Why you (scientists) should
start blogging
Enro
http://www.cafe-sciences.org
Swiss Center for Affective Sciences,
14/11/2008 Geneva, Switzerland 1

Curriculum
• Engineer in Agricultural Sciences
• MSc in Social Studies of Science
• Blogger since 2003 as “Enro”, science
blogger since 2006
• Co-founder of the science blogs
community “C@fé des sciences”
• President of the French association
“C@fetiers des sciences”
2

Find the blog post
3

This evening I am nose deep in the middle
It has been postulated that people in
of the new issue of The New England
Western societies are chronically
Journal of Medicine. The journal contains a
sleep deprived, since the average
very interesting synopsis on the
sleep duration decreased from 9.0 to
presidential candidates' views on
7.5 hours during the 20th century.
reproductive freedom. If you completely
Therefore, it is important to examine
ignore the rest of my post (but, you won't
whether we can achieve beneficial
because it's going to be totally hot), read
effects with prolonged sleep. The
the reproductive freedom article.
finding that the possibility of
But, what has Dr. Isis all a twitter is actually
additional sleep seems to be
a piece of correspondence from Swedish
protective on the first workday after
researchers Imre Janszky and Rickard Ljung
the autumn shift is intriguing.
entitled “Shifts to and from Daylight Saving
Monday is the day of the week
Time and Incidence of Myocardial
associated with the highest risk of
Infarction”. Janszky and Ljung present a
acute myocardial infarction, with the
very intriguing data set. It's just a shame
mental stress of starting a new
their interesting data are confounded by
workweek and the increase in activity
their crappy interpretation.
suggested as an explanation. Our
Clearly Dr. Isis (…) must have been too
results raise the possibility that there
busy pouring herself a cocktail or staring at
is another, sleep-related component
her hotness in the mirror to notice their
in the excess incidence of acute
data showing that sleep deprivation was
myocardial infarction on Monday.
highest in women and people under 65.

Seasonal variations influencing circadian
One interesting observation from the
behavior can be simulated by applying
studies of entrainment by skeleton
different experimental photoperiods. A
photoperiods is the bistability
photoperiod is described by the ratio of
phenomenon. A full photoperiod will
light to darkness during a 24-hour cycle.
entrain the biological clock no matter
Under laboratory conditions, summertime
how short or long is the photoperiod,
light conditions are typically represented
i.e., the duration of the light portion
by cycles of 18 hours light and 6 hours
of the light-dark cycle. Thus LD 1:23,
dark or of 14 hours light and 10 hours
LD 3:21, LD 6:18, LD 8:16, LD 10:14,
dark (LD 18:6 and LD 14:10, respectively),
LD 12:12, LD 14:10, LD 16:8, LD 18:6,
whereas winter light conditions are
LD 21:3 and LD 23:1 are all equally
mimicked by an LD 6:18 cycle or an LD
likely to entrain a clock. On the other
10:14 cycle. In photoperiod experiments
hand, with skeleton photocycles,
the external time of the Zeitgeber rhythm
photoperiod matters. The biological
is specified as ExT (External Time) with
clock \"prefers\" short photoperiods to
ExT12 corresponding to the middle of the
long photoperiods. Thus, when
light-phase. Most laboratories use a rapid
exposed to a skeleton photocycle that
transition from light to dark and from
attempts to entrain to a cycle
dark to light and apply the same
mimicking a long photoperiod, the
wavelength range and light intensity
rhythm will, instead, reverse the
during the whole light period. However,
\"night\" and \"day\" (often with an abrupt
this does not truly reflect natural lighting
phase-jump).
conditions.

From one to many
A personal tribune
6

From one to many
A personal tribune
A personal tribune
A personal tribune
8

From one to many
Reader
A personal tribune
Reader
A personal tribune
A personal tribune
Reader
10

From one to many
Reader
A personal tribune
Reader
A personal tribune
A personal tribune
Reader
12

From one to many
Reader
A personal tribune
Reader
A personal tribune
Reader
A personal tribune
Reader
14

What does it mean for
research?
Certified
knowledge,
instruments
Institutions,
peers
17

