sheril | March 13, 2009Last year we participated in Earth Hour, an international movement demonstrating that millions of people around the world are ready to do something about climate change. Join us again on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30PM (your local time):
This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world's first global election, between Earth and global warming.
For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote - Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global…
sheril | March 12, 2009Every now and then The Intersection likes to pay tribute to the family that has been kicking it in Springfield for the last 20 years. Today we present Evolution... Simpsons style:
cmooney | March 12, 2009Yale Environment 360 interviews the renowned New Yorker journalist, who blames the media and scientists alike for our staggering failure to deal with this issue. Here's a long quotation:
e360: We've talked about journalists and generally the challenges in conveying this issue to the public. But what about scientists? I mean, scientists have a responsibility to get their information out to the public whether it's through the media or through their own writings and work. How good a job do you think they have done in conveying this whole issue?
Kolbert: Oh, I don't think they've done a good job…
cmooney | March 12, 2009A really great Issues in Science and Technology article by Sheril and our ScienceDebate2008 colleague (and CEO) Shawn Otto is now available online here. It is a look back at the unprecedented ScienceDebate initiative and the not inconsiderable impact it had on the campaign--despite numerous hurdles, including an uninterested media and candidates who were not exactly jumping to debate science policy. An excerpt:
Although the candidates still refused to debate, instead attending yet another faith forum at Saddleback Church in California, Science Debate 2008 was able to obtain written answers…
cmooney | March 11, 2009I don't know how I missed this earlier in the week. But you really know science journalism is in danger when the Boston Globe, at the center of all things biotech, decides it can't have a science/medicine section any longer.
But maybe at least Larry Moran will be rejoicing. Think about it this way: Science journalists will make far less mistakes if they aren't writing!
sheril | March 11, 2009
The blogosphere is buzzing over the new middle school aged Dora The Explorer because of her recently released silhouette.
Over at Packaging Girlhood, Lynn and Sharon suggest:
If the original Dora grew up, she wouldn't be a fashion icon or a shopaholic. She'd develop her map reading skills and imagine the places she could go. She'd capitalize on those problem solving skills to design new ways to bring fresh water to communities in need around the world. Maybe she'd become a world class runner or follow her love of animals and become a wildlife preservationist or biologist.
Wait... what?! We'…
sheril | March 11, 2009I've been fascinated by the Romanovs for decades hoping that perhaps, just perhaps... Anastasia had somehow escaped. Unfortunately, new research published in PLoS ONE finally provides grim evidence of what happened to the family's youngest children in 1918:
One of the greatest mysteries for most of the twentieth century was the fate of the Romanov family, the last Russian monarchy. Following the abdication of Tsar NicholasII, he and his wife, Alexandra, and their five children were eventually exiled to the city of Yekaterinburg. The family, along with four loyal members of their staff, was…
cmooney | March 10, 2009Amid the big stem cell news, the second half of what the president did yesterday--in essence, order his science adviser to conduct a government-wide scientific housecleaning--has gotten less attention. But it's remarkably important if we want to get over the science problems of the Bush years. In my latest Science Progress column, I explore the meaning of the president's memorandum setting forth this objective. To wit:
The whole problem with the Bush administration's responses to many allegations of political interference with science is that the answer was always the same: Nothing to see…
sheril | March 10, 2009The Guardian:
Human pollution is turning the seas into acid so quickly that the coming decades will recreate conditions not seen on Earth since the time of the dinosaurs, scientists will warn today.
Say what?! Look, ocean acidification is a VERY real threat to our planet. That said, the seas are not turning to acid! (But gee, way to scare folks into envisioning the demise of the wicked witch!) This demonstrates a lack of taking the time to explore and understand what ocean acidification means--the term is used to describe the way the pH of oceans is becoming less basic as they absorb…
cmooney | March 10, 2009Over a year ago, we had an idea: We were doing a book that discusses the work of the British physicist-novelist C.P. Snow, and the 50 year anniversary of his world famous "two cultures" argument was coming up--May 7, 2009. Precisely 50 years earlier, Snow had delivered a lecture at Cambridge University lamenting the gap between scientists and humanists, or as he called them then, "literary intellectuals," and suggesting it was a grave threat to policymaking and to the future.
