Category: Science
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Carpe Datum! Paragraphs from “Galileo’s Middle Finger”
Alice Dreger's "Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science," is one of the most refreshing books I have read recently. Dreger is a clinical medical humanities and bioethics professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Nearly twenty years ago, Dreger became an activist for the rights of intersex persons.…
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Anti-GMO: The Lethal Implications
Anthropogenic-driven climate change is a fact. As the climate changes, the poorest of humanity will suffer the greatest. The most ardent climate activists tell us this is settled science. So settled that questioning these conclusions puts you in league with people who deny the Jewish Holocaust ever happened. It is science! Well, there is another…
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Confronting Liberal and Conservative Biases on Science
New York Times reporter Eduardo Porter has an excellent piece about how ideology shapes our embrace/rejection of science. The left loves to rant about the "anti-science" right when the left participates just as much in the same anti-science behavior, and the left's anti-science behavior is every bit as destructive. "The left is turning anti-science," Marc…
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Why People Oppose GMOs Even Though Science Says They Are Safe
Scientific American: Why People Oppose GMOs Even Though Science Says They Are Safe … In the paper, we identify several intuitions that may affect people's perception of GMOs.Psychological essentialism, for instance, makes us think of DNA as an organism's "essence" – an unobservable and immutable core that causes the organism's behaviour and development and determines…
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Groups Aim to Lure Conservatives Out of the Closet on Climate Change
Forbes: Groups Aim to Lure Conservatives Out of the Closet on Climate Change This is an excellent article! Climate change and the left-wing narrative of "capitalism-is-exploitation" have been closely intertwined. Scientists tend to lean left-wing already, but when Al Gore became the official face of climate change, that relationship between science and ideology became cemented.…
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Science and Political Hijacking
Wall Street Journal: Vaccines and Politicized Science The people doing basic science should learn a well-proven truth about basic politics: Any cause taken up by politicians today by definition will be doubted or opposed by nearly half the population. When an Al Gore, John Kerry or Europe’s Green parties become spokesmen for your ideas, and…
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Pew: Major Gaps Between the Public, Scientists on Key Issues
From Pew Research: Major Gaps Between the Public, Scientists on Key Issues An enlightening interactive chart showing major discrepancies between what scientists believe and what the public believes, segmented by various demographics. It drives home that being pro or anti-science is highly selective across demographic groups. The divergence on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is particularly…
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The Illusion of ‘Natural’
Atlantic: The Illusion of 'Natural' … The definition of toxin can be somewhat surprising if you have grown accustomed to hearing the word in the context of flame retardants and parabens. Though toxin is now often used to refer to man-made chemicals, the most precise meaning of the term is still reserved for biologically produced…