Blog roundup
sb admin | February 22, 2008Thereâs been a lot of blogging about vaccines lately:
Mark Meier at Science Progress explains how a cocaine-addiction vaccine was developed, and what questions and hurdles it still faces.
Jacob Goldstein at WSJâs Health Blog explains what this yearâs mismatched flu vaccine means for next yearâs production (also see Effect Measure on this yearâs flu season).
DrugMonkey and Mike Dunford at the Questionable Authority are livid about the parents whose antivaccination stance led to measles for their three children and several others.
Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata focuses on the…
sb admin | February 15, 2008Those hoping to fix the U.S.âs current healthcare system have plenty to chew on this week.
Sara Robinson at Campaign for Americaâs Future debunks several myths about U.S. vs. Canadian healthcare (Part I here). Keep this handy for the next time someone whines that single-payer healthcare will mean rationed care.
Jacob Goldstein at Health Blog reports on CVS Caremarkâs payment to end a probe into whether the company was keeping for itself the rebates that accrued from switching patients to generic drugs, and on Blue Cross of Californiaâs decision to stop asking doctors to report patients whoâd…
sb admin | February 8, 2008Bloggers react to Bush's proposed budget:
Science Progress has the totals for science-based agencies
Heather Taylor at Switchboard thinks it's lame
Gerald Epstein at SEAÂ probes a mystery $2 billion for Homeland Security R&D
Climate Progress bemoans its anti-efficiency stanceÂ
Amie Newman at RH Reality Check looks at its treatment of women's health
Elsewhere:
Sonya at Enviroblog applauds a CPSC move toward safer furniture.
Lisa Stiffler at Dateline Earth explains the findings about dust from Africa and Asia.
Jeffrey Ball at Environmental Capital reports on Wall Street's new…
sb admin | February 1, 2008In advance of Super-Duper Tuesday voting, bloggers have some thoughts about the Republican presidential hopefuls:
Tula Connell at AFL-CIO Weblog reports that the investment firm founded by Mitt Romney is supporting a system that keeps Florida tomato workers impoverished.
Michael Millenson at Health Affairs examines Mike Huckabeeâs belief that tackling obesity and smoking can control health care costs.
Chris Mooney at DeSmogBlog wonders if we should trust John McCain on global warming.
On the Democratic side, Van Jones at Gristmill explains what those âgreen-collar jobsâ the candidates…
sb admin | January 25, 2008The science blogosphere has been particularly active this past week. The Second Annual Science Blogging Conference brought bloggers together in North Carolina, where they discussed open science, blogger ethics, gender and race in science, science communication, and more. Conference organizer Coturnix has links and videos aplenty. One thought-provoking post comes from Abel Pharmboy, who reports on the contentious Framing Science discussion. At this session, panelists and audience members debated how to make the public more aware of how essential science is to all of us in, and do so within …
sb admin | January 18, 2008Thereâs lots of good blogging this week about what our elected (and hoping to be elected) leaders are doing â or at least talking about doing â on climate change:
David Roberts at Gristmill thinks itâs better to hold out for better federal climate legislation in 2009
Jonathan Pfeiffer at Science Progress reports on a hearing considering the fate of the polar bear
Climate Progress applauds a red-state governor for pushing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Jovana at Enviroblog tells us what the leading presidential hopefuls drive (or donât)
Richard Littlemore at DeSmogBlog reveals Mitt…
sb admin | January 11, 2008Big Pharma is under scrutiny in the blogosphere this week. Ed Silverman at Pharmalot reports on a study (published in PLoS Medicine) that finds drugmakers spend almost twice as much on marketing and promotion as they do on R&D; he also tells us who Big Pharmaâs backing for president.
Scott Hensley at the WSJ Health Blog reveals the real person behind the BigPharmaRealPeople.org website (whose mission includes fighting âridiculous Government rules and regulation that hamper Big Pharma from acting in the best interest of customers, patients and pharmacies in a free market societyâ), while…
sb admin | January 4, 2008Bloggers are summing up developments from 2007 and looking ahead to 2008:
â¢Â Adrienne Germaine at RH Reality Check presents the Top Ten Wins for Womenâs Health in 2007.
â¢Â Matt Madia at Reg Watch summarizes Regulatory Policy News for the year.
â¢Â Kevin Grandia at DeSmogBlog brings us the Top 5 YouTube Global Warming Videos of 2007.
â¢Â Rep. Jay Inslee at Climate Progress explains what it will take to make 2008 a great year in addressing climate change.
Elsewhere:
A New York Times op-ed by Atul Gawande highlighted a highly successful hospital infection-control program that was shut down by…
sb admin | December 21, 2007With so much attention focused on the energy bill, itâs easy to forget some of the other important legislation coming out of Congress these days. Revere at Effect Measure reports on the NIH and CDC funding figures in the latest version of the appropriations bill, and Jake Young at Pure Pedantry goes into detail about the implications of the paltry NIH spending increase. Meanwhile, Ken Cook at Mulch rounds up editorials on the disappointing Farm Bill.
Elsewhere:
Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock has posted links to all 468 blog posts nominated for inclusion in the second Science Blogging…
sb admin | December 14, 2007The Science Debate 2008 initiative (which we blogged about earlier) has prompted Janet Stemwedel at Adventures in Ethics and Science, Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock, and Zuska at Thus Spake Zuska to suggest questions to be asked at a presidential science debate. Iâm sure there are many other bloggers whoâve posed questions, but I havenât gotten through everything in my RSS reader this week â so, if you know of a related blog post that's worth checking out, please post a link in the comments.
