Search Content

Displaying results 81651 - 81700 of 87950

So, You Know You ARE the 1%, Right?

So with the return of spring comes the return of Occupy, which by and large, is probably a good thing.  OWS deserves some props for drawing attention to inequity, for bringing radicalism back, and for showing a very complacent corporate and political leadership that the people still have bite in them.  Generally speaking I approve of Occupy. One of the things I don't approve of, however, catchy as the framing is, is the "1% vs. 99%" rhetoric.  The reason I don't is that I think it functionally masks really deep inequities - by putting the second percentile together with the 92 percentile,  it…

31 Books...Oops, Catch Up Time - Escapist Farm Fiction!

Remember how I said I was going to do 31 book reviews in January, and well...didn't? On Friday, I finally got reliable internet back, just in time to shut down for the sabbath, so now I'm playing catch up. Got to get about 25 book reviews done today. That should happen, right? Just a reminder for those participating in the Post-apocalyptic Novel Reading Club (PANRC), we'll be finishing up _Prelude_ by Kurt Cobb this week, and moving on to _Julian Comstock by Robert Charles Wilson next week. We're following that up in March with Pat Frank's _Alas Babylon_. Also, there are still spots in…

In Praise of the Astrophysicist

My husband turns 40 this weekend, and we are celebrating. When asked what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted a party, just like the ones we have for the kids on their birthdays - lots of food, lots of friends, very casual. We've managed to collect 40-50 friends and family together, and are going to eat a lot of lasagna and strawberry shortcake, watch the kids play with the animals and in the creek, drink beer and maybe make some music. Despite our intention (and we still intend) to do more work together on this blog, Eric still mostly exists for the purposes of this…

Peep!

Note: It hasn't happened yet here, although we heard them down the hill in the valley yesterday. But we seem to be having an early spring, even though we've still got more than a foot of snow to melt off. I wrote this last year, and though the precise circumstances are different, the need for that sound is just the same. I know I owe y'all new content, but this one seemed appropo. Has spring sprung for you? Spring doesn't come easily in upstate New York - she wrestles with Old Man Winter for a long, long time before he gives up. The first sign is the daffodils, up a small amount in…

New York Times on Living Chilly

Just over a week ago, I re-ran a post "How Not to Freeze" about what to do if you don't have central heating in the winter in cold places. I was fascinated by the responses I got from people who by necessity and desire were living with minimal heat. My assumption about "how not to freeze" was that most people wouldn't being doing this by choice. And that's probably true but I found yesterdays New York Times article, about people who trade warmth for aesthetics, bigger spaces or other considerations to be fascinating (and not just because they gave some cred to La Crunch for her "Freeze…

"All the data shows no toxic air concentrations" - but response workers are stricken

By Elizabeth Grossman "All the data shows no toxic air concentrations from the oil spill where work is being performed," is what OSHA spokesperson Jason Surbey told me on Friday, May 21st. But on the afternoon of May 26th, after crew members of three "vessels of opportunity" working in the Breton Sound area of the Gulf reported experiencing nausea, dizziness, headaches, and chest pains - and one was medevaced by air to West Jefferson Hospital in Marrero, Louisiana and two others taken to the same hospital by ambulance - the Unified Command recalled all vessels of opportunity working in that…

Savannah Newspaper Slams Imperial Sugar Executives

Tom Barton, the editorial page editor of the Savannah Morning News, blasts the behavior and attitude of the Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor and other senior executives in the wake of last week's Senate hearing and the July 25 announcement by OSHA of a $8.8 million penalty against the firm.  Thirteen inviduals were killed in the combustible-dust disaster, three remain hospitalized and 33 other workers were injured. In Heads should roll at Imperial, Barton writes about how two former Savannah families used to own and operate the sugar refinery:  "...workers were treated like extended…

Deaths on the Strip

The breakneck pace of high-rise construction on Las Vegasâ famed Strip comes at a terrible price: Since the end of 2006, nine construction workers have died in workplace accidents. In a special two-part series, the Las Vegas Sunâs Alexandra Berzon explores why these deaths are happening and what the state OSHAâs response has been. Berzonâs first article, âPace is the new peril,â begins with the story of 46-year-old Harold Billingsley, who worked on the CityCenter development, a casino and six adjacent high-rises that together amount to the most expensive private commercial development in this…

