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M82 is a galaxy that's relatively near to the Milky Way. It's not in our own local group, but it's in a nearby group of galaxies (the "M81 group"), and is only about 12 million light-years away (which is close for a galaxy). It's notable because it's a "starburst" galaxy— it's undergoing a burst…
Al Gore's appearance on Capitol Hill prompted several blog posts. David Roberts at Gristmill liveblogged Gore's testimony in both the House and the Senate; he and Mike Dunford at The Questionable Authority both devoted blog posts to a memorable encounter between Gore…
By David Michaels
It is starting to feel like a groundswell. Last week, a group of 22 experts on drug safety and regulation issued an open letter to lawmakers asking Congress not to reauthorize the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), the system that funds the Food and Drug Administrationâs drug…
By David Michaels
It seems to happen almost by instinct. When a worker dies in a workplace accident, the employer responds by expressing sadness but making it clear it was the worker's own damn fault (and the employer is faultless, of course). The management of BP initially blamed worker mistakes…
Today is World Water Day, and this yearâs theme is âCoping with Water Scarcity.â In its WWD report (PDF), UN-Water (the official United Nations mechanism for follow-up of the Millennium Development Goals), warns that water scarcity will increase in the coming decades, driven by four main…
I love the way Cory Doctorow expresses it in this BoingBoing post:
Now, whenever I write about trademarks, I get a bunch of emails asserting the voodoo theory of trademark: every conceivable use of a trademark has to be policed aggressively or you'll lose your trademarks forever. It's just not…
The death toll from the tragic mine disaster in Siberia has reached 107, the Associated Press reports today. About 200 mineworkers were underground when a methane gas explosion occurred nearly 900 feet below the surface. Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared today a national day of mourning…
There is a loud and painful screech of microphone feedback. As it fades out, there is a series of loud, reverberating thumping noises, followed by:
ANNOUNCER: ....um, hello? Is this on?
The announcer, a small, hunched, elderly old man, continues to speak timidly into the microphone.
ANNOUNCER: Um…
By David Michaels
The Chemical Safety Board isnât pulling its punches. Its report on the March 2005 BP refinery explosion which killed 15 workers is scathing in its criticism of BP, concluding that âorganizational and safety deficiencies at all levels of the BP Corporationâ caused the explosion.…
By David Michaels
The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is holding a public meeting tonight in Texas City, Texas, to release the final report of its investigation into the explosion at the BP refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 170 more in March, 2005. Thursday, the House Education and Labor…
I don't do this any more, but in the past I did what many astronomy professors do when teaching introductory astronomy: tell the tale of Tycho, Kepler, and Newton, as a way of introducing and describing planetary orbits. It's such a great story, as it shows the concrete struggle we as a race went…
More than 14,000 workplaces received unwelcome letters in the mail last week from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The agency used data from a survey of 80,000 workplaces to identify those sites with injury rates that were more than twice the national average, and…
In continuation of the tradition begun at Jordan Barabâs Confined Space blog, Tammy has posted another edition of the Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace at her Weekly Toll blog. It gives short writeups on 73 workplace deaths, including the following:
Alejandro Gonzalez, 25, who was…
We've got four contests this time, with competition fierce and passions running high. Speak for which science concepts deserve to go to the next round! Get your votes in by 10PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 20. Results will be posted shortly after that.
The contests:
Newton's Second Law vs…
By David Michaels
OMB Watch has just released its newest report on the recent changes President Bush has made to the federal regulatory process. The report A Failure to Govern: Bush's Attack on the Regulatory Process explains in clear, compelling language how two arcane but pernicious documents,…
Hotel workers in Boston voted 1,013 to 27 to authorize a boycott and strike at the Sheraton Boston, Boston Park Plaza, Westin Waterfront Hotel, and Westin Copley Place.  The housekeepers, bellmen and other hotel workers are members of UNITE HERE Local 26 and…
William Broadâs NYT piece on Al Goreâs global warming science has been causing a stir in the blogosphere this week (original article here). Michael Mann and Gavin Schmidt at RealClimate write, âIt is rather ironic then that William Broad's latest piece on Al Gore plays just as loose with [the…
This is an image of NGC 6744, taken with the South African Large Telescope.
NGC 6744 is a classic spiral galaxy, and appears similar to how the Milky Way would look if we were able to get outside of the Milky Way and look back at it. Notice that there is a bar at the center of the galaxy (…
Congressman George Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, will hold on hearing on March 22 on the explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City, TX which killed 15 workers and injured 180 others.Â
"The BP-Texas City Disaster and Worker Safety"Â hearing will feature…
Diacetyl is a commonly used food additive made to give a buttery flavor to breads, cookies, candy and other goods. For decades, the chemical has been classified as "GRAS" (generally recognized as safe) by the US Food and Drug Administration. But for workers exposed to the chemical in food…
By David Michaels
In the wake of the debacles involving Vioxx, Ketek, and other dangerous drugs that should never have been approved in the first place, Congress is about to take up reauthorization of the user fee system that funds the Food and Drug Administrationâs drug review process. The system…
Warning:: There is no science whatsoever in this post. If that's going to annoy you, give this one a pass.
In a previous post, I said what role I thought religion and spirituality still could play in the modern, scientific world. All of that applied to any sort of religion or spirituality, and…
The United Mineworkers of America (UMWA) will be issuing tomorrow (March 15) a report on the January 2006 Sago Mine disaster. West Virginia Senators Byrd and Rockefeller are expected to join UMWA President Cecil Roberts in the Senate Dirksen Building at 11:00 am (EST…
Kristin Collins of The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) reports that some produce growers in North Carolina aren no longer content with the Mexican farmworkers who come to the the U.S. on temporary visas. Some of these workers have unionized and begun demanding better wages and work…
By David Michaels
Dr. David Healy is the probably the single person most responsible for identifying the link between anti-depression drugs like Zoloft and suicide risk. His work led to the FDA to require the addition of a âblack boxâ to the label of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs…
"Redshift" is a term that astronomers use a lot. This is particularly true if they are extragalactic astronomers or (especially) cosmologists, but even galactic astronomers use it, and it is absolutely central to the method use to discover most of the extrasolar planets known today.
This post is…
It's all over the news. The FBI has violated the PATRIOT act numerous times by using "national security letters" where it wasn't legitimate to do so. Naughty FBI. Clean your house.
The problem is, we need our House to clean up by repealing the PATRIOT act altogether. That act was shoved through…
I suppose you could, with some justification, accuse me of being a troll, given that my post "So I'm a Christian. Shoot me." generated an entirely predictable set of flames tearing me down for unscientific thinking, and for trying to claim that there is any kind of bias against the religious…
Several months ago, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao published the Departmentâs regulatory agenda. This document lists all of the regulations the Department âexpects to have under active consideration for promulgation, proposal, or review during the coming 1-year period.â The notice…
Chris at Mixing Memory has a post about correlating one's favorite music with one's personality.
Learn just what a fuddy-duddy I am by reading this list:
Saint-Saens, Symphony #3 (the "Organ Symphony")
Beethoven, Symphony #7 (esp. the 2nd movement)
Dvorak, the "New World" Symphony (#9)
Schubert,…