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Binge-drinking, brain damage, and potential reversal by exercise

In rats, though. But still very interesting. So says yesterday's New York Times Op-Ed by psychiatrist, Paul Steinberg, entitled, "The Hangover That Lasts." This timely piece follows our discussion on Friday about champagne choices for New Year's Eve, the premier event for binge-drinking. While I'm not a neuropharmacologist, Steinberg's article piqued my interest because it focuses on the work of Dr Fulton T Crews and his former student Dr Jennifer Obernier (now with the National Academy of Sciences) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr Crews is director of the UNC Bowles…

DonorsChoose: Terra Sig's "Save The Science" Campaign

As you've probably seen elsewhere on ScienceBlogs, a number of us are teaming up to raise funds for teacher projects at DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose is a clever fundraising model for K-12 education projects where public funds don't quite meet the needs of teachers and kids. The idea is that teachers propose projects and "donors choose" which ones they would like to support. You can choose to donate to a number of projects or fund a single one, depending on what moves you the most. Many DonorsChoose projects are at school with a high level of poverty or in areas of the country where…

No, No..Thank YOU, Lymphoma Survivors and Advocates

[Welcome Daily Kos readers and many thanks to DarkSyde for the link - btw, if you're wondering what Terra Sigillata is, click here.] The other day I fired off a quick post on the absurdity of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing to cut reimbursements for two radioimmunotherapy drugs for lymphoma to less than their cost. The two immunotherapy drugs in question are Bexxar (I-131 tositumomab) and Zevalin (Y-90 ibritumomab) - both drugs target the CD20 protein on the surface of normal and malignant B-lymphocytes, killing the cells by the radioactive emissions of…

Apple Cider Vinegar Capsules Can Help You Lose Weight

...if they contrain sibutramine. Sold under the trade name of Meridia in the US and Reductil in Europe, this prescription appetite suppressant for weight loss was recently detected in an apple cider vinegar supplement called MetaboSlim sold by Confidence, Inc. An alert by the FDA notes that the affected lot was only sold in Canada but we are fortunate to have a good number of Canadian readers. This episode is yet another in a long string of reports of dietary supplements being adulterated with prescription drugs, intentionally or accidentally. Interestingly, Confidence Inc. was also the…

Personalized Medicine, Part 2: Metabolic Activation of Codeine to Morphine

As noted in the previous post on the anticoagulant, Coumadin (warfarin), last week demonstrated how pharmacogenetic variations in drug metabolism and drug responses are giving rise to what is increasingly known as "personalized medicine." In their second such warning last week, the US FDA alerted clinicians and the public to the use of codeine in nursing mothers. Not well known to most people is that codeine is metabolically activated to morphine by a drug metabolizing enzyme called CYP2D6. While we normally think of drug metabolism as breaking down a drug, the chemical conversions…

More confusion about black cohosh extracts

A proprietary extract of black cohosh (Actea racemosa) sold in the US and Europe as Remifemin has long been purported as an alternative to hormone replacement therapy in menopause and perimenopause. Several trials have questioned the efficacy of this herb (one discussed on this blog) and the NIH has been concerned about sporadic reports of liver toxicity associated with some preparations of the herb. In the literature, black cohosh has been described in various instances as a phytoestrogen, an antiestrogen, an estrogen-receptor modulator, or devoid of any estrogenic activity. So, even I am…

How might antioxidant supplements increase all-cause mortality?

As a graduate student, I had the good fortune of meeting Dr Don Coffey, a professor of Urology, Oncology, Pharmacology, and Molecular Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, one of the most creative and humble scientists I have known. I recall him telling a lunchtime gathering of us wide-eyed trainees that American graduate students don't think about their experiments enough; that is, one should spend some 10-20% of the time it took to do the experiment thinking about the results, especially if the results are not what you expected. The exercise he challenged us to do for "failed…

Welcome back Nature Network blogs!

