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The ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose raise-money-to-help-science-classrooms-a-thon!

You will see (almost) identical text below on many SEED science blogs because we are all doing this together, as a team, so it is not a case of mass plagiarism: Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you're reading the blogs here, chances are you feel the same way. A lot of us fell in love with science because of early experiences in school -- teachers who made science intriguing, exciting, maybe a little bit dangerous. But tightening budgets are making it harder and harder for public school teachers to provide the books,…

Acknowledging Obama's failures

It looks like there's going to be some kind of health care reform bill, but we're not celebrating. It's legislation that could have been important and meaningful and instead is a neutered industry-friendly cup of weak tea with a Draconian anti-choice amendment. That Obama would disappoint us is no surprise. We expected it and predicted it during the presidential campaign. And we said we'd complain. And we are. Expecting it, though, doesn't prevent us from being disappointed and angry he has turned out to be lousy on things that count. He's not George Bush, we'll give him that. But no…

Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: Bill Donohue and I agree

Bill Donohue is a demented, mean (evil?) and bat shit crazy head of a nasty coven called the Catholic League. Donohue's organization claims to represent 350,000 Catholics (yeah, right; and we're the Andrews Sisters), but since there are an estimated 67 million Catholics in the US and Canada, even by his own inflated estimate this is only 0.5%. You wouldn't think there would be much we would agree on. But I just found one. We atheists -- and it turns out, lots of Christians -- are out to get him and his mob of crazies: Catholic League President Bill Donohue presented a paranoid side of his…

Severe cases in swine flu: lack of clinical details

Two elite flu reporters, Helen Branswell (Canadian Press) and Declan Butler (Nature), both noted yesterday the dearth of clinic information on the serious and fatal swine flu cases. First Butler: Clinical researchers have been slow to respond to the 2009 flu pandemic, lament researchers writing in today's Lancet. "Public health officials, virologists, epidemiologists, and policy makers have done well in responding to a rapidly emerging and complex problem. By contrast, the clinical research community's response has been delayed and modest, " writes Jeremy Farrar, a researcher in Ho Chi Minh…

Some angry thoughts about the pandemic

WHO today declared we an influenza pandemic is underway (aka, phase 6), which is not news to anyone. This beast has been barreling long for at least 3 or 4 weeks and the reluctance to call it what it was was related to resistance from some of WHO's member states (the UK, China and Japan have been often fingered as the chief culprits). The apparent lack of cases in Europe didn't fool most experts. The EU was using a testing protocol designed to minimize the case count. It was refreshing not to have the US party to these kinds of shenanigans, but of course we had no opportunity: it started here…

Swine flu: New York City

In New York City, an illness termed "mild" for many has killed 7 and put 300 in the hospital. A preliminary analysis of about half of those hospitalized, most (82%) were said to have some underlying medical condition. That's common with flu, but it's also a reminder that one of five were otherwise healthy, and unusually for flu, most of them relatively young (mostly under 65). Similarly, the deaths also had underlying medical conditions but were relatively young (median age 43). The two most recent deaths were in the mid 40s. So not being old is one risk factor. What does "underlying medical…

Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: is Francis Collins, The Discovery Institute's biggest fear?

In the view of New Scientist journalist Amanda Gefter, The Discovery Institute, high priests of Creationism as an allegedly rational enterprise, aren't really worried about Richard Dawkins. Presumably he's just a great fund raising device for them. The one who really scares the BeJesus out of them is biologist Francis Collins, the evangelical Christian rumored to be Obama's choice as next Director of NIH: The Discovery Institute - the Seattle-based headquarters of the intelligent design movement - has just launched a new website, Faith and Evolution, which asks, can one be a Christian and…

Swine flu: pictures, big and little

As is usual (routine? no, nothing routine about this) in an evolving epidemic contradictory and confusing numbers are appearing. Some of them are the result of information lags (tallies not being updated), some are the result of using different criteria for counting (suspect versus probable versus lab confirmed, etc.), some are just rumors. WHO is saying that in Mexico there are only 7 confirmed deaths, 19 more lab confirmed cases, 159 probable cases and some 1300 being evaluated, based on official reporting to them by officials of a member state, the Mexico. Everyone knows there are many…

