Science 2.0

Hank Campbell

Hank Campbell

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. Revolutionizing the way scientists Communicate, Part…
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Some Parts Of Borneo Have Landscape Similar To The Pliocene Epoch, 5.3 Million Years Ago

Some Parts Of Borneo Have Landscape Similar To The Pliocene Epoch, 5.3 Million Years Ago

Conservation in modern times is a misused term that trial lawyers often invoke to win lawsuits against companies before progress can commence but Brunei on the island of Borneo, which is about the size of the state of Delaware, has a great reason for all countries of the world to preserve it. The current landscape is similar to what was present during the Pliocene Epoch, 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago.

Aspirin Doesn't Reduce Risk Of Major Cardiovascular Events

Aspirin Doesn't Reduce Risk Of Major Cardiovascular Events

You probably know someone who takes an aspirin to reduce chances of a heart attack, just like you may know someone who says wine, containing alcohol, a true class 1 carcinogen, is 'good for you.'They were never settled science, they were instead epidemiology, statistical correlation, which then got transformed into clinical claims, much like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for COVD-19. How did that happen?

Boys Are More Demanding Than Girls Even Before Birth - In Mouse Pregnancies

Boys Are More Demanding Than Girls Even Before Birth - In Mouse Pregnancies

Up to 15 percent of women are diagnosed with pregnancy complications and a new paper says that boys are more likely to be the cause than girls.The authors speculate it may be because boys grow faster in the womb, needing more energy and nutrients from the mother through the placenta but after around 100 billion childbirths in human history that doesn't add up. Maybe it is the case in mice, and that is the caveat with the study. Mice are not little people, though you wouldn't know that from claims made by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC.)

If Droughts Are Predictable Because They Self-Propagate, Not Planning For Them Is Irresponsible

If Droughts Are Predictable Because They Self-Propagate, Not Planning For Them Is Irresponsible

Everyone knows droughts are bad. They increase risk of wildfires and damage life in the affected region. They are not always predictable, when I lived in Pennsylvania in the early 1990s there was a drought with no known mechanism involved, but they are often cyclical, which makes them at least broadly predictable.The Dry 2 Dry program at Ghent University believes droughts are not only predictable and cyclical, they can propagate in a kind of feedback loop; instead of being local, evaporated water is moved to other areas, so less of it is taking drought with them.

Will The Ukraine War Bring The World A New Chocolate Pilot?

Will The Ukraine War Bring The World A New Chocolate Pilot?

The last time the Russians went to war in Europe, it was the Cold War.  After World War II ended, the USSR wanted Germany to remain relatively weak. The US instead believed that part of the reason behind World War II was a Germany that had been too heavily penalized by other European countries after World War I. After defeat, Germany had been divided into four sectors, controlled by America, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union and three of those sectors 'united' so that there could be a common currency, a new German mark, and goods supplied by the US under the Marshall Plan would bring stability. But the former capital, Berlin, was in the USSR sector, and the USSR wanted its section of Germany to be Soviet, and communism. 

The Alternative Meat Industry Wants Solar Power Style Mandates And Subsidies

The Alternative Meat Industry Wants Solar Power Style Mandates And Subsidies

A new report says that the alternative meat industry, plant-based products designed to look and taste like meat, raised $8 billion even during the pandemic. That's a big success.They want more but oddly lament that most of their money comes from the private sector. They want the trillions of dollars in subsidies that solar and wind have gotten, claiming it will fight climate change. That's a big problem.

The Next Pollution Target Is Your Dryer Lint - Fabric Softener To The Rescue?

The Next Pollution Target Is Your Dryer Lint - Fabric Softener To The Rescue?

A new study says that drying a load of laundry in a machine releases "microfibers" into the air but chemicals made by a $76 billion company will save us.Microfibers? Is that a thing? Sure, we have defined healthy down to such an extent that no one is without a disease of some kind. With endocrine disrupting chemicals, small micron particulate matter, and supermarket food it is amazing any of us live more than a day. But is it really meaningful? As with Micronauts, it sounds like something that might be the science equivalent of an MCU show but on closer examination is really more like Hasbro latching onto a fad.

Secondhand Marijuana Smoke Risk

Secondhand Marijuana Smoke Risk

Though nearly everyone recognizes that smoking cigarettes is a known carcinogen, many marijuana users think marijuana smoke is safe. They may not realize it is inhaling the smoke, not that the smoke is from one plant or another, that is the worry. Nicotine or THC is as harmless as caffeine, but when combusted in a leaf with paper and inhaled, everything becomes harmful. Including marijuana plants.

Planting Trees Can Fix The Climate, But Only If We Eliminate 80% Of Energy Usage

Planting Trees Can Fix The Climate, But Only If We Eliminate 80% Of Energy Usage

Nothing is more ridiculous than annual logjammed airports because celebrities use private jets to go to climate conferences and tell attendees eating four-course meals they need to do more to convince poor people using dung and wood for fuel that they should want solar panels. Environmental journalists insist they must also attend in person because it "builds relationships" and they promise to give money to some company that says it will plant a tree to assuage their guilt.It's all nonsense, of course, the kind of rich white elitism that has a different name than in the 19th century but is still warmed over colonialism. 

With Detection Of Earendel, Hubble Just Set A Viewing Distance Record Of 28 Billion Lightyears

With Detection Of Earendel, Hubble Just Set A Viewing Distance Record Of 28 Billion Lightyears

Fermilab, now a tourist attraction, found the Higgs Boson before the Large Hadron Collider did, but the lack of comparative luminosity made it a struggle to know that as quickly as the LHC did. That's why the discovery of a star by Hubble 28 billion lightyears away, a new record, may not last long if everything goes as planned with its long-delayed successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. It's so far away that Hubble can't tell astronomers if it is even one star or two, because statistical blips in the data need more clarity that a deeper space telescope will provide.

The Ukraine War Punctured The Myth Of Viable Alternative Energy

The Ukraine War Punctured The Myth Of Viable Alternative Energy

The war in Ukraine has driven oil prices to their highest levels since 2008. As crude oil is the main component of gasoline, the first place Americans encounter price pain is at the pump, with 56% of every gallon of gas reflecting the cost of crude, followed by spikes in home climate control.