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Jupiter was at "opposition" yesterday, which means that it's still almost at opposition today. "Opposition" means that it's on exactly the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. The picture to the right shows diagrammatically the layout of the Solar System when Jupiter is at opposition. This…
A Republican is somebody who thinks that the first, fourth, and eighth amendments are too dangerous to be followed in the modern world.
A Democrat is somebody who thinks that the second and tenth amendments are too dangerous to be followed in the modern world.
A Libertarian is somebody who thinks…
By Dick ClappÂ
Rachel Carson has been in the news quite a lot recently, first as the object of a diatribe by a U.S. Senator, and also in a series of news stories commemorating what would have been her 100th birthday last week. Tim Lambert at Deltoid has addressed the false allegations…
By Liz BorkowskiÂ
In a commentary in the latest issue of JAMA, Sheldon Krimsky (a member of the planning committee for the Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy, and a contributor to this blog) and Tania Simoncelli examine the EPAâs guidelines for testing pesticides on humans and…
OSHA issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) asking for public input for a possible new safety regulation on mechanical power presses. The existing OSHA regulation is based on a 1971 standard issued by the American National Standards Institute. The ANPRM lists…
CompUSA screws over a customer bigtime. They sell him an empty box, and when he comes back for a refund, they refuse. They think they can get away with this because, hey, who's he going to tell? Their customer base is so huge that if he and his friends get torqued off and never come back, it's…
By David Michaels
The first law of ecology is that everything is related to everything else.
-Barry Commoner
Tomorrow in New York City Barry Commonerâs friends are gathering to celebrate his 90th birthday. In 2007, Barryâs statement on ecology seems obvious if not trite, but that was not the case…
By Peter Dooley
The stories of injury and illness among workers at the Toyota Georgetown plant (reported in the Washington Post story this past week) remind us all about the plight of workers without representation in their workplace. Facing termination after an injury,…
The editors at the Charleston Gazette and the Louisville Courier-Journal deserve a pat on the back for allowing their reporters to follow-up on worker safety and health stories.  Ken Ward at the Charleston Gazette is still covering important matters related to MSHA and the Sago…
When a man with extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is told not to board a plane and then does so anyway, you have to expect the public health bloggers to come out in force. Tara C. Smith at Aetiology has been on top of this from the start, first laying out the story, then …
Caution: Put down your fork before reading this post.
In a recent op-ed published in the Baltimore Sun, colleagues at Johns Hopkins University put in perspective the recent revelations about contaminated animal feed imported from China.Â
...we should be at least as concerned about the "…
"On January 11, 2006, my husband and best friend, Clyde Jones, was taken from me and the children, family, friends and community...  He went to work one morning for the City that he loved to a job that he loved.  He never came home."Â
These are the words of…
Tammy has posted another edition of the Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace at her Weekly Toll blog. It gives short writeups on 57 workplace deaths, including the following:
* David Kessler, Jr., a 27-year-old communications worker from Marysville, Washington, died of severe shock after…
President Bush has nominated Dr. James W. Holsinger, Jr. to be U.S. Surgeon General. Here's the short item from the Associated Press:
President Bush has nominated a Kentucky cardiologist who is interested in fighting childhood obesity to be the next surgeon general, the White House announced. The…
By David Michaels
Chris Cillizza of WashingtonPost.com's The Fix blog reports that former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) is "growing more and more serious about a run for president" - in fact, he's chosen a "campaign manager in waiting."
Tom Collamore, a former vice president of public…
Manuel Roig-Franzia at the Washington Post reports that over the past six years, more than 30 journalists have been killed in Mexico, and countless more have been kidnapped. Grenades have been thrown into newspaper offices in Cancun, Hermosillo and Nuevo Laredo, and last week, a newspaper in Sonora…
The Bush administration isnât the first to expand executive branch influence over the activities of federal regulatory agencies (like FDA, EPA, and OSHA), but it has taken the practice to a new level. Now that the Democrats are controlling Congress, though, moves by the White House Office of…
By Liz Borkowski
While weâre waiting to hear what EPA and ConAgra have learned from studying emissions from microwave popcorn, itâs worth remembering that airborne artificial butter flavoring isnât the only concern associated with this particular convenience food.
Rebecca Renner reported last year…
By David Michaels
"The cooperation of ConAgra Foods and the EPA has yielded a comprehensive understanding of butter flavor emissions for consumers."
- Patricia Verduin, Senior Vice President Product Quality & Development, ConAgra Foods, Inc. in a November 29, 2004 letter to Paul Gilman,…
By David Michaels
We've been writing for the past few months about U.S. regulatory agencies' failure to take meaningful action on diacetyl, a toxic component of artificial butter flavor, despite having been aware of its risks since at least the start of this decade. Now, mounting evidence suggests…
By David Michaels
The Chinese government has apparently recognized the importance of integrity in drug regulation. According to AP:
China's top drug regulator was sentenced to death on charges of corruption and negligence, state media said Tuesday, the latest development stemming from growing…
Today's the day that Answers In Genesis' museum of ignorance, their "looks like, acts like, smells like, and pretends to be, but decidedly is not a science museum," the Creation Museum opens.
I'm horrified about this on many levels. As a scientist, I'm horrified about it just like every other…
Second Life (SL) is a 3d virtual world (some would call it an online game, but it's not really that; for one thing, it kind of sucks as a game, and for another thing, it's much more than that). You can do modeling and building entirely online. People have created buildings, vehicles,…
I'm pretty sure that nowhere in the Bible does it say that the square root of 256 is 16. I happen to know that, yes, 16 squared is 256. Therefore, if I were to tell you and attempt to convince you that the square root of 256 is 22, I would be lying, in that I would be telling you something that…
Sunday, May 20th, 2007, marked the first anniversary of the Kentucky Darby Mine Explosion, which claimed the lives of five good men: Jimmy Lee, Amon Brock, Roy Middleton, Paris Thomas, Jr., and Bill Petra.
A sixth victim of the tragedy, Paul Ledford, is forever haunted by his memories of that day…
This week, bloggers had plenty to say regarding the new study raising safety questions about the diabetes drug Avandia. The Olive Ridley Crawl and Merrill Goozner at GoozNews emphasize the importance of transparency around clinical trials, while Cervantes at Stayinâ Alive explains whatâs wrong with…
VV114 is a very interesting galaxy. It's a major merger of at least two big galaxies. If I might go out on a limb, it may even be an advanced merger (on the left) currently strongly interacting with another galaxy (on the right).
The left galaxy is extremely dusty. Sunsets are red because…
Chad just posted a bit of pre-tenure advice, including the very important advice to take all advice with a grain of salt. I would say that also applies to the rest of his advice, because I'm about to post contradictory advice. You should also take my advice with a grain of salt. Be aware that it…
There has been this Internet meme around for quite some time now: LOLcats (which has also been summarized on BoingBoing).
Freaky cat person that I am, I have been remiss in not participating. I seek to remedy that now.
Today, the Institute of Medicine released its report Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation. In a public briefing Richard J. Bonnie, Chair of the IOM Committee on Reducing Tobacco Use, explained that âending the tobacco problemâ means reducing tobacco use âso substantially that it…