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Physician Burnout Is Common - And Informal Rationing Is One Big Cause

If the government promises every home a great gardener, most people recognize they won't get a...

Cancel Culture Prevents The Best Researchers From Engaging With The Food Industry

After Chris Wild took over the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a UN-funded...

Vermont Should Stop Showing Leadership In Overruling Scientists On Farming

Despite Vermont's Agricultural  Innovation Board (AIB), created to inform regulatory recommendations...

Evolutionary Psychology: Your Parents Income During Pregnancy Made You Gay

Evolutionary psychology, the discipline that claimed we're being manipulated by flowers and evolved...

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Hank CampbellRSS Feed of this column.

I founded Science 2.0® in 2006 and since then it has become the world's largest independent science communications site, with over 300,000,000 direct readers and reach approaching one billion. Read More »

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Well, Perlmutter’s Gluten Claims Are Better Than Wakefield's Vaccine Autism Research

Well, Perlmutter’s Gluten Claims Are Better Than Wakefield's Vaccine Autism Research

Jan 02 2014 | comment(s)

Dr. James Hamblin at The Atlantic takes a skeptical look at the recent demonizing of gluten and grain and sugars and renewed calls for something resembling a paleo diet. I have been beating the gluten-free horse for a while, of course, to much derision and scorn from people who were not Celiacs but insisted gluten was bad for everyone anyway.
Last-Minute Science Gifts For Christmas

Last-Minute Science Gifts For Christmas

Dec 18 2013 | comment(s)

Given the flakiness and rush of shipping at this time of year, if you intend to order something online, you really need to do it today. Sure, you can take a flyer on next week but if you have Amazon Prime and its two-day free shipping, today is the way to go and remain drama free. 

With that in mind, here are some cool science gifts, if you are still stumped:
Humanities Scholars Overturn Biology, Discover Trait-Based Politics In Fear Response

Humanities Scholars Overturn Biology, Discover Trait-Based Politics In Fear Response

Dec 10 2013 | comment(s)

There are examples of positive political campaigns - Ronald Reagan appealed to what America could be, for example - but even that message of hope had an undercurrent of fear, namely that if things did not change, America would stay morassed in 1970s stagflation.

Fear is still used in political campaigns to steer public opinion, but a political scientist claims not everyone is equally predisposed to be influenced by that strategy. Who is most genetically predisposed to be swayed by fear?  Well, it is a humanities study done by someone with no science training, so take a guess.  Answer farther done if you can't connect the cultural dots.

Thanksgiving Chemophobia - If Toxins Scare You, Stop Eating

Thanksgiving Chemophobia - If Toxins Scare You, Stop Eating

Nov 26 2013 | comment(s)

While driving to my doctor's office to get some persistent Toxicodendron diversilobum (that's poison oak) looked at, I listened to NPR. Just as you would expect of me, my radio stations will all have buttons for NPR, country music, whatever station carries Rush Limbaugh, and a variety of others. On NPR I was intrigued because the guest chef was preparing a meal for alternative Thanksgiving lifestyles, that being vegan and gluten-free.
FDA Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations Warns 23andMe

FDA Inspections, Compliance, Enforcement, and Criminal Investigations Warns 23andMe

Nov 26 2013 | comment(s)

Google money magic can only take you so far with the federal government. 

23andMe, the highest profile genetic testing company, co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, has gotten a warning letter from the FDA. The problem? They don't disclose how accurate they are, but they claim all kinds of awareness benefits that make them look a lot like a medical device.
Can The Government Afford To Do Drug Research?

Can The Government Afford To Do Drug Research?

Nov 23 2013 | comment(s)

Americans have had it good.

Drug companies have consistently produced new products that have done terrific things, but they are hated by much of the public, to such an extent that marijuana advocates have not only invented medical benefits for cannabis, they think Mexican drug cartels are more ethical than Merck. We only have no issue with the the reality that drug companies are going to be sued at some point no matter how well the products work.

Then there is the political grandstanding of politicians and an increasingly hostile regulatory environment.