Women in Science

In reading about one of my new heros: Viripi Luumma of the University of Sheffield and pre-industrial Finn dataset fame - I ran across this inspiring post from the Guaridan I wanted to share!

 Inspiring women in science and technology – your pictures

Distractingly Sexy!

A Twitter Storm hit the internet in response to a comment from Tim Hunt of U. College London who has since lost his job over the comment.

i.e. 
“Let me tell you about my trouble with girls … three things happen when they are in the lab … You fall in love with them, they fall in love with you and when you criticise them, they cry."  

Distractingly sexy pipetting at Organ Pipe Cactus National Park 

A few links are below if you were not witness to the storm:  
 
https://twitter.com/hashtag/distractinglysexy?src=rela

Distractingly sexy (note 'wink' shirt) karyotyping in Panama.

Female scientists post 'distractingly sexy' photos

https://twitter.com/VagendaMagazine/status/608584030032945152

http://www.gcgaviator.com/careers-for-someone-who-loves/188/

The secret of the bat genome TED talk (Emma Teeling)

Another Ted talk this one on what the genome of bats can tell us about bat evolution.

Below the talk can also be accessed by clicking this (Link)

From the Ted website:
"In Western society, bats are often characterized as creepy, even evil. Zoologist Emma Teeling encourages us to rethink our attitude toward bats, whose unique and fascinating biology gives us insight into our own genetic makeup. (Filmed at TEDxDublin.)"

Why do ambitious women have flat heads? Ted Talk

A nice new Ted Talk by Dame Stephanie Shirley.


(link)


From the Ted website:

"Dame Stephanie Shirley is the most successful tech entrepreneur you never heard of. In the 1960s, she founded a pioneering all-woman software company in the UK, which was ultimately valued at $3 billion, making millionaires of 70 of her team members. In this frank and often hilarious talk, she explains why she went by “Steve,” how she upended the expectations of the time, and shares some sure-fire ways to identify ambitious women …"

Freshman Research Initiative at UT Austin

Description (from UT): The Freshman Research Initiative offers first year students the opportunity to initiate and engage in authentic research experiences in chemistry, biochemistry, nanotechnology, molecular biology, physics, astronomy and computer sciences while being supported and mentored by faculty and graduate students.

The FRI creates new scientists like no program before it and at a scale that has never been attempted. It provides an authentic research experience and all its benefits to a large number of students early in their careers. It completely transforms students' lives by empowering them to conduct and contribute to modern science—design experiments, perform data analyses and publish peer-reviewed papers—as freshmen. They start becoming innovators their first year.

Science... it's a girl thing

I haven't decided how I feel about this ad that cause a big stir.  You tell me!

Here is one reply

And another:

Why Stevie Nicks inspires me – a female biologist.

I’m not sure when it was that I fell in love with the chanteuse Stevie Nicks but it certainly was at least in high school when I first heard the moving song ‘Dreams’.  Stevie is but one magnificent part of the musical tapestry that makes up this beautiful song.  The composition of this and other songs by Fleetwood Mac is haunting and somehow inspiring - and so too is the fairy godmother of female rock stars - Miss Stevie Nicks.

Fairy muse for women in the sciences? 

So why is someone like Stevie Nicks relevant to a blog post on a blog about biology, bats and all things science?  Stevie represents the courageousness, strength and powerhouse attitude required to succeed in the sciences and she does all this as a feminine muse that grasps at the dreams and hearts of most of those who hear her music.  She’s talented - sure - but from everything I’ve read and seen she also works VERY hard.  Indeed – I think that the description often used for James Brown fits – she is ‘the hardest working woman in music!’  But what gets me the most is that she does not force herself into an over sexualized nor into a ‘gotta be a man to succeed in a man’s world’ persona.  And this - has historically been a challenge for women in a variety of fields including academia.

No Miley Cyrus get-ups to grab attention- in fact I'd call this outfit downright graceful and even a little masculine!

An amazing book that touches on the topic but in the context of a WOMAN SCIENTIST is ‘the Molecules of Emotion’ by Dr. Candace Pert.  Which tells the inspirational story of Dr. Pert’s career in the sciences which includes the discovery of opiate receptors, being passed up for a Nobel Prize and what it was like to be a woman in the sciences wearing ‘the uniform’ i.e. looking as unfeminine as possible to ‘blend in’ to the man’s world that academia was at that time.