Ruminations on Combustible Dust

Despite the excellent presentations by USMWF's Tammy Miser, the Chemical Safety Board's William Wright and NFPA's Amy Spencer, the image that remains in my head from last week's congressional hearing on combustible dust was Ranking Member Howard "Buck" McKeon's performance.  After the aforementioned witnesses made common-sense appeals in support of an OSHA standard modeled on National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards, Congressman McKeon (R-CA) made unconvincing claims that such rules are so very complicated.  Surely, no simple small businessman could ever be expected to…

Libby, MT: Playing fast and loose with people's lives

A report released last week by staff of the Senate  Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee on EPA's handling of the massive asbestos contamination in the mining town of Libby, Montana is laden with words including "failure," "misled," "interference," and "delay."  Refering to "EPA's Failure to Declare a Public Health Emergency in Libby, Montana," Senator Baucus said that he and the staff examined more than 14,000 internal documents and found: "...a pattern of intervention from OMB, the White House, and political appointees at EPA that undermined cleanup efforts at Libby, delayed…

MSHA Spokesman Ga-Ga over McCain

Updated below: 9/29/08 5:00 pm Over the last year, Matthew Faraci has served as the MSHA spokesman, providing official statements, for example, about the Crandall Canyon investigation, touting the Agency's progress implementing the MINER Act, and defending the Administration's request for an additional $19 million for MSHA.  In fact, Faraci even organized a media briefing so that agency officials could explain why the requested budget increase "would provide MSHA with the vital resources it needs to help protect miners' safety and health."  So, it was a bit jarring to find the…

It's got electrolytes - Real Medical Case Presentation Number Two

But why? Why does Brawndo have electrolytes? Because you need electrolytes to live. Every cell in your body uses electrolytes like sodium (Na), Potassium (K), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and other critical ions for cellular functions, proper osmotic gradients, enzymatic activity and even coordination of complex functions like muscle contraction and nerve conduction. All the cells in your body are full of little ion channels that are importing or exporting (or passively diffusing) these ions for physiological functions, and several organ systems (pituitary, adrenals, kidneys) in your…

National poetry month

It's all the buzz around here, so it's my turn to share some interesting verse with you. Death and dying is a common topic of discussion with my patients and colleagues. Some of these are well-known to all, some of them aren't, but I enjoy all of them. Conscientious Objector --Edna St. Vincent Millay I shall die, but that is all that I shall do for Death. I hear him leading his horse out of the stall; I hear the clatter on the barn-floor. He is in haste; he has business in Cuba, business in the Balkans, many calls to make this morning. But I will not hold the bridle while he clinches the…

The "Skinny Shot" and Media Accountability

This is the third of 6 guest posts on infectious causes of chronic disease. By Whitney Baker While working out at the gym last night, I was perusing the latest SHAPE magazine to help pass the time. In it, I read a small article about researchers finding an association between Adenovirus-36 and human obesity. Since I am in the infectious disease field, I was already aware of this proposed link- an infectious cause (or contributor) for obesity. But for the millions of health-conscious readers hearing of this for the first time, what would they make of it? Would they have visions of…

Did Yersinia pestis really cause Black Plague? Part 1: Objections to Y. pestis causation

As I noted last week, Shelley mentioned a topic that's been brought up here a few times in the comments section: alternative theories for causes of the Black Plague (the devastating plague that ravaged Europe beginning in ~1347 and eventually killed more than a third of the population). Though the bacterium Yersinia pestis is almost universally accepted as the causative organism, like many areas of science, there are a few individuals who disagree with the consensus. To this end, several alternative etiologies for Black Plague have been put forth, and shortcomings with the mainstream Y.…

A Tale of Three Vaccines

I write on a somewhat regular basis on here about vaccines: new research, new shots, addressing skepticism about how well they work or if they're related to autism, etc. Recently, several vaccine stories have been in the news that I've not gotten to yet, so consider this a vaccine meta-post. More after the jump. The first story is timely in that it discusses the influenza vaccination (and we're heading into that season). Allow me to share an anecdote first. When I was pregnant with my daughter in 1999, I was in graduate school and the lab I worked in was affiliated with a hospital. So…

