Everyone needs encouragement and advice in their life. I’ve been lucky to have several wonderful women in my life act as mentors and cheerleaders, including my aunt Linda. Linda passed away last Wednesday (April 4) after a difficult time with oral cancer and reconstructive surgeries. I hope that you’ll indulge me as I share some of the conversations and lessons we shared.

reposted from LabSpaces in 2010 & there is still a time suck

OK, I don’t know where the time is going. I finished up my main job early last week with great hopes of becoming a regular blogger….and the time suck continued.

I have been ill so I guess I have to account for some time on the couch. But does daytime TV really suck that much life out of you?

So now that I supposedly don’t have a lot to do, I’m trying to take some time and see what I want to do. What is becoming obvious is how much stress can be caused by SHOULD.

I love talking about science – as family and friends will tell you – and my various jobs all focus on engaging people in science conversations. With the internet and social media tools, these discussions are getting easier.

I’m reposting this because it still stands. There seems to be a lot of fuss about a re-match between Patriots and the Giants. Apparently, I’m supposed to hope the Giants win. Once some family drama ends, I’ll get back to science.

I like the junk food and parties associated with the SuperBowl – I’m just not invested in the game. The day before a Super Bowl party, I do a bit of research so I don’t sound like a complete idiot around those who know all kinds of fancy stats. As I get ready to learn a bit about this year’s game, I wondered if this is how some people approach science. Pick up a few facts but then go with your gut.

The holiday season is always a great time to practice communicating – especially if you are in the science field and your parents want to know what you do. I thought I’d share one of my most embarrassing stories to highlight difficulties sharing ideas with mixed audiences. If I’m brave enough, I share this with new medical students to get them to check their assumptions.

I spent Christmas in New Zealand one year. Sure, it was summer but as a Canadian, I thought I’d fit in well in another Commonwealth country. I’m sure there were more similarities than differences but there were times that I was out of place…

I have an incredible life – loving husband, supportive family, fantastic jobs, great travels, etc. – so why am I depressed? This is the second time I’ve received medical intervention for major depression so you’d think I’d have some insight – but I don’t have anything amazing.

(c) Hybrid Medical Animation

Well, it has happened again. Someone has confused the concept of heritability. A recent Slate article discusses the difficulties of twin studies but screws up the concept of heritability in the first paragraph, saying that genes determine 50% of the likelihood that you will vote among other things. I’ll leave others to critique the rest of the paper and I’ll focus on trying to explain heritability.

Heritability is a measure of how much variation of a trait within a population is due to genes compared to variation due to environment. It is a POPULATION measure of variation and not a simple breakdown of determinism. It is a difficult concept so perhaps some details and examples will help.