The late Dr. Candace Pert

To me at least there is as common thread between Dr. Pert’s and Stevie’s stories both were at one time or another in the shadow of someone else- in Dr. Pert's case it was her adviser and for Stevie's it was Lindsay Buckingham.  Stevie started out as one part of the duo ‘Buckingham and Nicks.’  The band was far from a success and Stevie was working as a waitress and considering going back to school.  At her father’s suggestion she decided to ‘give it 6 more months.’  From this emotional place that sounds a lot like the struggles of trying to ‘make it’ in the sciences - Stevie wrote the song Landslide which carries words of wisdom that seem to come from a much older person.  Apparently Landslide was written in my home state of Colorado with the following inspiration:

“I had been a waitress and a cleaning lady, and I didn’t mind any of this. I was perfectly delighted to work and support us so that Lindsey could produce and work and fix our songs and make our music. But I had gotten to a point where it was like, “I’m not happy. I am tired. But I don’t know if we can do any better than this. If nobody likes this, then what are we going to do?”

So during that two months I made a decision to continue. “Landslide” was the decision. it’s the only time in my life that I’ve lived in the snow. But looking up at those Rocky Mountains and going, “Okay, we can do it. I’m sure we can do it.”

Before the 6 months were up the multi-record Brit blues group Fleetwood Mac heard a Buckingham and Nicks recording and contacted Lindsay Buckingham to see if he would join the group.  Lets be clear on this -they wanted Lindsay NOT STEVIE.  Stevie was ‘just the girl’ in a band that she didn’t really interest Fleetwood Mac at the time.  Yes- Lindsay was (and is) a skilled guitarist but boy is it tough to envision not getting goosebumps listening to that voice of Miss Nicks! 

Lindsay in his defense said he would only consider joining Fleetwood Mac if Stevie was going to be added as well.  Maybe he was being a good band-mate, a supportive boyfriend, felt owed it to Stevie as she had been working to support them both while they tried to ‘make it’ or just maybe-just maybe he knew Stevie was going places and it would be a mistake to miss out on her natural talent –who knows.  In any case, the final decision ultimately came down to the other woman in the picture namely the very talented Christine McVie who was ‘the girl’ in Fleetwood Mac.  If she met Stevie and didn’t get along with her then the deal would never happen.  As luck would have it the two were fast friends and the rest is well- a legacy of music that never fails to put me in a good mood or allows me to really feel the way only a good piece of music can.  Take for example the song GYPSY…. I’ve already written about how the post doc life is that of the academic gypsy…. But let these words inspire you in the context of whatever it is you try hardest to achieve:

“Back to the gypsy that I was
- And it all comes down to you
Well, you know that it does
Well, lightning strikes, maybe once, maybe twice
Ah, and it lights up the night
-To the gypsy that remains faces freedom with a little fear”

Now- most people have heard bits of the story in the midst of their early success with Fleetwood Mac- Stevie and Lindsay broke up- but always the professional she stuck it out- the band was important.  Despite dealing with the end of a relationship that had spanned nearly a decade - surely a trying time - both Stevie and Lindsay put all that into it’s compartment when they went in to work so that they could get on with the job at hand- making beautiful music. And that is what they did.

Fleetwood Mac

Stevie wanted to continue writing songs and creating music but felt she could not contribute as many songs as she would have liked to each Fleetwood Mac album (which makes sense as there were many prolific members all excited to have their music included).  So what did she do?  She made a very diplomatic decision to produce solo albums AND stay in Fleetwood Mac.  How often dear reader does THAT decision pan out for artists?  Usually the band ‘breaks up’ the artist looses their following or both.  I don’t think I can imagine the time commitment and stress this must have taken… Stevie decided in essance to take on TWO music careers.

Perhaps we can get an inkling of what this was like as seems akin to something many people go through as the do graduate studies or academia in general: splitting time between research, taking classes, teaching and what bears some resemblance to a normal ‘life’ outside of one’s career.  Stevie’s dedication to her band mates AND (get this!) herself and her career is inspiring. 

