Science & Society

seaQuest and the Giant Not-Squid

Have you ever known--I mean, been absolutely certain--that you were going to die? That's how seaQuest 's Lt. Krieg felt, when a sea monster grabbed his submersible and gave it a good shaking. He survived, and made it back to the main ship, where ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Oct 13 2009 - 11:57pm

Public Risk: The Trust Factor

It seems simple enough to answer the question whether something poses a risk or not.  The answers can only be "yes", "no", or "we don't know".  A "yes" response would then be qualified by the probability or like ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Oct 14 2009 - 6:50pm

Sean Carroll is National Book Award Finalist

One of the best books on evolution to come out in this year of Darwin celebrations, Sean Carroll's Remarkable Creatures, is a National Book Award finalist. ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Oct 15 2009 - 1:38pm

The Framing Impact On The National Health Care Debate

When Republicans were told, as part of a recent study, that diabetes results from social factors that mitigate personal responsibility, like a lack of neighborhood grocery stores or government-funded places to exercise, they were not inclined to want to en ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 15 2009 - 7:54pm

Nobels Prizes and Corporate Labs

I'm inclined to agree with this: The problem the country faces is that the conditions in which Charles Kao, Willard Boyle, and George Smith made their breakthroughs are harder to come by today. Kao, for example, made his breakthroughs in fiber optics ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Oct 16 2009 - 1:37pm

Balloon Boy: Just how does one raise children to be interested in science?

The "unusual", "eccentric", extraordinary Heene family.  It seems clear to me that these people have been through 24 hours of hell thanks to the cynical media.  Watching them on TV I ask myself, how would one raise children who you woul ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Jul 25 2011 - 5:27pm

Mouse n Monkey Vet---- Intro

Fact: virtually no new medicine or surgery will come to the American public any time soon unless it has first made the rounds of animal laboratories. Every piece of medical news you read is but a few steps removed from animal studies.   And yet, despite t ...

Blog Post - Larry Carbone - Oct 16 2009 - 7:18pm

Richard Heene, Balloon Boy, and the Mad Scientist stereotype. Tabloidification of mainstream media.

A ccording to ABC 7 Denver unnamed "friends" have dubbed Richard Heene a "Mad Scientist".Oh here we go again!  Then this news station reports every bad word someone can say about him, with no independent verification.    There are many ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Oct 17 2009 - 10:36am

Evolution And Art

From Oct. 9-30, the University of Guelph and Ed Video are hosting a special art exhibit entitled " This View of Life: Evolutionary Art for the Year of Darwin ". It was organized by professors in four departments: Integrative Biology, Philosophy, ...

Article - T. Ryan Gregory - Oct 18 2009 - 8:36pm

Ballon Boy HOAX: Finally some real information.. The weight of the balloon.

Finally thanks to the sheriff we have some actual scientific information on this whole story.   The sheriff with the actual balloon on hand and in consultation with a professor took measurements.  The balloon could not have held the boy due to an 18 lb dis ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Oct 19 2009 - 2:15pm