Science 2.0

Hank Campbell

Hank Campbell

Hank Campbell is an American science writer, author of the bestselling book 'Science Left Behind', and the founder of Science 2.0®, the world's largest independent science communications site. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Wired, Chicago Tribune, CNN, and many more places.

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We've Won The War On Smoking, Obesity Will Soon Be The Top Lifestyle Killer

We've Won The War On Smoking, Obesity Will Soon Be The Top Lifestyle Killer

Though Europe and Asia still smoke far more cigarettes than intelligent people should, and therefore cancer rates due to that will stay high for another 20 years or more, the clear trend in lifestyle diseases is obesity-related ones.That is actually a win, and far better than the bleak Population Bomb promoted by people like John Holdren and Paul Ehrlich just a few decades ago. Though there is still famine in parts of the world, they are parts of the world where groups opposed to science can manipulate people who don't trust outsiders or understand the technology, no differently than than distrust vaccines. The peaks and valleys of food have leveled out so famine is only going to decrease.

Cashew Spread Is Not Butter And States Are Closing Regulatory Loopholes FDA Will Not

Cashew Spread Is Not Butter And States Are Closing Regulatory Loopholes FDA Will Not

Ever since President Clinton turned the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 into law, taking away federal authority over food and supplements unless bodies started dropping, the US Food and Drug Administration has been a little timid in doing the things it should do. Obviously it still approves products, but it has acted more like an agency buffeted by politics. When grassroots vaping caused smoking to drop, they responded to narrow political interests on the coasts, who were supported by both pharmaceutical and cigarette money, and basically declared all non-pharmaceutical smoking cessation products should be banned.(1)

"Stranger Things" Upside-Down Whoppers Go On Sale At Burger King Today

"Stranger Things" Upside-Down Whoppers Go On Sale At Burger King Today

In synergy with the third season of the hit Netflix series "Stranger Things", Burger King is selling upside-down Whoppers starting today, retro 1980s packaging included. If you are not familiar with the show, and without too many spoilers, "Stranger Things" is a science fiction-horror show revolving around teens in the 1980s. If you are not familiar with Burger King, I suppose it's simple enough to say they sell hamburgers. And want to catch up to rival McDonald's. 

Space Fans Can Buy Apollo Program Mementos At Auction Today

Space Fans Can Buy Apollo Program Mementos At Auction Today

RR Auction in Boston has a selection of pretty interesting Apollo program stuff, but you have to bid before 7PM.This is the perfect time to sell, the 50th anniversary of the moon landing is a month away, so it may not be the perfect time to buy. I have made a decent amount of money selling key comics a month before the next Marvel movie release and buying identical or better copies a year later from people who made impulse buys.Up for grabs is an American flag flown into orbit on Apollo 11, signed by Command Module pilot Michael Collins. There is also a burn chart page from the flight plan that went into orbit on the Columbia Command Module, signed by both Collins and Buzz.

GROs - Genetically Rescued Organisms - Will Save Plant Species At Risk

GROs - Genetically Rescued Organisms - Will Save Plant Species At Risk

In today's Wall Street Journal my article Science Saves an Old Chestnut discusses the potential benefit of President Trump's executive order requiring USDA, FDA, and EPA to modernize when it comes to biotechnology approval. They have to consider actual risk instead of treating every product like a new invention. They don't make flowers go through tens of millions of dollars and 20 years of regulatory stonewalling, why do it for anything else? 

Epidemiologists Once Dismissed Hereditary Cancer Risk - Henry Lynch MD Proved Them Wrong

Epidemiologists Once Dismissed Hereditary Cancer Risk - Henry Lynch MD Proved Them Wrong

Once upon a time, epidemiologists believed bacon caused cancer, as did hot tea, a weedkiller that acts on no human biology, bread, apples, lettuce, mustard, tomatoes, and more. That faraway time was actually last year. You name it, and it is possible for statisticians at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to find a chemical in it that links it to cancer. With most foods, it is also possible for other epidemiologists to link them to prevention of cancer.(1)
What did epidemiologists once deny causes cancer? The cancer history of your family - genetics. 

Half Face Daddy Shaming But It Gets A Lot Less Attention Than Mommy Shaming: Happy Father's Day

Half Face Daddy Shaming But It Gets A Lot Less Attention Than Mommy Shaming: Happy Father's Day

Women will more often rush to the defense of mothers who give their kids formula, stick to the vaccine schedule, or who let their pre-schoolers play in the yard without a wall to protect them from predators they read about one time on the Internet. Women defend mothers against mommy shaming more often because a whole lot more women are also willing to shame mothers who don't buy food from the right store, clothe them in the right stuff, or act in a way social media zealots tell them not to do.In my neighborhood, we call any guy who berates other fathers because they don't shop at Whole Foods or do give their kids vaccines 'that guy with no friends.'(1) But among moms the peer pressure is strong.

Would You Pay 47% More To Eliminate Child Labor From Your Cocoa?

Would You Pay 47% More To Eliminate Child Labor From Your Cocoa?

No one is for child labor but people are unfailingly for lower prices rather than higher. That is why the organic industry is a tiny fraction of the overall food market. With no benefit other than paeans to health halos or holistic beliefs about urban people about farming, most remain unconvinced.What if it eliminated child labor? Nearly everyone would agree to that - unless they believe paying more would just lead to more profits by exploiters in developing nations.