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Disco. spins some more tunes

I want to add a point to my response to the Disco. Inst.'s claim that TFN's survey of Texas biology teachers is a "push-poll" and "jackbooted thuggery." That language is unbecoming and unprofessional, but we have all come to expect that from the Discovery Institute. It is also hypocritical. I know they read TfK, so they know why it is inaccurate and inappropriate to call the TFN survey "a push-poll," but here they go again, writing that "TFN is parading a push-poll survey of scientists they did recently." It still isn't a push poll. And the Disco. crew should know better than to throw…

Don't believe a word of it, guv (part 2)

Ahem. So previously there was a lot of hype and confusion and not much paper. Now that has changed, with Reconstructing sea level from paleo and projected temperatures 200 to 2100AD by Aslak Grinsted, John C. Moore & Svetlana Jevrejeva. Which says: We use a physically plausible 4 parameter linear response equation to relate 2000 years of global temperatures and sea level. We estimate likelihood distributions of equation parameters using Monte Carlo inversion, which then allows visualization of past and future sea level scenarios. The model has good predictive power when calibrated on the…

Birds in the News 179 -- Second Helsinki Edition

tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter Birdwatchers in southeastern Australia have been thrilled to see the arrival of about a third of the total national population of the highly endangered Swift Parrot, Lathamus discolor, on the Far South Coast. Image: Max Sutcliffe, Narooma News [larger view]. Birds in Science Bird deaths around the Baltic Sea and possibly elsewhere in the world may be caused by a shortage of the vitamin thiamine, researchers say. Wild birds of varied species along the Baltic coasts have been dying of hard-to-explain paralysis since…

Psychotherapy for Infertility

Sarah Berga, et. al. presented a paper at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology conference in Prague, about the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy for treatment of infertility.  It this post, I elaborate on some of the details that the mainstream media left out.  I end by speculating about what it might mean about our society, that such a simple solution could have been overlooked for so long. From a report on the Times Online: href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2235656,00.html">Learning how to beat stress could be the best fertility treatment by…

Having Some Fun With Evolution.

It seems that you can't have a conversation about evolution that doesn't end with everyone involved feeling frustrated. You can't even mention the word 'evolution' without bringing up a political philippic, religious rant or scientific squabble. Unfortunately, this keeps everyone from the conversations that really matter - of course, I'm talking about the fun ones. No, I don't mean the ones that are fun to paleontologists looking for the origins of limbs or biologists searching for the mechanics of fat accumulation. I mean the ones that are really fun, to just about everyone, save, perhaps, a…

NASA Press Conference Will Announce Voyager Captured by Alien Craft!

I'm kidding, I'm kidding, NASA did not say that. But I do think people need to take it down a notch with this whole blaming NASA for doing their press conferences wrong. As far as I know, the Curiosity Martian Laboratory Robot recently approached a non nondescript pile of dirt, analyzed the bejesus out of it as a test of the fancy dancy instruments on board, and everything worked. The pile of dirt was not interesting but they did to that pile of dirt what would have required 3,000 feet of laboratory floor space full of expensive equipment and a dozen technicians working for two months back…

Best Headline Ever: "Creature from Hell Promises Salvation"

From today's (well, technically, tomorrow's) New Zealand Herald: Creature from hell promises salvation by Errol Kiong Scientists have discovered a methane-eating bacterium at Hell's Gate in Rotorua which may offer hope for global warming. Researchers at GNS Science hope their discovery of the bacterium could one day be used to cut down methane gas emissions from landfills and geothermal power stations. The bug is part of a group of methane-eating micro-organisms known as methanotrophs, but this one is able to live in hotter and much more acidic conditions. This article--sporting a wildly…

Antivaxers on Twitter: Fake news and Twitter bots

Two years ago, I wrote about a study that demonstrated how the antivaccine movement had learned to use Twitter to amplify their antiscience message. At the time, I noted how in 2014, when the whole "CDC whistleblower" conspiracy theory was first hatched, antivaxers were so bad at Twitter, so obvious, so naive. The Tweeted inane claims at government officials, scientists, legislators, and whoever else might have influence on vaccine policy, using hashtags like #CDCwhistleblower and #hearmewell. (These hashtags are still in use, but much less active.) However they did get better, to the point…