Elsewhere:
Janet Stemwedel at Adventures in Ethics and Science reminds us that politicians âflip…
sb admin | December 7, 2007Gristmill has been doing an excellent job of tracking the progress of energy legislation in Congress this week; highlights include:
Nancy Pelosiâs ass-kicking, which allowed the House bill to return to something close to its former strength;
A marathon session in the Senateâs Environment and Public Works Committee, featuring an endless stream of amendments;
The Houseâs passage of an energy bill that represents a decisive break with decades of energy policy focused on fossil fuels; and
A failed cloture vote in the Senate, which leaves Harry Reid the choice of making Republicans mount an actual…
sb admin | November 30, 2007Nanotechnology is getting some attention these days. Revere at Effect Measure (which just celebrated its third blogiversary!) gauges the level of alarm about nanotechnology; at Science Progress, Michael Peroski looks at the current regulatory framework for nanotechnology, while Justin Masterman highlights the promise of nanotubes for cancer therapy; and Matt Madia at Reg Watch critiques the White Houseâs approach to the topic.
In a different research vein, Jacob Goldstein at the WSJ Health Blog, Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata, and Emily Monosson at Neighborhood Toxicologist all weigh in on…
sb admin | November 23, 2007Bloggers have been looking at the numbers related to our health. WSJâs The Numbers Guy sheds light on the calculations behind global HIV-infection figures, which the U.N.âs AIDS agency has revised sharply downwards, and Mead Over at Global Health Policy hopes that the revision will re-focus attention on the need for cost-effectiveness estimates in the global response to AIDS. Shirley S. Wang at the WSJ Health Blog busts the myth that suicide rates rise during the winter holidays, while Merrill Goozner at GoozNews explains a mysterious Congressional Budget Office claim that health care co-pays…
sb admin | November 16, 2007Bloggers are bringing us lots of drug news this week:
Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata explains why a decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is devastating news for lymphoma patients â and possibly for all cancer patients (here, too).
Ed Silverman at Pharmalot considers the drop in new drug approvals by the FDA.
Maggie Mahar at Health Beat reports on the lavish inducements drug companies offer to doctors in developing countries.
Revere at Effect Measure discusses the pharmaceutical-company maneuverings that threaten to keep doctors from prescribing effective, low cost…
sb admin | November 9, 2007Recent research has been attracting attention, and bloggers help explain the findings â in some cases, more accurately than the traditional media outlets do:
MarkH at denialism blog critiques the news coverage of the latest research on obesity, overweight, and mortality (Washington Post headline: âBeing Overweight Isnât All Bad, Study Saysâ) and reminds us that itâs also important to look at obesityâs effects on quality of life and disability.
Revere at Effect Measure, Mike the Mad Biologist, and Tara C. Smith at Aetiology report on new research into MRSA and pigs â and why it might be time…
sb admin | November 2, 2007A lot of public health-related legislation is making its way through Congress these days, and bloggers are taking note.
Brian Beutler at Gristmill has been tracking Americaâs Climate Security Act, otherwise known as the Lieberman-Warner bill (background here).
Emily Douglas and James Wagoner at RH Reality Check report on the good and bad things Congress is doing with regards to reproductive health.
Janice Neitzel at Triple Pundit, OrangeClouds115 at Daily Kos, and Tom Philpott at Gristmill tell you everything you need to know about the Farm Bill.
Elsewhere:
Angry Toxicologist looks into the…
sb admin | October 26, 2007Andrew Leonard at How the World Works has rounded up posts about the role of climate change in the California wildfires, and concludes that environmentalists are expressing themselves with nuance. Ben at Technology, Health & Development points out that the particulate-matter density in the areas affected by the fires is still less than levels typically seen in homes where biomass is burned for fuel.
Coturnix at A Blog Around the Clock reports that the Senate has passed a bill that includes a provision mandating public access to NIH-funded research â a major step for proponents of open…
sb admin | October 19, 2007Drug resistance is a big news topic this week. Tara Smith at Correlations describes MRSAâs move from hospitals to communities; Mike the Mad Biologist has numbers on the toll of that antibiotic-resistant bug; and Theo Francis at the WSJ Health Blog highlights a shortage of infection-control specialists to help hospitals tackle the problem. Also at the WSJ Health Blog, Jacob Goldstein reports that a Mexican businessman with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis crossed the border into Texas 71 times and took several flights into the US (so much for being able to control diseasesâ movement across…
sb admin | October 12, 2007This week saw several new policy statements from presidential hopefuls, and bloggers have opinions about them. David Roberts at Gristmill responded to Barack Obamaâs energy plans, while Amie Newman at RHReality Check focused what Obamaâs saying in Iowa about abortion and abstinence-only sex ed. Jacob Goldstein at the WSJ Health Blog reported on John McCainâs healthcare plan, and Chris Mooney at The Intersection devoted several posts to Hillary Clintonâs statements on science.
And, to add to the discussions about childrenâs health insurance, Rob Cunningham at the Health Affairs Blog reports on…
sb admin | October 5, 2007Several blog posts this week showcased successful steps in the global effort to bring healthcare to underserved populations. Anika Rahman at RH Reality Check profiles three winners of the International Awards for the Health and Dignity of Women. Aman at Technology, Health & Development highlights an ingeniously simple device for safely disposing of contaminated needles. Jessica Pickett at Global Health Policy explains how vouchers from the FDA can spur investment in R&D for neglected diseases.
Elsewhere:
Revere at Effect Measure explains, with the help of an analogy, why scientists…