan to attend. Details and registration. This is a very useful overview for all NIH-funded researchers or staff that assist them with their publications. Info about NIH Public Access Policy and compliance.

Nucleic Acids Research web server issue

The annual NAR web server issue for 2011 is now freely available online. Topics of special emphasis include the analysis of next-generation sequencing data, including read mapping and genetic variation detectors; network and pathway analysis; and biological text mining.

Ideas about improving teaching

Increased Structure and Active Learning Reduce the Achievement Gap in Introductory Biology, David C. Haak, Janneke HilleRisLambers, Emile Pitre, and Scott Freeman. Science 3 June 2011 Vol. 332 (6034):1213-1216 DOI: 10.1126/science.1204820
Low-Cost Instructional Changes Can Cut Achievement Gap in Intro Biology, Scholars Say David Glenn Chronicle of Higher Education news item about the Science article. The comments are interesting too.

These aren't new but worth sampling if you haven't seen them:
Science Education in the 21st Century: Using the Tools of Science to Teach Science, Carl Wieman. 4 page pdf
Science Education in the 21st Century: Using the Tools of Science to Teach Science, Carl Wieman, 1.5 hour lecture video from MIT site; (it doesn't really begin until approx. minute 19)

NSF Data Management Plans

I have posted a small page on NSF Data Management Plans in response to a few questions I've been receiving this month. I welcome your additional suggestions and questions!

Dealing with data

- Soon faculty will be receiving a link to a Digital Data Management Survey (from the libraries) via email. The survey runs from March 1-15. Responses are very much appreciated! Thank you.

- Science has a special issue on data Feb. 11th. It includes Challenges and Opportunities of Open Data in Ecology which might be especially interesting to some biofolk. Sharing Data in Biomedical and Clinical Research is another interesting article that discusses issues of sharing data. The Chronicle of Higher education commented: Dumped On by Data: Scientists Say a Deluge Is Drowning Research.

- BMC Research Notes has begun a series on Data standardization, sharing and publication.

- Editorial in Nature Medicine: The scientific social network doi:10.1038/nm0211-137 - "A joint statement from 17 funding agencies urges biomedical researchers to openly share data obtained from population-based studies. Although this will foster more collaboration, new web technologies need to be harnessed, and the attribution of credit must change to facilitate this transition...."