Science in the Media

This is kind of an old story, I know.  Still, every once in a while it is good to revisit these things.  When the topic first came up in 2004, it was the subject of much newspaper space and blog commentary.  But now, it has pretty much faded from the national consciousness.  Has anything more come of it? In a recent editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry, Gregory E. Simon, M.D., M.P.H., reviews the largest and most informative studies on the subject: href="http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/163/11/1861"> href="http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/…
More headline comparisons: href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/15823690.htm" id="r-1_0">College kids add on pounds past 1st year San Jose Mercury News,  USA - 15 hours ago AP. BOSTON - The "Freshman 15" is more like 5 to 7, but it is followed by the "Sophomore 2 or 3," say researchers who led two of ... id="r-5_0">Freshman 15: Weighty Issues Earthtimes.org - 1 hour ago Although the proverbial 'freshman 15' may be a slight exaggeration, researchers have warned that this could be followed by a 'sophomore 2 or 3' signaling a ...…
The href="http://www.ucsusa.org/">Union of Concerned Scientists announced the winner of their Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest:  Dr. href="http://www.evansville.edu/prospects/areasofstudy/history/faculty.asp?print=1&">James Lachlan MacLeod, Associate Professor of History at the href="http://www.evansville.edu/">University of Evansville.  According to his webpage, MacLeod studied history at the University of Edinburgh, where his doctoral research led to his book, href="http://www.amazon.com/Second-Disruption-Presbyterian-Historical-Monographs/dp/1862320977/…
The voting closes tomorrow, so be sure to go vote for your favorite. This is from a selection of political cartoons, in the " href="http://ucsaction.org/campaign/vote_now_for_science_idol/forward">Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest."
I find it interesting that one of the recipients of a Lasker Clinical Research Award this year was href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Beck" rel="tag">Aaron Beck.  Dr. Beck is a psychiatrist.  He is widely regarded as the originator of cognitive therapy. The rationale is outlined in the NYT href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/health/17lasker.html?ex=1316145600&en=f2f082f5fbdc459b&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">article on the awards: The psychiatrist, Dr. Aaron T. Beck, 85, of the University of Pennsylvania, won the Lasker clinical research award. Dr…
There is a lot of information about href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagus_nerve_stimulation" rel="tag">vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for depression, that you can get from the latest New York Times article ( href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/business/yourmoney/10cyber.html?ex=1315540800&en=7877734ab451d64f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss">Battle Lines in Treating Depression, permanent link) on the subject.  Unfortunately, most of the good information is found by following links.  The article itself is pretty bad. The author launched into a…
James Robbins, contributing editor at the National Review Online, thinks global warming is a good idea.  This is proclaimed in his article, Hooray for Global Warming. This is another version of the "CO2 is life" meme.  And like "CO2 is life," it is utter nonsense.  Anyone who would say that fails to grasp a critical point about climate science.  I've never actually done a fisking, and I do not particularly care for it as a literary form, but this one begs for it... href="http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZTJmNWI4N2Y2NTBmY2E3ZTIzZjcxM2IzM2ZjNjRkYWI=">Hooray for Global Warming Surf’…
We were asked to identify a film that did something positive for science.  I was not able to come up with anything, not being much of a film aficionado.  So I asked one of my contacts for ideas. My contact suggested the film, href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/">Contact, with Jodie Foster, based on a book by href="http://imdb.com/name/nm0755981/" rel="tag">Carl Sagan.   Ms. Foster portrayed a scientist, Dr. Ellie Arroway.  She comes across as a regular scientist, not a token female; she is a scientist who happens to be a woman.  Plus, it deals with the old science vs.…
I just finished reading a news release pertaining to a finding in psychiatric genetics.  I was prepared to be irritated, but was pleased instead. href="http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2006/ocd.htm">New genetic findings add to understanding of obsessive-compulsive disorder Kara Gavin July 26, 2006 ANN ARBOR, MI – Obsessive-compulsive disorder tends to run in families, causing members of several generations to experience severe anxiety and disturbing thoughts that they ease by repeating certain behaviors. In fact, close relatives of people with rel="tag" href="http://www.…
This is an archived article from 2004, scheduled to be posted today to fill a vacation-induced gap. A recent article in the LA Times reports on hazards associated with herbal sex aids.  This brings to mind a couple of reasons to be concerned about herbal products and dietary supplements.  style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Potential dangers may be hiding in herbal sex aids style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> Timothy Gower style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> June 14, 2004 style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"> [...] Canadian researchers underscored these concerns in May with an alarming…
This is a follow-up to href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2006/07/transgenic_drug_controversy.php">the post from a couple of days ago.  It might not make a lot of sense unless you have read that post, or are otherwise familiar with the issues regarding genetically-modified crops. In general, there are valid concerns about genetically-modified crops.  However, it is important to think clearly about the issues involved.  Concerns about the technology that arise from a generalization,  may or may not apply to a specific implementation of the technology.  In order to understand…
A friend and colleague of mine drives around in a cute little VW bug powered by biodiesel.  There's a peace sign on the front of it, which helps it get better mileage.  But peace sign or not, there has been an ongoing controversy about whether biofuels are worth anything. In this post, I provide a little amateur analysis of the whole topic of biofuels, and comment on the most recent study of the potential benefits. The controversy stems from the fact that it takes a lot of energy to plant, transport, harvest, and process the crops needed to produce biofuels.  Some analyses indicated that…
Usability Tips: How to read blogs more efficiently I can tell that people are clicking on my "add to Bloglines" button, but few are actually completing the process.  I can only surmise that people are clicking on it in order to find out what it does.  But if you click on it and you do not already have a Bloglines account, the page you go to might not be too inviting.  I've decided to write this explainer to help. I think that more people will get involved in reading and writing blogs, if someone takes the time to explain a few things that make it easier, and more fun.   Continue reading…
I'm sitting here, wondering why in the world I wrote so much about a topic that is of no more than passing interest to me.  Perhaps if I keep writing, I will figure it out. Note: this will not make much sense unless you've already read Janet's more recent post on the topic of breastfeeding, here: href="http://scienceblogs.com/ethicsandscience/2006/06/what_are_the_real_benefits_of.php">What are the real benefits of breastfeeding? Statisticians weigh in.  You also have to have read the main article she cites, here: href="http://www.stats.org/stories/breast_feed_nyt_jun_20_06.htm">…
A news item that was displayed prominently on Google News for a couple of days, which was picked up by hundreds of news outlets, was an item about href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_Explosive_Disorder" rel="tag">Intermittent Explosive Disorder.  One example is href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-rage06.html">here, in the Chicago Sun-Times.  This generated a lot of blogging: href="http://www.blogpulse.com/search?query=intermittent+explosive+disorder&offset=50&operator=and&start_date=&end_date=&sort=date&max_results=10">…