It's new, it's exciting, it's my blog!
S-s-summa is in full swing in illadelphia (Eapen, 2008). Some days are nice and some days are hot and steamy (just like Chris Reilly). Currently, I can't tell because I finally installed a window air conditioning unit in my apartment so my room is actually nice and cool. Please join me in my sigh of relief. Besides, most of my friends were tired of me complaining of swamp ass.
So far, I have spent most of the summer searching for jobs. I have found a couple cool things to do with my bioethics master's degree, but the only interview I have right now is at Cedars-Sinai hospital in LA. I've never been to LA before and the offices for my job are in Beverly Hills, so I'm pretty pumped to fly out there. It's a great hospital and I could live in California...if I can afford it. What I really want to do is sabatoge their milk industry and get Wisconsin back on top. I'll report back soon.
Another pretty exciting job that I've applied for involves working for a consulting firm that deals with human subjects research regulations, arms control, and national security. Oddly enough, I'm qualified to deal with any of those areas. I took an entire course on bioethics and national security (which was awesome), and my master's thesis is on non-lethal weapons control. We'll see where that goes, but either job should be interesting.
As of this week I'll be half way through my summer course on ethical issues in animal biotechnology. There's a lot of crazy stuff going on, especially in the US, and most Americans (myself included) have no idea. For example, most people don't know that there is a drug on the market that is extracted from the milk of genetically modified goats. From what I can tell, and I am no expert, this is a pretty ingenious and safe way to manufacture complicated pharmaceuticals. However, things like glowing fish and other glowing pets are quickly making their way onto the American market without people really considering the long-term effects of these animals on the environment. More specifically, it's only a matter of time before they start finding their way into the ecosystem and screwing with reproduction. Who knows where it'll end up? Soon we'll have glowing people! And I don't mean the kind when you shoot a cheesy compliment towards your date. I know telling Conn alums is not where the announcement is needed, but stay informed and discuss these things with your friends (i.e. how cool it would be to glow in the dark).
I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend! One good place to keep up with current developments in science is www.scienceprogress.org. You also check out the New York Times, especially the science section on Tuesdays. Take care everyone.