Anyone who believes that science, above all, should inform our debates on medical, health and environmental issues, will find much to agree with in The Geek Manifesto, a recently published book by Mark Henderson, one of Britain’s leading science communicators. As science writer David Dobbs writes in his foreward to the U.S. edition, The Geek Manifesto articulates…Continue Reading…
The underlying basis for why some people become so fiercely opposed to genetically modified crops or to action on climate change is often not grounded in science. That’s why I’ve come to believe that the anti-science tag is misused and a distraction from what’s really at play. An example of what I mean is captured…Continue Reading…
As Slate noted last year, the UK’s Daily Mail is “the world’s most popular online newspaper.” It’s not exactly a news you can use publication. Imagine if you crossed the New York Post (and its worst tendencies) with the National Enquirer and maybe throw in a splash of Weekly World News. That’s the Daily Mail. So…Continue Reading…
One of the main impediments to rational discussion of biotechnology is fear-mongering by anti-GMO zealots. The most outlandish claims (cancer! birth defects!) are couched in science and often peddled by activists like Jeffrey Smith, who is given the opportunity to air his baseless assertions to nationally syndicated TV audiences (on multiple occasions), courtesy of the popular but…Continue Reading…
Despite the charges in some quarters that I indulge in “hippy punching,” (code for those challenging environmentalist dogma or climate hyperbole), I’ve long been an admirer of muckraking journalism. One of my early formative experiences to the genre came when I was a boy growing up on Long Island in the 1970s. I attended a…Continue Reading…
The recent speech that Mark Lynas gave fleshing out his evolution on environmental issues–specifically his conversion on GMOs–continues to ricochet around the web. It’s a compelling story. If you’re just catching up, here’s a quick recap from Andy Revkin: The arc of Lynas’s fascinating career is in some ways neatly encapsulated by two acts at…Continue Reading…
What would the science blogosphere look like in 1993 if it were around then? For one thing, I bet ecology blogs would have been all the rage, because there were huge hairy fights over the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), national forest policies, and the meaning of wilderness, to name just a few issues that…Continue Reading…
Modern day heretics have it easy compared to their medieval antecedents (at least in the West). Denouncing dogma that they once propagated won’t get them tortured and burned at the stake. But they do stand a good chance of provoking hostile blowback, which is what Mark Lynas, the British environmental writer, has experienced this week….Continue Reading…
To paraphrase a famous observation, cognitive bias in certain precincts of the blogosphere is one of those things you recognize when you see it. So for the hell of it, let’s go to this randomly chosen example at Bishop Hill, the blog of climate skeptic Andrew Montford, who can reliably be counted on to share any…Continue Reading…
Long-time readers know that I enjoy the vibrant forum they have helped create at Collide-a-Scape. Yes, I sometimes get cranky in the comment threads and yes, I sometimes dish out the snark as well as anyone. But I’m conscious of this behavior and I strive to lead by better example. Overall, I’m gratified by the…Continue Reading…