Looking all shiny and spiffy today are our colleagues over at the blogging network hosted by Nature. After some downtime to install a new blogging platform, Movable Type 4, Nature Network blogs are back with a much more pleasing aesthetic and a more user-friendly interface. For those readers who don't have their own blog, the publishing software behind the scenes makes a big difference in how easily (or not) you can post text, photos and multimedia, and add all sorts of widgets and personalization features. I started, for example, on Blogspot with the Blogger interface (owned by Google) but…

Improving K-12 math & science education with better teacher education

Brandon Haught is Director of Florida Citizens for Science Communications and has been a tireless advocate for science education across this large and educationally diverse state. His blog, an activity of the larger Florida Citizens for Science organization, carries this mission: This blog is used to keep track of the good, bad and ugly science news in our state and beyond. We tend to focus on educational issues. When a science class makes the news for doing something interesting or positive, I try to make sure a post goes up here about it. When a Florida scientist gets out into the…

NIDA Launches Medical Curricular Resources on Substance Abuse and Dependence

I missed this note on Friday at the Wall Street Journal Health Blog but the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has made available some great new curricular resources through their Centers of Excellence for Physician Information Program (NIDA CoEs) (press release) "Physicians can be the first line of defense against substance abuse and addiction, but they need the resources and the training," said NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow. "Our long term goal is for doctors to incorporate screening for drug use into routine practice like they currently screen for other diseases; to help patients…

Publishers Weekly Cover Girl: Rebecca Skloot and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (HeLa)

Hella HeLa! Skloot is PWned, as it were. I learned late last night that author Rebecca Skloot was to be featured on the cover of this week's issue of Publishers Weekly. So, I clicked on the site this morning before the coffee was even done brewing and there is our wordsmithing hero. I know that "The Making of a Bestseller 2010" is sure to make any author nervous but my reading of the manuscript tells me that the prediction is entirely consistent with the work. Regular readers will know that we featured Ms Skloot here last week to brainstorm about her upcoming, self-supported book tour…

Sarah Palin?

Sarah Palin. Huh. Who would have thunk it? On the upside, I had but a few waking hours of moping over Barack Obama's failure to do more than give climate change a single passing reference and again champion the delusional notion of "clean coal" in his otherwise impressive acceptance speech last night before the Republican nominee reminded me just how little he really cares about the subject. Now, I know vice-presidential choices never make a measurable difference in the election. But let's face it, the probability that McCain will not be able to complete one term in office is considerably…

Sober second thoughts on solar cells

Just about everyone pushing civilization to kick its fossil-fuel habit includes photovoltaics in the list of renewable technologies that will be required to fill the power supply gap. And just about every week one can read about a new breakthrough that promises to make in solar cell technology cheaper and more efficient. But how reliable are those reports? Not very according to one expert. Solar power is expensive, says the conventional wisdom. Too expensive to be competitive with oil, coal and gas. True in most places, thought not in remote areas far from the grid. I once lived on a…

Inside Bjorn Lomborg's brain

I've never met Bjorn Lomborg. Never exchanged emails or shared a public forum with him. Although I have seen him speak twice, and I have to concede he's a compelling character, one who's almost impossble to ignore. Until now, I just couldn't figure out how someone as obviously bright and dedicated could be so very wrong. But thanks to the Guardian's Juliette Jowit, it's now clear that guy just doesn't care whether he's right or wrong. In Sunday's Observer, Jowit tried to find out why Lomborg believes most of the world's polar bear populations aren't facing any threats, despite a clear trend…

Toward a trustworthy Wikipedia

As a freelance journalist, I don't have the luxury of turning down too many assignment offers. I was sorely tempted a few months back, though, when the potential client kept suggesting I use Wikipedia as the primary source for a series of articles. The problem was the client wasn't willing to pay a decent rate for my time, and he figured that I wouldn't demand more if all I had to do was browse Wiki. I ended up accepting the contract -- like I said, I can't afford to be too picky -- but I didn't use Wiki. And I still don't trust a source that anyone can anonymously edit, especially if "…

Bergman: Still crazy

Jerry Bergman is a fairly typical creationist: he's a loon, and he's dishonest. I debated him once to an utterly ineffectual conclusion, and it was like having an argument with a rabid squirrel — he makes no sense, he splutters out nutty fragments of angry rhetoric, and he's ultimately of no consequence whatsoever. But he still has an audience, and he's still out giving invited talks at churches all over the country. Next week, Bergman will be speaking in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and we've got a preview of what he's going to say on the — duh duh DUHHH — Dark Side of Charles Darwin. Part 1: •…