The Plant Cell, Vol. 17, 2856–2858, November 2005, www.plantcell.org ª 2005 American Society of Plant Biologists
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A Toxic Mutator and Selection Alternative to the Non-Mendelian
RNA Cache Hypothesis for hothead Reversion
Lolle and colleagues observed frequent toxic and mutagenic. The HTH gene en- resulting in the enrichment of hth/HTH
true reversion of hothead (hth) mutations codes a product whose closest character- zygotes because the reversion rate was
of Arabidopsis thaliana, whereby up to 10% ized relative is an MBC oxidoreductase that much higher for pollen than for eggs (Figure
of the progeny of self-pollinated homozy- hydrolyzes the aromatic mandelonitrile in 1B). Our selection hypothesis appears in-
gous hth/hth mutants carried a grandpa- stone fruits (Zheng and Poulton, 1995) consistent with the reported 3:1 progeny
rental HTH allele (Lolle et al., 2005). (Figure 1A). Arabidopsis has complex met- ratio from selfed heterozygotes because
Instability was not limited to the HTH abolic pathways for the production of selection in favor of HTH pollen should de-
gene: hth mutants displayed conversion glucosinolates (Wittstock and Halkier, crease the fraction of hth/hth progeny, but
of genome-wide polymorphisms to the 2002; Brown et al., 2003), some of which HTH could have a paternal effect where an
genotype of a recent ancestor. The possi- are aromatic and resemble mandelonitrile hth/HTH heterozygous anther provides its
bility that a mutator phenotype caused (Figure 1), and aromatic glucosinolates and hth pollen with sufficient HTH enzyme
indiscriminate changes, thereby increasing their derivatives are mutagenic (Musk et al., to avoid a crisis. An hth/hth anther would
the reversion rate of hth, was discounted 1995; Kassie et al., 1999; Kassie and provide no enzyme. Selection favoring re-
because reverted HTH alleles showed no Knasmuller, 2000; Canistro et al., 2004). vertant cells could also act in the shoot
additional nucleotide changes, whereas 50 The sticky surface properties of the HTH apical meristem, in the flower meristem,
to 100 changes per sequenced allele would phenotype, which suggest alterations of and in the anther primordia. In meristem
be expected from the ;5% hth reversion cuticle, cell wall, and perhaps membranes, tissues, selection could be influenced by
rate. These genetic instabilities were inter- might also be an effect of the toxic mutator. the defective cellular surface properties of
preted as a memory of a past genotypic If an alternative genetic reservoir exists hth mutants that lead to postgenital organ
state. A cache of double-stranded RNA and it restores mutations to the previous fusion (Lolle et al., 1998). Selection could
from the previous genotype was proposed, genotype, it should be revised gradually also act on seed, decreasing germination
which, at times of stress corrects mutated so that its memory should fade with cell of hth/hth zygotes in favor of HTH/hth
sites in a template-directed manner. The divisions. Yet, data that addresses the individuals.
existence of an alternate reserve genome reversion rate are available in a previous The precise reversion of hth mutations
appears consistent with the data and would article by the same group and are inconsis- without the appearance of secondary mu-
necessitate a revision of our theories of tent with the above expectation (Lolle et al., tations is consistent with a template-driven
heredity. Two recent commentaries on this 1998). In complementation tests between repair but also with the alternative hypoth-
discovery suggested that, instead of an hth alleles, wild-type plants were observed esis of mutagenesis and selection. As ex-
RNA cache, the hth-correcting mechanism among the progeny of trans-heterozygotes plained above, any significant mutation
depends on ectopic gene conversion and were thought to result from intragenic rate coupled to selection can yield frequent
(Chaudhury, 2005) or on an elusive DNA recombination. These were almost certainly revertants, and the probability of finding
cache (Ray, 2005). Thus, all explanations revertants and not recombinants. The hth- secondary mutations at HTH revertant
offered until now invoke novel genetic 10/hth-8 trans-heterozygote produced 30 alleles is proportional to the mutation rate.
phenomena. We offer an alternative expla- wild types among 1858 individuals, whereas In fact, the highest mutation rate compat-
nation based on established genetic and hth-10/hth-4 produced only mutant prog- ible with survival is likely to be significantly
evolutionary principles. HTH could be a meta- eny (n ¼ 1629) (Lolle et al., 1998; Krolikowski lower than the rates that would generate
bolic enzyme whose impairment causes et al., 2003). The same alleles, hth-10 and frequent concurrent mutations on the HTH
the accumulation of toxic and mutagenic hth-4, were reported to revert in the 2005 gene. We know from TILLING experiments
compounds that act at random DNA sites. article and to do so through multiple gen- the genomic consequences of moderately
The observed high reversion rate of hth erations (Lolle et al., 2005). Thus, the rate of intense mutagenesis: in Arabidopsis, it pro-

What does it mean for
research?
Certified
knowledge,
instruments
Institutions,
peers
Training,
incorporated
Education skills
system
30

What does it mean for
research?
Certified
knowledge,
instruments
Institutions,
peers
Training,
incorporated
Education skills
system
Economic
system
Competitive
advantage,
innovation 33

What does it mean for
research?
Certified
knowledge,
instruments
Institutions,
peers
Training,
incorporated
Education skills
system
Public Economic
authorities system
Collective goods,
Competitive
power, prestige,
advantage,
health,
innovation 37
environment...

What does it mean for
research?
Certified
knowledge,
instruments
Institutions,
peers
Training,
Expertise,
incorporated
popularization Media, museums, Education skills
public forums system
Public Economic
authorities system
Collective goods,
Competitive
power, prestige,
advantage,
health,
innovation 41
environment...

Percentage of science news in Belgian newspapers
20
15
10
5
0
Vif/L’Express J. du Mardi Le Soir Libre Belgique Tendance L’Echo Dernière heure
http://www.belspo.be/belspo/home/publ/pub_ostc/Journ/rappULg_fr.pdf

Content of these science news
Technology
Medicine
Science
http://www.belspo.be/belspo/home/publ/pub_ostc/Journ/rappULg_fr.pdf

Do you prefer that science information is presented to you…
Other
Scientists
Journalists
Special Eurobarometer 282, December 2007, p. 40

What could keep you from
blogging
• Internally
– time
– hot science
48

What could keep you from
blogging
• Internally
– time
– hot science
– debating
50

What could keep you from
blogging
• Internally
– time
– hot science
– debating
• Externally
– being scooped
52

What could keep you from
blogging
• Internally
– time
– hot science
– debating
• Externally
– being scooped
– lack of recognition
– lack of visibility
54

©© alanak

©© Aurélien
Tabard

©© Manic Street
Preacher

The landscape of science
blogs
• Communities, agregators
58

The landscape of science
blogs
• Communities, agregators
• Rankings
64

The landscape of science
blogs
• Communities, agregators
• Rankings
• Diversity
– scientists
– medicine doctors
– journalists
– engineers
– students
– teachers
– amateurs 67

Nine commandments
before you start
• take your time
• be yourself
• match the form and the content
• write for everyone
• be transparent
• offer some eye candy
• be creative
• foster comments
• have fun! 68