2 Dirty Secrets About Science Funding
There's a little-known dirty secret in science funding; prior to World War II and the Manhattan Project, the overwhelming majority of basic research was done by corporations. Thus, the tanks, planes, materials advancements and everything else were created by the private sector.
Viet Nam Testing Dengue-Blocking Mosquitoes
Dengue fever is the most common vector-borne disease in the world, the World Health Organization estimates that 2.5 billion people at risk and that up to 390 million people are infected with the virus each year. There's no medication and no vaccine, so obviously the best solution is to control the insects themselves. Not using dangerous chemicals is even better.You'd be surprised how many people don't want to save 1 in 18 people every year from this disease, if it violates their sense of First World entitlement. Yet anti-science activists remain against using nature to fight nature.
Even A 20 Percent Soda Tax Would Barely Impact Obesity
How much impact can taxes and bans have on the conduct of people?
Quite a lot. A 500% tax would clearly reduce demand while outright bans of desired products keep law-abiding people from using a product - and make the others rich.
In defiance of well-established history of resentment about government steering drink choices for freedom-loving westerners - the UK lost a whole colony when they decided to force their subjects to buy only the brand of tea elites wanted them to buy(1) - a subset of progressive social authoritarians maintain that higher taxes on soda drinks, juices, etc. would fix obese people, despite data showing it has never once worked.
Live Blogging The Science Of Ghostbusters
I won't bore you with an introduction but I'll just say "Ghostbusters" is one of the funniest movies of all time. So I decided to live blog it, but just the science parts. Let me know how I did.Opening: Great movies open with something happening. A rare few, like "Superman", can start with credits. Librarians getting the bejeezus scared out of them are always funny. In 2 minutes, we already feel like something happened, then we get a teaser of the song.
Butter Is Why You Shouldn’t Get Your Health Advice From The New York Times
If you read mainstream media in 2013, you will learn that wheat and sugar are trying to kill you.It's better not to take them too seriously. While science tends to be rather rigorous in its claims - peer review is an inherently prudent idea that conservative Russell Kirk was likely proud of - health advice is instead based on flitting from one fad to the next, and leading the charge today are the Four Horsemen of the Alternative, Drs. Chopra, Oz, Weil and Gupta, with foot soldiers like Mark Bittman and William Davis gathering up stragglers.
STEM: In Academia There Is A Glut, But There Is A Shortage In The Corporate World
One argument for putting a halt to government spending billions of dollars doing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) 'outreach' is that, like all government programs, they become self-serving and never, ever stop.It’s National Mole Day – Have A Cigar And Rest Up For National Bologna Day Tomorrow
With 365 days in a year and a whole lot of causes and events and gimmicks, it is no surprise that there are sometimes lots and lots of 'National XYZ' Days on the same day.The National Months get kind of cluttered too. October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, American Pharmacist Month, Apple Jack Month, Awareness Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Clergy Appreciation Month, Computer Learning Month, Cookie Month, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, Eat Country Ham Month. International Drum Month, Lupus Awareness Month, National Diabetes Month, National Pizza Month, National Vegetarian Month, National Popcorn Popping Month and, as you can already tell by the tone of this piece, Sarcastic Month.