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Work in Progress: Changing Academic Culture

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I find myself often thinking of the Make Love, Not Warcraft episode of South Park. Every time Stan, Cartman, Kyle and Kenny load into Azeroth to go questing, a way-higher-level dude shows up and kills them , even though they don’t agree to duel. They concoct an elaborate long-term strategy to avoid the guy by hiding in the forest, slaying boars, to gain levels in order to eventually be strong enough to defeat him. The exchange at the end is the most poignant to me.   Stan: I can't believe it's all over. What do we do now? Cartman: What do you mean? Now we can finally play the game. Unlike a cartoon about a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game , however, there isn’t just one person ruining the game. There is an entire academic culture organized around professional privilege and imbalances of power. And multiple harassers and assaulters are navigating these landscapes targeting vulnerable trainees . In the midst of whispers, outright disclosures, and even confirmatory

Comparative Lactation Lab: Dispatches from the Field

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Usually Mammals Suck… Milk! showcases recent scholarly publications from throughout lactation biology, usually emphasizing the evolutionary perspective. However, those journal articles, so meticulous, brief, and jargony, often obscure the months and years scientists spend doing the science .    "Science has it ALL!" -Principal Skinner   Well, 2013 has been a really exciting year around the Comparative Lactation Lab and I am going to take a moment to high five my colleagues and the cool stuff everyone is doing. This summer, 3rd  year graduate student Laura Klein conducted pilot research for her dissertation. She investigates the types and levels of immune molecules in breast milk from women who live in different disease ecologies. During summer 2012, she collected milk samples and interviewed women at the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site in rural Poland established by Professor Grazyna Jasienska . Most families in this area live on small-scale farms or help relatives