Sunday Function

Head down to Box Office Mojo and pull up the list of the top grossing films of the year thus far. Seven of the top ten have a dollar gross beginning with the number 1. Okay, that's not too weird. Big films tend to pull down somewhere between $100-200 million, while only the real monsters have high grosses. So what if we look at the inflation-adjusted all-time list, which is less likely to be fixed by the coincidental size of the film-going public and ticket prices? Again, seven of the 10 have grosses beginning with 1. Well, maybe movies are just weird. What about cities? In the US, five of…

Roads and Radii

I was out of town (again) this past weekend, hence the posting shortage. Why in the world is it so much harder to find time to post during a nominal between-semester-break? I dunno, but it seems to be true. Free time doesn't scale the way you'd like. One of the fundamental skill sets a physicist or really just about any scientist needs is to understand how quantities change scale. This is especially true when things change scale at different rates. I first noticed this particular instance of scaling phenomena while sitting in traffic in the city of Houston, Texas whose map (via Google)…

Leaping Seconds

When I was a kid my younger sister used to play basketball in a city league and my family would go watch. The game clock would reach the final seconds of each period and the kids in the stands would count down. 3! 2! 1! Zero! The clocks were such that with less than one minute remaining, the clock would display tenths of a second. This resulted in a problem that bothered me but probably no one else ever. So as soon as (say) the 5 popped up the kids would shout "5!" when in fact there were 5.9 - or really six seconds left. This lead to the inevitable embarrassing moment when everyone…

Prediction Contest!

As you might have heard, the presidential election is tomorrow. As I've said, I believe I'm alone on ScienceBlogs as supporting anyone but Obama. But this is Built on Facts, not Built on Wishful Thinking, and so let's have our official quadrennial Election Prediction Contest! Here's the plan. We're predicting three quantities of interest. 1. Electoral Vote 2. Senate Seats 3. Popular Vote (in percent) We're not going to bother with the house, since raw numbers aren't as important. A house with 59% Democrats is only marginally different than one with 61% Democrats. In the senate on the…

Momentum

How'd the test go? Eh, ok I think. In particular I vapor-locked on a pretty easy question involving transforming E & B fields to another reference frame. There was another question where you had to prove that the energy-momentum tensor was Lorentz invariant, and I didn't get that one either. The rest were pretty good as far as I can tell. Momentum happens to be what's currently being taught in Physics 201, which of course I'm a TA for this semester. Having done force and energy already, momentum's not too hard to describe. Momentum is just mass times velocity. Unlike forces, there'…

Science, PR, and Human Nature

The Terminator? Which headline do you think would sell more papers? INTELLIGENT ROBOTS KILL 20,000, NO SIGN OF STOPPING or AUTO FATALITIES DECLINE 50% In a nutshell, this is the PR problem of technology. Technological progress is taken for granted, and technological problems are trumpeted to the skies. In this case, I'm pessimistic about the chances of autonomous cars. Here's an article for Motor Trend which isn't really about the safety of robot cars, but which takes the following shot anyway: "Driving will be safer," say the experts. "Computers will ensure that smart cars always maintain…

The Speed of Light Rock

I spent a few hours on the interstate this weekend, and I heard a Kid Rock song on the radio called "All Summer Long". If your tastes are anything like mine you'd probably rather not hear it. The song describes Kid's life as an 18-year-old, when "it was summertime in northern Michigan". Basically he does several irresponsible things in the chorus, topping the list off with the assertion that these things were done while "singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long". Come on, Kid. You were closer to thirteen-letter-expletive Quebec than you were to Alabama. Your lyrical choice lacks a…

Native language shapes the melody of a newborn baby's cry

Telling the difference between a German and French speaker isn't difficult. But you may be more surprised to know that you could have a good stab at distinguishing between German and French babies based on their cries. The bawls of French newborns tend to have a rising melody, with higher frequencies becoming more prominent as the cry progresses. German newborns tend to cry with a falling melody. These differences are apparent just three days out of the womb. This suggests that they pick up elements of their parents' language before they're even born, and certainly before they start to…

Bees kill hornets with carbon dioxide emissions and local warming

Rising temperatures and high carbon dioxide emissions are the means through which humans are inadvertently causing the decline of several species. But one animal actively uses both heat and carbon dioxide as murderous weapons - the unassuming honeybee. With their stings and numbers, bees already seem to be well-defended but they are completely outgunned by giant hornets (right). These two-inch long monsters are three times longer than several times heavier than tiny honeybees and raiding parties can decimate entire hives. European bees mount little in the way of an effective defence, but…

