scientificactivist

On Wednesday, when the Supreme Court upheld a federal ban on "partial-birth abortions" in its 5-4 decision on Gonzalez v. Carhart, it dealt a potentially huge setback to US reproductive freedoms. Although intact dilation and extraction makes up only a small subset of all abortions, this ruling is…

There won't be too much going on here at the blog for the next few weeks, as I'll be in South Africa through mid April. It'll be part travel and part community outreach (an educational project in conjunction with the South African Education and Environment Project (SAEP)). Hopefully I'll be able…

Back in August, I reported on an ACMD study buried in the back of a UK government report. The study gave strong evidence that the current drug classification scheme in the UK was fundamentally flawed and was not based on the actual danger of a given drug. The study has now been published in this…

Last week I mentioned an upcoming hearing by the Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to "Examine Allegations of Political Interference with Government Climate Change Science." The hearing happened on Monday (19 March), and it even got a bit of media coverage in the process.…

Not that HIV/AIDS is an important issue or anything... but it appears that Republican presidential hopeful John McCain hasn't been thinking much--or at all--about HIV prevention. The New York Times blog The Caucus reports that when asked about the subject at a recent campaign rally in Iowa, McCain…

First, the good news, though. Phil Plait (of the Bad Astronomy Blog) reports today at The Huffington Post that the House just passed HR 985, the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act. As he notes, scientists have plenty of reasons to be happy about this: Scientists in government agencies (…

While most of the candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination have been in a race to see who can most shamelessly pander to the Religious Right, Rudy Giuliani has more or less remained above the fray. So far, this strategy has paid off surprisingly well, as recent polls have…

(See update here.) The Congressional Committee on Oversight and Government Reform--chaired by Henry Waxman--will hold part two of its "Hearing to Examine Allegations of Political Interference with Government Climate Change Science" on Monday, 19 March, at 10:00 am EST. The full witness list is…

The Texas House voted today 119-21 to overturn governor Rick Perry's executive order requiring mandatory vaccination against HPV (human papilloma virus) for girls entering the sixth grade. The bill, HB1098, still requires final approval in the House before moving along to the Texas Senate. Perry…

On 2 February, Texas became the first state in the nation to enact a mandatory vaccination scheme for human papilloma virus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer. The vaccine, Gardasil, is produced by Merck. Although welcomed by many, this was a surprising development since it was brought…

I've been openly skeptical of the shift to the right that we've seen lately by those vying for the Republican nomination for the presidency. Although my skepticism is targeted more at the inevitable swing to the center that their rhetoric will surely take after the primaries (despite the continued…

As the presidential primaries for 2008 slowly approach, we're seeing the expected heavy swing to the right by several on the Republican side. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, though, seems to have taken things a step further by attempting to buy the support of right-wing organizations…

I got home tonight just in time to catch the full lunar eclipse. Although my crappy dinosaur of a camera doesn't really do it justice, it was quite stunning here in Oxford. Observers across Europe, Africa, and East Asia had an excellent view of the eclipse tonight, and some viewers in the U.S.…

A couple of current American Rhodes Scholars ruffled a few feathers today after writing an unabashedly critical account of their Oxford experiences for their undergraduate alma mater's paper, The Harvard Crimson. Melissa Dell and Swati Mylavarapu write: Take it from two veterans, the glitter and…

Back in my undergraduate days at Texas A&M University, I often lobbied for there to be a student representative on the A&M Board of Regents (the organization that governs the university). With issues such as skyrocketing tuition negatively affecting A&M's students, I thought that it…

Last year's Valentine's Day entry was quite a hit, so here it is again. (13 February 2006) We all know how normal people celebrate Valentine's Day: either going out on a hot date or, more likely, sulking alone at home and possibly crying themselves to sleep. Many of you, though, may wonder how…

As 2008 approaches, many of the Republican contenders for the Presidency will try to paint themselves as moderates. An article in today's Washington Post, though, underlines why we should be weary of their empty rhetoric. Romney, who is expected to formally enter the presidential race today in…

Although the Bush Administration has already proven itself pretty effective at interfering with science and regulation through existing channels, yesterday's New York Times reports that this wasn't quite enough: President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control…

Being able to see is so fundamental to the daily activities of the vast majority of us that we rarely give it a second thought. Take away that ability to see, though, and suddenly everyday tasks become a little trickier. Much of this difficulty can be overcome--to a degree at least--by a variety…

Over at Pure Pedantry, Jake informs us that a documentary about Dr. Phillip Zimbardo's infamous 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment has been uploaded onto YouTube in five parts. Jake's post includes the five videos (about 50 minutes total) and some background on the experiment and Dr. Zimbardo, whom…

The 71st edition of the science blog carnival Tangled Bank is up at The Voltage Gate. Go have a look around for a taste of recent science blogging from around the web. Remember, if you want to read some of the best science blogging from the past year, though, don't forget to check out the book.

Some of the more insidious factors enabling the constant and dangerous advance of global warming are a lack of public awareness or acceptance and the feeling that it's not a problem relevant to my everyday life. One potentially effective way of tackling these particular issues, then, could be…

Bora Zivkovic of A Blog Around the Clock announced this morning that the first ever anthology of science blogging, The Open Laboratory: The Best Writing on Science Blogs 2006 is now available for purchase. At the website of the publisher, Lulu, you can either purchase a paperback copy or download…

The U.S. Office of Research Integrity announced this week that it has found a former postdoc in Gerald Schatten's lab, Park Jong Hyuk, guilty of research misconduct for falsifying images in a manuscript on deriving embryonic stem cells from cloned rhesus monkeys. Although the paper had not yet…

It was just brought to my attention today that the comments on my blog weren't working. I had thought it was kind of strange that I hadn't had a comment in almost two weeks, but, well, whatever. It had something to do with the Google search code that I had on the sidebar, so I've taken it off for…

(...and to ScienceBlogs.com, which was coincidentally launched on the same day.) Today marks the one year anniversary of my first post on The Scientific Activist, back at the old scientificactivist.blogspot.com site. The first post, which laid out fairly accurately what this site would be about,…

Oh boy, it just never stops with this administration and its contempt for science. Via Keith Cowing's NASA Watch comes news of a, well, interesting new Bush Administration appointee at NASA: NASA Headquarters has a new political appointee in its employ: Patrick Rhode. He'll be working on the 9th…

From a news analysis by Sheryl Gay Stolberg in today's New York Times: By stepping up the American military presence in Iraq, President Bush is not only inviting an epic clash with the Democrats who run Capitol Hill. He is ignoring the results of the November elections, rejecting the central thrust…

What is big and flashy, capable of generating plenty of press, and claims to be the solution to all (or at least a sizeable chunk) of California's problems? (a) Arnold Schwarzenegger (b) his new health care proposal (c) all of the above You can decide for yourself, but from my…

One of the primary goals of Congress since the Democrats' stunning November 2006 election victory has been restoring federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. President Bush first imposed the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research in August 2001. After the House voted in May 2005 to…