Science & Society

Once upon a time we all knew what censorship was, who the good and bad guys were, and what could be done to make the world a better place. Look up the noun “censor” in the Oxford English Dictionary and you’ll find an outline of a much-told story under definition 2 (b): “An official in some countries whose duty it is to inspect all books, journals, dramatic pieces, etc, before publication, to secure that they shall contain nothing immoral, heretical, or offensive to the government.” Attributing the first instance of this usage to the English poet John Milton, the lexicographers illustrated it…

The worst effects of the UK’s housing crisis include rising levels of homelessness, and growing numbers of people being housed in unsafe or overcrowded conditions. According to the charity Crisis, 59,890 households were accepted as homeless in England in 2017. And according to recent statistics, 27% of privately rented homes and 13% of homes in the social housing sector are not classed as “decent”. In response to this crisis, some have suggested that the UK should follow countries such as the Netherlands and South Africa, by enshrining a person’s right to housing in law. But if the UK were…

Dilation, the most misunderstood aspect of transsexual life.  Common misconceptions and vicious lies say that it is to keep open an oozing bleeding wound that will scab over and heal up like a cut without dilation.    NO.  It is painful ….it can be.  It is sexual and nasty… NO!    In this blog and the below video recorded a week ago I will give my personal observations of it.    Too Long, Didn’t Watch. It is painful much of the time.  Yet it can also relieve pain.  This is much like a deep tissue massage with a particular…

If you search Wikipedia for present day habitats on Mars, then you will find many articles about Mars colonization, but on the idea that there might be microhabitats for present day life there, you'll find almost nothing. You'll find my Present day Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth but nothing about the possible habitats they are analogues of. So why is this? Well there was an article on this until just a week or two ago, but it is now deleted. You can read it here: Possible Present Day Habitats For Life On Mars in my new astrobiology wiki which I created in order to find a…

On Sunday evening, John Oliver of HBO's "Last Week Tonight" took a break from talking about Paul Manafort's clothing to talk about public trust in science. Well, sort of. Really, he claimed he wanted to expose "astroturf" groups - fake organizations that look like real "grassroots" ones. You can imagine how I surprised I was on Saturday when I found out he was going to be talking about me. Not me personally, he doesn't want to make it too limited when he can smear our whole science community, so he instead tried a layup against the entire American Council on Science and Health and its 10…

The Illinois Education Association is a state level component of the National Education Association. As one of the largest teachers unions in the country it may represent your college professors and your college teachers. The actions of unions in the past are why we have a 5 day work week, 8 hour work day, a lunch break, a minimum wage and a lot of other things we now take for granted. See the update at the bottom of this page That said, unions lately have started to overreach into blatant partisan politics externally and run their internal politics very poorly. Consider this image.…

There is very little I love more than the world wide web. No, seriously, I mean it. Internet has changed my life more than any other "thing" around, and it has provided me with an enormous wealth - information, knowledge, simplification of otherwise difficult tasks, ease of access to data, solution to problems, connection with people all over the world, possibility to broadcast and publish. And entertainment, online gaming, music, videos, free porn, free movies, paid movies. I could go on, of course. I believe each of us could compile his or her own personal list of what they love about the…

Crunchyroll, Funimation and others have perpetuated the miseducation, and knowingly or unknowingly promoted anti LGBT bigotry in a generation of geeks in the western world.  Once people are miseducated it is really hard to reeducate them in the right way.  Companies like Crunchyroll and Funimation have misrepresented the culture of Japan in relation to Transgender people.  Anime, you may ask, why should this form of media matter to senior scientist… because a lot of your junior researchers and students are or have been fans of it.  Along with Sci Fi and Fantasy Anime is…

In 2016, more than 42,000 Americans died of an opioid-related overdose, which is alarming - but most of those deaths were not accidents by pain patients or suicides, they were recreational drug users. There are numerous obstacles to making meaningful progress. For one, legitimate pain patients have become more stigmatized - government is blaming doctors and pharmacy rather than drug dealers - and that means people who want to kick their addiction are even more ostracized.  Second, no one gets public condemnation like pregnant women but they can get addicted also. Opioid agonist therapies…

There is talk in America of adding even more nutrition information to food labels, but as long as entire industries are exempt from evidence-based claims, it won't do much good. It will still be woo central in the supplement, holistic, and weight-loss camps. The European Association for the Study of Obesity investigated the legality of on-pack nutrition and health claims routinely found on commercially available meal replacement shakes for sale in the UK and found that over 75 percent are in violation of EU Nutrition and Health Claims regulations.  Britain is the most obese nation…