The superior eyes of shrimp

We mammals have been beaten again. Shrimp have more sophisticated eyes than we do, with the ability to see things we can't, and I'm feeling a bit envious. There are a couple of general properties of light that can be captured and measured with a light detector. One is the amplitude of the light wave, which we see as differences in the intensity of light. This is the most basic measurement of a photoreceptor, sensing the raw amount of energy being transmitted. Another property is wavelength, which we perceive as the color of light. Many mammals are incapable of detecting the wavelength,…

The Economics and Politics of Protecting Miners

Four months ago, Mr. Dale Jones, 51 and Mr. Michael Wilt, 38 were killed in a massive highwall collapse at a surface coal mine near Barton, Maryland.  The two miners were buried under 93,000 tons of rock, and it took rescue crews three days to recover the men's bodies.   This week, MSHA assessed a monetary penalty of $180,000 against the mine operator Tri-Star Mining, Inc.  (Their accident investigation report was issued six weeks ago.)  In a news release announcing the fine, MSHA's Assistant Secretary Richard Stickler said: "Two miners lost their lives because federal safety…

Mining Professors Oppose Mine Safety Bill

A group of 11 "academic experts in mine safety and health" sent a letter today to the leadership of the House Education and Labor Committee urging them to withdraw legislation (HR 2768 and HR 2769) on miners' safety and health. The authors of the letter say that "now is not the right time to pursue" further improvements for miners. Signers of the letters include several chairs of mining engineering departments, such as professor Larry Grayson, who offered just days ago a similar dire warning about more mine safety protections in an op-ed called Mine Mania (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 7/22/07).…

EPA Ozone Proposal Under Scrutiny

A couple of weeks ago, EPA proposed a new National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone (0.07 â 0.075 ppb) that was lower than the current limit (0.08 ppb) but not as protective as the limit many experts suggested (0.06). The agency also announced that it would be taking comments on alternative standards from 0.06 â 0.08 ppb. (Read this post on the announcement for more.) On Wednesday at 10am, this proposed revision will be the subject of a hearing held by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committeeâs Clean Air & Nuclear Safety Subcommittee. While weâre waiting to hear EPA…

Frances Perkins is Rolling in Her Grave

Earlier this week, the Bush Administration released its semi-annual regulatory plan (71 Federal Register 72725, Dec 11, 2006).  The 473-page document describes the Presidentâs regulatory priorities, with the âaim of implementing an effective and results-oriented regulatory system.â  The document, prepared by the Office of Management and Budgetâs (OMB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), provides plenty of fodder for the blogosphere, but Iâll focus here on just one absurd statement in the Department of Laborâs section (beginning on page 72828) describing its 19 high-priority…

Edenomics 101

I mentioned yesterday that Mike had a post on the war on epidemiology. That might sound a bit strange--doesn't have quite the ring to it as Chris's book. But, never fear, epidemiology is indeed under attack--or, at least, it's being redefined by young earth creationists. In a pair of articles published in the esteemed journal, Creation Research Society Quarterly, Jeffrey Schragin has put forth his argument that "the Bible's epidemiology is scientifically sound" and that the "Creation Health Model (CHM) offers a more comprehensive understanding of health and disease than standard molecules…

An extreme environment invaded by an 'extreme' marine reptile: Henodus part II

Having written (briefly) about the turtle-like shelled placodont Henodus chelyops, it's as good a time as any to provide some more information. For starters, here's a close-up photo (kindly provided by Markus Bühler) showing one of the grooves in the left lower jaw. These gutter-like structures (reportedly) contained a baleen-like apparatus, possibly used in filter-feeding (for more discussion of this, you'll need to see the previous Henodus article, or Reif & Stein (1999), Rieppel (2002a) or Naish (2004)). If you're struggling to interpret the skull as shown in the photo, anterior is…

A Metalanguage for Pathological Programming: Cellular Automata in Alpaca

Todays entry isn't so much a pathological language itself as it is a delightful toy which can be used to *produce* pathological languages. I'm looking at Chris Pressey's wonderful language [ALPACA](http://catseye.mine.nu:8080/projects/alpaca/), which is a meta-language for describing different kinds of cellular automata. Frankly, I'm very jealous of Alpaca. I started writing a cellular automata language something like this on my own; I spent about two weeks of my free time working on it, and got it roughly 90% finished before I found out that he'd already done it, the bastard! Alpaca…

