#SciFri coming up now: When Politics Meets Science

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Friday October 14, 2011 · 12:13 PM PDT

2011/10/14 · 12:13

Sorry for the short notice, but soon on the second hour of Science Friday there's going to be a discussion of Shawn Otto's new book.

SciFri info:
http://www.sciencefriday.com/...

In his new book, Fool Me Twice, writer Shawn Otto tells why he thinks science is under assault in America. Otto, CEO and co-founder of Science Debate 2008, also explains why his "American Science Pledge" for candidates might bring more science into political decision making.

mem from somerville

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Wednesday October 12, 2011 · 5:06 PM PDT

2011/10/12 · 17:06

Global warning: climate sceptics are winning the battle reads the headline of an article about comments made by James Hansen recently:

Part of the problem, he said, was that the climate sceptic lobby employed communications professionals, whereas "scientists are just barely competent at communicating with the public and don't have the wherewithal to do it."

I agree with Hansen. It’s a lot like the SNL skit where Dukakis looks over and says, “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.” Despite the weight of scientific evidence on climate and atmosphere, the stuff that needs to be done to stop the train we are on is being thwarted by a message machine that’s kicking our butts.

We have the science. We have the temperature data. Climate data isn’t making the difference. What will?

mem from somerville

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Tuesday September 27, 2011 · 4:48 PM PDT

2011/09/27 · 16:48

While reading ScienceBlogs today, my attention was drawn to this compelling admonition:

Stamp out Anti-science by Michael Edmonds. He highlights an editorial by Paul Nurse in New Scientist this month. First, I was surprised (and a little sad) that a blog from New Zealand was my first exposure to this. And second that it was a scientist from the UK who is leading this charge.

Some of you may remember when I did a post on his "Science Under Attack" show, where he addressed the issues of deniers and dissemblers of all sorts--climate deniers, HIV deniers, anti-vaxxers, and more. He's been battling nonsense for quite some time, and it's been great to see.

Sigh. I wish leading American scientists would stand up like this. Of course, not so many have the job security that Nurse does. A Nobel Prize winner, he's currently the president of the Royal Society.

mem from somerville

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Monday September 26, 2011 · 6:24 PM PDT

2011/09/26 · 18:24

I saw a story a couple of weeks back that I found very VERY disturbing. Maryn McKenna wrote about the emergence of polio cases in China.

Borders are Irrelevant: Polio Returns to China

Very bad news from China, as reported by Xinhua and confirmed by the World Health Organization: For the first time in 12 years, polio paralysis has surfaced in China. Four children, the oldest 2 years old, were diagnosed with polio in mid-July.
[public domain image courtesy of the CDC]

Polio? Are you serious?? The only time I hear anything about polio lately is when some anti-vaxxers make the absurd claims that it wasn't vaccination that drove the scourge of this illness away. They use internet mythology from their echo-chambers to convince themselves that they don't need to vaccinate their kids.

Well, it's never gone away. In part it continues because conspiracy theories and doubt-peddlers have ensured that major vaccination efforts have been unable to reach everywhere. (And the CIA did us no favors with that "vaccination" campaign in Pakistan. Morans.)

mem from somerville

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Sunday September 25, 2011 · 8:33 PM PDT

2011/09/25 · 20:33

Ok, I really had no intention of a third post in 24 hours...but this was so cool I wanted people to see it asap.

On Google+ Joanne Manaster posted this link:

Un litre de lumière

That short post is in French, but you won't need to know the details when you see the video. Which is in Tagalog--but subtitled.

mem from somerville

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Sunday September 25, 2011 · 9:06 AM PDT

2011/09/25 · 09:06

I didn't intend to do a diary today, but this headline was just completely irresistible. I giggled for a long time, and I thought sharing it with you might bring some laughter into your Sunday as well.

It has almost everything you need for a good red-meat story to induce salivation among conservatives: librul media, Marxists, and conspiracy theory. If you want to see it in situ, you may choose to go here.

It was a close race, though, with another one--I'll paste below.

mem from somerville

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Saturday September 24, 2011 · 8:09 AM PDT

2011/09/24 · 08:09

What standards do you want for food safety in the US? Are you interested in science- and evidence-based policies and standards? This won't come as a surprise to many of you here, but I'm certainly a supporter of policies based on legitimate and mainstream science--the weight of scientific evidence in a field.

We all joke around here that the GOP is backwards on so many areas of science, and is in fact actively anti-science. But these anti-science views are certainly not limited to the GOP. In fact, if you heard about this type of funding coming to the US, what would your response be?

