Variety post: better presentations, telemedicine in Michigan, open access and library lit

- Via LifeHacker: "12 tips for creating better presentations" from Microsoft - tips for improving the layout and content of PowerPoint presentations

- Wired News: "Paging Dr. Robot" - quick overview of the Michigan Stroke Network, launching next week and using telemedicine for neurologist consultations to hospitals without a neurology specialist physically present in the building.

- Via Open Access News: "Open access to the library literature" (Caveat Lector blog) -- advice for librarians who publish in identifying OA outlets for their work (note: our own Journal of the Medical Library Association is open access, via PubMed Central)

Lectures in medicine, biology, the social sciences

I've been listening to a few lectures lately, selecting different sources to try to broaden my exposure to topics in medicine, the social sciences etc. A few sources that I've found particularly useful so far:

- Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Discovery Lecture Series, which so far has included Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner discussing "The Next 100 Years of Biology" and Nancy Andreasen (Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at The University of Iowa; Institute of Medicine member; Editor in Chief, The American Journal of Psychiatry) discussing "The Creative Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius."

- Working my way through lectures from the TEDTalks series: "Each year, TED hosts some of the world's most fascinating people: Trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. The talks they deliver have had had such a great impact, we thought they deserved a wider audience." So far I've made it through (and really enjoyed) the talks from Barry Schwartz and Al Gore. (found via The World's Fair)

- NIH lectures (lists most recent 50 events) - this week I'm listening to "God, Darwin & Design: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul" presented by Kenneth R. Miller, Ph.D., Brown University (media file requires Real Player or Real Alternative)