Cool Links

Ted Deutch And The Goofy Cancer Free Label Act

Jul 28 2012 | comment(s)

Can you be sure no one will get cancer if they only use cancer-free products?

Of course not, but anti-science kooks don't understand how cancer risk factors work and so Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) has proposed H.R. 6191, which would allow companies to apply to the government to allow their products to bear a "cancer-free" label. . It says approved labels would state, "This product does not contain known or likely carcinogens that increase your risk of cancer."

In CNN, I Discuss How We're Not Under-Investing In Science Education, And US Kids Aren't Dumb

Jul 27 2012 | comment(s)

It's a recurring theme that we're failing American students, but then the chief critics of U.S. kids say the solution is to throw more money at the government union machine that controls education.
Fareed Zakaria argued on CNN that the U.S. economy is struggling in part because President Obama gutted federal research and development funding, and that American students have fallen behind in science education.

Bill Nye The Science Guy Gets Political - Guess Who He Endorsed?

Jul 26 2012 | comment(s)

Why would anyone on a science site bother to mention that a scientist has endorsed a Democrat? It's only news when a scientist does not endorse a Democrat - well, if anyone in science media were to report it.

In 2008 76 Nobel laureates endorsed Senator Obama and, of course, blasted Bush. What has Obama done differently? Not much, he simply replaced conservative anti-science positions with progressive ones. Did he have science reports edited to match his ideology? Check. Do we still limit federal funding for hESC research? Check. Subsidize the president's pet energy projects? Check.

Lancelet Genetic Mistake Was A Big Win For Humans

Jul 25 2012 | comment(s)

How did we arrive where we are? A dainty, quill-like sea creature called a lancelet provides the best evidence that vertebrates evolved over the past 550 million years through a four-fold duplication of the genes of more primitive ancestors.

If Cuban Healthcare Is So Great, Why Is There A Cholera Epidemic?

Jul 21 2012 | comment(s)

Cuba is adored by communists - maybe they like 1950s decor.

No, they like the socialized medicine. Specifically, they like to claim that a lower infant mortality rate means Cuban health care is better than in America. It doesn't take long to see through that. America does not abort at the first sign of trouble, like Cuba does, and so America has more babies that don't live very long.

Abortion is not the issue in this case, except to show that abortion rates are not a bellweather of health care. What is a bellweather of health care is the health of the country overall. Cuba's cholera epidemic shows that its health care system, which they present with pride, is not all that terrific.

European Commission Endorses Free Public Access To Research

Jul 20 2012 | comment(s)

The European Commission, which controls one of the world's largest science budgets, has backed calls for free public access to taxpayer-funded research. Reed Elsevier is not thrilled.

"Taxpayers should not have to pay twice for scientific research and they need seamless access to raw data," said Neelie Kroes, European Commission vice-president for the Digital Agenda, though Kroes does not understand taxpayers are still paying twice. The largest open access publishers do tens of millions of dollars in revenue by shifting the cost from readers to scientists - who are taxpayer funded.

300,000 Caribou Huddle Together To Avoid Nature

Jul 20 2012 | comment(s)

A giant herd of cattle are not huddled together to get away from evil oil companies or other things that have overwhelmingly improved the ecosystem in Alaska, these Northwest caribou are avoiding nature.

Namely, mosquitoes.

How To Succeed In Science Without Really Trying

Jul 20 2012 | comment(s)

Science can be a sweet gig if you don't have to work so much. Doing research in Theoretical Phys Ed, for example, doesn't take all that much effort, but some fields require experiments and those can be a real time sink.

If you're envious of people who can just make up data, John Timmer at Ars Technica has a wonderful primer for you.

Credit: Aurich Lawson. Link: Ars Technica

Great Wall Of China Just Got A Little Greater

Jul 19 2012 | comment(s)

The Great Wall of China is the longest man-made structure in the world but that doesn't mean it's known exactly how big it is.

A five-year archaeological survey done by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) found that the total length of the Great Wall was 13,170 miles long and reached across 15 provinces, more than twice the length previously stated just two years ago, when the same organization reported that the wall was 5,500 miles and stretched across 10 provinces.

Greenland's Petermann Glacier Calves Again

Jul 19 2012 | comment(s)

Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland has calved again. As always, it's a big 'un, this iceberg, about the size of Manhattan.

Don't be too concerned. It is not a global warming disaster scenario, this baby iceberg is about half the one that came off in 2010. It happens about every year. That doesn't stop the Associated Press from getting hysterical. They got Andreas Muenchow, Associate Professor from the University of Delaware to say, "It's dramatic. It's disturbing. We have data for 150 years and we see changes that we have not seen before."

