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Posts made in August, 2011

Unobservable Universe, Unobservable Science

Science 2.0 is all about making a difference in a positive way, bringing lots of people in the world together to talk with each other about science.    We're the only open science site of decent size, meaning you don't have to be famous or bring a large audience to get invited, you just sign up and write science, so participation and communication are key to the Science 2.0 concept.read...

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Like People Predicting The End Of The World, Animal Activists Will Eventually Be Right

If you are a European who might be allergic to some compounds in cosmetics, you are out of luck.  In 2009, outside a few exceptions, the European Union banned the use of animals in cosmetic testing - though they still allow it in plenty of other things.  Heck, in the UK 91% of basic research using animal testing was found to have a societal benefit and, while that was a failure to...

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Susan Greenfield Invents A New Cause Of Autism And Carl Zimmer Invents A New Meme

Susan Greenfield Invents A New Cause Of Autism And Carl Zimmer Invents A New Meme

Susan Greenfield is always interesting.   And New Scientist is always willing to print anything.  It's a happy time when they get together.   Greenfield once said playing Prokofiev at half speed would lead to depression, leading me to replyread...

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S&P downgrade – China blames Obama, Obama blames Tea Party

Standard and Poor’s has removed the AAA credit rating from the United States and, coupled with similar turmoil, in Europe, global stock markets lost another $2.5 trillion last week. That’s about $17 trillion since President Obama took office. China, which holds an alarming amount of U.S. debt, is not amused and took the Obama administration to task for the weakness, and called again...

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What Will The New Debt Ceiling Mean For Science?

A short while ago, a Republican in Congress criticized waste and non-science funding by the NSF.  A Democrat in Congress criticized waste in the the James Webb Space Telescope project by NASA. Given that both parties in the US mainstream are taking a critical look at science funding and the debt to fund both a neo-con descent into imperialism (Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan) and socialism (subsidies...

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