Via Larry at Sandwalk, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute is excited about Facebook, YouTube, and Blogs.

What does this have to do with science? Like Larry, I'm still skeptical of what impact this has on what I do in the lab:

I'm skeptical of OpenWetWare (OWW) and other software that allows you to put all your notes and protocols on the web. Right now, most labs don't make shared electronic versions of protocols and notes even though we've been able to do that for 25 years. I don't see why that's going to change. My notebooks have lots of comments that I've scribbled in the margins (F**k - forgot to add magnesium!). I don't know why I'd want to share that with everyone on the planet.

Even when I'm not screwing up experiments, the most valuable comments I get on my work, when it's still in its early stages, are from close coworkers and collaborators. I don't need more people to comment on my lab notebook.

However, open access publishing and science blogging become important at a different level of scientific discussion. While I don't need more people putting in their two bits on my day-to-day lab work, the larger conversations possible through blogs are quite valuable, especially when it comes to communicating science across disciplines and with the general public. And that larger conversation is facilitated by open access publishing of some sort (it doesn't have to be PLoS), which makes it possible for bloggers to pull out paper figures for in-depth discussion, and enable any member of the public to read the relevant scientific publication.