Fort Detrick stands up by standing down

Among the many things going on (or not going on) the last couple of weeks is a total "stand down" of the country's main biodefense research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland. Here's the inter memo, dated February 4: I will institute a stand down of all biological select agents and toxin (BSAT) activities beginning on Friday, the 6th. This is necessary to conduct a complete inventory to identify all BSAT in USAMRIID [U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases]. The standard we have employed for 100% accountability has been the ability to find every sample listed in the…

Hospital hazards, "Holy Crap" Department

We take for it granted that technology can be used to tag objects in various ways, useful and otherwise. The anti-theft devices used on retail clothing stores are a familiar example. Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RFID) are used for this purpose as well as for security access. I have a device like that on my windshield for automatic highway tolls on the turnpike. Hospitals also have a strong interest in keeping track of lots of items like pharmaceuticals, equipment or even ordinary sponges used in surgery. Counting and keeping track of sponges is routine so none are inadvertently…

Measles again

In other parts of the world measles is a major killer of children and infants. In my own youth measles was a very troublesome childhood disease that was a major cause of morbidity in the US, with 3 to 4 million cases a year. One in 250 died, almost 50,000 a year were hospitalized and 1000 were left with long term disability. Then, in 1963, measles vaccination was introduced. Since 1997 there have been less than 150 cases a year, mostly less than 100. Except this year: However, during January 1--April 25, 2008, a total of 64 confirmed measles cases were preliminarily reported to CDC, the most…

New and Exciting in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine

Evolving Towards Mutualism: Plants, and all other living things, require nitrogen for growth; it is an essential component of nucleic acids and proteins. Although air is mostly nitrogen, this gaseous form is inaccessible to plants and must be fixed into ammonium to render it biologically relevant. Soil bacteria called rhizobia fix nitrogen, but to do this they must first take up residence inside the roots of legumes like pea, alfalfa, clover, and soybean. Experimental Evolution of a Plant Pathogen into a Legume Symbiont: Most leguminous plants can form a symbiosis with members of a group of…

EPA, scientific committees and conflicts of interest: a follow-up on the Deborah Rice affair

About a month ago (March 1, 2008) we brought you the story of how a highly reputable and knowledgeable scientist, Dr. Deborah Rice of the Maine Department of Maine Department of Health and Human Services, was bonced off of an EPA scientific advisory committee because the chemical industry trade group, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), objected that she had a bias. How did they know? Dr. Rice, as part of her duties as toxicologist for the State of Maine, testified before its legislature that on the basis of a review of the scientific evidence she believed the deca congener of the…

Miniature GC-MS: just one problem . . .

Another one of those stories about what is truly, a technological marvel: shrinking a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer down to the size of an iPod, with the target size being that of a matchbox. Designed by MIT engineers, the device which can analyze the air for hazardous gases (and could be adapted for other media like water) is touted as a possible distributed sensor for water supplies to protect us against chemical attacks or in subway systems to warn of terrorist attacks. I think this is bullshit and I'll explain why after a description of this ingenious device: Their detector uses gas…

Driving under the influence

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff often seems mystified that the public doesn't want to be protected as much as he wants to protect them. Maybe a look at the record of the protectors will provide some clue. Protectors like the Transporation Security Administration (TSA), the lovable airport screeners that have done so much to make air travel a tiring and tiresome pain in the ass. TSA makes mistakes. Quite often, it appears. Some of those mistakes can be pretty onerous. If your name gets on a no-fly list you are in for a heap of inconvenience -- or worse. But, as we were assured by TSA…

Defending a heretic against the True Believers

If I am going to defend a public health heretic, I'd better get my disclaimers out on the table at the outset. The tobacco habit is among the world's top public health threats and the purveyors of the deadly products that cause it have a lot to answer for. They belong in jail. As a public health scientist, I've never taken a penny from Big Tobacco and never will. But as a scientist I cannot fight them with half truths or lies any more than I can fight torture by torturing someone. Religion distorts science and I'm not an adherent of any religion, including cults within academic public health…

ConvergeSouth05 - Ethics

This was one of the best sessions from last year. As always, you can click on the spider-clock icon to check the comments on the original post.... Coverage continues... Friday afternoon: Jay Rosen and Lex Alexander session was amazing (and a number of bloggers have already commented on it). Daniel's doodle of the two guys is right on the money: Compare it to the photo: The session was actually quite tense and contentious, struggling over the ageless question of who has, or deserves, more trust: professional journalists or bloggers...until someone really smart suggested to stop thinking "Who…