The Problem with Irreducibly Complexity (revised post from blogger)

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm going to repost a few of my critiques of the bad math of the IDists, so that they'll be here at ScienceBlogs. Here's the first: Behe and irreducibly complexity. This isn't quite the original blogger post; I've made a few clarifications and formatting fixes; but the content remains essentially the same. You can find the original post in my blogger information theory index. The original publication date was March 13, 2006. Today, I thought I'd take on another of the intelligent design sacred cows: irreducible complexity. This is the cornerstone of some of the…

Schisms, rifts, and apologia for insanity

Jerry Coyne missed one: he lists a few annoying columnists in the Guardian, Andrew Brown and Madeleine Bunting, but I guess he didn't notice that Michael Ruse just posted a whine about Dawkins and other atheists. Well, a few of us: he mentions Dawkins, Dennett, Coyne, and me as the people who bring atheism into disrepute. We're in a schism, don't you know; I just wish he'd used the term "Deep Rifts", since that seems to be the fashionable phrase for everyone who wants to find consolation in the imminent demise of the New Atheist movement (to which we have to reply that we're very fond of our…

A scientist is QUOTE MINED on a Discovery dinosaur documentary

You're being interviewed for a TV documentary, and that documentary will focus on your special area of expertise. For the purposes of this article, let's pretend that you're an expert on sauropod dinosaurs. While being interviewed, you're asked about the possible function of a peculiar and enigmatic structure: the cavernous expansion present in the sauropod sacral region. As everyone knows, the idea that the sacral expansion might have functioned as a sort of 'second brain' was once mooted in the literature, and - because it was a fun idea that jived well with the well-known fact that…

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

Today, we unveil a brand new PLoS ONE Collection - the Prokaryotic Genome Collection. The Collection was edited by Niyaz Ahmed, who wrote an introductory Overview. In other news, there are 17 new articles published last night and another 17 new articles published tonight in PLoS ONE. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Mendeley, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go…

The Matthews/Tancredo mutual ignorance session

Chris Matthews, who has lately been hammering the Republicans for their problem with science in general and evolution in particular, had a guest on to 'debate' the issue: Tom Tancredo, the ignorant Republican congressman who ran for president in the last election, and was one of the candidates who proudly announced that he did not believe in evolution. It was awful. Two people who know nothing about the science babbling at each other. While Matthews' heart might have been in the right place, he was more interested in stammering out apologies for believing a god might have guided evolution,…

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

There are 9 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites: BK Channels Regulate Spontaneous Action Potential Rhythmicity in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus: Circadian (~24 hr) rhythms are generated by the central pacemaker localized to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the…

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

There are 11 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites: Global Taxonomic Diversity of Anomodonts (Tetrapoda, Therapsida) and the Terrestrial Rock Record Across the Permian-Triassic Boundary: The end-Permian biotic crisis (~252.5 Ma) represents the most severe extinction…

My picks from ScienceDaily - Sleep edition

Circadian Math: 1 Plus 1 Doesn't Always Equal 2: Like a wristwatch that needs to be wound daily for accurate time-telling, the human circadian system -- the biological cycles that repeat approximately every 24 hours -- requires daily light exposure to the eye's retina to remain synchronized with the solar day. In a new study published in the June issue of Neuroscience Letters, researchers have demonstrated that when it comes to the circadian system, not all light exposure is created equal. Morningness Is A Predictor Of Better Grades In College: Morningness is a predictor of better grades in…

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

There are 48 new articles published in PLoS ONE this week. Rate, comment, send trackbacks.... The Phylogeny of the Four Pan-American MtDNA Haplogroups: Implications for Evolutionary and Disease Studies: Only a limited number of complete mitochondrial genome sequences belonging to Native American haplogroups were available until recently, which left America as the continent with the least amount of information about sequence variation of entire mitochondrial DNAs. In this study, a comprehensive overview of all available complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genomes of the four pan-American…

Do Serbs really want to join the EU?

