Fire in the Mind

Debunking the Debunker's Debunker

The effect of environmental contaminants on cancer should be a scientific issue, not a political one. But it is probably too late for that. Industry exploits the uncertainties (for a good account of the phenomenon see Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway’s book Merchants of Doubt), but so do personal injury and mass-tort lawyers looking for the deepest pockets when they represent plaintiffs with cancer.

Environmental organizations have their own agendas, and that was the problem with the Mother Jone …

ImaGeo

Staring into the Belly of the Tornadic Beast

I was out in the prairie northeast of Denver today with researchers from the National Severe Storms Laboratory using a drone aircraft to observe developing thunderstorms when we got the news: A tornado had touched at Denver International Airport, about 50 miles to the south of us.

Interestingly, we got the news from Twitter — and that’s where this awesome picture of the twister, which touched down briefly and harmed no one, turned up shortly thereafter:

https://twitter.com/7Marshall/stat …

Science Sushi

The Sweet Taste of Conservation | Scientist in vivo

According to many biologists, you don’t really know your research inside and out until you’ve tasted what you study (there is, quite literally, a badge of honor for it). I’ve known biologists who have chugged shots of plankton, taken bites from agar plates, and some have even drank water that’s a billion years old to attain the dubious honor. You’d be surprised* just how many times I’ve gotten into conversations about my research and my study organisms only to be interrupted by “that’s g …

Collide-a-Scape

Watch Out For Those Genetically Modified Hamburger Buns!

In this space, I’ve frequently shown how GMO fear mongering plays out in the media. The latest frightful example aired Monday on CNN. It was a piece about the mysterious genetically modified (GM) wheat recently found in an Oregon farm field.

First, some quick background: In the early to mid-2000s, Monsanto field tested GM wheat in 16 states. But as NPR reported, “the country’s wheat growers told the company that they did not want it.”  So Monsanto never sought to commercialize the crop a …

Neuroskeptic

Book Review: Brainwashed

Brainwashed, by Sally Satel and Scott O Lilienfeld. Basic Books.

I wanted to dislike this book.

You see, I was suspicious of the fact that one of the authors is a resident scholar with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), an organization whose political values I oppose, and, insofar as it’s an organization with political values, has little  business going near science.

Then, when I found that the book cites me (with fellow neurobloggers Mind Hacks and Neurocritic) in the Acknow …

Gene Expression

Gorging Gudea style

Kevin Zelnio recently made me aware of this fascinating piece in The New York Times, For Its Latest Beer, a Craft Brewer Chooses an Unlikely Pairing: Archaeology. Here’s the catchiest aspect: a microbrewery is attempting to recreate the taste of ancient Sumerian beer! Why? Though it’s purportedly educational, obviously it’s also the “cool” factor which is at the root of this enterprise. The brewery doesn’t aim to sell this. I say why not!

A few years ago Paul Boom wrote the book How Pleasure  …

The Crux

During Cicada Boom, Birds Mysteriously Vanish

by Madeline Bodin

With thousands of newly-hatched 17-year cicadas blanketing the Eastern U.S., residents would be forgiven for not noticing a less conspicuous absence: birds.

Bird surveys have repeatedly shown a mysterious trend of a population downtick in areas of cicada emergence. It’s the exact opposite of what might be expected—crows, blue jays and cardinals are among the species affected, and they feed on insects. And it’s fascinated ornithologist Walter Koenig for years.

â …

Seriously, Science?

Behold the nerdiest cocktail party ever!

There are numerous studies that investigate how drinking alcohol affects our brains. However, most of these studies take place in laboratories and medical settings that have almost nothing in common with the bars and parties where most of us drink. This raises the question of how applicable the results are to drinking in more typical settings. So, these scientists tried to measure brain activity while socializing and drinking in a more “normal” setting. To do this, they devised special elect …

Gene Expression

A stylish Syrian epistemological nihilism

Over ten years ago I began writing on the internet about sundry things. Mostly science. But sometimes policy, politics, and history. I still do so on occasion veer away from science (see some of the books I’ve reviewed and read to get a sampling of my interests). After the travesty of Iraq I vowed that I would never take for granted that those who speak with authority truly have the grounds to speak with such authority. This is one reason I occasionally post factual corrections about presupposit …

ImaGeo

Blowin' in the Wind: More and More Sickening Dust

At the end of a long journey back from Cambodia last week, I had my face glued to the window as the plane passed low over Colorado’s Front Range on its way to a landing in Denver. The scenery is always spectacular, but I was also looking for something specific, and I found it: dust on snow.

A lot of it.

Check out the picture above and you’ll see it: beige coloring on what would otherwise be bright white snowpack.

This isn’t just a curiosity. The relatively dark color of dust causes  …