Science & Society

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2012/dec/21/science-policy-brian-coxhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-h-word/2012/dec/21/history-science...http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2012/12/brian-cox-and-robi... "Their argument is that, because science has been twisted and undermined by politicians, there needs to be clearer separation between scientific truths and political values." They also argue that the muddying of the water occurs on both sides, and that is what sent the science Twitter-verse into a frenzy.  The belief that the right is in science denial and the left…

In April, a story was promoted by mainstream Scare Journalists that imported rice had high levels of lead - I am linking to Time but it was everywhere.  It was based on a poster at a conference. It had no systematic scrutiny and was not even close to being peer reviewed. No, we did not cover it here, but promoting unfounded claims is one reason why corporate media makes a lot more money than we do. Once the FDA and outside scientists began to look at the data and its claims of 20-40X acceptable lead levels, the author withdrew the work, saying there was an “issue” with the instruments he…

Women's perceptions of what is considered normal and desirable female genitalia may be influenced by exposure to modified images, according to psychologists writing in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Requests for labiaplasty - reducing and making the labia minora symmetrical - have become a fad and are now the most widely performed female genital cosmetic procedure covered by Australian government health care over the past decade, increasing five-fold between 2001 and 2010.  The psychologists from University of Queensland looked at whether exposure to images…

Some in journalism have gotten tired of hearing about how jobs are being cut because the public doesn't want to read them, and how scientists make fun of them because, really, there are only so many miracle vegetable claims and scare stories the science community can endure. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2011/jun/28/1http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2011/apr/25/1http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/11/01/Jcom1101(2012)C01/Jcom1101(2012)C02/…

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/07/eco.invitro.meat/index.html#c... http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20274113,00.html?xid=rss-fullco… http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/22/vegan.food.activists/index.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14626178/: PETA is critical of television personalities they call self-professed wildlife warriors, arguing that while a conservationist message is getting across, some of the actions are harmful to animals, such as invading animals' homes, netting them, subjecting them to stressful environments, and wrestling with them—often involving young animals…

Protests at economics meetings that lament globalization are done by the Agricultural 1 Percent - people fortunate enough to be born in countries where food is plentiful and cheap and they can protest rather than try to eke out a subsistence living in a difficult climate. Yet the reality of economics defies their beliefs that trade and industry in developing nations will ruin those countries. Instead, an analysis of food availability and food self-sufficiency since 1965 by Aalto University in Finland found that food availability in the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, China, and…

Low-income, Hispanic and African-American Californians need to have a tax on sodas and other sugary beverages if they are going to have reduced risk of diabetes - which could be a substantial cost for taxpayers in a world of government health care. Over the course of the next decade, the scholars estimate that lowered incidence of these diseases would save over half a billion dollars in medical costs. 2 or perhaps 3 of each 20,000 people. They previously modeled the national health effects of a penny-per-ounce tax over the course of 10 years and found that it would reduce consumption among…

Individuals with a family history of premature heart disease, heart attacks or stroke in a first degree relative before the age of 60 years, continue to have a higher risk of dying despite earlier referral to general physicians, lifestyle changes and drug treatments.   Doctors are aware of the increased risk individuals with family history of heart disease face, with around a 40% higher chance of being affected than the average population. In response, these individuals are usually referred earlier for interventions to reduce the risk, but research published by the University…

About ten years ago, what is now the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the University of Reading, was set up, to take over from individual EM units in other departments by purchasing more modern equipment. On of the pleasures of working there was interaction with people from other departments, and one particularly enjoyable excursion was doing pollen samples for people, so introducing me to the science of Palynology. I was briefly looking at freshly collected pollen, but the great application of this discipline is looking at fossil pollen, particularly sediments from the last million years.…

When you hear people talk about diversity, they often mean they want a majority of people just like them. Anything less is worrisome. It's that way in sports teams, the halls of academia and even church. People who are part of a religious congregation's largest racial group are more likely to feel they belong and be more involved, whether their group is barely half or nearly all of the members, according to surveys collated in a sociology paper. That is why it is difficult to create a multiracial congregation and to maintain a thriving church or synagogue of more than one race, said Baylor…