Nocebo Effect - Warnings About Side Effects Of Drugs May Be Making Us Sick

Jul 17 2012 | comment(s)

How many times have you seen a commercial for some medication to alleviate some pesky condition, and the bulk of the ad spot is someone droning on about all of the side effects?

And what's up with that print at the bottom that always says, "See our ad in GOLF magazine"? GOLF magazine must have the sickest readers on planet Earth. And then those print ads are even scarier than TV commercials.

Writing at PLoS Blogs, Steve Silberman discusses a new report that says side effects may actually be increased by full disclosure of all the side effects.

Is DSM-5 Unscientific?

Jul 17 2012 | comment(s)

Psychologist Roel Verheul and Psychiatrist John Livesley have resigned from the DSM-5 Personality Disorders Work Group, citing "major concerns about the Work Group's mode of working" and lack of a "coherent, evidence-based classification that would help to advance the field and facilitate patient care."

DSM stands for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

They explained in an email to Psychology Today's Allen Frances, M.D.:

Genetically Modified Apples And The Chilling Effect Of Anti-Science Propaganda

Jul 17 2012 | comment(s)

While gullible anti-science progressives are against genetically modified foods because they don't understand what 'natural' means, it isn't just advocacy groups who need new things to fundraise about that are up in arms, it is also growers themselves.

Okanagan Specialty Fruits has created an apple that doesn't get brownish so fast after you cut into it. That's it. Terrific, right?

The U.S. Apple Association, which represents the American apple industry, is against this Arctic Apple, not because they believe that genetic engineering is dangerous, but because opponents will claim apples are not a 'natural' food.

Wheat That Needs No Fertilizer - Gates Foundation Bets Big On GMOs

Jul 16 2012 | comment(s)

New work at the John Innes Centre in Norwich is hoped to benefit African farmers who cannot afford fertilizer.

Fertilizer is essential, it has made it possible to feed billions, but it brings pollution and farmers in poor countries who can't afford seed and lots of fertilizer might be able to afford seed that needs no chemicals to turn into food.

Unilateral Dermatoheliosis - 28 Years Of Photoaging Due To Sun Exposure

Jul 16 2012 | comment(s)

Think too much of ol' Sol won't age you prematurely?

Here's an unintentional science experiment on the effects of sun exposure. It's like a before and after picture, except it's the same face.

A 69-year-old man showed a 25-year history of gradual, asymptomatic thickening and wrinkling of the skin on the left side of his face, the authors in NEJM write. The circumstances were about three decades of truck driving where one side of his face got a lot more sun exposure.

20,000 Year Old Pottery Discovered In Chinese Cave

Jul 16 2012 | comment(s)

The date for domesticated kitchenware has just gotten pushed back.

While it was believed that pottery dated back to 10,000 years ago, when humans changed from being hunter-gathers to farmers, the new archaeological findings push pottery well into the last Ice Age. Archeology may have brought a new anthropology puzzle, like why in Asia pottery is so far out of sync with agriculture.

The fragments were discovered in the Xianrendong cave in south China's Jiangxi province. The team was able to determine the sediments in the cave were accumulated gradually, without disruption that might have altered the time sequence, so their radiocarbon dating is accurate, they believe.

What Locksmiths Can Teach Us About Reforming Social Psychology

Jul 11 2012 | comment(s)

Social Psychologist Dave Nussbaum at the University of Chicago is one of the good guys; in the criticisms heaped on social psychology this year, the one silver lining is that it has been insiders tripping up the frauds like Diederik Stapel and Dirk Smeesters.

Dr. Yoshitaka Fujii Sets New World Record For Faking Data

Jul 08 2012 | comment(s)

Dr. Yoshitaka Fujii, formerly an anesthesiologist at Toho University's medical school, has a record no published researcher can match. He is 209 and 3. The problem is the 3 are papers of his that are known not to be fraudulent between 1993 and 2011.

Augmented Reality = Cool. Date With Hatsune Miku = Kinda Weird

Jul 08 2012 | comment(s)

If you have a Kinect and Goggles and an augmented reality program, what would you create?

Apparently a Japanese anime singer girlfriend, so you could bop her on the head. I can't figure out any of this, but Hackaday gives it a shot so give them a read. I just know that, weird dynamic with the virtual girlfriend aside, this is darn cool.

Dance, Hatsune Miku, dance!

What's Going On Inside A Flame?

Jul 07 2012 | comment(s)

In a Science editorial, actor, playwright and science advocate Alan Alda challenged scientists to answer a simple-sounding question in a way that would capture the imagination of an 11-year-old.

“What is a flame? What’s going on in there? What will you tell me?”

Basically, he would like to find the next Carl Sagan. And he was inspired because he asked that question as an 11-year-old and got a nondescript answer of 'oxidation'.