Last week I wrote about the anti-science campaign being waged by opponents of the use of genetically modified organisms in agriculture. In that post, I promised to address a series of questions/fears about GMOs that seem to underly peoples’ objections to the technology. I’m not going to try to make this a comprehensive reference site about GMOs and the literature on their use and safety. I’m compiling some general resources here, and a list of all FAQs here.

Tapping ocean energy sources like tides and offshore wind sound fine to people who understand nothing about science (the Anything But Oil contingent) but in reality it requires pile driving, the practice of pounding long, hollow steel pipes called piles into the ocean floor to support energy turbines and other structures. 

Pile driving creates loud, underwater booms that can harm fish and other marine animals so if you're thinking CO2 is better for the world, you are right.

A trial of HPV vaccines in India, which has now been halted and is the subject of an investigation by the Indian government, was examining the safety and feasibility of offering a vaccine against the virus associated with cervical cancer. 

The trial was run by the international health charity PATH and involved more than 23,000 girls from Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh states. A committee of scientists commissioned by the Indian Government to look into the trial said that the study involved a number of serious ethical violations. A new study by researchers at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Edinburgh suggests that lack of data on cervical cancer in India did not support a trial of the vaccine to prevent the disease.

Looking at the latest statistics, it’s hard to miss one compelling trend: The over-prescription of painkillers is slowly but surely eclipsing the problem of illegal drugs.

There are, of course, the usual culprits in this disturbing trend - from HMOs and their dependence on pills to keep patients out of doctors’ offices to our culture of quick-fixes and slick marketing by drug companies.

But the history of opioids’ medico-socio evolution also tells us the opioid has older sources as well.

You'd think European waters would be pretty well documented by now but nature always has surprises. Uroptychus cartesi is a crab in the 5-7 cm (including claws) size range that has been found at nearly a mile deep in the underwater mountains facing the Galician coast - Spain. 

Also intriguing: Its closest relative is in the Caribbean Sea.

MMS ( Miracle Mineral Solution) is getting some much needed attention in the skeptic community, as well as the autism community. Created by a man named "Bishop"Jim Humble, who runs his own Genesis Church, it is a potent industrial bleach which when used as recommended by Humble both orally and rectally can cause serious side effects, serious enough that the FDA has issued a strongly worded news release:

Should there be racial quotas in university admissions?  In jobs? What about gender quotas or political ones?

America has more equality than any country in the world and so many organizations and institutions have elected to further relegate racial issues to the past by deemphasizing race or remove it entirely from their decision-making processes.  People will be hired on qualifications so everyone who wins knows they won for the right reasons.

The two most common swimming strokes used by athletes training for the Olympic Games either pull the swimmer through the water like a boat paddle or whirl to the side like a propeller.

Which arm motion works best is a big argument among elite swimmers and their coaches but a university research study has picked a winner - which will be no comfort at at all to actual athletes and their coaches.

Plato and a platypus walked into a bar. The bartender gave the philosopher a quizzical look, and Plato said, “What can I say?