Social Issues

I want to get back to reply to this comment: Comments The Bush administration has not been against science in any conceivable way. I hate to see people use a lie to push a political cause. I would ask all those concerned with the advancement of science to stay true to the calling of using empirically backed reason to further our understanding of the universe. We should also be more prudent in how we as scientists enter public discourse. Many scientists today have resorted to crying wolf instead of laying out clearly what we know and what we don't. The global warming debate is one area where…
It was pointed out to me after I put up the FUD post, that Steven Clemons (of the Washington Note) recently posted an href="http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001502.php">excellent example of the use of fear-mongering: June 25, 2006NATIONAL SECURITY FOR FAMILIES: IT'S FOR KIDS TOO -- ESPECIALLY KIDS!! Visit www.FamilySecurityMatters.org -- a site seemingly devoted to convincing a large cross-section of Americans that they must fear terrorism -- really fear it, now -- tomorrow -- and in the many years to come. It's high-fear exploitation of the worst kind candy-coated with slick…
A long time ago, href="http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/about.php">Grrlscientist href="http://girlscientist.blogspot.com/2005/06/le-scholar-oblige-another-book-meme.html">tagged me with a meme.  So long ago, in fact, that ScienceBlogs did not even exist.  So it may as well have been in a galaxy far, far, away.   It was a book meme.  There were questions like "how many books do you own."  I finished counting several weeks later, and started to write it out.  Then the file was lost in an unfortunate incident that we do not need to discuss here.   I never got back to reconstructing…
This is a response to this week's Ask-A-ScienceBlogger question.  I must say, it took a while to come up with a reasonable answer.  I finally settled on environmental policy. The rel="tag">Environmental Protection Agency href="http://www.epa.gov/history/org/origins/first.htm">was established in 1970, mostly in response to popular concern about the damage that was accumulating in the environment as a result of industrial activity.  See the EPA page, href="http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/epa/15b.htm">Why EPA Was Established, for details. There are two reasons for choosing this…
The Washington Post has a mildly interesting href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201952.html">article about Douglas M. Duncan, who just dropped out of the gubernatorial race in Maryland. Reportedly, he was diagnosed as having depression earlier in the week, then decided to withdraw. "It's time for me to focus on my health" The decision was taken as an opportunity to discuss the problem posed by the illness, the stigma, and the difficulties posed by the decision to go public with the disclosure.   "There is an enormous amount of stress to keep…
I'm sitting here, wondering why in the world I wrote so much about a topic that is of no more than passing interest to me.  Perhaps if I keep writing, I will figure it out. Note: this will not make much sense unless you've already read Janet's more recent post on the topic of breastfeeding, here: href="http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2006/06/what_are_the_real_benefits_of.php">What are the real benefits of breastfeeding? Statisticians weigh in.  You also have to have read the main article she cites, here: href="http://www.stats.org/stories/breast_feed_nyt_jun_20_06.htm">What…
Sometimes, when I write about new psychotropic medication coming to market, I include a comment on the abuse potential.  For example, I've commented before on the relative lack of abuse potential for  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozerem" rel="tag">ramelteon ( href="http://www.rozerem.com/home_c.aspx" rel="tag">Rozerem) and href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil" rel="tag">modafinil ( href="http://www.provigil.com/" rel="tag">Provigil).  Usually, I end with a disclaimer: "but some people will abuse anything." Despite that universal disclaimer, I really never…
The Sunday Times in the UK is reporting on efforts to being criminal charges against a doctor who claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism.  Millions of children went unvaccinated, and now the UK has an outbreak of measles. Continue below the fold... href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2230936,00.html">Focus: How a spurious health scare brought an old killer backThe Sunday Times      June 18, 2006Brian Deer As health chiefs last week reported the worst outbreaks of measles across Britain in 20 years, slow progress was being made in bringing to justice the doctor who…
The mission of ScienceBlogs is to have the href="http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:u_aOpFk1_6IJ:www.seedmediagroup.com/press/releases/SMG_01.25.06.pdf+web+largest+conversation+about+science&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=firefox-a">Web's largest conversation about science.  I've been posting here for a week.  During that time, I've been trying to decipher the href="http://faculty.ircc.edu/faculty/jlett/Article%20on%20Emics%20and%20Etics.htm">emics and etics of the community and its conversation.   It is apparent that, within this culture, it is important and…
I've been working on a longish post that I am not yet happy with.  In the meantime, I am going to post this, just to call attention to somebody else's work.  I guess it also adds a little local flavor to this blog. href="http://jackshow.blogs.com/jack/2006/06/interview_bob_o.html">Interview: Bob O'Neal - 6/13/06 When you are talking about politics these days and say the word “religious” it usually is followed by the word “right.”  Dr. Bob O’Neal, a plastic surgeon in Ann Arbor, doesn’t like that.  He is a Christian who thinks his faith has been hijacked and distorted by extremists, and…
The ask-a-scienceblogger question for this week was submitted by a reader, Jake Bryan, who comments on Science Blogs as "chezjake." "Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why? It did not take long for me to come up with an answer to this.  What I would most like to see researched intensively would be: alternative energy sources.  Continue reading below the fold... The reasons?  First, I had to pick something outside of my own discipline.  Second, it seems that such a once-in-a-…