KDBioSci

Housing availability is the most pressing issue facing Eastern Massachusetts. There simply isn't enough. The housing stock is limited by regulations on new development, building heights, parking minimums and other restrictions which I am sure the governor's office knows better than anyone. Eastern Massachusetts is a technology hub and attracting lots of well educated talented people who will add to the area's economy but there isn't anywhere to live driving up the prices. Rising house prices aren't good for Eastern Massachusetts economic growth which is based on technology and in particular technology start-ups which don't generate high salaries immediately but may later. So early stage workers cannot live here limiting the region's future economic growth. Limiting housing, driving up prices is not helping long time local Massachusetts families. I am from out of the area but I have talked to locals who say how sad it is that none of the children who grew up ...

The most important thing we fishermen can do to keep America fishing is to protect fish habitat. I took my family ice fishing one winter in New England and the smelt camp told us they were closing the next day because there were no fish. We caught one smelt over an entire tide. I checked on the Internet and found that country roads in New England with small waterways underneath are making it almost impossible for the smelt to spawn. http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/species/rainbow_smelt_brochure_08102010.pdf Fishermen need to promote fish habitat protection, increase the number of fish, and then ask wildlife biologists when is the right time to lift fishing restrictions and limits that were put in place to allow fish populations to recover.

Boston's snowy winter and the shutdown of the train system showed the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA or T) obviously needs investment to upgrade trains to handle snowy winters. In order to recoup the investment the T also needs to increase revenue. The train cars can handle additional riders and generate additional revenue in the reverse commute directions. During rush hour train cars are often full in one direction and almost empty in the reverse direction. Eastern Massachusetts also has a crisis lack of housing and office space resulting in high housing and office costs limiting business growth and making it difficult for residents to find housing as it is. The long term solution to the our transportation, housing, and office space problems is to reduce regulations around subway and commuter rail stations to allow and even encourage mixed use dense development including rental apartments, condos, office space, restaurants and shopping. With the right zoning a...

Recent research is starting to show athletes don't have to sustain a concussion to suffer brain injuries, mild repeated bumps to the head even from heading can cause injury over time. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-heading-a-soccer-ball-cause-brain-damage/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/soccer-players-show-signs-of-brain/ http://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00007256-200131050-00006 As a brain injury researcher myself I don't think we should wait for the research to complete to take action because research is never complete and many athletes will already have sustained injuries.  Some soccer football programs are going so far as to ban heading:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2202960/Youth-soccer-program-BANS-heading-players-age-head-injury-concerns.html As an alternative to an outright heading ban is to practice heading with a lighter rubber ball to develop technique, strengthen neck muscles, and reduce the total...

I view medicine as a pyramid. Starting with how we live and eat to how we take care of our own health to regular checkups to basic medical care to treatment and to emerging treatments. In America we are good at the top of the pyramid but we lack a base. If fact we have a negative base. We engineered daily exercise out of our lives by building our country for cars not people. And through the farm bill we subsidize farmers to grow endless amounts of starch and corn syrup. But at the top of the pyramid the government funds cutting edge medical research. If our intention is our health we need to encourage exercise within our daily routines by rebuilding for people first, people walking and cycling and encourage farmers to grow a variety of whole foods instead of focusing on starch and oil.

The federal government subsidizes roads by adding income tax money to the highway fund since the gas taxes are insufficient. This causes the federal government to subsidize suburban sprawl and driving which naturally increases air pollution and discourages alternatives to driving. Since raising gas taxes is unlikely to happen we don't we propose getting the federal government out of the road business completely. Eliminate the gas tax along with federal highway subsidies. States have smaller budgets and less ability to borrow than the federal government so states can't endlessly subsidize roads. The states will figure out how to pay for roads, and it is likely to be gas taxes and tolls. If a state chooses to fully subsidize it's own roads it will not affect other states much. Liberals and conservatives could agree on this strategy, it eliminates federal taxes, increases state control, and in the end makes a fairer playing field between cars and other modes of transportation ...

There are some many public databases available. They become even more powerful when we connect them together. This is from PCR probe and primer design. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/01/04/deodas.html