Much of recycling is aspirational, and we choose to believe it works because we don't want to feel worse knowing it is a scam.In the 1980s I worked as a fundraiser for an environmental group, Public Interest Research Group.  PIRG had all of the predictable anti-science activism points, which was a challenge since part of the region I covered contained a whole lot of people working at Westinghouse Nuclear, but I would concede they were goofy when it came to nuclear energy, yet argue they were absolutely right that a bottle bill - a refundable fee on top of the cost of a bottle - was better for everyone than government recycling.

A heart-wrenching article from ProPublica and Chicago Tribune details kids with disabilities pleading and apologizing for their actions, all while employees simply sat outside and wrote what the terrified kids said.I have a child with a disability, he has said inappropriate things without being aware, because he saw them in movies or on television and people thought they were provocative or funny. but I would be devastated if I found out his school was throwing him into a locked room, terrified about what he didn't know what he had done. (They are not, our school district is actually terrific, and fellow students have treated him wonderfully.)

Land speed records used to be a big deal, in 1984’s “Buckaroo Banzai: Across The 8th Dimension”, the hero completes brain surgery because he has to drive his jet car to impress the Department of Defense, while his secret mission is to discover a portal to another dimension.Now, it is not such a big deal. While everyone knows Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in a jet, few can tell you who broke Mach 2 or how fast planes can go today. And so it goes with cars.

if we're ever going to know if marijuana does anything important, we need reference-grade marijuana for scholars to study. NIST has reference-grade peanut butter so it makes sense that with so many marijuana claims (and obvious harm when mixed with chemicals to use in vaping devices, as recent hospitalizations and deaths showed) to separate hype and woo from science there needs to be a way to study it empirically.

On November 19th, 1969, Apollo 12 landed on the moon, but most people from the era don't remember much about it. Apollo 11, sure, a giant leap for all mankind, and Apollo 13 was the most successful failure NASA ever had, it got a movie made about it, but that leaves Apollo 12 a memory.And that's too bad. Because they were the funniest Apollo crew, according to this NPR spot.

Want your food to contain a toxic chemical, as long as it's been given a wink-wink approval by industry lobbyists, trade groups, and manufacturers?Of course not, yet that is exactly what you get when you buy Organic food. Inside USDA, the Organic industry has carved out a special niche for itself and it knights 80 groups that can sell organic certified stickers, allowing them to simultaneously monitor their clients while taking money from them and being reliant on selling stickers. Can you say 'conflict of interest'?

Wealthy western academics working at billion dollar institutions funded by trillion dollar governments are frustrated that African countries don't want to give away their climate data.They're not wrong for wanting a piece of the pie, especially from Europeans. Europeans often take data from Africa and use it for colonial purposes, like keeping Africa reliant on European goods by scaring people about science that would give Africans a level playing field.(1) 

Most supplements that tout how much better they are than medicine but are "natural" and therefore superior, are selling to the P.T. Barnum audience - if you are willing to part with your money to believe in magic, someone will be willing to take it. Most often, if they work, it's because you have been gifted with the placebo effect or they contain actual medicine. Nature’s Rx Silver Bullet 10 Male Enhancement Capsules is following the path of LEOPARD Miracle Honey and putting actual drugs - Sildenafil (Viagra) - in its products.

I didn't see "Star Wars" when I was in theaters the first time. We were poor and living in rural Pennsylvania and never went to a movie as a family, but I did see it when it was re-released in 1981, after "The Empire Strikes Back." They had given it a new name ("A New Hope") but it retained an old gaffe.(1)

I am a big believer in meritocracy. I live in an Intel town and they feel like they make the best processor because groups are competing to have the best design, just like Saturday Night Live writers compete to have their skit on the program. Though they were all hired on merit they know that eventually, if you fail for long enough, meritocracy also says you will be replaced by someone else better suited to the job.That is killing us, writes Livia Gershon at The Week in what they call an "essential commentary."