During the Obama administration, he was concerned about vaccines causing autism and it showed when it came to guidance about swine flu vaccines. His administration banned multi-use vials because of his party's insistence that preservatives caused the disorder.
Why do some online communities succeed, like Second Life, Facebook and, well, this one, and some fail?
The answer may be in what their communities think about 'giving' and it can tell us a lot about people in general.
Everyone does something on social sites for a reason. People like to 'get paid' even if that doesn't mean money. It is why people submit articles to Digg - submitters get the satisfaction of knowing they brought an interesting article to people that they may not have found themselves.
Human embryonic stem cells (hESC), new cells that are basically a biological blank slate, become more specialized as they develop and contribute to a number of organs and tissues. As such, they have the potential to treat diseases such as Parkinson’s but their progress has been slowed because of the ongoing ethical debate over how human embryonic stem cells are derived.
Some European countries - Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland - forbid the creation of new hESC lines surplus embryos, even ones that remain from infertility procedures. In June, 2006 the EU parliament only narrowly agreed to fund stem-cell research, and then only as long as it excluded activities that involve destroying human embryos. In the US the restrictions are similar.
David Houle, media executive responsible for branding MTV, VH1 and CNN Headline News, has joined Science 2.0 start-up ScientificBlogging.com as a strategic advisor to handle marketing and corporate communications.
It's no secret that science is popular these days. I can't pick up a magazine or a newspaper without seeing an article dealing with science and how it impacts society. Global warming pieces are everywhere with scientists arguing about its causes or even if it exists. Some scientists argue about framing the debate for non-scientists while others think science is too important to be left up to people.
I read some politicians and they think they can fix every problem with regulation and laws. I read some scientists and they think they can fix every problem with funding.
Approximately 16 million Asian men consider themselves to be Genghis Khan’s descendants. It turns out that may actually be true.
Almost four years ago Zerijal and fellow researchers published a paper showing Y-chromosome variability of 2,123 inhabitants of different regions in Asia. They discovered a whole cluster of closely-related lines, all having a common ancestor.
Was Russian DNA the only thing he couldn't conquer?
Alcoholism is more common in people with alcoholic spouses than those without, a new study shows.
This makes some sense. If you met her while doing shots of Jäger off her drunken abdomen, she's going to be a little more tolerant of your excessive drinking, as long as you share. It's important to have things in common if you want your relationship to last.
No kidding? Active kids don't get fat?
Anyway, here it is:
The study is titled "Weekend Schoolyard Accessibility, Physical Activity, and Obesity: The Trial of Activity in Adolescent Girls (TAAG) Study." The full version is currently available online at the Science Direct Web site, under the Articles in Press section.
The study says school playgrounds can help fight against childhood obesity but many are locked and inaccessible to children on weekends – especially in poor and minority neighborhoods.
"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.
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.
Aileen Thompson, writing at Blog Herald, took note of the recently ended "Science Week” and had some comments I think the science community should note:
In case you missed it, there was an entire week (Feb. 4-10) of science blogging called “Science Week” - when an entire stable of science bloggers committed to at least one blog a day actually focused on… Science! This may seem a little bit strange to blogophyles who reasonably presume that science blogs must *of course* be about science, but this is unfortunately not always the case.
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.
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.