How to appeal to the Multiple Intelligences of Voters

This review of Howard Gardner's "Changing Minds" I wrote on July 4, 2004 on www.jregrassroots.org and re-posted it on Science And Politics on August 25, 2004, so the political implications are quite outdated.... Book Review: Howard Gardner Changing Minds Yesterday I finished Howard Gardner's "Changing Minds". Gardner is a cognitive psychologist, famous for his theory of multiple intelligencies ("eight and a half" kinds, so far). In this book he applies his theory to the question of changing minds, including changing one's own mind, minds of one or two closest friends/family/lovers, as well…

My picks from ScienceDaily

Children's Sleep Problems Can Lead To School Problems: It is obvious that young children who have difficulties sleeping are likely to have problems in school. A new study shows that African-American children and children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds fare worse than their counterparts when their sleep is disrupted. The study offers one of the first demonstrations that the relationship between children's performance and sleep may differ among children of different backgrounds. Conducted by researchers at Auburn University and Notre Dame University, it is published in the January/…

I get email

Nothing new here, just more of the same. I thought this time I'd insert my reactions into the stream of a fairly typical creationist letter that I received this morning. Really, people: you may think you're very clever and persuasive, but I hear all of this same stuff every single day, and you've never got a new argument. Thanks for removing all doubt as to what will be taught at U-Morris.[Yes. We will be teaching science, not creationism.] My daughter was considering attending after she graduates next year. [Good for her! She sounds like a smart young woman already]That will not be the case…

My picks from ScienceDaily

New Group Of Algae Discovered: Picobiliphytes: An international group of researchers has succeeded in identifying a previously unknown group of algae. As currently reported in the scientific journal Science, the newly discovered algae are found among the smallest members of photosynthetic plankton - the picoplankton ('Picobiliphytes: A marine picoplanktonic algal group with unknown affinities to other Eukaroytes" Science, Vol. 316'). On account of the minute size of the organisms (no more than a few thousandth of a millimetre) and the appearance of phycobili-proteins, researchers have termed…

Robby, while you're up, get me a Grant

The Robby in the title refers to Robby the Robot in the 1956 movie, Forbidden Planet, and what follows was a tag line in an ad for Grant's whiskey: "While you're up, get me a Grant's." That's in case you've forgotten or never knew. I'm still working on the grant, doing things it feels like a robot could do. Writing pieces on the facilities, lists of Key Personnel, charts of graduate students trained, budgets, budget justifications, etc., etc. I have lots of help from great staff and colleagues, but it is the kind of necessary but tough slogging that doesn't feel very creative. I don't mind…

North Carolina to get new State Lab. Hope it isn't a public health hazard.

Congratulations, North Carolina. You are getting brand new $52 million facility for your State Public Health Laboratory and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, each in separate wings of a 220,000 square foot facility in Raleigh. Sounds great. But if you work there you might want to shower at home and bring bottled water. And better check your benefits. Because the company that got the contract is non other than Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR), until recently a Halliburton subsidiary and notorious Iraq contractor under investigation for shoddy electrical work resulting in the electrocution…

Grandmother calls for mandatory minimum penalties for work-related fatalities

When Sherman Holmes, 55, was killed on-the-job by a felled tree, his employer’s profit on the lumber was more than enough to pay the penalty for the three safety violations identified by Michigan OSHA. That penalty was only $1,525.* WyoFile’s Dustin Bleizeffer reported last week on one family’s efforts to change how penalties are assessed for safety violations associated with work-related fatal injury. Mary Jane Collins of Sheridan, Wyoming wants tougher consequences for companies that disregard safety standards. Her grandson, Brett Samuel Collins, 20, was killed on-the-job in August 2012…

The fiction of OSHA’s agenda for new worker safety rules

I’m not sure why I’m compelled to write each time the Labor Department releases its Spring and Fall agenda on worker safety regulations. The first time I did so was December 2006 and I’ve commented on all but one of the subsequent 14 agendas. But the ritual is largely disappointing. On its regulatory agenda, OSHA will indicate its intention to make progress on a proposed or final worker safety rules. It will provide target dates to complete key tasks for each of those rules. But for the majority of the regulatory topics, by the time the next regulatory agenda rolls around six or more months…

How healthy is your county? This year’s County Health Rankings underscore that place matters

This year’s County Health Rankings once again illustrate why geography and good health go hand-in-hand. They’re also a poignant reminder that there may be no better way to improve health for all than by focusing on the social determinants of health. Released earlier this week, the 2014 County Health Rankings compare each state’s counties on 29 factors that impact health, from tobacco use to high school graduation rates to access to healthy food choices. In examining the differences between counties, the report found that the least healthy counties were home to twice the premature death rate,…

OSHA’s proposed silica regulation: Let the public hearings begin!