Astrology, Kerala style

From Economic Times: The Kerala method of delineation of horoscopes using 'cowries' (sea shells) is highly valued for its accuracy, according to astrologers from India and abroad. Well-known astrologer Kailasnath from Parappanangadi near Kozhikode said that no time of birth or place of birth is required for doing the predictions. ... Kailasnath, who describes himself as a student of astrology since 24 years, says the workshop is an effort to teach delegates the unique aspects of the state's rich astrological wisdom, particularly 'prasnam vekkal' (suggesting causes of certain events and…

Aunty Zuska's Impeccable Advice For Worried Dads

Everyone says "encourage your daughters to stick with math and science". And you want to do it. You're proud of your daughter, you want her to have every option in the world open to her. But what do you do when she resists? A worried dad recently wrote with just such a dilemma: Slightly off-thread but my daughter is determined, against the evidence, that she's no good at maths. She mentions this from time to time, for example when she's doing her maths homework. "I'm no good at maths" "Your teachers seem to think you're doing rather well. Your last report was excellent" "[changes…

Do hybrids use more energy overall than Hummers?

Hybrid vehicles clearly have better gas mileage than many SUVs on the market, but does the gas mileage as a figure accurately represent the total energy usage required to build, market, use and destroy the vehicle? Art Spinella, in a huge study by CNW Marketing Research, has endeavored to find the "Dust-to-Dust" energy cost for cars and trucks to determine whether we are gaining or losing ground by adopting hybrids. His study was described in this article by the Reason Foundation's Shikha Dalmia: According to Art Spinella, the uber-auto analyst and President of CNW Marketing Research, hybrid…

The Case for Vegan Hot Dogs

If you are a meat eater, you probably appreciate the texture and flavor of a nice piece of loin, or a properly cooked pork chop, or a chicken breast that is moist and flavorful. But what is it about hot dogs that you appreciate? The pasty enigmatic texture? The idea that the casing either is, or imitates, the intestines of a pig? The possibility that the 'meat' inside the thing includes a high proportion of anus tissue, other bits of skin that were unsuitable for use as leather (i.e., nostrils), nerve tissue, and other non-muscle parts of animals, often of unspecified species? Let me put…

Awards for Environmental Reporting Announced

The Metcalfe Institute at the University of Rhode Island has announced its 2008 Grantham Prize winners for environmental reporting. The series "Choking on Growth" by The NY Times on China and its problems with environmental sustainability takes first prize. Details below the fold. For DC readers, they are holding a very interesting panel event and reception at the Newseum on Monday, Sept. 8 that is well worth attending. Details also below the fold. Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography Narragansett, Rhode Island…

n00b Science Blogging 101: Part 1

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of speaking via Skype with Dan Simons's graduate-level science writing class. We talked about the ins and outs of academic blogging, and the nature and ecosystem of science communication online, and the students asked some terrific questions. I had asked Dan to ask his students to compile some questions in advance, so that I might at least pretend to be prepared, and the questions they sent were so good, that I've decided to commit my answers to the relative permanence of the sciblogosphere. (Also, there was good feedback to a similar post that I wrote…

Another reason to avoid visiting Answers in Genesis

Those porn sites you've been browsing? They've been slurping in more of your private data than you think. A paper has been published documenting the invasive practices of many websites. They're doing something called history hijacking, using code that grabs your entire browsing history so they can monitor every site you've visited. Cute, huh? There are tools you can use to block this behavior if you're using Firefox, at least. Several people have written to me about this because of Table 1 on page 9 of the paper. There among the porn and gaming and commercial sites one stands out as unusual.…

Assault on (Higher) Education - a Lakoffian Perspective

This post was first written on October 28, 2004 on Science And Politics, then it was republished on December 05, 2005 on The Magic School Bus. The Village vs. The University - all in your mind. Eric at Total Information Awareness wrote two excellent posts on something that touches me personally, yet has much broader consequences on the country as a whole: the well-organized and well-funded assault of the Right on the University (check some links in the comments section, too): Freedom Fighters and Academic Freedom Fighters. There were a couple of other articles on the same topic, e.g.,The…

