Science Education & Policy

9th Circuit Court Of Appeals Denies Claim That GM Alfalfa Is A 'Plant Pest'

May 17 2013 | 3 comment(s)

If you live in California, you can never get too amazed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. If there is a progressive position that an activist court can take, they usually take it.

If you can't go to a national chain store and get your eyes checked and buy glasses, the 9th is why - they ruled that is medical care and health care is not interstate in America. Sure, we can mandate health care and force people to pay for it under the Commerce clause, but for some reason we can't let people buy prescription glasses from an out-of-state company.

US Government Updates Draft Rule For Hydraulic Fracturing On Public And Indian Lands

May 16 2013 | 1 comment(s)

The Obama Administration released an updated draft proposal that would establish common sense safety standards for hydraulic fracturing on public and Indian lands.

Following the release of an initial draft proposal in 2012, the Department of the Interior received over 177,000 public comments that helped shape today’s updated draft proposal. The new proposal maintainssafety standards, improves integration with existing state and tribal standards and increases flexibility for oil and gas developers. The updated draft proposal will be subject to a new 30-day public comment period.

There Is Scientific Consensus On Anthropogenic Climate Change Among Climate Scientists

May 15 2013 | 18 comment(s)

An analysis of 4,000 abstracts of peer-reviewed articles on the topic of global warming and climate change has revealed an overwhelming consensus among climate scientists that recent warming is human-caused.

Helmets Prevent Head Injuries But That Doesn't Mean Helmet Laws Do

May 14 2013 | 12 comment(s)

Between 1994 and 2008, Canada had 66,716 hospital admissions for cycling accidents. 30% of those were head injuries. Cyclists are vulnerable road users and head injuries account for 75% of cycling-related deaths. It's a dangerous way to travel and so the debate has long been whether or not helmet legislation makes any difference in injuries.

During that time, there was a substantial and consistent fall in the rate of hospital admissions for cycling related head injuries - and reductions were greatest in provinces with helmet legislation - but that trend had been happening before the law was enacted.

Let Them Eat Bugs

May 14 2013 | 0 comment(s)

There are some places where food is easy to grow and some where it is not. Nature is not fair.

Expecting companies in countries with food to ship it everywhere for free is not practical and the poorest people don't have the money to import food, so they are stuck in a hunger Catch-22. There are differing schools of thought on how to solve the problem.

The positive approach - science - is to make it possible for food to grow in areas where food cannot grow now. Plants can be optimized scientifically to thrive in areas where they ordinarily would not. Then there is a less positive approach; tell poor people to eat bugs.

Forget Science, Fracking Must Go

May 13 2013 | 14 comment(s)

Responsible energy production would seem to have an obvious positive roadmap; have energy companies include environmental groups in guiding pollution standards and participating in studies about natural gas extraction.

But for entrenched constituencies, that is unacceptable.

Anti-Science Waves The White Flag In San Francisco Cell Phone Warning Label Lawsuit

May 08 2013 | 12 comment(s)

Everyone should have a home where they feel comfortable. If you want to carry a six-shooter on the street, move to Kennesaw, Georgia, outside Atlanta - Gun Town, USA (bonus: only 4 gun murders in 30 years, so you will be safe)(1) and if you like to ban everything and hang out with anti-science crackpots, there's always San Francisco.

EPA Joins Bob Geldof And Embraces Nuclear Science

May 07 2013 | 12 comment(s)

Bob Geldof, former singer with The Boomtown Rats, is better known today for his work with poor people. Long after it stopped being fashionable, he has continued to help starving people in Ethiopia.

It's not the only way he is unfashionable - so is his old-school liberalism, which doesn't care about labels or circling the wagons for Big Tent left-wing causes or being against anyone on the other side by default. When he spoke nicely about George W. Bush in 2003, it was stunning because we were all told to hate George Bush. Liberals in America were not allowed to say nice things about the man or the pitchforks and "neo-con" labels came out.

A Simple Yet Thought Provoking Question

May 07 2013 | 24 comment(s)

Compare the following situations:

1 - You dial the number of a call center, and the automated system informs you that the estimated waiting time is eight minutes.

2 - You dial the number of a call center, and the automated system tells you that the estimated waiting time has a uncertainty of plus or minus one minute.

Which automated system is providing you with a more informative answer in your opinion ? Could you base on the information provided by the first one your decision to hang the phone and go for a beer or stay on the line ? Or would you be more confident of your decision (not necessarily the same!) based on the information provided by the second statement ?

Climate Change: Where Republicans And Democrats Agree

Apr 30 2013 | 47 comment(s)

In America, only two political parties can win the presidency. For that reason the two parties tend to have a 'big tent' mentality and embrace a lot of fringe members in return for votes. The perfect shouldn't be the enemy of the good, the saying goes.

Due to that structure, and that a tiny percentage of 'swing voters' determine a winner, the opposing sides tend to vilify and stereotype each other as much as possible, including in ways that are tailored to the audience. For example, Democrats hate business and are anti-science, while Republicans hate minorities and are anti-science.

Wait, they're both anti-science? Sure, just about different things.