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December 12, 2007
An gas explosion in a coal mine in Chinaâs Shanxi province has killed 105 miners. Xinhua reports on factors that contributed to the tragedy:
[Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety] said the number nine coal bed, where the accident occurred, was not approved for mining. However…
December 12, 2007
By Dick Clapp
There were two reviews of Devra Davisâs new book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer (Basic Books, 2007), published in Lancet journals last month. One was in the November 24 issue of the Lancet and the other was in the November issue of Lancet Oncology. They are so diametrically…
December 11, 2007
By David Michaels, Susan Wood, and Liz Borkowski
Weâve joined with our fellow scientists and citizens to call for presidential candidates to devote a debate to an issue we havenât heard enough about in campaign appearances so far: science. The âScience Debate 2008â campaign is a nonpartisan effort…
December 11, 2007
Tomorrow, the House Small Business Committee will convene a hearing based on a study that is so flawed it could be used to teach students how not to do survey research.
Last month, we wrote about this âsurvey,â conducted by the US Chamber of Commerce, purporting to show that compliance with…
December 10, 2007
The Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act (H.R. 2262) would revamp the 1872 federal law governing hardrock mining (mining for metals and gems, not for coal), and a new article from Business Week reports that the Act has the support of many local officials who worry about miningâs effects on air,…
December 10, 2007
This will probably never be made into an anti-drug ad campaign, but I can't imagine a stronger deterrent.
Angel's Trumpet is a flower that contains scopolamine and other alkaloids. It's known as a "biogenic drug" and presumed by naive recreational drug users to be harmless because it's a plant.…
December 10, 2007
Stunning vector art by Brazilian illustrator Guilherme Marconi. Marconi is a fabulously talented designer who has created a number of unique works related to thought and brain. Check out this contribution to the Vector Magazine calendar in a pdf, and view more of his portfolio (including an…
December 7, 2007
Gristmill has been doing an excellent job of tracking the progress of energy legislation in Congress this week; highlights include:
Nancy Pelosiâs ass-kicking, which allowed the House bill to return to something close to its former strength;
A marathon session in the Senateâs Environment and…
December 7, 2007
A quick look at two papers and an editorial on the effects on lung function of exposure to levels of air pollution below current EPA standards, published in this weekâs New England Journal of Medicine.
Epidemiologic studies of the health effects of air pollution keep improving, with scientists…
December 7, 2007
Not so much walking as rocking and rolling, a brain moves along a desk in a supremely pointless amateur video. Watch the shadow on the wall behind the brain...
December 6, 2007
The New York Times' headline read:
350 Men Entombed in Mine Explosion. Rescue Force at Work in the Debris of Two Shattered Mines at Monongah, West Va. Poisonous Gas Pours Out.
At about 10:00 am on Dec 6, 1907, a violent explosion of methane gas and coal dust killed hundreds of workers at two…
December 6, 2007
Here are some comics and images I've been saving up for so long that I mostly forget where I found them. Click the fold below to view. Enjoy!
[Okay, that last one is not funny...]
December 6, 2007
A quick look at âPredictors of Psychostimulant Use by Long-Distance Truck Driversâ by Ann Williamson in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
An Australian study finds that paying truck drivers by the job (instead of by the hour or week) leads to increased driver use of amphetamines and other…
December 5, 2007
In other news about brain-shaped toys, here's the Walking Brain. Wind it up and, yes, it walks. The really stupid thing, though, is that someone's created a 15 second video of it waddling across a blank screen that they think people will pay to download (you can watch it for free), while the toy…
December 5, 2007
Once again, toys are turning up with high lead levels â and, once again, it was an advocacy group, rather than the Consumer Product Safety Commission, that did the tests and broke the news.
The nonprofit Ecology Center, working with other groups across the country, bought and tested 1,268…
December 5, 2007
NIOSH (the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) has launched a new blog, called the NIOSH Science Blog, as a way to fulfill its mission of translating NIOSH scientific research into practice. It invites visitors âto present ideas to NIOSH scientists and each other while engaging…
December 4, 2007
by Susan F. Wood, PhDÂ
It's not often, if ever, that an FDA sponsored report calls out for more resources, more direct action and organizational change for FDA. The recently released report (PDF) by the Subcommittee on Science and Technology for the FDA Science Board does just that. Although…
December 4, 2007
It's been nearly four months since nine men were killed at the Crandall Canyon mine in Emery County, Utah. Congressman George Miller (D-CA) held a hearing in early October on the disaster, but a Senate hearing, scheduled for Dec 4, for which the mine operator Robert Murray had been subpeonaed,…
December 4, 2007
Elizabeth Williamson of the Washington Post has written powerful article on the failure of the regulatory system to ensure that amusement park âthrillâ rides donât kill or injure customers, primarily teenagers and children. She provides grisly detail on a topic weâve talked about here before: the…
December 3, 2007
Tammy has posted another edition of the Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace at her Weekly Toll blog. It gives short writeups of 88 workplace deaths, including the following:
Joe Shephard, 36, of London, KY died when the construction trench he was working in collapsed.
Maria De Losangeles…
December 2, 2007
A quick look at Blood Lead Concentrations Less than 10 Micrograms per Deciliter and Child Intelligence at 6 Years of Age by Todd A. Jusko, Charles R. Henderson, Jr., Bruce P. Lanphear et al., published online in Environmental Health Perspectives.
The current CDC definition of elevated blood lead in…
December 2, 2007
As we approach the Bush Administrationâs final year, the gap between science and policy grows wider each day. Advances in science that could be used for the public good are rarely incorporated into public policy; some federal agencies seem almost unaware that the scientific literature exists and…
December 1, 2007
Since this blog has shut down (and, really, after this post there will be no more new posts here), I've started up a new blog whose focus will be slightly different.
Go check out my new blog, Second Sight, if you are at all interested.
November 30, 2007
By Aman
Cross-posted with permission from Technology, Health & Development
Tomorrow is World AIDS Day and instead of âbarraging you with [another set of] statistics, gruesome photos, or heart-wrenching storiesâ (quote credit to Mr. Casnocaha), I want to alert you to something we prefer here -…
November 30, 2007
Nanotechnology is getting some attention these days. Revere at Effect Measure (which just celebrated its third blogiversary!) gauges the level of alarm about nanotechnology; at Science Progress, Michael Peroski looks at the current regulatory framework for nanotechnology, while Justin Masterman…
November 30, 2007
Anaesthetist's Hymn performed by the comedy duo Amateur Transplants, set to the music of Total Eclipse of the Heart.
[P.S. What's this got to do with the brain? Consciousness.]
November 29, 2007
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, a group created by asbestos victims and their families, bought products from national retailers and had them tested at independent labs. One of the most disturbing findings was high levels of asbestos in powder from a toy CSI fingerprint kit. The powder…
November 29, 2007
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, has a powerful op ed in todayâs New York Times on Burger Kingâs role in ensuring that migrant farm workers receive sub-minimum wages.
The migrant farm workers who harvest tomatoes in South Florida have one of the nationâs most backbreaking jobs. For 10…
November 28, 2007
Last month, BP and the Department of Justice reached a settlement agreement under which BP will pay $50 million for Clean Air Act violations associated with the March 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery, which killed 15 workers and injured many more. Celeste Monforton noted at the time that…