Assault on (Higher) Education - a Lakoffian Perspective

This post was first written on October 28, 2004 on Science And Politics, then it was republished on December 05, 2005 on The Magic School Bus. The Village vs. The University - all in your mind. Eric at Total Information Awareness wrote two excellent posts on something that touches me personally, yet has much broader consequences on the country as a whole: the well-organized and well-funded assault of the Right on the University (check some links in the comments section, too): Freedom Fighters and Academic Freedom Fighters. There were a couple of other articles on the same topic, e.g.,The…

Reading Diary: Your hate mail will be graded: A decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 by John Scalzi

Your Hate Mail Will be Graded: A Decade of Whatever, 1998-2008 is a collection of John Scalzi's favourite posts from the first decade of his blog's existence. And it's quite a collection too -- of course one that is best taken in short doses, one or two posts per day over a longish period of time. Just like you you consume a blog. Scalzi started Whatever way back in 1998 and since then it's become one of the most popular science fiction author blogs out there. His mixture of humour, politics and just general zaniness is hard to resist. Most of all, Scalzi is passionate, he has a strong…

The rationing that already happens: drug shortages in the US

One thing that drove me nuts during the healthcare reform debate was the scare tactic of claiming that proposed legislation would result in rationing of healthcare. The problem with making such a claim is that healthcare is already rationed in the US. We ration healthcare based on insurance status and ability to pay. And, as a story from NPR's Richard Knox points out, we ration when there are supply shortages -- as there are now with several important drugs. Here's Knox's overview of the problem: The shortages involve a wide range of medications: cancer chemotherapy agents, anesthetics,…

Weekend Diversion: Time to Speak Up.

They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up. -Martin Niemöller Most of you reading this know me. How you know me may vary; some of you know me as a scientist, some as a science writer, as a professor, or maybe just a friend or acquaintance. But before I was any of those things, I was born a citizen of the United…

Space Semaphores

The NASA logo dates from 1959 and is commonly referred to as the "meatball" logo. The sphere represents a planet, the stars represent space, the red chevron is a wing representing "aeronautics," which was the latest design craze at the time of the logo's invention. The orbiting spacecraft going around the wing represents orbiting spacecraft. Iconic and simple: the opposite of NASA's bureaucracy! When the insignia is used in conjunction with other text (as in letterheads, business cars, or for agency or center identification), the font used is always Helvetica Medium or Light, upper and…

Does air drying clothes mean that you are mentally ill?

Journalist Andrew Bolt reckons that the "green sickness" is "spreading". He quotes from a story by journalist Bryony Gordon: Psychiatrists in America have identified a new mental illness that threatens the very fabric of society: an obsession with saving the planet. Some people are so addicted to cutting their carbon emissions that they seem to have gone quite mad. Take, for example, Sharon Astyk, who makes her four children sleep in a huddle so she doesn't have to turn on the heating (if she was that concerned about the planet, perhaps she could have stopped reproducing after baby number two…

Plagues and Pandemics - Emerson SC-214

For the past 3 years, I've had the opportunity to spend a week in a house on a beautiful lake in Vermont. Usually, this week is a chance to completely unplug. I take some photos, buy a bunch of books from Northshire and read them, and lounge around. On this past trip however, I received and e-mail that was equal parts wonderful, exciting and terrifying, offering me an opportunity to teach a course at Emerson College. The course is SC-214 - Plagues and Pandemics. From the catalogue: Infectious diseases are a leading worldwide cause of human death. This course will describe and discuss the…

Ask a Science Blogger: Are we happier in the summer?

My gut response after reading this question was: Well, duh--obviously, summer is more conducive to happiness. I mean, you can make a good case for the virtues of spring and fall, but they're really less seasons than they are opening acts. And apart from Christmas and skiing, winter doesn't have a whole lot to recommend it. Nope. If you're ranking seasons, summertime is the clear winner. Summer=hot sun, slow, quiet afternoons, and water-logged family vacations. What more does a human being need to be happy, apart from an air-conditioner and an ample supply of snacks? Proving my theory seemed…

