Moving forward

This blog has been an off and on endeavor for more than a decade. As has the Maeflowers brand as a whole. As of 2019, this blog became the full-time landing page for Maeflowers.com, and the mission was simplified - to share truthful and factual information with educated and honest commentary.

In 2020, Maeflowers was brought under the Aliconia Publishing umbrella. The fact sheets and learning resources originally planned for Maeflowers have a home at the Aliconia site as part of the Just the Facts-Long-lasting Curriculum series. 

In the short-term, this blog is being cleaned up and updated, with posts restarting fresh with interesting facts and relevant discussions. The social media accounts remain the same. In the long-term, the commentary will be syndicated to a Medium publication and integrated into other forms, both digital and physical, to accompany the Curriculum series as appropriate.

This is the perfect opportunity to organize a collective of free information to help students learning from home, regardless of their age. One of Aliconia Publishing's common sentiments on social media is #readmorebooks, and Maeflowers is here to help anyone following that advice discover new avenues of learning.

Medical research is essential

PZ Myers has written a great entry on the need for medical advancement and research at Pharyngula. Though he concentrates on cancer research, he also highlights the overall lack of science funding and the need for medical research in general.

It's been drying up. Researchers are spending more time struggling to get basic funding and less time doing the work that saves lives, and more often than not, they aren't getting funded. Often, too, the researchers who are getting screwed are the new researchers, the ones who don't have established labs right now, which means we are short-sightedly demolishing our future research infrastructure.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with him. And it's one of the political movements I have no qualms writing about and pushing. Science needs to be at the forefront of funding and public dissemination.

It is my goal that at some point in the future, Maeflowers will be incorporated as a nonprofit, offering money to research that will advance mankind and our health. I'm far from that step, but knowledge is power. Stop by PZ's blog and read what he has to say. It'll be worth it.