Science & Society

AUCKLAND, NZ – This week, I missed Wednesday. Normally, the perils of crossing the International Date Line en route to field sites don’t bother me. After all, who really minds missing the middle of the working week? But this time, Wednesday’s absence bothered me. That’s because two days ago, California officially opened its carbon cap and trade market with the first sale of emissions permits since the state passed landmark climate change legislation six years ago. Given that the state of California does enough business to rank as the world’s 9th largest economy, and that its emissions trading…

The Synapse Gel that Tiffany was daubing on my forehead and temples looked and felt, but did not smell, like hand lotion. It carried with it the crisp and dainty musk of Science: a sterile, singeing pong that induced the slightest of nose-wrinkles and conjured up images of aseptic test tubes. I sniffed and glanced around nervously. Though the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s exhibit hall appeared to be properly ventilated (not that I actually had any conception of proper ventilation), the scalp massage seemed a bit risqué for public. And yet nobody in the masses around the…

"China’s Openness no One-Way Alley" appeared in the The Nanjinger. After all, it is called “science outreach” for a reason. From the article: Science needs to play a role in important decisions. However, the US is further regressing into religious irrationality and warmongering that large parts of its population do not even endorse, yet can do nothing to prevent. Western systems are effectively two-party, same policy ones, leaving “choices” such as either religion and big corporate business or small business with even worse religiosity. Even Germany’s chancellor Merkel, though physicist, had…

Something happened last night that you don't see very often - almost all of the polls were right. Nearly everyone predicted the state electoral results correctly and that, my friends, is truly rare.  It's easy to get most of them correct. I used to live in Pennsylvania, for example, which was once pretty mainstream Democrat but then became among the last of a more rare "Blue Dog  Democrat" state - Democrats, but not the kooky social authoritarian ban-happy New York and California kind. It was understandable because union people in Pittsburgh don't have much in common with the…

A few months ago, before Monsanto and DuPont realized Proposition 37 may have been started by anti-science crackpots but it was not going away and I was one of the few critical of it, I would have predicted GMO warning labels to win by 66% - because that is the percentage of Democrats in California and while Republicans get attention in science media for being 'anti-science' due to global warming, the actual anti-science positions that are dangerous are bastions of the left. Global warming skeptics (deniers, whatever) conserve energy as much as true believers, they drive fuel-efficient cars,…

Since it is almost the end of election season we will also see the end of the meme from Environmental Working Group and other anti-science organizations about genetically modified organisms. Okay, we won't see the end of that at all.  If you are an advocacy group, you don't raise money by noting the positive things about science, you have to try and scare people a little.  So Union of Concerned Scientists, Greenpeace, Environmental Working Group and others accept the science consensus on global warming, because it says we are doomed, while denying the science consensus on energy and…

A recent article about lie detectors brought up a related topic; drug/bomb sniffing dogs or the more general use of police service dogs.  Let me begin by acknowledging a bias; I love dogs.  There seems little doubt regarding the utility of these animals in search and rescue, body recovery, and even sniffing contraband and explosives.  I want to be clear that this is not an attempt to diminish the importance and the role of these dogs in many of the activities they engage in.  Regardless of their error rates or even false positives, the assistance provided by these animals…

In 2008, I was as excited as anyone about the chance to correct some public relations mistakes made by the Bush administration in the nascent years of blogging.  Obviously some of the 'Republicans are anti-science' stuff was because when you are far left, even the middle looks like the right, but Republicans had done no favors to themselves by 'taking the bait' on topics like hESC research.  What had been a reasonable, bipartisan position on human embryonic stem cells in 2001 (traditional conservatives were actually all for it, more religious types among both Democrats and…

Well here's an interesting development.  Mandatory labeling of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), the subject of CA Prop 37, has opened a rift between two of my favorite organizations.  The AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) recently released a statement opposing mandatory GMO labeling, while the UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists), remains firmly in favor.  The AAAS says mandatory labeling is reserved for potential dangers, but genetic engineering is as safe as conventional breeding.  Therefore, labels would falsely imply something wrong with…

The American Association for the Advancement of Science did something that was so obvious it was a surprise to find out they hadn't already done it - they formally came out against labeling GMO foods. They don't directly mention Proposition 37 in California but that is the only place where labeling counts this election. Why have a position? Well, arbitrary labeling doesn't protect anybody or even make our food more transparent since, like with Prop 37, it can simply exempt billions of dollars in organic food, restaurant food and even alcohol. Instead, labeling implies non-exempt GM…