Good intentions and where they lead

From The Confusion, by Neal Stephenson, Book Three of The Baroque Cycle. The Duchess of Oyonnax, in the court of Louis XIV, explains why good people do bad things: In this world there are few who would kill for money. To believe that the Court of France is crowded with such rare specimens is folly. There used to be, at court, many practitioners of the Black Mass. Do you really think that all these people woke up one morning and said, "Today I shall worship and offer sacrifices to the Prince of Evil?" Of course not. Rather, it was that some girl, desperate to find a husband, so that she would…

Orlov on Deepwater Horizon as Chernobyl

Definitely read the whole thing More importantly, the two disasters are analogous in the unprecedented technical, administrative, and political challenges posed by their remediation. In the case of Chernobyl, the technical difficulty stemmed from the need to handle high level radioactive waste. Chunks of nuclear reactor fuel lay scattered around the ruin of the reactor building, and workers who picked them up using shovels and placed them in barrels received a lethal radiation dose in just minutes. To douse the fire still burning within the molten reactor core, bags of sand and boron were…

ScienceOnline'09 - interview with Danica Radovanovic

The series of interviews with some of the participants of the 2008 Science Blogging Conference was quite popular, so I decided to do the same thing again this year, posting interviews with some of the people who attended ScienceOnline'09 back in January. Today, I asked Danica Radovanovic from the Digital Serendipities blog (you can also find her on her Serbian blog and Global Voices Online) to answer a few questions: Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your (scientific) background? I'm a web activist,…

Be Your Boring Self

In rapid succession yesterday, Twitter threw me two how-to-behave-online links that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. The first was a widely re-shared essay titled You Are Boring: You listen to the same five podcasts and read the same seven blogs as all your pals. You stay up late on Twitter making hashtagged jokes about the event that everyone has decided will be the event about which everyone jokes today. You love to send withering @ messages to people like Rush Limbaugh—of course, those notes are not meant for their ostensible recipients, but for your friends, who will chuckle and retweet…

The Hopeless Monster? Not so fast!

Olivia Judson wrote a blog post on her NYTimes blog that has many people rattled. Why? Because she used the term "Hopeful Monster" and this term makes many biologists go berserk, foaming at the mouth. And they will not, with their eye-sight fogged by rage, notice her disclaimer: Note, however, that few modern biologists use the term. Instead, most people speak of large morphological changes due to mutations acting on single genes that influence embryonic development. So, was Olivia Judson right or wrong in her article? Both. Essentially she is correct, but she picked some bad examples,…

ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Karyn Hede

Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009. Today, I asked Karyn Hede to answer a few questions: Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What is your (scientific) background? I…

My Job in 10 Years: Optimism

Burn down the library. C'mon, all the books in the world are already digitized. Burn the thing down...Stop air conditioning the books. Enough already. -Adrian Sannier (via) Optimism seems like a strange thing for a librarian to have at the start of the second decade of the 21st century. There's no shortage of people who seem to think that we'll be completely replaced by Google, that everything is available online for free, that students don't read. And we've all had experiences where we tell someone at a party what we do for a living and the person just gets a puzzled expression on their…

Silica hazards in fracking continued: Where did NIOSH find unsafe dust levels?

by Elizabeth Grossman When the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) found exposure levels of respirable silica at hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations that were 10, 25, and 100 times greater than federal recommended safety limits, NIOSH was confident enough about these findings to present them at a national Institute of Medicine forum and to publish them on its website. These findings also formed the basis of a hazard alert issued jointly by NIOSH and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). But as I reported previously on The Pump Handle, NIOSH…

Project H.M., Phase I

IN February of this year, Jacopo Annese (above), a neuroanatomist and radiologist at the University of California, San Diego travelled to Boston to take delivery of a brain. For Annese, collecting brains is not unusual - he is, after all, director of UCSD's Brain Observatory, which will eventually become a comprehensive library of brains donated by people who had neurological conditions such as Alzheimer's Disease, as well as by healthy people of all ages. This time though, the brain he collected was very special: it belonged to the amnesic patient Henry Molaison,  who for more than 50 years…