An interesting poll came out of Gallup yesterday: Despite Kosovo Intervention, Serbians Favor EU Membership On May 15, the Serbian parliament approved a new coalition government led by Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and President Boris Tadic, both moderates who would like to see their country join the European Union within the next decade. "Serbia's aspiration to become a full member of the EU is a clearly declared commitment of every party in this coalition," Kostunica told the parliament prior to confirmation. However, Serbia's refusal to compromise on any plan for the future of Kosovo…

Open Laboratory 2010 - submissions so far

The list is slowly growing - check the submissions to date and get inspired to submit something of your own - an essay, a poem, a cartoon or original art. The Submission form is here so you can get started. Under the fold are entries so far, as well as buttons and the bookmarklet. The instructions for submitting are here. ============================ A Blog Around The Clock: What does it mean that a nation is 'Unscientific'? A Blog Around The Clock: My latest scientific paper: Extended Laying Interval of Ultimate Eggs of the Eastern Bluebird A Blog Around The Clock: Evolutionary Medicine:…

Open Laboratory 2010 - submissions so far

Last week Ben Young Landis, the 2010 editor, and I had a great first meeting about Open Lab and how we are going to do the whole thing this year. In the meantime, dig through your archives or the archives of other blogs you like and submit the best posts. The Submission form is here. Under the fold are entries so far, as well as buttons and the bookmarklet. The instructions for submitting are here. ============================ A Blog Around The Clock: What does it mean that a nation is 'Unscientific'? A Blog Around The Clock: My latest scientific paper: Extended Laying Interval of Ultimate…

The Grand Theory of the Unified Executive

Somewhere out there, in some splendid ivory tower, a Professor of Theoretical Law is working on a new Grand Theory of the Unified Executive, which he hopes will overturn the increasingly obsolete Standard Model of three independent sources of Law, Justice and Executive Power (who ordered those anyway?). This will simplify Law and Order tremendously, and make actual enacting and implementation of law much simpler, showing finally the underlying Unity of All Law. To be this man is what all pre-law and law students aspire to. It is the career track that essentially all law schools aim their…

Why Sex?

A lot of readers have emailed to ask why I'm writing a book about sex.  Have I given up writing about energy and environmental issues?  Have I dumped big issues for small ones  - instead of writing about how we should live in this new world, offering suggestions for the best sustainable dildo?  Am I selling out? To those questions I would answer "1. No.  2. Mostly not and 3. I think you have to get paid a LOT more than I get for a book contract to be accused of selling out."  Meanwhile I'm taking my larger framework from the simple idea that sex is the starting point of a lot of our larger…

"Securing the Future": WH to announce major boost for science funding

Word is that President Obama will be announcing a bold new initiative in the physical sciences later today, providing major sustained funding boost and significant increases in funding across the board, including new major research faciltiies, accelerated funding of ongoing projects and more money for pure "blue sky" research, as part of a coherent plan to boost the economy and provide a long term path for sustainable growth. Confidential sources at NaSA tell me the President will make space science the cornerstone of the new policy: "Obama is sick of hundreds of billions of dollars being…

Usher syndrome, part III: the plot thickens

Guest Blogger Danio: The time has come to delve into the retinal component of Usher syndrome. In Part II, I briefly described the results of protein localization studies, in which most members of the Usher cohort were found at the connecting cilium of the photoreceptor and at the photoreceptor synapse. The following diagram summarizes these findings: Usher protein localization in photoreceptor cells. From Reiners, et al. 2006 So, as we saw in the ear, proteins with the equipment for physically interacting with one another are gathering in specific places, and thus multi-protein complexes…

Here's to the teachers!

MAJeff here with his espresso. A few years ago, when I was teaching back in Minnesota, there was a group of us first-year faculty who got together every Wednesday night for beer, pool, and chat. We had to switch bars a couple times--once because some folks weren't feeling very comfortable with the war-mongering in our usual bar when we were there during the invasion of Iraq, and another because I spent an hour getting harassed by some of the locals (it was an hour because I refused to give up public space, but threats of violence told me an hour was long enough)--but we kept at it for the…

Birds in the News 89 (v3n16)

tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter Lark Bunting, Calamospiza melanocorys -- the official state bird of Colorado. Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger] People Hurting Birds The number of birds of prey poisoned illegally in Scotland rose to a record high last year after an eight-year campaign by Labour and LibDem ministers to crack down on wildlife crime. A report to be published this week will reveal there were 39 confirmed cases of pesticide abuse in 2006 involving eagles, red kites, hawks, falcons, owls, buzzards and ravens. That is double the number in…

