MOsanthrope

Today’s essential conservative commentary from National Review’s The Corner:

MARINE SPACE PLANE [Jonah Goldberg]
I like it! Particularly if the Marines inside get batwings and lasers. It seems an obvious point to me that flying space Marines would be a valuable contribution to the arsenal of democracy.

That would be kewl!
Which reminds me…

Aired December 5, 2003 - […]

Filed under: Politics, Science, U.S., Media

After ticking a few non-air-conditioned local destinations off our list, the boys and I hit the St. Louis Science Center this afternoon. While there, we took in the IMAX presentation of Tom Hanks’ “Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon”. The film was stunning on the massive IMAX wrap-around screen; it was well […]

Filed under: St. Louis, Family, Science, Film

Still don’t believe that our attempts to raise our kids in a sterile environment are counterproductive? Here’s the latest:

WASHINGTON — Gritty rats and mice living in sewers and on farms seem to have healthier immune systems than their squeaky clean cousins that frolic in cushy antiseptic labs, two studies indicate.
The lesson for humans: Clean […]

Filed under: Science, Health, Medicine, Environment

Updated on June 17, 2006 at 3:18 pm.
That’s that new emo-jazz group, right?UPDATE: Post title changed because the original was was even dumber, if you can believe that. My apologies to the RSS types.

Filed under: Politics, U.S., Mathematics, Media

You’d think that we’d recognize that fact after reading this story for about the twelve thousandth time:

Some blood pressure drugs previously thought to be safe when taken early in pregnancy now appear to substantially raise the risk of major birth defects, doctors say.
Babies whose mothers took ACE inhibitors in their first trimester were more than […]

Filed under: Health, Medicine

This is interesting.

Filed under: Family, Biology, Medicine, World

Any idiot can catblog.

Off to the park….

Filed under: Family, Biology

Last week, Pat Robertson announced that God told him to expect an active hurricane season this year, at least if he “heard the Lord right“:

The founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network has told viewers of “The 700 Club” that the revelations came to him during his annual personal prayer retreat in January.
“If I heard the […]

Filed under: Science, Religion

Big Oil pulled out the same old playbook to come up with its new “carbon dioxide is swell” (I am not making this up!) ad campaign. As Think Progress points out, the ads are so ridiculous that only a few rabidly ideological dolts will likely take them seriously.
Go take a look.

Filed under: Politics, Science, Business, U.S., Environment

Humans: still not all dead:

Even as it crops up in the far corners of Europe and Africa, the virulent bird flu that raised fears of a human pandemic has been largely snuffed out in the parts of Southeast Asia where it claimed its first and most numerous victims.

I won’t hold my breath while […]

Filed under: Health, Medicine, World

Updated on May 15, 2006 at 9:39 am and 11:24 am.
Florida alligators have apparently become confused about their proper place in the food chain.
Until last week, alligators had killed only 17 humans in Florida in the past 58 years; however, alligator attacks have now resulted in the deaths of three people in […]

Filed under: Politics, U.S., Food & Drink, Biology, Environment

Updated on May 10, 2006 at 2:44 pm.
Americans have become so obsessed with the Bogeymicrobe that we’re now washing countless of tons of antibacterial soap* chemicals down the drain. As it turns out, those drains go somewhere:

About 75% of a potent bacteria-killing chemical that people flush down their drains survives treatment at sewage plants, […]

Filed under: U.S., Biology, Health, Environment

If you’re one of the 46 million Americans who don’t have a health insurance card, we’re terribly sorry:

CHICAGO — America may be the world’s superpower, but its survival rate for newborn babies ranks near the bottom among modern nations, better only than Latvia.
Among 33 industrialized nations, the United States is tied with Hungary, Malta, […]

Filed under: Politics, U.S., Health, Medicine

A few weeks ago, The Constant Gardner made its way to the top of our Netflix queue. My wife enjoyed it more than I did; however, I thought it was remarkably good as documentaries go:

The report concludes that Pfizer never obtained authorization from the Nigerian government to give the unproven drug to nearly […]

Filed under: Business, Ethics, Health, Medicine, World

Horrifying.