How to Explain Science in Blog Posts

If you believe the maxim "the more the merrier," then you would have LOVED the session which I am proud to say was my first as a moderator. I wasn't alone - nine other fantastic people worked with me. Our collective goal was to do the impossible: to give a complete 101 on how to explain science in blog posts. Everything from style and tone to content even website design and marketing. All of it. In one hour. And, might I say so myself, we totally rocked it. This session took unconference to the extreme. Instead of having us stand up and talk at the audience, we split into five groups each led…

CVs vs. resumes: when it matters

So I ran across this thread, and it made me sad. (And no, not because it wasn't Ed Yong's blog, although that too.) It started off as a happy post: the author, Paula Chambers, is a PhD who began her own online community for PhDs seeking jobs outside academia. That's awesome. But when Chambers went to hire an assistant, and received applications from fellow PhDs (and ABDs - "all-but-dissertation" scholars), she was not impressed: I was and remain astounded by the failure of so many smart, educated people to follow instructions. It wasn't complicated. I asked for a résumé, cover letter, and…

Lejre Excavator Publishes His Views on the Figurine

Tom Christensen, who heads excavations at storied Lejre on Zealand, Denmark, has a paper about the lovely Lejre figurine in ROMU 2009 (full text on-line) and another one in the new issue of Skalk. Here he offers some well-chosen comparative material and presents his arguments for the figurine's gender and identity. Everybody agrees that the figurine's throne, with its wolf heads and pair of ravens, must depict Odin's high seat Hlidskjalf. Everybody also agrees that the piece dates from the 10th century. But Denmark's foremost experts on 1st Millennium dress (and myself) classify the person…

Advent Calendar of Science Stories 14: A Slip of Card

Scientific controversies aren't always settled by a single dramatic experiment, but it's a lot of fun when they are. It's even more fun when they can be carried out with, as the author put it, "without any other apparatus than is at hand to every one." I'm speaking in this case of the famous "double slit" experiment of Thomas Young, though if you want to be really picky about it, he didn't originally do it with a double slit, but a single "slip of card" that divided a beam of sunlight. Some distance away from the card, the overlapping light from either side of the card combined to produce a…

Black-eyed peas and collard greens: Happy New Year from the American South

To launch our 2010 blogging, here's a cultural take on our core theme of folk medicines and prescription drugs derived from natural sources (plants, fungi, marine creatures, and microorganisms terrestrial and aquatic). I've lived in the southern United States for a combined 15 years but it was only when I married into a southern family that I was assimilated into the tradition of eating collard greens and black-eyed peas to kick off the New Year. I'm told that the custom is a mashup of African American tradition adapted by southern whites that sustained all through the Civil War and the…

ScienceOnline'09: Interview with Stephanie Zvan

The series of interviews with some of the participants of the 2008 Science Blogging Conference was quite popular, so I decided to do the same thing again this year, posting interviews with some of the people who attended ScienceOnline'09 back in January. Today, I asked Stephanie Zvan of the Almost Diamonds and Quiche Moraine blogs and co-moderator of the session on Science Fiction on Science Blogs, to answer a few questions. Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your (scientific) background? I have…

Defending, Not Using, Victims

More than a few conservatives are upset about the Michael J. Fox commercials because they're unfair: how do you respond to the emotional pull of someone who has Parkinson's disease? If you watch the full-length CBS interview, Couric cruelly hammers Fox over and over with the question of if he overexaggerated his symptoms for the commercial (she's obviously trying hard to dispel the image of being the nicest of the big three anchors). But where she truly entered the realm of tastelessness was when she repeated Rush Limbaugh's charge that Democrats use victims for political purposes.…

Mystery Bird: Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus

tags: Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Pine Siskin, Carduelis pinus, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow] Image: Richard Ditch, 2008 [larger view]. Date Time Original: 2008:04:16 08:46:29 Exposure Time: 1/319 F-Number: 5.60 ISO: 320 Rick Wright, Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes: Start at the back, start at the back! We see a short-tailed bird with a long wingtip, and both wing and tail show yellow: simple feather edgings in the wing, but a significant basal patch in the tail. Off the…

Watching Mel Gibson Movies

Several people have responded to my post about Mel Gibson by saying that they'll never see his movies again. I have to confess to being baffled by that. I don't get it when those on the right do it and I don't get it when the left does it either. When those on the right freaked out about the Dixie Chicks because they criticized the president ("on foreign soil", they always add, as though that is the least bit relevant - does the validity of a criticism change as it crosses a border?) and started burning their records and boycotting their concerts, I frankly thought they were acting like…