MEPs vote to spend €2 million on homeopathy for animals

mem from somerville

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Saturday September 10, 2011 · 6:54 AM PDT

2011/09/10 · 06:54

This is one of the most awesome rants against crap science evah. I was reminded of it the other night at another place I hang out.

mem from somerville for Science Matters

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Sunday July 17, 2011 · 8:20 AM PDT

2011/07/17 · 08:20

When the recent horrifying threats to climate scientists caused researchers to have to relocate, it was rightfully decried by many on the left. This interferes with the work of climate scientists, and is truly appalling. Other types of nuisance activities--like the deluge of FOIA-type requests, are similarly nasty and intrusive into their work. Illegal actions--such as the hacking of computers, is a dreadful further ratcheting-up of the assaults.

What would your response be if a climate science project was physically destroyed by activists--damaging equipment, destroying data, and setting back the work for a significant period of time?

The outrage would be palpable, here and throughout the science community, as it should be.

What you don't know is that this sort of behavior is occurring, interfering with science projects that can help mitigate the effects of climate change and move us away from fossil fuels, among other benefits. But it's being done by the left, sadly.

mem from somerville

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Saturday June 18, 2011 · 2:20 PM PDT

2011/06/18 · 14:20

The other day Bill McKibben from 350.org came here to raise money for a campaign based on the outrageous denial of their new Senator Brown ad campaign that they wanted to run on the Boston area MBTA. Outrage I say! Send money to counter this outrage!

We were told that the ad was, and I quote, "too controversial", and that is what had people all aerated. But nobody will tell me who said "too controversial". I have asked Bill for clarification, and have checked back repeatedly, but he's not responding. I don't think this was what the MBTA said, based on what I read at BlueMassGroup. It looked to me like a pretty standard rejection of a politician-based ad. Which is their policy:

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo pointed to the agency's policy which bars ads that refer to any candidate for public office.

As I looked into this story more, it seemed to me the outrage was a bit...affected. As Boston area residents relayed in that diary--and every local I've spoken too since--we can't remember having seen a politician-specific ad on the T.

mem from somerville for Science Matters

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Wednesday March 09, 2011 · 9:00 AM PST

2011/03/09 · 09:00

Science Matters is a group that seeks to monitor the media for science articles and stories. When they need a fisking, Science Matters members may do so. When good science journalism is found, it should be celebrated and shared.

Each Wednesday the Science Matters group aims to publish a diary that is a collection of stories we've seen and enjoyed. It should cover various fields. Any editor/admin of the group can enter stories. They are not curated nor consensus items, they are member submissions. Therefore there may be differing views among the group, and discussion of any differences in perspective may subsequently appear in the comments.
Contributors should not edit anyone else's items [except in emergency typo situations or link problems of some sort]. Use the template to copy/paste your pieces, filling in the appropriate other information. Someone should check the queue to see that the diary is ready to go at noon ET on Wednesdays.

Template for your items:

<HR>
Story title/link: [should be self-explanatory]
Source/hat tip: [if available/relevant, give credit to your source; if tweetable, link to that for ease of re-tweeting]
Why this is worth reading: [Few words on content, why it's good, important etc]
Contributed by: your_handle_here
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Farmers Grow Monsterous Crops with Alien Space Poop

mem from somerville

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Sunday March 06, 2011 · 4:47 PM PST

2011/03/06 · 16:47

Now, I know a lot of you have suspected this for a long time. But it's true. I am a plant [heh] of a major world agricultural conglomerate. My middle name is Eileen, but that's really just an ancient Celtic version of "Illuminati". [Remember: my ancestors were working on those manuscripts when Yurp was in teh Dark Ages....]

And I can now reveal that it's true.

The Monsanto/BP/Illuminati are actually harvesting alien microbes. They have tried to deliver this knowledge in the form of a paper in the Journal of Cosmology, in a surreptitious manner.

But I have additional background that may--uh--illuminate this story.

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#SciFri coming up now: When Politics Meets Science

Changing Planet, Changing Health

"Stamp out anti-science in US politics"

Polio: how lucky do you feel anti-vaxxers?

Un litre de lumière

"How the BBC fell for a Marxist plot to destroy civilisation from within"

Homeopathy and your food safety

Storm

Assaulting Science. Sadly, by the Left.

350.org goes after Sen. Brown. Er...Sherrod Brown.

Rewarding Good Science Journalism 1

Farmers Grow Monsterous Crops with Alien Space Poop