Apparently the EPA has not yet discovered how to do a video conference.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that Administrator Gina McCarthy will promote President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to cut carbon pollution, slow the effects of climate change and leave a cleaner environment for future generations by doing an Earth Week Tour, flying around to talk about how we...
read moreRecently, President Obama made a clear endorsement of biotechnology.That's good, right?Maybe. He has also made clear endorsements of nuclear science and vaccines, yet his actions in five years have been anything but clear. His administration consistently opposes inconvenient science that disagrees with the beliefs of his base - and nothing offends a giant swath of Democrats like nuclear energy,...
read moreVani Hari, the Foodbabe, promises that if you follow her diet you will look pretty like she does - and to bolster her case she trots out the naturalistic fallacy and a healthy dose of chemical illiteracy, the most famous of which is 'if she can't pronounce it, you shouldn't eat it'.As Josh Bloom has noted on Science 2.0, she is missing out on delicious chemical-laced treats like...
read moreA decade ago, science academic was worked into a holy war by the belief that President Bush hated science. What were the reasons? They are hard to remember now. He federally funded human embryonic stem cell research for the first time - but he limited it to existing lines. That was a big one, for people who were never voting for a Republican anyway. It was a more gullible time....
read moreAirplane food tastes bad, right?It depends. Before our somewhat dopey security efforts turned flying into a third-world experience, I have had some pretty good meals. But efforts to create gourmet meals fall pretty flat - and there is a science reason why.The Fraunhofer Institute did a study on why delicious food on the ground tastes dull in the air. In a mock aircraft cabin, researchers...
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