Filed under: Business, U.S., Health, Medicine

Via Balloon Juice, I learned of a stunning new development in the global climate change debate:

A scientific study commissioned by the Bush administration concluded yesterday that the lower atmosphere was indeed growing warmer and that there was “clear evidence of human influences on the climate system.”
The finding eliminates a significant area of uncertainty in […]

Filed under: Politics, Science, U.S., Environment

Offered, without comment, by my wife:
Scientists are reporting dramatic advances in the area of legume technology.

Filed under: Science, Food & Drink, Biology

According to FDA officials, contraceptives may lead to adolescent sex cults. I am not making this up:

Former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford, Dr. Janet Woodcock, deputy operations commissioner, and Dr. Steven Galson, director of the FDA’s drug evaluation center, are to testify in court-ordered depositions to be taken by attorneys for the Manhattan-based Center for […]

Filed under: Politics, U.S., Medicine

Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have found a way to use nanotechnology to target cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact:

“A single injection of our nanoparticles completely eradicated the tumors in five of the seven treated animals, and the remaining animals also had a significant tumor reduction, compared to the controls,” […]

Filed under: Technology, Science, U.S., Health, Medicine

Updated on March 24, 2006 at 8:54 pm.
It’s regrettable that posts like this are appropriately filed under both the “environment” and “politics” categories.
Rorschach:

(Reuters)
 
According to two recent studies, the rate of global warming is worse than previously thought:

Researchers from the University of Arizona and the National Center for Atmospheric Research noted that sea levels rose […]

Filed under: Politics, Science, Environment, World

A recent study questions the safety of aspartame, a result contrary to studies commissioned by the company which developed aspartame while Donald Rumsfeld was at its helm.

Aspartame is sold under the brand names Nutra-Sweet and Equal and is found in such popular products as Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, Diet Snapple and Sugar Free Kool-Aid. Hundreds […]

Filed under: Science, Business, Health

In a previous post, I chronicled the tale of George Deutsch, a Bush administration political appointee who attempted to censor a top NASA scientist’s remarks on global warming. Earlier this week Deutsch resigned his post as a NASA public affairs officer following a determination that he had fabricated academic credentials listed in his résumé. […]

Filed under: Politics, Science, U.S., Environment

Via Pharyngula:
Good satire.

Filed under: Science, Religion, Humor

Those of you who read Pharyngula or Crooks and Liars have followed the story of James Hansen, a NASA climate scientist who recently complained that NASA political appointees attempted to censor his remarks on global warming.

The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out […]

Filed under: Politics, Science, U.S., Environment

Like many Americans, I found myself wondering what ended up in Dubbya’s coffee prior to his State of the Union remarks condemning the horror of “human-animal hybrids.”
In his excellent science blog, Pharyngula, PZ Myers suggests another possibility:

It’s pure political calculus. He throws away the mad scientist and pig-man vote, and wins the religious ignoramus vote… […]

Filed under: Politics, Science, U.S.

I guess we can look forward to an onslaught of email hocking promiscuous female bat pheromones.

A research team led by Syracuse University biologist Scott Pitnick found that in bat species where the females are promiscuous, the males boasting the largest testicles also had the smallest brains. Conversely, where the females were faithful, the males had […]

Filed under: Science, Humor, Biology

Fox News science correspondent, Steven Milloy, has made a career of disparaging scientific research disfavored by big business. Fox periodically wheels him out to criticize studies on global warming or secondhand smoke as “junk science.”
As it turns out, debunking the liberal science conspiracy was only his day job. He made his […]

Filed under: Politics, News, Science

Krauthammer’s piece in today’s Washington Post is worth a read:
Because every few years this country, in its infinite tolerance, insists on hearing yet another appeal of the Scopes monkey trial, I feel obliged to point out what would otherwise be superfluous: that the two greatest scientists in the history of our species were Isaac Newton […]

Filed under: Science, Religion