Policy & Politics

Heaven forbid animals drink some soda! and then enjoy it! This is probably the least bothersome form of animal testing out there. Trust me... animals looooove sugar! Here's the snippet from the NYT article: Under pressure from animal rights advocates, two soft drink giants, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, have agreed to stop directly financing research that uses animals to test or develop their products, except where such testing is required by law. Researchers at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sought the assurances after discovering studies financed by the companies that used animals…
Answer...They're all involved in car accidents.Our first story is brought to you by California State Senator Carole Migden who recently voted for a bill banning cell phone use while driving. I'm sure you can guess what happened... yeah exactly... she was chatting on her cell phone and ran into a cute little Honda, sending the driver to the hospital with minor injuries. Ooops. Our final story shows that annoying friend you have might just cause you an accident if they are blabbing away in your front seat while you're driving. This is of course in addition to making you crash when they call…
It was one year ago today that I made the first post to Omni Brain. I never imagined we would do this well. In the last year Omni Brain has undergone many many changes, the biggest of which have been Sandra of Neurofuture fame joining the blog, and moving to ScienceBlogs. We started with not-even 3000 page views in our first full month and now receive tens of thousands of page views and visitors - which is pretty great for a smart ass little science blog! Our Technorati ranking has also grown by leaps and bounds; near 14,000 today. Thanks everyone, for reading and for all your lively…
It sounds good doesn't it?! Just read a bit further until you realize what they're actually saying... The president of the leading Southern Baptist seminary has suggested that a biological basis for homosexuality may be proven, and that prenatal treatment to reverse gay orientation would be biblically justified. The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and one of the country's evangelical leaders, posted the article on his personal Web site earlier this month. Mr. Mohler said in the article that scientific research "points to…
Here are a couple of my favorites starting with the original really really stupid text. Check out the original site for many more, as well as some good commentary. Via BoingBoing & Digg.
In the ongoing battle between the DEA, farmers, patients, and scientists there has been nothing but contradictory information. It looks like with a couple new pieces of news that the pro-marijuana (the medical kind) people might be coming out ahead. For researchers studying marijuana, it's been a very good week. In one of the most careful studies to date, marijuana was found to relieve pain. And a judge ruled in favor of an agronomist who has has been trying for six years to overcome one of the problems of marijuana research: the lack of an adequate supply of the drug for experiments. The…
A couple months ago we posted a number of very disturbing cigarette warning labels from around the world and wondered whether perhaps a picture of a rotting, stinking, bleeding tumor on a guys throat would perhaps help lower the incidence of smoking. In the March issue of the American Journal of Preventative Medicine researchers have taken a step toward showing big obnoxious warnings are the best. The abstract does a good job describing the study so I'll let them do it: Text and Graphic Warnings on Cigarette Packages: Findings from the International Tobacco Control Four Country Study…
As an academic your currency is your reputation, and how often your papers get cited (well assuming they aren't citing you for making up data). The inevitable result of this are battles of ideas being fought out at conferences, in special issues of journals and in review articles. If you discover something interesting and the mechanisms are not clearly visible (as they usually are not - especially in something like psychology!) other scientists begin to attack you - especially if your new idea challenges theirs! In the science of the brain there are a few debates that immediately come to…
Ahh.... anti-war protests in D.C. and the creative signage that goes along with it. Check out the rest of my friend Audrey's pictures :)
From Thom Parks: The American Chemical Society is rich ground for blogging. Scientific American has a piece about the American Chemical Society spending close to half a million of membership dollars hiring two lobbyists to defeat open access. PBS just aired a documentary about a journalist at the American Chemical Society who was fired for reporting that the White House was suppressing federal scientists for speaking about the link between hurricanes and global warming.http://www.thirteen.org/air/111/latest.html You can watch the episode, which is titled "Science Fiction."http://www.thirteen.…
Answer... They both have tasteless protests when someone dies from something they attribute to the wrong thing. A Scientology group targeting "toxic" medications plans to protest in Sudbury today for a public airing of any drugs given to the teen accused of murdering another boy at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School last week. The group's gripe hits as the Sudbury community struggles to cope with Friday's stabbing death of straight-A student James Alenson, 15. Scientologists are demanding at the demonstration that: the types of drugs given to accused killer John Odgren, 16, and the…
Normally I'm all for ripping PETA a new one, but there are all sorts of problems with this ad, which (among others) has appeared in Time Square and in the NYT. It seems that the Center for Consumer Freedom, who is sponsoring the ads and bills itself as a grass roots organization, is actually a front for big tobacco and the fast food companies. From Wikipedia: The group defines its mission as fighting against "a growing cabal of food cops, health care enforcers, militant activists, meddling bureaucrats, and violent radicals who think they know what's best for you, [who] are pushing against our…
Ok... this is just silly ;) I guess the wikipedia people think so as well - spoil sports!
