scientificactivist

This is kind of silly, but it's always interesting to see what the right-wing attack machine comes up with when it gets desperate. Now it appears that they're going after President Obama's rather innocuous science advisor, John Holdren. Specifically, a recent article in The Washington Times--that…

Yesterday, Americans for Medical Progress revealed the three recipients of its 2009 Hayre Fellowship in Public Outreach. Applicants submitted proposals for programs aimed at spreading awareness about the role of animal research in medicine, and the three fellows will receive a $5,000 stipend each,…

When the NIH released its draft guidelines on human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research in late April, they were open to a 30-day period of public comment before the formulation of the final rules. Today, the NIH has released its final guidelines (pdf). Not much has changed, so there's not really…

In an attempt to save the sinking ship that is his current government, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has extensively shuffled his cabinet. As part of this the science (formerly the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills [DIUS]) has been merged with business (formerly the Department for…

I'll admit that I haven't paid a terribly large amount of attention to the upcoming European Parliament elections (taking place in the UK Thursday--i.e. tomorrow) since I can't actually vote in them. However, maybe I should have been paying attention, based on a write-up by Frank Swain (…

I realize that blogging has been pretty slow here lately. But, I have good reasons, I promise! I spent most of the month of May back in the US for my girlfriend's graduation and then for a cross-country move/Great American Road Trip. Meredith graduated from Texas A&M University College of…

Although I've only written a bit about the recent outbreak of influenza A H1N1 (swine flu), I'd encourage you to take a look at this post by Kent Newsome that discusses where to find reliable information on this topic. This post is particularly nice, because it gives concrete examples of some of…

On Wednesday, the CDC reported that influenza A H1N1 viruses from 13 patients with confirmed diagnoses of swine flu had been tested for resistance to a variety of antiviral drugs. The good news was that all of the isolates were susceptible to the antiviral drugs oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir…

Yesterday, the Institute of Medicine released a report entitled "Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice". As far as I can tell, the full report is only available for a fairly substantial charge, but these are some of the main recommendations summed up in the report's…

The Republican party today moved another step closer to becoming just the regional party of the South by losing one of its most respected members, Senator Arlen Specter (PA). Citing the Republicans' notable swing to the right in recent years, Specter announced earlier that he would be switching…

Earlier today, President Barack Obama delivered a major speech on science policy to the National Academy of Sciences. Read more about it in my previous post. Now, though, Andy Revkin of Dot Earth is trying to annotate the speech with relevant background information. Go help him out by providing…

Today, President Barack Obama addressed the annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), making him only the fourth president in modern times to do so (the other three were John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush). He touched on a variety of areas, but the major theme was…

Last week, scientists and their supporters at UCLA held the first rally of their new chapter of the pro-research organization Pro-Test. In addition to the various other accounts that have been published, Tom Holder of Speaking of Research has now published his own very comprehensive first-hand…

About a week ago, the NIH announced its draft guidelines covering the funding of human embryonic stem cell research. You can read the draft guidelines here and my post on the topic here. As these are draft guidelines, they are open to a month-long period of public comment before the final…

Earlier I published a post about an interesting article by Andrew Revkin in today's New York Times about industry's willful ignorance of global warming science. There was an interesting quote in there that I didn't mention earlier about how journalistic practices enabled this campaign of…

The idea stated in the title of this blog post is not novel--far from it, in fact. We have known for a long time that the auto industry, the oil industry, and others with a vested interest have engaged in a long-running campaign of misinformation to discredit the science behind global warming.…

By all accounts, yesterday's UCLA Pro-Test rally in support of animal research was a great success. Up to 800 people showed up for the Pro-Test rally, but only 30-40 people showed up for a concurrent anti-research rally These numbers are particularly notable for two reasons. Firstly, the number of…

Further to the points I wrote about in my previous post on the CIA torture memos, Mike Dunford of The Questionable Authority has previously raised another important issue: the complicity of medical professionals in CIA torture: Reading these memos, it's very clear that there are quite a few CIA…

Arguably the biggest news story of the week was the release by the Obama Administration of four Justice Department memos from 2002 and 2005 that were used to justify CIA torture of detainees. An analysis by Jeffrey Smith in today's Washington Post tries to explain the context and the mindset that…

A month after the Obama Administration lifted Bush era restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research, the NIH has now announced its new draft guidelines for such research. The new guidelines will greatly expand the scope of federally-funded research by allowing funds…

The Lay Scientist has a new guest post up from British physician "DeeTee" about measles, a horrible disease that until recently had been virtually eradicated from the developed world. Unfortunately, despite the fact that measles is totally preventable with proper vaccination, the misguided…

The LA Times has an article today about the founder of the UCLA chapter of Pro-Test, David Jentsch, a neuroscientist whose car was torched last month by animal rights extremist. This point is particularly relevant: "People always say: 'Don't respond. If you respond, that will give [the attackers]…

The gold standard for measuring the impact of a scientific paper is counting the number of other papers that cite that paper. However, due to the drawn-out nature of the scientific publication process, there is a lag of at least a year or so after a paper is published before citations to it even…

As mentioned here previously, the stimulus package passed in February includes funds to encourage evidence-based medicine. Some uninformed critics will claim that this is some big government conspiracy to exert socialized control over private medicine. But, truly, encouraging a firmer empirical…

Although people who know me can attest that I made countless assurances that I would never do such a thing, I have once again succumbed to the relentless force of progress, and I'm now on Twitter. Check me out. I'm actually finding it quite useful, and I'm currently using my feed to provide…

Via Chris Mooney, who has long been a major proponent of bringing back the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)--particularly in his seminal work The Republican War on Science--comes a link to a petition that you can sign to show your support for the OTA. Do it!

You see, this is why you want to fill your administration with smart, qualified, thoughtful, and innovative people--especially in the sciences. From The Times A major investment in fighting tropical infections and chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes in poor countries would transform…

After writing a global warming denialist piece for his Washington Post column back in February that was totally eviscerated for running roughshod over anything actually resembling the truth, it looks like George Will is at it again. Fortunately, Carl Zimmer is already on the case: Today, George…

Through the results of widespread experimentation of the... well... let's say "non-scientific" variety, it's pretty well known that marijuana has the side effect of making the user very hungry. This is one of the many physiological effects of the active ingredient THC (Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol).…

In discussions lamenting modern day political interference in science and the less-than-prominent role science plays in formulating policy, bringing back the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) is commonly offered as a key facet of any comprehensive solution. And, this is for good…