This week will mark the next big step in efforts to institute a federal regulation to protect workers who are exposed to respirable crystalline silica. Tuesday, March 18 will be the first of 14 days of testimony and debate about a proposed silica rule which was released in September 2013 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA). The “deadly dust” is associated with malignant and non-malignant respiratory diseases and other adverse health conditions. The hazard has been recognized for centuries, but the U.S. does not have a comprehensive rule on the books to protect the…

Houston lawmakers poised to tackle wage theft

The fourth largest city in the U.S. may be the next major metropolis taking action against wage theft.   Members of Houston's City Council held a public hearing this week to discuss a proposed city ordinance targeted at employers who fail to pay the minimum wage or legally due overtime pay, force employees to work "off the clock," or simply skip out on paying owed wages.  In Houston alone, an estimated $750 million are lost every year due to wage theft perpetrated against low-wage workers.  The economic consequences for the victims and their families is profound, as is the potential effect on…

But What Will We Eat at the Apocalypse Now?

There are, of course, a lot of critical issues going on right now, and you can count on your blogiste to keep you up on them.  Besides the fallout from Sandy, crisis of arctic sea ice and all the agricultural issues that need to be brought to the  light, it can be hard to keep up.  But I think we all can agree what really is critical at this moment is this:  What are we all going to eat when the zombies come?   How will we go on now that that perfect survival food, the Twinkie, is no longer available?  Particularly since Israel and Gaza seem bent on bringing the zombies in extra-soon, before…

Only a Theory

I published a review in Nature this week, of Ken Miller's Only a Theory(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), and boy, was that a tough one. The catch was that I want the book to do well, and I definitely think it has a place as an appeal to the religious majority to support good science (you know, all those people who see my demonic visage leering out at them from the top left corner of this page and want to call for an exorcist), but it also irritated me greatly on several important points. I think it's a much better book than his previous, Finding Darwin's God(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). That book had one…

Ok, So Maybe It is Gridcrash that Makes the Lights Go Out

Quite a few years ago I wrote a piece arguing that the single most likely scenario for most of us having to deal with long term electrical shortages doesn't involve gridcrash scenarios, but the growth of poverty and utility shut offs. I suggested that people should be prepared to deal with electrical outages in large part simply because of the economic consequences of our situation. It isn't that I didn't believe anything could shut down the electric grid, I simply felt that realistically, the probabilities of more than short-term outages in the near term were pretty small. In news that…

Don't Feed the Zombies: The Problem of Protesting the Thing You Depend On

A number of readers have asked me what I think about the Wall Street protests. In general I think public protest is usually a good thing, and I'm pleased to see demonstrations in favor of good things like corporate accountability and against bad things like climate change. I think there are plenty of reasons for political activism in our country, and am always pleased by it. On the other hand, do I think that this is the beginning of something profound and important? I can't say for sure, but I would guess not. Protesting Wall Street isn't a bad idea - but there's a fundamental problem in…

Celebrations!

Friday was a fabulous day, after a very, very long week. For a week, we frantically prepared for our final home visit. Some of it was pretty normal stuff - minor repairs, etc... Some of it, I think was pretty weird - who knew that freshly washed window screens were a requirement to be a good foster parent (yes, they did explicitly require that). They gave us hoops, and we jumped through like trained tigers ;-). But we passed - in what is still the first biggest news here in our particular tiny household in New York, Eric and I will be (as soon as the paperwork is processed) New York State…

What Are We Not Talking Enough About?