We believe this is still a deeply important and resonant argument, and so we got in touch with the New York Academy of…
sheril | March 10, 2009Chris and I have been hard at work planning something big... Check back at 11 for details!
cmooney | March 9, 2009In the looking glass world of some conservatives and contrarians, the Democratic war on science continues today....just see here for proof.
Not only has our new president reversed Bush's stem cell policy, and directed his science adviser--who really, really needs to be Senate confirmed--to "develop a strategy for restoring scientific integrity to government decision making" (something I and many others have called for). But in some ways better still, he has given a big speech about embryonic stem cell research that is scientifically accurate, cautious, and does not oversell its potential--…
sheril | March 9, 2009I'm off to the city for a panel in recognition of International Women's Day. Given the theme, I'd like to point readers to a recent piece from The Guardian asking 'Where are the books by women with big ideas?'
Books like Freakonomics, defining significant cultural or economic trends with a punchy title, never seem to be produced by women. But why?
As you can imagine, I have much to say on the topic coming soon, but am first interested in your reaction to the article. Here's an excerpt to get us started:
Julia Cheiffetz, blogging at publishing website HarperStudio, dubs the genre "big think…
cmooney | March 7, 2009So, I have to say I find this funny.
On the one hand we have the current, perverse attempt to forecast all the ways in which Democrats and scientists are going to fall into big conflicts soon, now that the Dems have so much power. The idea here is to construct a false equivalence between the egregious abuses of the Bush administration and a few potential conflicts of a very different nature that could maybe happen sometime in the future under this administration.
Meanwhile, we have Obama about to stand up and, you know, liberate embryonic stem cell research. Jeez, Mr. President, didn't you…
sheril | March 7, 2009Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy posted this terrific piece that started off my Saturday with a smile. It reads like The Onion, though I also can't find the original source. Take a look and see if you agree that author Michael Haber might be onto something...
Emboldened by their success in declaring Pluto not a
planet, the International Astronomical Union determined this week by a
close vote that February is too short to be considered a true month. It
has, however, been granted the newly created status of "dwarf month."
It shares this dubious distinction with several other calendar time…
cmooney | March 6, 2009I've got a piece up on the website of The Nation about why we should be glad Sanjay Gupta won't be the Surgeon General. Basically, there are aspects of his medical coverage that I don't think are very consistent with what we want in the nation's doctor. A brief excerpt:
And then there was the time Gupta really tried to take a stand--on very weak foundations. Purporting to do a "reality check" on Michael Moore's 2007 film Sicko, a devastating expose of the failings of the American healthcare system, Gupta accused Moore of having "fudged the facts," and yet Gupta was the only one who got…
cmooney | March 6, 2009A lot of people right now are striving desperately to establish this notion. Neil Munro's big story in the latest National Journal (here, subscription) is the latest example. In essence, it postulates a bunch of new rifts that are going to open between scientists and Democrats now that the latter are in power. I'm quoted in there with this comment:
"There is not going to be enough money to go around, so there will be a lot of scientific priorities that will be hard to meet," Mooney said. But, "I don't think it's going to be the same adversarial situation [seen in the Bush years]. Very few or…
sheril | March 6, 2009On Monday, I'm delighted to be attending a panel discussion in honor of the 2009 International Women's Day celebrations! This global holiday celebrates the economic, political, and social achievements of women past, present, and future. Here in NYC, the World Policy Institute, the Women's Leadership Initiative at Demos, and The American-Scandinavian Foundation have organized:
The Hillary Effect: How Will the Secretary of State Change the Status of Women Worldwide?
Though Mrs. Clinton is the third female US Secretary of State, some think that her appointment could herald a new chapter…
cmooney | March 5, 2009That's the word on the street. The poor guy would have had to take a massive pay cut.
Hmm...do folks think this is a good or a bad thing?
cmooney | March 5, 2009I realize I am a little bit late to this party. But recently (here, there, and everywhere) all of ScienceBlogs was abuzz about Sen. Tom Harkin's complaint that various complementary and alternative remedies are not being validated by the NIH office supposedly designed to do so--namely, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).
I haven't written about alternative medicine in many years, though I used to follow it fairly closely. But here's what I don't understand. Whatever its suspicious origins, if NCCAM is now doing rigorous studies on the efficicacy of…