I saw Kevin's post about his son on SciAm Blogs the other day. It just about broke my heart seeing all the hard decisions, the fear, and the suffering that Kevin and his family have gone through. I think his story should be read by as many people as possible, especially those in charge of health care policy. I spend my life researching for new cures, I want to make sure people can get them when they need them.

So I took the opportunity this morning to email my congresscritter, and I hope, if you agree, you will too (if you don't, well, then don't). The text of my email is below, if you'd like to use any of it. It's probably not the best, I'm rather inexperienced at emailing govt types, but lately I've been trying.

Dear Congresscritter,

I know that health care reform has not progressed with the speed necessary, but most of the time I don't myself realize how much it is hurting the people in our nation. I am comfortable and insured, but I know many people now who are not.

I would like to share with you the story of my friend Kevin. He has a Masters degree in Biology, is the father of two kids, and a fantastic science writer who educates thousands of people on marine science. He is uninsured. And recently his 6 year old son came down with pneumonia.

His story is here: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/evo-eco-lab/2012/02/10/trying-to-catch-his-breathe-with-a-hole-ridden-safety-net/

A quote "Uninsured people look just like everyone else. They might look like they can easily afford the premiums and in fact might earn salaries similar to yours. But every family’s situations and employment-based coverage options are unique and this goes far beyond stereotypes of the “working poor”. My son could have suffocated from his pneumonia had we not sucked it up and rushed him to the hospital on Tuesday morning. If we were able to see a doctor a day earlier, he perhaps could have been treated at home as an outpatient with antibiotics. I don’t know what our final bill will be when we leave tomorrow morning, right now I don’t care. All I know is my son got better under the supervision of a wonderful team of nurses and pediatricians."

We are all trying to help him out as much as we can. I don't expect you to donate anything, but I would like you to think of him, and his son, as we push forward on health care. Share his story with other representatives, and know that his is only one story, among thousands of people suffering. Think of the lives, the suffering, and heck, the money we could save by being able to make sure that he and his children, and the many families like them, have a health safety net.

Thank you,
Scicurious, PhD

And if you'd like to give a little to help out Kevin and his family, please head over here.

Sci recorded an AWESOME PODCAST on Sunday night at Skeptically Speaking with Desiree Schell! I got to talk about DRUGS. It was super fun! I'm sorry I didn't get to answer all the extra questions (I know there were a lot), so please feel free to leave more questions here, and I'll be glad to answer what I can! The podcast itself goes live on Friday night, Dec 16th, at 9pm. Make sure you take a listen!!!

I will admit, Sci's #sfn11 science hangover is massive. I spent the last five days surrounded by science, getting little sleep, crappy food, and working out my liver heavily (always difficult on me, Sci has the liver of a chihuahua). Today all I really wanted to do was finish up the Neuroblogging, lie around in my pjs, and work on two paper drafts and a grant (even when we take the day off, we work from home. Life in academia, my friends. Behold the glamor of my paper drafts and pjs).

All was going well and then my twitter feed filled up with the #womanspace. Dr. Anne Jefferson (of the really wonderfully accessible Highly Allocthonous geology blog) clued me in as well.

What is #womanspace? It's a response to a piece published back in September in Nature. When I went to read the original piece, most of what I saw was some inept blathering on the subject of shopping, and how two old guy scientists are apparently too hopeless to buy clothing for a child. They tried to relate it to physics somehow, something about women accessing alternate universes to achieve shopping-fu. From what I could tell, the piece lacked logic, was badly written, and was generally just kind of crappy, and I couldn't get my hackles up about it.

Then I showed it to Mr. S. Spake Mr. S "that's more like a second rate blog post. Isn't Nature kind of a big deal though?"

And therein lies the problem.

Continue Reading »

Donor's Choose is over for another year. I'm always thrilled to participate, and I wish I could have done more. I can only make so many excuses like "work has avalanched on top of me"...but it HAS! HONEST!

Anyway, this is a BIG THANK YOU to all those who donated to my Donor's Choose page!!! We raised $820 dollars, and helped 53 students. That may not seem like many, but every student counts, and those are 53 more students who will be getting a better education because of YOU!!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Sci grew up going to public school. We had some pretty good science teachers, and I remember how hard they worked to make learning fun for us. They raised money to build greenhouses (which I got to work in! Loved that!), raised money to build terrariums (nothing gets girls screaming like bringing a pile of crickets to feed the frogs to dance class. I'll admit, I was trollin'.), and let us build little robot cars to have epic battles in physics. They made science learning FUN, and they made me passionate about science. And even those who didn't develop passion probably have some great memories of their science classes, and might see science in a more positive way because of it. When I think about it now, I realize how many adults gave their best to help us have a good education, and how much of a help it was.

And now, YOU can help kids have fun and learn, and maybe one day become scientists themselves (or heck, maybe one day they'll read my blog!!!). It doesn't take much, $5 is fine! $2 is fine! But I'd love to see some of these projects funded!

Sci has a sad confession to make
My reputation now is at stake!
I made a small bet
Against the Cuttlefish set
For the kids and young scientists' sake.

So please think of giving, large or small,
Little is better than naught at all
You can benefit kids
by filling teacher's bids
And help their educational call.

Sci will of course donate my cut
To get my Donor's Choose out of a rut
Both for kids and I wish
To beat the Cuttlefish,
but right now he's sure kicking my butt.

Please note my Donor's Choose widget on the sidebar! It's a great charity organization, and any amount that you can donate will help! I particularly like the ones focused on getting kids thinking about energy alternatives, and the one which will help kids complete virtual anatomy dissections!

There once was a fine Cuttlefish
Who said to me thusly, "I wish
That people's money they'd use
To give to Donor's Choose!
But how?" Said the fine rhmying old fish.

The he got an idea most fine
And stated "Let our powers combine!"
Or rather, we'll COMPETE!
To see who's readers are most meet
And benefit kids at the same time!

And truly Sci did take his bet!
Now we've got a competition set!
Who by 10/13 gets the most money
By methods sly, importuning or funny
Will win bragging rights
For fighting the good fight
And maybe we'll trade some drinks money.

So donors, now is your time!
If you can give dollar, nickel, or dime,
To help out some bright young kids,
By filling their teacher's bids,
To love SCIENCE one day at a time!

YES! Sci and The Digital Cuttlefish have made a bet! Whoever gets the most money and donors by Oct 13th wins...bragging rights. And...bragging rights. Maybe some beer.

So help me out! And help HIM out! Either way, kids gets what they need to love SCIENCE!

And may the best VERTEBRATE win, cuttlefish. >:)

Check it out over there, waaaaay down on the sidebar, Sci has up a giving page for Donor's Choose!  I'm giving to kids who are most in need of science and math materials this year. Most of them don't need much, just a few hundred dollars for things like ink, microscopes, math books. And of course I don't expect anyone to donate a few hundred dollars, but if we all donate little bits together, we can get somewhere!  Please consider donating to my, or any other science blogger's Donor's Choose and help teachers inspire their kids with SCIENCE!

It's time for Donor's Choose, the time of year when we ask for donations to classrooms to help out kids with teh learnin'.  I love this drive because it gives the opportunity to direct your money straight to the classrooms that need it, and allow them to directly buy the supplies that are needed to give kids a great educational experience.  Sci is campaigning this year on behalf of Scientopia, and my giving page is here.  Please consider dropping a donation or two to help kids learn numbers, have books to read, and stuff to do their own SCIENCE!!!