Science & Society

Saffron In one of my school history books, as I remember, there is a story that saffron was introduced into Europe by a pilgrim from concealing some corms in his staff, to avoid the death penalty if found by the agents of the Sultans who controlled its export.  However, the history of saffron, including a 14-week ‘saffron war’, seems much more complicated that this. Wasabi ワサビ(山葵) The story of the pilgrim, however, came to mind when on Sunday, 19 May 2013, the BBC’s Countryfile treated us to a visit to Britain’s only wasabi farm, at a top secret location in the South of England. …

A Green Step For Humanity Under the headline: "Absolute emissions cap proposed for China",  Australia's Business Spectator reports that "According to local Chinese media, the government’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has proposed that China adopt an absolute cap on its greenhouse gas emissions by 2016." RT (TV-Novosti) asks "Is China Going Green?" and notes that the initiative "must now be approved by the Cabinet before it is enacted." Given that the cuts are a proposal which has been presented to the Chinese government, the Independent's headline:"China agrees to…

It is often believed that mega-events like the Olympics are good for a city or country. Many of the benefits are implied but they still get a monetary value attached when selling it to the public; 'leadership','world-stage', etc. The hangover that occurs economically afterward often leaves host countries wondering who did the math. But if you are a small charity relying on corporate donations, it may be a good idea to get behind all of those taxpayers underwriting big occasions. Even smaller events like political conventions, and certainly the Super Bowl, deliver a morale-boost in the form of…

Chemtrails or Acid Rain ? - The Birth Of Two Myths The idea that acid rain is some sort of hoax or scam is ludicrous. Sulfuric acid and its environmental effects have been known since ancient historical times. If acid rain is a hoax, then the ancient Sumerians and Greeks were certainly in on it. Modern science has been accumulating facts about environmental damage caused by sulfuric acid since at least 1736, when sulfuric acid was first produced industrially in Britain. When deniers of anthropogenic global warming claim that acid rain is a hoax they demonstrate, not their knowledge of science…

In order for research to be most effective, the people included need to be as diverse as possible.  That is why the hundreds of papers each year that are surveys of psychology undergraduates who got extra credit come up with the kind of crazy conclusions mainstream media love to write about, but don't have the credibility of clinical trials. In America, diversity in research is a struggle.  Black and female patients are less likely to agree to participate in research, despite being offered more frequent opportunities to participate.  A new paper has found a new wrinkle. Black…

If you are a particle physicist, and not French, your career at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire  - CERN, The European Organization for Nuclear Research and the world's largest physics laboratory - may be rather limited, it seems. Sarah Butcher, writing at eFinancialCareers, notes that Ryan Buckingham, a particle physicist with a PhD from Oxford University and a recent stint at the Large Hadron Collider, recently joined Goldman Sachs.  That happens a lot these days, you can thank the automated trading financial meltdown of 2010 on physicists and mathematicians.…

In the ongoing struggle between the Representative of the 21st District of Texas, Lamar Smith, and all that is holy about the peer review grant process, the battle lines are getting clearer.Yesterday, it was reported that NSF Director Cora Marrett declined to hand over the peer review comments of five awarded grants, on the grounds that anonymity was key to the grant review process and that giving them up would be an act of bad faith. The Congressman has been arguing that there may be some realms of science, (or as he would say, "science"), that are beyond the scope of the taxpayer-…

Not getting the message that emissions are bad?  A new paper claims that air pollution and emissions from coal-fired electricity plants are associated with higher suicide rates right along with psychiatric conditions. Not sure who such a claim is worse for, energy companies or psychiatrists?  Me either, though psychiatrists are having a bad year due to the release of DSM-5 and the abuse they are getting from other psychiatrists. "The reason why so many of the syndromes don't work out when they do field trials is that they don't exist in biological reality, they only exist in the DSM…

Pollution and Parliament Is carbon dioxide a pollutant ? I am old enough to remember the great smog and the 1953 flood.  There is nothing like a first-hand view of nature in the raw to make a person environmentally aware.  It was in the 1950s at the age of about 6 or 7 that I learned how coal was made out of vegetable matter in nature's own pressure cooker.  The origin of coal was so widely known that it was often called 'bottled sunshine'.image courtesy Lucky Trev It never made sense to me that we humans seemed to be in a great hurry to burn all of that natural wealth. …

Hornswoggled with a Boondoggle Etymology isn't a true science, but any etymologist worthy of the name needs to adopt scientific methods if he or she is to avoid falling into the trap of producing another piece of false etymology. That's etymology, but if you mouth entomology, as many of your peers do, I had as lief an insect spoke my lines.   (Hamlet  Act 3, Scene 2 - almost.)I had as lief an insect spoke my linesImage courtesy makintosh, fanpop.com An exercise in etymology Whenever I find a word or phrase whose origins are uncertain I start to scratch my alleged brain. …