One of my many other hats is the one I wear as a member of the ASPO-USA board and editor of the Peak Oil Review Commentary. My favorite kind of commentary is the one that puts together short pieces from a lot of thinkers, all answering the same question - and this must be the favorite of a lot of people, because it has generated a tremendous response. Perhaps favorite response to the question "What are we missing? What part of our environmental/energy/economic crisis isn't getting enough attention?" was Nate Hagen's answer (only partly excerpted here): Basically, though it's counter-…

Hitchens : Luskin :: Lion : Mouse

Christopher Hitchens was impressed by the existence of blind cave organisms, and wrote that they argue against a linear progression in evolution. He's quite right; creationism doesn't explain why their god tossed in to salamanders and fish a collection of complex developmental mechanisms that the animals simply throw away and do not use. Evolution does — descent from a sighted ancestor explains how blind cave animals can still possess the machinery for a lost organ. Do you think the Discovery Institute would let this challenge pass by? Of course not. They put their top man on the job, so…

_Prelude_ Circulation and Apprentice Weekend!

I broke my little toe this weekend, which I mention because while it is completely unimportant (the only things you can do about broken toes is tape and whine, I'm good at both ;-)), I'm using it as an excuse to take some time off this week and post lightly over the next couple. Don't ask me to explain how a broken toe affects my ability to type, or why I'm using it as an excuse to spend more time on my feet baking cookies and cleaning house instead of sitting quietly at the computer. It makes no sense, but after a busy, hectic first half of the month, i figure the majority of my readership…

Anti-Consumerist Gift Files: Donate!

In a perfect world, perhaps we'd all have already made our own homemade gifts for everyone, but most of us aren't that perfect. Many of us need to acquire some gifts, and the challenge is how to spend our money well, in things that are valuable, lasting and worth having. Over the course of the month, I have some suggestions for what sources you might go to for good gifts. I try, generally speaking, to put my own money where my mouth is, so all of these are places that my family has donated to, or will be donating to this year. There are a lot of good causes, and I'll have more than one…

Life With Food Stamps as Your Only Income

From Alternet, a good piece on what it really means to be one of the six million Americans with no income at all save food stamps: In March 2009, in the midst of the worst job crisis in at least a generation, Eva opened the last welfare check she will ever receive. She is one of a growing number of people in the United States who can't find work in this recession but don't qualify for government cash assistance, no matter how poor they are or how bad the economy gets. Without the help of welfare, Eva doesn't have enough money left at the end of each month to feed her daughters full meals.…

Things I Have Learned From Blogging at Science Blogs, Part I

I've now been at scienceblogs for a couple of months, and it is fascinating to me - I went from a stand-alone blog to one with a whole lot of other people, and getting to know the local culture is a really interesting exercise. Overwhelmingly, it has been really wonderful and fascinating. Still, I have learned some new-to-me things about this culture. I thought I would do a series, seeing if I could sum up the lessons learned here as I adapt to this strange new world. So here is the first one. #1 - The phrase "American Conservative Evangelical Protestantism" is spelled "R-E-L-I-G-I-O-N. In…

WV Senator says "thanks, but no thanks" to Trump’s nominee for mine safety agency

West Virginia’s senior U.S. senator will not be supporting President Trump’s nominee to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) issued a statement on Wednesday which said: “While I appreciate Mr. Zatezalo’s willingness to serve, I cannot support his confirmation to lead MSHA. After reviewing his qualifications and record of safety during his time in the coal industry, I am not convinced that Mr. Zatezalo is suited to oversee the federal agency that implements and enforces mine safety laws and standards.” Ken Ward at the Charleston (WV) Gazette was…

Preventing Public Health Disasters

Earlier this week, FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg presented Frances Kelsey with the first in what will be a series of awards bearing Kelsey's name. Fifty years ago, as a new medical officer with the FDA, Kelsey refused to approve US sale of Kevadon, a drug widely recognized by its generic name, thalidomide. The drug was widely used as a sleep aid and anti-morning-sickness drug in Europe, but Kelsey questioned its safety. While thousands of children were being born in Europe with missing limbs and other thalidomide-induced birth defects, the US avoided such widespread tragedy. In 1962,…

Reviving OSHA: New Administrator's Big Challenge

by Sidney Shapiro, cross-posted from CPR Blog On Tuesday, the White House announced the appointment of Dr. David Michaels to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).  An epidemiologist and a professor at George Washington Universityâs School of Public Health and Health Services, Michaels will bring substantial expertise and experience to the job.  Besides being an active health research â he studies the health effects of occupational exposure to toxic chemicals â he has also written impressively on science and regulatory policy. His book, Doubt Is Their Product: How…

Post-Sago Disaster progress, or not?

