Science Education & Policy

With Its HeLa Genome Agreement, The NIH Embraces A Expansive Definition Of Familial Consent In Genetics

I wrote before about the controversy involving the release earlier this year of a genome sequence of the HeLa cell line, which was taken without consent from Henrietta Lacks as she lay dying of ovarian cancer in 1950s Baltimore. Now, the NIH has announced ...

Article - Michael Eisen - Aug 11 2013 - 11:31am

Can The Government Afford To Do Drug Research?

Americans have had it good. Drug companies have consistently produced new products that have done terrific things, but they are hated by much of the public, to such an extent that marijuana advocates have not only invented medical benefits for cannabis, th ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Feb 11 2014 - 1:43pm

National Academy Of Sciences 'Misled The World' When Adopting Radiation Exposure Guidelines

Toxicologist Edward Calabrese of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has dropped cultural bombs on both the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and two scientists who provided crucial information for Atomic Age carcinogen risk assessment. Regarding the ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 13 2013 - 3:39pm

Court Orders NRC And Obama Administration To Process Yucca Mountain License

It's not often that I can say I am stunned by a judicial decision but I have been talking about Yucca Mountain since President Obama took office and immediately honored his deal with Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada to kill the project, after every study by ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 15 2013 - 5:26pm

Don't Mess With Texas... Science

Though the left-right culture war (all Republican bad, all Democrat gooooooood) is still raging in a small segment of the overall science population (some bloggers, whatever science journalists remain), the rest of America has moved on. People recognize th ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 18 2013 - 7:01am

Proposed Rules For Fracking On Public Lands Lack Scientific Merit

Later this week, the Bureau of Land Management will be closing the opportunity for public comment on its proposed rules to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands.   The final rule will determine what ...

Article - Briana Mordick - Aug 22 2013 - 5:30am

Petition To Create A National Science Week In 2014

Rep. Randy Hultren(R) and Rep. Joseph Kennedy   (D- but not the anti-science crackpot one, that one is Robert F. ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Aug 23 2013 - 12:35pm

EPA Sued By Animal Activists- But Is It Real?

Friends don't sue each other, right? So it would seem to be a bad idea for animal rights groups to sue the EPA because the EPA is going to not do something they never started doing anyway. Activists need the EPA to enforce their goals, they have no au ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 29 2013 - 3:19pm

Bayh-Dole Technology Transfer Act- Universities Love It, But It Needs To Change

In the late 1970s, universities convinced lawmakers that if they could monetize discoveries made with taxpayer funding, they would need less taxpayer funding and better help the private sector. Congress agreed and in 1980, the Bayh-Dole Technology Transfe ...

Article - News Staff - Aug 29 2013 - 2:05pm

The FDA Wants To Know What You Think About Nutritionally Modified Organisms

The FDA is planning Experimental Studies on Consumer Responses to Nutrient Content Claims on Fortified Food- that means they want to find out whether fortifying snack foods with vitamins and noting its nutritional content on labels would convince people to ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Sep 5 2013 - 11:39am