In the 1970s, oil-producing countries in the OPEC cabal had the ability to control western countries using prices and supply. After a series of such crises in the 1970s, Americans began to develop two things; modern synthetic oil and lithium-ion batteries. First in line to get off the petroleum fixation was ExxonStanley Whittingham of Exxon was interested in superconductors and discovered that a titanium disulphide cathode could store lithium ions. Using a battery containing metallic lithium (lithium was discovered by humans in 1817 and valuable because it will readily release electrons) held a lot of promise, but the metallic lithium was explosive. This was not pure lithium, it was a salt, so no labs were burned down in the process.

No one wants to defend JUUL at this point, it is a real struggle to defend the value of smoking cessation harm and harm reduction that e-cigarettes simply do better than gums or patches because it might implicitly help JUUL.But there is legal jumping the shark, which JUUL would protest if they hadn't spent the last 18 months ignoring reality and insisting that their way was the right way because they made $2 billion. Instead, they are in an underground lair somewhere hiring everyone from Big Tobacco they can hire hoping this all goes away.

CRISPR-Cas9 is the biological equivalent of the Higgs in physics; everyone knows it will get a Nobel Prize, it is just a matter of when.What about after that? If physics is any indication, they may be in for a bit of a lull, as evidenced by the Nobel this year being split between "theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology" and "for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star." All under the blanket of the vague "for contributions to our understanding of the evolution of the universe and Earth’s place in the cosmos”, which doesn't mean a lot. 

Glenlivet is staking its claim on young consumers who eat organic food from microwaveable pouches and might try whisky if pouring it and drinking weren't just so, you know, tedious.It has all the right virtue signaling, for people who want their Class 1 IARC carcinogen and don't actually care about aroma. Those who claim that a special glass (wider at the bottom, to redirect the smell toward the nose) are just too pretentious for the modern age will feel right at home.

It's impossible to not know that there have been a rash of illnesses (and nearly two dozen deaths) that have been blamed on e-cigarettes. But while CDC continues to suggest the problem is nicotine smoking cessation and harm reduction FDA has listened to the data. The problem is what people are putting in the devices and it is in almost all cases not nicotine.

On September 30th I noticed something that I had probably been aware of for some time but which perhaps hadn't struck home so pointedly because the articles were not all in bunches. I noticed most science media is crap.Though science journalists can lament that there aren't more science journalism jobs, that's a lot like lamenting there aren't more elevator operators. Most journalists just rehash what they got in a press release, the public can just read the press release. Or press their own floor button in the elevator.

If you have $300 and your Holistic Wellness Life Coach is on vacation and the Four Horsemen Of The Alternative (Drs. Weil, Oz, Chopra, and Hyman) won't reply to your emails asking how you should spend it, I will help you for free.The Biotica800® sprays an ultra-fine mist of probiotics into your indoor environment. That's right, probiotics, the same thing you were gullible enough to buy in yogurt, is now being aerosolized for your protection.

If you are part of 350.org - hopefully not the part that endorses KKK tactics(1)- or Extinction Rebellion or whatever group will be claiming we need more violent action about climate change, this article is not for you because it discusses science, and if you are members of those groups, you don't know science any more than Discovery Institute knows evolution anyway, so you can move along.If you care about the state of the science that can help right the ship yet are jaded by hype about how we are going extinct in 18 months (or 10 years, or 30 years), Dr. Henry Miller has a roundup of what will work, what is just political posturing masquerading as viable solutions, and what will simply increase the negative results of climate change by misdirecting resources.

A few decades ago, some people who didn't want to kids anyway got a great excuse to not do what they didn't want to do - the Population Bomb, courtesy of doomsday prophets like Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren.In their book "Ecoscience" (with Anne Ehrlich), they argued that if people did not choose to stop having kids, it was worth considering having government do it for them. They advocated a Planetary Regime, and with it the prospect of forced abortion and sterilization.

Just because it is a supplement does not mean it is good for you - or in most cases necessary. And "the dose makes the poison" so even if it can't harm you at low levels (no matter what homeopaths and endocrine disruption proponents claims) it can harm you at high ones.Vitamin D is essential but at high levels it can be toxic, which is why we have warned for years about the Vitamin D supplement fad.