Early Sunday morning (May 10), I read a news brief from WSAZ reporting that seven workers had been rescued from a flooded underground coal mine in Gilbert, WV, after being trapped for 32+ hours.  As I combed the web for further details, I was struck by the news accounts and audio recordings noting that the trapped miners and their families had spoken numerous times by telephone during the ordeal, as if such conversations are ho-hum-routine during mine emergencies.   I was fascinated simply reading that the miners trapped under the earth had a means to communicate with the surface.…

ATSDR Reversal on Camp Lejeune Water - Will DoD Follow Suit?

Weâve written before about the problem of contaminated water at the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina. Between 1957 and 1987, the baseâs water was contaminated with the industrial chemicals TCE and PCE, which are linked to a long list of health problems, including leukemia and neural tube defects in children exposed in the womb. Although 1,500 former base residents had filed damage claims totaling $33.8 billion, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (part of the Department of Health and Human Services) stood by a report that claimed drinking and bathing in the…

Meet Linda Reinstein

Linda Reinstein is a mother and grandmother.   Linda Reinstein is an asbestos-disease widow.  Her husband Alan Reinstein, 67, died on May 22, 2006 from mesothelioma.  Like her husband, Linda Reinstein is a fighter, an organizer, an activist.   Following Alan Reinstein's mesothelioma diagnosis in 2003, they founded the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) which is now entering its sixth year.  The organization strives to serve as the "voice of the victims." Next month, the ADAO will host its 5th annual Asbestos Awareness Day conference (March 27-29, Manhattan Beach,…

Senators Press OSHA on Diacetyl

Four U.S. Senators have written to Labor Secretary Chao and OSHA Asst. Secretary Foulke expressing serious concern that "OSHA has failed to make significant progress in addressing the continuing hazards" of diacetyl.  They asked for a response by October 8 to four simple questions, including a list of inspections conducted as part of OSHA's national emphasis program on diacetyl. It was nearly 10 years ago when an alert physician in Missouri linked rare cases of the lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans to his patients' workplace exposure at a microwave popcorn manufacturing plant.  …

National Academies Support Science Debate

The push for a presidential candidate science debate is stronger than ever: Yesterday, the National Academies joined other prestigious organizations to co-sponsor the effort. "This would provide a nonpartisan setting to educate voters on the candidates' positions on key science, technology, and health challenges facing the next administration, while giving the candidates an opportunity to discuss issues that are often overlooked in presidential candidate debates but that are critical to U.S. competitiveness," the presidents of the NAS, NAE, and IOM said in a statement. "A discussion focused…

FDA Advisory Committees: One Person, One Vote

by Susan F. Wood, PhD  FDA recently announced two draft guidances regarding advisory committees, one on public disclosure of financial conflicts of interests and the other on voting procedures.    The one on disclosure of financial conflicts of interest has gotten a fair amount of attention as it begins to implement the FDA Amendments Act of 2007 (FDAAA) requirements on disclosure.  This draft guidance which calls for public disclosure 15 days in advance of any meeting of financial conflicts of interest for which a waiver is sought and granted for participation in the Advisory Committee…

Lipstick, Landfills, and Legislation: Lead Stays in the News

By Liz Borkowski  Reports of toys and other products containing dangerous levels of lead continue to pour in, with Curious George dolls and lipstick being the latest items to come under scrutiny. Companies and health officials have to decide what to do about products currently on the market, and lawmakers are proposing ways to keep hazardous products off shelves in the first place. Today, the LA Timesâ Marc Lifsher reports that the Center for Environmental Health found more than ten times the legal limit of lead in a Curious George doll and has filed a legal complaint against the Marvel…

In case you missed it, some denialism mentions of note

Being inactive for the last couple of years I still read about denialism being mentioned in some interesting places. Two in particular I thought I share. Peter Gleick in Forbes write on "The Rise and Fall of Climate Change Denial is interesting largely because it's in Forbes. And predictably, for publishing in a right-wing magazine, the comments are basically 100% against Gleick, a national academy member, accusing him of everything from incompetence to dishonesty. It's actually pretty remarkable. But at least the scientific viewpoint is starting to infiltrate the literature of the right…