Science & Society

Given the political demographic of the webzine Alternet and its anti-science mentality, it's not a huge surprise that its contributors are in common cause with the Russians and others who are merchants of doubt about American science and medicine. What is shocking is that Alternet displays them so prominently.  If you are not familiar with it, Alternet is basically InfoWars of the far left. If you are working at an industry front group like Organic Consumers Association (or one of its puppet attack fronts like Sourcewatch or US Right To Know) you can always count on Alternet to carry…

The Justice Department has said that ending the flow of illegal opioids in the U.S. is a top law-enforcement priority but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't want to wait years for courts to help, they are directly calling on the public to pressure sites like Google, Facebook, and Twitter to put a crimp on supplement and opioid sales. At the National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called on social media companies and internet companies to stop taking money for ads. Good luck with that. What he was really seeking is public help in pressuring them.…

Ben Shapiro and others often cite a UCLA study which claimed that 45% of transwomen try to commit suicide to “prove” that transgender people are mentally ill and that we should not reinforce their “delusion”.   A big problem with their line of reasoning is that  they generalize a single survey based on a self-selected convenience sample to a whole population.  One could dismiss that as some kind of pseudo intellectual argument based on feelings and facts don’t care about feelings.  Math is a fact.  If 45% of transgender people, try to commit suicide at some…

This is an article in New Scientist that’s being shared in social media which says it's a new caclulation of the future of the Universe according to the theory of false vacuum. It’s scaring many people because when you read it as far as it goes, before you have to pay to read, it doesn’t give a timeline, so they think it could happen any moment. Also, because it says “there’s a chance” that it has already collapsed in a distant corner of the cosmos. I'm writing this as part of a series of posts to help people scared of false or exaggerated doomsdays, which often get to the top of Google,…

Trigger Warning [general trigger warning]: My analysis of the current situation is deeply concerning, but there is some hope. As an autistic abnormal of that kind, I try perfecting consistency in my interpretations, insisting on self-critical scientific method – also in all of the following. However: “Lying is a pervasive human behavior.” [first sentence of abstract in Evans, Lee; Dev. Psychol. 49, (2013)] We start lying at age two, obvious lies, and the further development is in the ‘executive functions’, covering our tracks, taking the knowledge of the deceived into account. We lie, lie…

Before heading to a work-vacation in Europe I got an email asking if I might be willing to be a last second replacement on a panel at a film festival called Festival du Film et Forum International sur les Droits Humains (International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights), in conjunction with the March session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. I like films, I am all for human rights, and trains are easy in Europe, so it sounded like a fine way to spend a March 13th evening, but after a few questions I learned I was taking the place of a corporation called Syngenta (an agricultural…

Large amounts of ink (well, electrons) have been spilt over the web in the past few months to discuss the #MeToo movement. It seems this blog will eventually join the crowd, although a bit belatedly, and with a slightly different viewing angle. After keeping silent on the matter, I am stimulated to discuss it after a BuzzFeed article exposed several cases of alleged sexual harassment and related inappropriate behavior by world-class cosmologist-cum-science-pop-guy-cum-skeptic Lawrence Krauss. Plus, yesterday was international women's day, and I never miss a chance to miss a deadline. I…

Well, to everyone’s surprise, it seems that Trump and Kim are going to meet. So this is no longer a hypothetical question. (This originates as my answer on Quora to: What would happen if Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump could meet and talk to resolve the tension over North Korea?) So first, this is good news. Whatever comes of it, it's major progress that NK has said it will not do any tests until the meeting with Trump It accepts that US and SK will do a joint military exercise before then, as they do every year (this is a big step as they usually protest strongly and fire missiles during…

Due to concerns expressed by readers, this article has been removed from our site. While meant as satire, the author’s imperfect grasp of the English language came off as deeply offensive to many. Science 2.0 will continue to present a lively and open forum full of challenging ideas, concepts, and opinions, that is the benefit of non-profit, independent media, but we see no value in giving people gratuitous offense.

I’ve had several PM’s and we’ve had comments by scared people in our Doomsday Debunked Facebook group who have read alarmist stories suggesting that Putin threatens to attack the US. If you have read these stories, it is worth listening to his actual speech to get the Russian perspective on it. It could hardly be more different. He presents it as, in his view, the only way to preserve peace. It is worth listening to the speech yourself to get their perspective. The bit about the weapons systems starts at 1:15 approx and so lasts for about 38 minutes. It is in Russian with translation into…