Why I Continue to Like Ben Goldacre

Read When is it okay to ignore people you don’t trust?

Her's my favorite bit:

First they found all the papers ever published on smoking and alzheimers, using an explicit search strategy which they describe properly in the paper – because they’re scientists, not homeopaths – to make sure that they found all of the evidence, rather than just the studies they already knew about, or the ones which flattered their preconceptions.

Because that's how science works.

Homologous Links

The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry presents a collection of essays by and about Carl Sagan.

From the "well, duh" department: A report on the lack of a link between gastrointestinal disorders and autism from the journal Pediatrics. Highlights can be found in this issue of the Consumer Health Digest.

See below for more awesome blog posts:

Science-Based Medicine - A victory for science-based medicine

Respectful Insolence - The price exacted by the anti-vaccine movement

Neurologica - Chelation Fraud



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Orac on the Biomed Movement

The autism “biomed” movement: Uncontrolled and unethical experimentation on autistic children.


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Pseudoscience! Boo!

Emily from A Life Less Ordinary? does it again. This time with an excellent treatise on pseudoscience.

I really enjoy using the word 'treatise', by the way.

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Halloween Costumes made of Awesome (and velcro)

Wired recently ran a Halloween costume contest. Here are the winners!

My favorite is "Sexy cosmic microwave background radiation"!

No, really.

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Bad Science

If you're not reading Ben Goldacre's Bad Science, by all means check it out.

Here's an excellent place to start.




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Hey, you got your facts in my alien!

No, you got your alien in my facts!

Thanks, National Geographic, for pointing out that the Panama Alien is a Sloth.


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Quick Update

Dragon*Con was great. I'll post some details about it soon. I got to meet some really cool people I only knew online before. One of those people is the lovely and talented Bing McGhandi. Check out this post from his blog where he takes a Borlaug hater to school.

Go, Bing!

Science-Based Medicine 101

Val Jones from the always-excellent Science-Based Medicine blog posts about how to judge the credibility of a medical study. This is good information for everyone, especially for parents of autistic children. There's a lot of garbage out there. Dr. Jones will help you weed it out.

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George Hrab: Skeptical Rockstar

If you've been listening to the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, you've heard the abridged version of George Hrab's "Far". Here's the even more awesome full version:



George is one of my favorite musicians. He's also wicked smart and one of the most fun critical thinkers around. He was at Dragon*Con last year and will return in 2009.

More studies of religion and the brain

Not as entertaining as "Pinky and the Brain" but more peer-reviewed, comes an article publised in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences about the things in our brains that are active during religous thought. Scientific American's excellent "60-Second Psych" podcast has a bit about it, too.


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Happy Darwin Day!

To celebrate, here's an episode of Scientific American's Science Talk podcast in which Hofstra University religion professor John Teahen discusses the study of religion from an evolutionary psychology perspective.

From The Onion: Genetic Experiment Goes Horribly Right

Genetic Experiment Goes Horribly Right

Suzanne Vega is an Evil Genius

I've been catching up on the podcast version of WNYC's Radio Lab which is an awesome show that combines science and pop culture in order to lead to a greater understanding of each.

Yesterday I listened to the Pop Music episode in which the hosts mention that neither of them likes the Suzanne Vega song "Tom's Diner" but that it's got a good hook.

This morning, by coincidence, "Tom's Diner" showed up on my car radio. I listened to the lyrics closely this time and, man, that is one terrible song. The lyrics are banal, the music is an exemplar of lazy production, and the performance is lackluster.

But the Radio Lab guys are right. The hook is insidious. I'm mentally humming it now. I will continue to hum or whistle that little melodic line for the next few days. Well played, Suzanne Vega. Well played, indeed.

Restoring Science to its Rightful Place

I've talked a little about President Obama's good choices for his science team. The following quote from his inaugural address give me even greater (dare I say it?) hope:

“We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its costs. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.

After eight years of faith-based bullshit, I am so glad to have someone who talks like this in the oval office. Oh, also? He actually mentioned non-believers.

Needless to say, I'm happy so far.

Science is Awesome! Also, Happy New Year!

You know why science is awesome? I'll tell you why it's awesome!

First, science gives us accurate calenders which allow us to have New Year's celebrations.

Second, science gives us fireworks! Check out the video shot by Sandra Porter from Discovering Biology in a Digital World which is one of my favorite science blogs even when she's not posting pictures of stuff blowing up.

Obama Chooses His Science Team

This is my favorite radio address so far.



President-elect Obama has made some very good choices for his science team. This makes two Nobel-prize winners on his staff. It's hard to pick a pullquote from this address because the whole thing is incredible (read the transcript here) but the following excerpt sums up why I am so glad we elected this guy (emphasis mine):

Because the truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources—it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient—especially when it’s inconvenient. Because the highest purpose of science is the search for knowledge, truth and a greater understanding of the world around us. That will be my goal as President of the United States.

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Homologous Links - Science!

Cat and Girl explore the scientific method.

XKCD has useful educational advice.

Statsblog talks about the science of parenting and the lack thereof.

My personal science rock star, Dr. Steven Novella, takes syndromes to school.

My favorite brain blog, Mind Hacks, points out a cool interview with David Chalmers about the extended mind hypothesis.

Finally, The Perky Skeptic goes insane and takes us along for the ride.

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Interview with Sharon Long, Science Advisor to Obama

Steve Mirsky from Scientific American's awesome Science Talk podcast interviewed Sharon Long, a Stanford biologist and one of the Obama campaign's science advisors the day after the election. Click here for a link to the episode along with a transcript of the interview.

My favorite bit was Dr. Long taking Sarah Palin to task for criticizing government spending on fruit-fly research.

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Obama's Cabinet Taking Shape - A Good Shape

Just a quick note to say how glad I am about President-Elect Obama's cabinet and advisor choices, so far. Two, in particular, have me doing happy dances.

Lisa P. Jackson is the designate to head the EPA. She's the former commissioner of New Jersey's EPA and she has a master's degree in chemical engineering from Princeton instead of a law degree. She's already two up on RFK Jr.

The second designate that makes my heart grow three sizes is Steven Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, for Secretary of Energy. Hell, yeah! A Nobel-Prize-winning experimental physicist! 'Nuff said.

Still no word on his science advisor but the two appointments above are encouraging.