String Theory Smackdown: The New Yorker does it nicely once again

With all the debate going on around the validity of the current world of theoretical physics, the New Yorker, in a recent issue, weighs in as eloquent as ever: (By Jim Holt) It is the best of times in physics. Physicists are on the verge of obtaining the long-sought Theory of Everything. In a few elegant equations, perhaps concise enough to be emblazoned on a T-shirt, this theory will reveal how the universe began and how it will end. The key insight is that the smallest constituents of the world are not particles, as had been supposed since ancient times but "strings"--tiny strands of…

Ghosts of the Solar Sargasso

Holy moly, if you want to see a great post you should read Ethan's post on the solar analemma. If you photograph the sun in the sky at the same time each day, it won't be in the same spot. The orbital motion of the earth, your location on the curve of the earth, and the tilt of the earth's axis causes the sun to appear in slightly different locations each day and the path it traces out is sort of a figure-8 called an analemma. Is it just a mathematical curiosity? Well, mostly yes other than to astronomers. But this was not always so. If you were an 17th century sailor plying your trade…

IOKIYAC

So, has everyone read the latest investigation into Pat Tillman's death already? I'm appalled at this astonishingly insensitive Christian bigot, Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, who basically slanders Tillman because he was an atheist. "But there [have] been numerous unfortunate cases of fratricide, and the parents have basically said, 'OK, it was an unfortunate accident.' And they let it go. So this is I don't know, these people have a hard time letting it go. It may be because of their religious beliefs." Kauzlarich, now a battalion commanding officer at Fort Riley in Kansas, further suggested…

Physics, Tolkien, and the Bomb

The little picture of me in the left sidebar was taken on the northeast shore of Arkansas' Lake Ouachita two summers ago. It's a beautiful place where you can experience nature in a peaceful and quiet way. There were several of us who went, and one of them gave me a book of his that he'd finished: The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. It's not the book I'm reading in the picture, and while I've still not read it all the way through I often pick it up and read a few pages. Tolkien is someone who I admire immensely, and he was an example of a sort of person who was rare enough in his own day and is…

Star Trek and gravitational lensing

A reader writes in with a question about the physics of Star Trek: When the Enterprise goes into warp speed (which as I take it are multiples of the speed of light, warp 5, 5x the speed of light, etc.) and they show the ship zooming through the cosmos, they always show the stars its passing as elongated. In the special theory of relativity, is it not true that moving near the speed of light objects will appear to actually contract? But then again, according to relativity one can't go faster than the speed of light, so perhaps there is some other physical phenomena going on here. Or maybe I…

So how well is carbon trading working, anyway?

It's hard for me to ignore a headline like this: "Climate deal uncertainty clouds carbon market -- survey." According to a Reuters story, a poll of companies around the world with an interest in trading permits to emit greenhouse gases finds that "over half of respondents expect a major climate pact to be postponed until further meetings in 2010." The Greenhouse Gas Market Sentiment survey was released by the International Emissions Trading Association just before today's opening of the latest round of negotiations leading up to December's Copenhagen conference, at which we'll see if a…

The nuts and bolts of cap and trade explained

Peter Behr at Scientific American has a wonderfully clear explanation of just how the cap and trade mechanism prescribed by the Waxman-Markey bill will work, should it make it through Congress. It's not rocket science, but my suspicion is that a lot of observers feel intimidated by the concept and don't make an effort to get their minds around it. Which is a shame because it's largely a matter of simple math, and Behr turns to Harvard University economist Robert Stavins for help. Here are the essential facts: In 2016, the U.S. economy would produce an estimated 7.3 billion tons of CO2, based…

Perimeter Scholars Institute

The Perimeter Scholars Institute is a Masters level course designed to prepare students for cutting-edge research in theoretical physics. It looks pretty cool with some outstanding lecturers. The application deadline is February 1. All accepted students will be fully supported. Details below the fold. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) is a leading international research centre whose goal is to catalyze breakthroughs in our understanding of the physical world. PI strives to create a lively and dynamic research atmosphere where many approaches to fundamental questions, both…

