Science & Society

Activist groups that endorse the organic manufacturing and are opposed to agricultural biotechnology (GMOs and gene edited crops and animals) try to claim that the Genetic Literacy Project is a “corporate front group that was formerly funded by Monsanto” — a statement found on the SourceWatch site owned by Democratic political party activists is one example. It’s not true but what is true is that these accusations are a collaboration between extremists financed by the far left fringe of the organic community in partnership with the Church of Scientology and anti-vaccine scaremongers like…

Resistance to giving up mask is the new anti-mask.  Indeed, the fact some people think it does prove that they have no idea how vaccines work.  They do not prevent infection.  Vaccines teach the body how to kill the virus so quickly that infection does not result in disease (1) (2).  Such facts were never the real point for many people.  The issue was that mask became a way to signal belonging to a political/social group during a US election year.  It became a way for elite doctrinaire (often with doctorates) liberals to show their non-existent moral…

If a post is not popular, you will never see it, so views count, but it is the message and not the popularity of it that persuades people, according to a new paper. 819 demographically diverse American adults aged 18-35 were shown two YouTube videos either for or against vaping. The pro-vaping videos were commercials for e-cigarette brands. The anti-vaping videos were public service announcements produced by anti-tobacco groups. What was changed was the view numbers that participants saw for the videos. Participants saw view numbers either around 10, 100, 100,000 or 1,000,000. They then…

Epicurious, a food website owned by the billion-dollar Condé Nast group, has stated it will no longer carry recipes that use beef. Because of the environment. An elite Manhattan company plagued by lingering resentment due to its racial discrimination and pay inequity should not be doubling down on that first one. Yet they are, because an attack on meat is an attack on the health of poor people and minorities everywhere who want better lives. The site will still carry chicken, fish, and pork, so their claim only makes economic sense when you consider that their article was 'sponsored' by an…

The Six Foot Rule is only a rule in a 'rule of thumb' way; it's okay for an estimate but you use a real ruler to build a house.  Analyses instead show that the most important things are a mix of masks and ventilation. What about outdoors where ventilation is terrific? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  has now relaxed its guidelines and are in line with what the science says; namely that unless you're in a protest unmasked, you'll be fine. And the Biden administration wants to use that to promote vaccines as well. President Biden said, “So for those who haven’t…

Forget emotional arguments about whether Black Lives Matter or All Lives Matter or any specific case.  There is one easy to verify fact that proves that policing in the United States is Broken. We give police a 9mm Glock that carries about 15 rounds or a similar gun.  Then we give them a 1 shot Taser.  All things being equal in a fight if the police use their one taser shot and it does not work, or misses they are going to have to shoot.  All things being equal if they must choose in a split second how to stop person A from shooting or stabbing person B there are 15…

Throughout the pandemic, millions of Americans wondered: “Is the cure worse than the disease?” The question implies a trade-off between “the cure,” in the form of economic shutdowns, and “the disease,” COVID-19. This debate dominated headlines in the first months of the pandemic. More than a year later, it continues to be a partisan lighting rod. But our research shows that mortality during the pandemic in America has never fit the narrative that pits economic shutdowns against COVID-19. We three are a research team of social epidemiologists who study the various ways social policies and…

A few years ago, much of the academic science community finally turned on the anti-science progressives that dominated the coasts of the U.S. and who refused to vaccinate their children.  Standing up to their political allies definitely turned the tide, even California Governor Gavin Newsom grudgingly conceded and signed a law banning the arbitrary vaccine exemptions for kids that had become common in places like San Francisco, where he'd been the mayor, and Los Angeles. Some schools there had vaccination rates under 30 percent.(1) Pretending the problem did not exist set California back…

Your risk of death is 100 percent. Yet your risk of early demise can be mitigated if you avoid things like ingesting alcohol and cigarettes and mustard gas. Those are clear killers. What about salt, sugar, and meat? Those have not been established as science at all, they are instead examples of correlation. To create correlation is easy, it only requires looking at a group of people, finding what diseases they have, finding what foods they eat, and creating a "statistically significant" link between them. Epidemiologists will be angered at that simplification - and they should be. I…

Pilot results from San Bernardino County, California, where crime is prevalent and distrust in government high, found that religion may be key to COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Focused education efforts and an on-site mobile clinic in Black church parking lots resulted in the vaccinations of 417 people, 84% of whom were Black. Results also showed an increase in Black attendance of mass vaccination clinics to 3.6% of total patients, up from 3%, in the week following asking Black churches and clergy to help in COVID-19 vaccination education and distribution. The initiative was developed in the…