Hard at work.

Now there were repercussions and it was not all roses and lace - Stevie dealt with several addictions: cocaine and painkillers BUT lets go easy on her folks because here is the cool thing - SHE TALKS ABOUT IT.  She has said in interviews she wants others to learn from her mistakes and to be able to avoid them.  All this leads me to respect this woman even more.  She also has dealt with strange rumors of witchcraft, media frenzy over a weight gain and the death of her best friend.  Now I am not sure if others can see where I draw my inspiration from as it relates to perusing a career in the sciences- but I sure hope you can.  I think seeing the human side of someone in the public eye and knowing their struggles (to some degree) and their very active decision to push on, work hard and handle struggles with thought, poise and grace puts things in perspective and it doesn’t hurt that this story comes with an excellent soundtrack.

So- young scientists out there - men and women: learn from your mentors- ask them of their mistakes and successes be inspired or warned and proceed with a fire in your gut because you will need that fire on those days when you’ve had too little sleep and are four days behind on twenty plus things. 

For all you mentors out there- stay human.  That is all we have at the end of the day.  It comes down to how hard we try, the sacrifices we make, those we don’t make, the mistakes we fess to and (here is the big one): our love/dedication for what we do.

All this I learned from my very own fairy godmother who’s haunting voice inspires me to stay whimsical even in a tough as nails profession.  She inspires me to stick to it- tackle the task at hand, to take risks and to work damned hard…even if you are ‘just the girl.' 

More from the heart lyrics from the above song Leather and Lace:

"You're saying I'm fragile
I try not to be
I search only
For something
I can't see -I have my own life
And I am stronger
Than you know"

 

More about Dr. Pert’s excellent book which I highly recommend. 

“From Library Journal

Intrigue at the "Palace": back-stabbing, deceit, shunning, love affairs. This is not the plot to I, Claudius but the account Pert gives of her time working at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a.k.a. the Palace. Yet her time at NIH is not the central point here. Nor are the molecules of the title, although they do get due coverage. Pert offers mainly an account of her journey from a conventional scientist to one who also embraces complementary and alternative medicine. The journey is long and not without price. She was passed over for the Lasker and Nobel prizes for her work on opiate receptors while colleagues were recognized; she believes that her development of a potential AIDS drug was thwarted owing to scientific dirty pool as well as her being a woman in a man's world. Along the way, she took control of her career, her life, and her personal mission. This is an eye-opening book for anyone who thinks that people with medical degrees act more civil or are more altruistic than the rest of us, though Pert also shows that some do rise above the fray. Recommended for academic and special libraries.?Lee Arnold, Historical Soc. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Pert, a self-described ``catalyst in the mindbodyspirit revolution in modern medical science,'' and once a chief of brain chemistry at the NIH, freely intermingles vibrant stories of her professional and personal life with her theories about neuropeptides. Currently a research professor at Georgetown Medical Center in Washington, Pert may be best known as one of the scientists on Bill Moyers's PBS series Healing and the Mind. In the early 1970s, she made a name for herself with her key role in discovering the brain's opiate receptors. For the next decade, however, owing to her protests over her exclusion from the prestigious Lasker Award, her reputation among scientists was more that of feminist troublemaker than pathfinder. Certainly the picture she draws here of the science establishment would seem to suggest a world of aggressive, even ruthless, alpha males fighting for the top prize. She also traces her own evolution from competitive bench scientist to explorer of personal healing modalities. The death of her father, the end of her marriage, her resignation from the NIH, her embracing of the Christian faith, and her discovery of the healing power of dreams--all were, she says, life-shaping events. Pert also explains her theory that neuropeptides and their receptors are the biochemicals of emotions, carrying information in a vast network linking the material world of molecules with the nonmaterial world of the psyche. Her views on mind-body cellular communication mesh well with the concepts of energy held by many alternative therapies, and she is now, not surprisingly, a popular lecturer on the wellness circuit. Her final chapter describes an eight-part program for a healthy lifestyle, and she has appended an extensive list of alternative medicine resources. Strong scientific support for the mind-body school of medicine, sure to rankle those alpha males back in the labs. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.“

Secrets and Mysteries of Bats (documentary)

I though that putting a link to this nice documentary about bats was long overdue.