The Thought Of It Being Organic Made Me Shudder

Michelle Obama's White House garden has href="http://www.lavidalocavore.org/diary/1309/">attracted some attention, as noted on La Vida Locavore: Did you hear the news?  The White House is planning to have an "organic" garden on the grounds to provide fresh fruits and vegetables for the Obama's and their guests.  While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made Janet Braun, CropLife Ambassador Coordinator and I shudder.  As a result, we sent a letter encouraging them to consider using crop protection products and to recognize the importance of agriculture to the entire…

The Commenters' Delusion? Dawkins On the "Remarkable Bile" at His Website

Last week I posted about the increasing problem of incivility at comment sections for blogs and news sites. As I noted at the end of the discussion thread that was started, I plan to return to the topic in depth, perhaps as part of an article or study. My thoughts on the topic are apparently at least partially shared by Richard Dawkins. In a post yesterday, Dawkins lashed out against many commenters at his own site, noting their "remarkable bile" and extreme reaction to a change in comment and editorial policy at RichardDawkins.net. The full post should be read, but here is just an…

Tenure-Track Position in Science, Environmental, and/or Health Journalism: American University, Washington DC

This semester, I am serving on the search committee for an exciting new tenure track position in science, environmental, and/or health journalism. Our School of Communication at American University is a leading laboratory for professional education, research, and innovation in the fields of journalism, public communication, and film and digital media. The new faculty member would have the opportunity to train the next generation of science, environmental, and health reporters while working in Washington, DC on innovative projects that address major trends and challenges in the field. See…

More Recommended Books on Science Communication Research & Practice

Last week I pointed to two edited books released in 2008 that do an outstanding job of synthesizing the relevant issues and research on science communication and public engagement. Here are two more: From Oxford University Press there is a companion set of edited volumes that cover themes related to science communication research and practice respectively. Both books are worth checking out and owning for people working in the academic field or for scientists and communication professionals. Holliman, R., Thomas, J., Smidt, Scanlon, E., & Whitelegg, E. (Eds.) 2008). Investigating Science…

UW Professor Says McCain Campaign Presents a Crisis for Journalism

Over at the Daily Kos, University of Washington communication professor David Domke issues a bold call to news organizations. Warning that the McCain-Palin campaign represents a "crisis for mainstream journalists," Domke urges news organizations to not back down from vetting the claims and accusations of the GOP message machine. In drawing parallels to the build up to the decision to go to war in Iraq, Domke writes: For weeks McCain and surrogates have said things that have been declared false across the political spectrum (even Karl Rove made this point, on Fox News, on Sunday). In just the…

Columbia Journalism Review Names Framing Science a Top Resource for Journalists Reporting on Climate Change

In the latest issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, Harvard University's Cristine Russell contributes an important analysis on the next stage in climate change media coverage. She spotlights reporters such as the NY Times' Andrew Revkin who are among an "advanced guard" of journalists who are figuring out how to strategically frame coverage of climate change in ways that resonate with new audiences and across a diversity of media platforms. "Climate change will require thoughtful leadership and coordination at news organizations," asserts Russell. "Editors will need to integrate the…

Professional Workshop offered on "How to Clone a Human."

I just noticed that there's a workshop being offered from June 13th to June 18th, 2011, in Vancouver, Canada, that provides technical and hands-on training for "scientists and non-scientists interested in human cloning." This course has a price tag of $1400 (does not include transportation, room and board) and apparently provides the following: "This professional course (which can accept only 12 clients) will guide participants through the various methodologies involved in the production of a human clone. This includes extensive lectures on the various techniques as well as a significant…

How a conference managed to get over 250 attendees make Chewbacca sounds at once (plus a Chewbacca cognition poll)

Let me explain... First take a peek at this: I actually posted this earlier, but basically, what you're seeing here is the promotional video for a student conference, called TEDx Terry talks. This, we just finished up the other day (it was amazing and you can see the synopsis here). Anyway, we actually launched the video way back in early September - the first day of school to be exact. We even had a booth and stuff where the video was playing, and had quite a few spritely 1st year university students walk by, look at it curiously, watch it, chuckle at it, etc. You'll note that…

Local Food and Environmentalism: When Agriculture becomes Industry

I caught sight of an interesting article in the Washington Post a few weeks ago by Jane Black called "The Churning Point." It's about local farming in Maryland and the opportunities for dairy farmers to produce goods from their milk on premises--a creamery, that is. Once the milk is converted to cream or, say, cheese, it is then a processed product. Is that local farm then a farm or a processing (pseudo-industrial) facility? Does the environmental law protecting that land promote this processing or restrict it? Which is better, the farmland or the cream? The case isn't clear cut.…

