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The Government Wants More Coal To Get Energy Costs Down - Is That Bad For The Air?

President Donald Trump is about to sign an executive order restarting coal leasing on federal lands...

How Proposition 65 Made Products More Expensive Even Outside California

When the Proposition 65 referendum, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986,...

French Chicks Impacted Most: Activists Set Their Sights On Banning Tebuconazole

A French team conducted experiments using sparrow chicks and write in Environmental Research...

With Fluoride Ban, Utah Sets Out To Be The California Of The Right Wing

When asked about an effort to ban fluoride in drinking water, Utah Governor Spencer Cox said, "It’s...

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Hank CampbellRSS Feed of this column.

I founded Science 2.0® in 2006 and since then it has become the world's largest independent science communications site, with over 300,000,000 direct readers and reach approaching one billion. Read More »

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Do Scientists Need To 'frame' The Debate For Non-scientists?

Do Scientists Need To 'frame' The Debate For Non-scientists?

Apr 06 2007 | comment(s)

"Scientists must improve communication tactics, Science article proclaims"

No, I didn't write that headline. The PR firm for an article written by Seed magazine writer Chris Mooney and American University professor Dr. Matthew Nisbet did.

They are co-authors of an April 6th Science article titled “Framing Science.” The article suggests that as the 2008 election approaches, scientists should adopt new communication techniques, rather than merely seeking to “get the facts out there.”

They highlight global warming, evolution and embryonic stem cell research as politically hot topics that need help from scientists to 'frame' the debate in ways the public understands.

Obviously I couldn't agree more that scientists should be actively getting information out there.

Nanopolymer House In Greece Will Self-heal Cracks From Earthquakes

Nanopolymer House In Greece Will Self-heal Cracks From Earthquakes

Apr 02 2007 | comment(s)

On a Greek mountainside, sensors in the walls of a high-tech villa will record stresses and vibrations, temperature and humidity levels. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

Akin's Laws Of Spacecraft Design

Akin's Laws Of Spacecraft Design

Feb 20 2007 | comment(s)

Here are the good ones. Read the entire piece here.

1. Engineering is done with numbers. Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.

5. Three points determine a curve.

6. Everything is linear if plotted log-log with a fat magic marker.

10. When in doubt, estimate. In an emergency, guess. But be sure to go back and clean up the mess when the real numbers come along.

16. The previous people who did a similar analysis did not have a direct pipeline to the wisdom of the ages. There is therefore no reason to believe their analysis over yours. There is especially no reason to present their analysis as yours.

19.

Is Our Approach On Climate Change Wrong?

Is Our Approach On Climate Change Wrong?

Feb 11 2007 | comment(s)

 In The Sunday Times Nigel Calder writes:
When politicians and journalists declare that the science of global warming is settled, they show a regrettable ignorance about how science works. We were treated to another dose of it recently when the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued the Summary for Policymakers that puts the political spin on an unfinished scientific dossier on climate change due for publication in a few months’ time. They declared that most of the rise in temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to man-made greenhouse gases.