Enjoy!

Lizard lungs!

You probably haven't heard me go on and on about how awesome Colleen Farmer's seminar at UMass was so you will hopefuly bear with me that here I am posting links to the coolest little write-ups she and her lab are getting in Science News, Phys.org and Science Daily etc...!  I thought that even though they are not bats you might be interested in this finding of how air flows in the lungs of monitor lizards its a slick study with exciting findings.  Colleen Farmer is an Evolutionary Physiologist who has primarily worked with crocodilians and other 'herps*' but she is very integrative so it is difficult to put her research in a nicely labeled box.  The first author Emma is a postdoc working in Dr. Farmer's lab and has a really cool website.

 

*Herp: in the biological world refers to reptiles and amphibians and comes from the from Greek root aherpet-, meaning "creeping". Along these lines one could be a Herpatologist (study amphibians and reptiles) or go 'herping' i.e.. look for amphibians and/or reptiles.

 

The citation of this new paper is below but the doi doesn't work yet so expect more soon!:

Emma R. Schachner, Robert L. Cieri, James P. Butler & C. G. Farmer. Unidirectional pulmonary airflow patterns in the savannah monitor lizard. Nature, 2013 DOI: 10.1038/nature12871

Write ups:
http://beforeitsnews.com/science-and-technology/2013/12/unidirectional-airflow-in-the-lungs-of-birds-crocsand-now-monitor-lizards-2658958.html

http://phys.org/news/2013-12-mystery-lizard-one-way-airflow-million.html

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lizard-breath-has-surprising-birdlike-flow



Ok for no particular reason this song seems to 'fit' this cool finding (beat not lyrics)!  I mean it has to be something with a big presence so here you go. 

MAMMAS: Isabella Rossellini is awesome and yes...biology can be sexy!

'I am not a monster...' begins the dramatic plea of an exhausted and jailed hamster mother.

 

Why is the pitiful mother in jail?  

She has eaten one (or more) of her babies.  We learn that this behavior is somewhat commonplace among hamsters.

She goes on to explain her reasoning.  To raise more pups would have been impossible...  This is a case of limited resources being divided among competing processes (trade-offs).  If she had cared for all of the young perhaps she would have perished mid-way through lactation (prior to weaning her young) and all of the babies would have died.

Nature... red in tooth and claw- and overall a good (albeit cold-hearted) economist.

If you want to know more please watch the video below from the new Sundance Channel series 'MAMMAS'.

 

The story of a hamster mama is told by the lovely Isabella Rossellini.  Apparently when asked "if she drew inspiration from the relationship with her own mother (for the series), the Oscar-winning star of Casablanca, Rossellini is quick to respond. “No, it’s biology,” she firmly asserts. “I cannot write Mammas about a worm and think of Ingrid Bergman. It’s too far away.”

  

I love worms but I think I have to agree here... also- can you imagine having Ingrid Bergman as a mother!?  Crazy!

And no- despite a surely glamorous childhood and life as a model- Isabella is most certainly not just another pretty face...

Rossellini is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Animal Behavior!  

I guess that makes her a bio-nerd.... Kinda like Amy Farrah Fowler in The Big Bang Theory.  Amy Farrah Fowler is supposed to be a neurobiologist in the show.  I'll admit I love the show and I like Mayim Bialik as Amy.  Mayim by the way REALLY is a biologist... just like her character (she has a PhD I believe from UCLA in fact).  (*Just like Pauley Perrette has actually studied forensics)...

But lets be honest... her character in the BBT does not depict us lady biologists in quite the same light... 

 Do you see what I mean? 

    Dear Isabella, 

  Thanks for helping us biology ladies make a strong case that science can be smart AND sexy!  I   unfortunately am too busy with doing microscopy to actively pursue my modeling career but perhaps my career as a hand-model will be launched when someone... somewhere publishes an image of my hand changing magnifications and Rolex simply 'must know' who's hand that is (sigh)....

Surely one can dream- no?

Now back to the point:

Ah yes- check out MAMMAS - and while you are at it I also highly recommend the previous series 'Green Porno'.