Advice on how to babyproof your Molecular Genetics Laboratory

One of the first things that a newborn experiences is not necessarily the warmth and scent of the mother's embrace, but rather a series of pokes and pricks to ascertain health and mental alertness. It therefore seems to me that a natural progression of this trend is to incorporate the highest medical predictive technology into an infant's normal surroundings. In other words, it seems obvious to me that sooner or later everyone will have their own molecular genetics lab in their household - most likely adjoining the kitchen. But, of course, with this new standard of living, steps must be…

Friday Grey Matters: The Myth of Winston Churchill's Parrot

This Grey Matters is just slightly off-topic, as this week's episode involves a macaw rather than an African Grey. But, I hope you find it interesting nonetheless! Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of England, died in 1969 but (according to legend) was outlived by his pet parrot, Charlie. Many people in southeast England, where the bird resides in a zoo called Hansfield, insist that the 104 year old bird belonged to Churchill. Charlie often goes on anti-Nazi tirades, mimicking Churchill's voice and favorite profanities against Hilter and other WWII figures. It makes quite a story…

Friday Grey Matters: Counting And the Concept of Zero

The concept of "zero" is a tricky one, as it denotes an appreciation of what nothingness is. Although quite a few species have demonstrated a recognition of numbers (monkeys, pigeons, rats, dolphins, crows, lions, among others) and a few have demonstrated rudimentary counting skills (higher apes and Grey parrots), the extent to whether these same animals understand the concept of zero, or the lack of something, is a completely different question. As mentioned in one of the first Grey Matters, research done by Dr. Irene Pepperberg has demonstrated that Alex the Grey parrot possesses the…

Metaphor FAIL: "Neural Clairvoyance"

Caught this bad description of an otherwise very interesting study at Science Daily: Neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center have, for the first time, shown what brain activity looks like when someone anticipates an action or sensory input which soon follows. In the February 25 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, they say this neural clairvoyance involves strong activity in areas of the brain responsible for preparing the body to move. The findings were made by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a group of student volunteers who brought with them favorite…

FTD patients cannot detect sarcasm

I really love coming to visit you, Grandpa. Researchers at the University of New South Wales are using sarcasm to determine whether patients have frontotemporal dementia (FTD), otherwise known as Pick's disease: Researchers at the University of New South Wales found that patients under the age of 65 suffering from frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second most common form of dementia, cannot detect when someone is being sarcastic. The study, described by its authors as groundbreaking, helps explain why patients with the condition behave the way they do and why, for example, they are unable to…

Tough and tender: How touch affects sex categorization

LOOK at the photograph on the right. Does it show the face of a man or a woman? There's no right answer - the photo has been manipulated to look sexually ambiguous and can be perceived as either. But according to a recent study published in the journal Psychological Science, the sense of touch can influence how you perceive and categorize the face. Last year a team of European psychologists found that bodily movements alter the recollection of emotional memories, and an American group showed that the sense of touch influences social judgements and decisions. The new study adds to the growing…

Nano @ the Movies: The Looming Frame Shift?

To date, nanotechnology has followed a public trajectory similar to that of plant biotechnology in the United States. Relatively low levels of attention have been paid to the still nascent issue in the media, with coverage concentrated at the science and business beats. This coverage has been framed heavily in social progress and economic development terms with a few stories focusing on elements of the uncertainty of possible risks and/or regulatory matters involving the accountability of industry and scientists. Given low amounts of media attention and the heavy focus on the promise of…

CLIMATE SCIENTISTS CREATE NEWS PEG ABOUT THE RELEVANCE OF COASTAL DEVELOPMENT: Example of How Scientists Can Make Input on Policy Newsworthy; NY Times Covers Statement; But Other Media So Far Are Silent

Ten climate scientists who disagree about the linkages between global warming and more intense hurricanes have released a joint statement warning that regardless of the resolution of the scientific debate, hurricanes remain a serious threat, and that policymakers need to rethink coastal development. On Tuesday, Andrew Revkin of the NY Times contributed this story on the announcement. The joint statement is a leading example of how scientists can work with journalists to "negotiate" news about the policy relevance of science. It's a shift in thinking about public communication that is…