Last Monday, Ariela and I went to see Michael Pollan present his new book, In Defense of Food, in Milwaukee. I brought along my handy-dandy iRiver MP3 recorder, and for your enjoyment, here’s his talk. Funny and interesting, passionate and accusatory, that’s Michael Pollan.

Milwaukee Talk

I’ve only taken a look at a few snippets of In Defense of Food, Ariela’s reading it right now. I’ll read it when I’m finished reviewing Hugh Ross’s book here. There’s no rush, because it won’t be until March that I’ll be interviewing him on the Mindcast. Yep, I renewed our previous interview agreement, so you can look to a fun-filled interview right here in a couple months. Read More…

It is interesting to contemplate a frozen bank, clothed with ice of many kinds, with birds not singing on the bushes, with various insects nowhere to be seen, and with worms crawling under the earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other in so complex a manner, have… aw hell, it’s fricken freezing and there’s nothing but ice, snow, and cold air on the banks of Madison, Wisconsin. What am I to do to keep warm? Thankfully, a whole host of science bloggers sent me their best posts from the last few weeks - let’s see if we can warm up together in this cold northern weather to the 97th edition of the Tangled Bank. Read More…

(via Bad Astronomy)

There’s a new blog I’d like everyone to check out, the first few posts are really good. Homeopathy, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), Plants versus Pharmaceuticals. There are many problems with medicine, you see, many things we don’t yet know how to treat, or what is the underlying cause, but there are also countless problems with how some people view medicine. As something to replace with a vacuous would-be infallible philosophy (Homeopathy). As something that needs additions that aren’t backed up by evidence, and rely on mere “belief” to promote themselves. (CAM) Or what about how people often hold up plants and put down pharmaceuticals, when many pharmaceuticals come from plants, but have been purified, studied, and have been shown to help in fighting disease or alleviating suffering.

There are only two kinds of medicines. Those that work and those that don’t. Science is the way to discovering those things that work, and knowing how they work. And this new blog, written by several MDs, looks to be a great way to find out those crucial details about a field that is crucial to survival, and has some very culturally intriguing issues. Check out Science Based Medicine.

It’s on my blogroll.

Where’s are the Dr. Gregory Houses when this happens? A teenage kid was convinced that if he received a standard, life-saving blood transfusion then he would have been “unclean” and “unworthy.” Now he is dead.

Join the discussion on Pharyngula, and read the comments on this one. Right from the top it gets good: Read More…

I just came across a fascinating article in the New York Times about biotechnology and religion. (via onegoodmove) Are Scientists playing God? It Depends on your Religion. What Princeton University’s Dr. Lee Silver found was that cultural perspectives on plant, animal, and human biotechnology varied from country to country, and correlated with religious beliefs. (Human biotechnology being primarily stem cell research.)
Here’s the breakdown: Read More…

Last week, when I went to the Speaking Science 2.0 talk in Minneapolis, I skipped the after party to go see Quynh Nguyen. She’s a friend of mine from Davis, who I met through the Chemistry Club @ UC Davis, and who also wrote for The Aggie for a year. While I was watching one of PZ eight arms getting hacked off by Matt Nisbet, and Greg Laden drilling holes in Chris Mooney’s head (and other mayhem - post coming soon), Ariela was hanging out with Quynh and her boyfriend Jeff, and they swung by to pick me up afterwards. Read More…

Yesterday, I was browsing the news as per usual, and I came across this article about Acupuncture being twice as effective as conventional treatments for back pain. If you’ll read the article, you’ll notice that it contradicts itself. First, acupuncture is better than conventional treatments, then acupuncture is no better than “fake” acupuncture, and doesn’t work at all. Huh? I put in a comment, calling into question the contradictions in the article, and so far it has not seen the light of day. I also sent a message to Orac, and he’s now got a post up explaining just what’s wrong with this whole thing. Read More…

There have been a couple of recent discoveries related to weight loss. My fellow Americans (and international counterparts) have been searching for years for factors other than diet and exercise that could be affecting how much weight they gain. Well it appears that with a new Adenovirus and a “Skinny Gene” that both seem to be making people fat, we have found what’s making us fat. Or have we? Read More…

Last Saturday, I saw Michael Moore’s Sicko. Very good film, and well-timed to affect the political discourse early on in the election campaigns for next year. So then I was browsing onegoodmove, where many of Michael Moore’s interviews have been posted, and I came across a fecal storm. Read More…

(A Monday Madness Exclusive… On Tuesday)

Ah, Springtime. The grass is young and lush, the weather is warming up, and the fruit trees are budding forth and bursting into bloom. The bees have awoken from their slumber and are rearing brood and trucking in the pollen. Birds chirp, the wind blows, and humans, recently turning forward their clocks, are planting gardens and spending more time outside. Including me and my allergies.

You know what the worst thing about Spring is? Read More…