Ohh boy...here we go. From the New Scientist Blog: An ongoing US experiment to turn "homosexual" rams straight by altering their hormone levels has sparked the ire of both gay activists and animal rights groups. The work is reportedly being carried out at Oregon State University in the city of Corvallis and at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. I can imagine what groups like Love in action are going to do when they get their hands on this. From wikipedia (this article also highlights other groups like this): Love in Action, or LIA, was founded in 1973 by John Evans and the…
Check out this new pilot from PBS. You can watch the episode next Wednesday on TV or you can see it right now right here. If you want this program to continue show your support by watching and sending your love to the website :) Here is their press release: 22nd Century "World Wide Mind" Wednesday, January 17, 2007 8:00 p.m. EST Ever wonder what the world is going to be like in the future? Will human life spans increase to 250 years or more? Will your personal computer become smarter than you? Will machines shrink so small they can make repairs inside a human cell? 22nd Century is an…
As I'm sure many of you know, Colorado has been completely wrecked with snow - stranding thousands and thousands of cattle out in the fields leaving them to starve or wander off. One radio station, in an effort to help, called the most famous group for 'helping' animals in danger - PETA. Instead of PETA offering their assistance they came off as just a bunch of pricks instead. See below for some more details - or read the original article here. As many as 340,000 cows and steers have been left stranded by southeastern Colorado's most recent snowstorm, and National Guard units are helping…
Valentina Sivryukova knew her public service messages were hitting the mark when she heard how one Kazakh schoolboy called another stupid. "What are you," he sneered, "iodine-deficient or something?" I think I'm going to start using this insult! I always knew iodine was added to salt at some point for some health reason - but I was never sure actually why that was. It looks like iodine deficiencies can cause all sorts of nasty health problems: Studies show that iodine deficiency is the leading preventable cause of mental retardation. Even moderate deficiency, especially in pregnant women and…
Are you kidding me? A study of 100,000 drivers finds that the month you were born is far more significant than your age in predicting car crashes. The study, based on North American driving statistics as gathered by an online insurance quoting service, ranks the likelihood of getting involved in an accident or receiving a traffic ticket -- and both -- based on an individual's astrological sign. Are you worried about your risks of getting in an accident? You should be if you are a Libra since they seem to crash the most! Can you think of any reason for these results? Here's the full list of…
It seems warning labels might be popping up in a few more places - one of which is on the inside of clothing for larger people? I wonder if they're going to put pictures on the label? I can't see a warning label doing much good there. Check out their other recommendations: Clothes made in larger sizes should carry a tag with an obesity helpline number, health specialists have suggested. Sweets and snacks should not be permitted near checkouts, new roads should not be built unless they include cycle lanes and food likely to make people fat should be taxed, they say in a checklist of what we…
Everyone deserves equal rights under the law right?! They take this very seriously in Texas, so seriously in fact that a Texas lawmaker is aiming to allow the blind to hunt. Texas State Representative Edmund Kuempel has introduced a measure that would allow blind people to hunt any game that sighted people can currently pursue. Thank goodness for Edmund Kuempel and blind justice! (ohhh jeez....) My friends blind mother has skied and driven motorcycles, which really surprised me - but hunting? Well if they can be safe - what the hell! -via slashdot... but here's the original story link