Nature Versus Open Access

tags: researchblogging.org, open access, publishing, life science research, Declan Butler Image: Orphan. Wow, have you read Declan Butler's nasty little hatchet job that was just published in Nature about the Public Library of Science (PLoS)? My jaw hit the top of the table in my little coffee shop where I am ensconced -- why would Nature demean their journal by publishing such a snotty little screed where they attack the normal, but probably painful, financial ups-and-downs of a new journal? Because Nature represents the old way of doing things, so Nature is afraid of those upstarts, PLoS…

Return To Warden's Grove: Science, Desire, and the Lives of Sparrows

tags: Return To Warden's Grove, ornithology, birds, field research, biology dissertation, Christopher Norment, book review Throughout my life, certain people have had the audacity to lecture me about how a scientific education and a scientific life forever destroys a person's ability to appreciate nature. I always tell them how science enhances my appreciation and .. dare I say it? .. my love of the natural world, but I sometimes think no one hears me. But thanks to the wonderful book, Return To Warden's Grove: Science, Desire, and the Lives of Sparrows by Chris Norment (Iowa City: University…

Going, Going, GONE! Deforestation of Papua New Guinea Threatens Island Biodiversity

tags: New Guinea, Papua, deforestation, satellite analysis, biodiversity, field research, endangered species Before and After: Forest area near Milne Bay in 1990 (top) and 2005 (bottom). Image University of Papua New Guinea. I have been fascinated by New Guinea ever since I first read about this unique island in Wallace's marvelous book, The Malay Archipelago, when I was just a kid. My fascination with New Guinea led to my passion for the birdlife there, especially my love for the Birds of Paradise, and the lories and other parrot species. I had always secretly dreamt of visiting this…

Life in Cold Blood

tags: Life in Cold Blood, amphibians, reptiles, David Attenborough, book review When asked why there are so few books about amphibians and reptiles -- collectively referred to as "herps" -- published for the general public, David Attenborough responds by pointing out that "reptiles and amphibians are sometimes thought of as slow, dim-witted and primitive. In fact they can be lethally fast, spectacularly beautiful, surprisingly affectionate and extremely sophisticated." Even though this is true for many herps, it takes a lot of dedication and skill to show those less-known qualities to a…

ScienceDebate2008: The Future of Science in America

tags: science, public policy, politics, federal funding, research, reality-based government, 2008 American presidential elections, ScienceDebate2008 There are plenty of debates for presidential candidates on all sorts of topics, but have you noticed that none of these debates include any discussion about science and research? Sure, the candidates all are ready to whine about how there "aren't enough scientists and engineers out there", but that is purely a bullshit sentiment based on blatant lies -- as I and thousands of other un(der)employed Americans with PhDs in various scientific,…

USDA's focus should be food safety, not increasing profit for poultry industry

McClatchy Newspapers' Lindsay Wise reports in two stories today (here and here) on the USDA's proposal to "modernize" the poultry inspection process.   The proposal, part of the Obama Administration's offerings in the name of eliminating burdensome regulations, will eliminate hundreds of Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) inspectors, allow line speeds to increase to 175 birds per minute, and cede to the poultry companies the task of spotting diseased and defective birds.  USDA estimates the financial benefits to the poultry industry will exceed $250 million annually.  Without those pesky…

Prevention is in the air: Getting ready for National Public Health Week

by Kim Krisberg "CQ, CQ Celebrating National Public Health Week!" "CQ, CQ Celebrating National Public Health Week!" If you're an aficionado of amateur radio -- or ham radio as it's also known -- this is the call you might hear coming out of Oklahoma City on April 6. In layman's terms, it means "Calling all stations, calling all stations! Celebrating National Public Health Week!" In honor of this year's National Public Health Week observance, which runs April 2-8, officials with the Oklahoma City-County Health Department will hold a special drill in which all of its amateur communications…

The secret (and amazing) world of public health laboratories

by Kim Krisberg Walking around a public health laboratory is seriously cool. Giant humming machines, rows of test tubes and small, round dishes containing specimens with hard-to-pronounce names, biohazard warnings and emergency shower stations, an egg incubator and liquid nitrogen generator, people in protective gear with bulky white hoods and face shields. Oh, and boxes with severed animal heads inside. "Everything is just so unusual and every day is different," Dr. Grace Kubin told me as she took me on a tour of the Texas state public health lab in Austin last week. After years of…