May Pieces Of My Mind #2

Tree house ruin, Saltsjö-Boo Listening to the classic rock station in the car, I turned it off in the middle of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge". Two days later I turn it on again and find myself in the middle of their "Scar Tissue". Heh. American podcaster talks about someone named Rothschild (pronounced "roared-shilled"), consistently pronounces it "rots-child". Norwegian reggae: Bo Mærøy and the Whalers. I love Google Inbox’s snooze feature. Takes a huge load of stress off to be able to decide at what date and time I want to attend to a given letter, and then just forget…

Keep an eye on Polk County, Florida

It may be our next trouble spot. They have a creationist majority on the school board, and they're saying stuff like this: Despite the Pennsylvania case, some school board members want both intelligent design and evolution taught in Polk schools. They say they have received numerous e-mails and phone calls in support of intelligent design. "My tendency would be to have both sides shared with students since neither side can be proven," Tim Harris said. Tim Harris, you're a moron. You need to recognize this fact soon, so that your self-confident ignorance doesn't lead your school district into…

Conflict Frame to play out in Minneapolis…tomorrow

When I saw Chris Mooney in NY this week, the first thing he did was throw a blow — he punched me in the shoulder. Oh, he said stuff like "hello" and "good to see you," but I think that was just to throw me off my guard. And then we threatened to buy each other beer — in Mooney's case, bad beer — so you know this is going to be a ferocious grudge match. You'll want to be there. Here's the announcement: SPECIAL EVENT: Speaking Science 2.0: New Directions in Science Communications Friday, September 28, 2007 7:30 p.m. Bell Museum Auditorium $5 Suggested Donation Seed magazine writers and…

Fixing Education: DonorsChoose Fundraiser 2008

As we have the past few years, the folks here at ScienceBlogs will be running a fundraiser for the educational charity DonorsChoose. If you haven't been around for the past versions, the way it works is you go to their site via my challenge page, and review proposals submitted by teachers asking for funds to buy materials or put on programs that would benefit their students. If you find one you like, you give them money, and that money goes directly to the teacher making the request, to fund the proposed items. Because everything's more fun when it's competitive, there's a challenge aspect to…

The MAA Reviews the BSB

The Mathematical Association of America has now posted a thorough review of the Big Sudoku Book. The review is by Mark Hunacek, of Iowa State University. His verdict: This is a delightful book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. In some sense it is hardly surprising that I would enjoy it, since I enjoy Sudoku, mathematics and good writing, and this book combines all three of these. However, I doubt anyone needs to enjoy all three to enjoy this book; a person with very limited background in mathematics, or a person without much experience solving Sudoku puzzles, could still find something…

The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act

Yes, this is old news.  I've written about it before, as have numerous other progressive scientifically-oriented bloggers.  But now that there is an opinion piece featured prominently in the New York Times, perhaps the issue is gaining momentum. href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/opinion/18kennedy.html?hp">Cows on Drugs By DONALD KENNEDY Published: April 17, 2010 NOW that Congress has pushed through its complicated legislation to reform the health insurance system, it could take one more simple step to protect the health of all Americans. This one wouldn't raise any taxes or make…

How to get your lab up and running in 10 easy steps

Step 1. Spend all of your start-up money. Or not. Step 2. Who needs lots of lab renovations? Just use a space last used by another department. Cabinets are cabinets after all. But be sure to call Health and Safety to dispose of any left-behind chemicals you find. Step 3. Buy one large piece of lab equipment and some field equipment. Field equipment doesn't need anything more than storage space in your lab, so that simplifies set up substantially. The large piece of lab equipment will either come with a technician to get it set up or with very good instructions and support to get it working…

Mitt Romney Buys Conservative Support

As the presidential primaries for 2008 slowly approach, we're seeing the expected heavy swing to the right by several on the Republican side. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, though, seems to have taken things a step further by attempting to buy the support of right-wing organizations: In the months before announcing his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts contributed tens of thousands of dollars of his personal fortune to several conservative groups in a position to influence his image on the right. Last December, a foundation…