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Tag Archives: hype
The DSM-5: What’s Your Alternative?
Last week, Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) made an announcement that set science bloggers and medicine-watchers atwitter: In a few weeks, the American Psychiatric Association will release its new edition of the Diagnostic and … Continue reading
Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad ORF?
A recent paper in the journal GM Crops and Food has generated an outsized splash in the press, particularly in biotechnology-averse Europe. I won’t reward a muckraking tabloid with a link, but here’s a screenshot that shows the basic theme: … Continue reading
It’s 2012.12.22: Time For a New Doomsdate
It’s about 30 minutes after the Winter Solstice now, which means the ancient Mayan calendar has officially ticked over to a new year, and thousands of doomsayers are looking a bit foolish right about now. If you’re one of them, … Continue reading
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Hard Questions, Easy Answer
If you’ve read anything about obesity and nutrition in the past few years, or paid any attention to food packages in the supermarket, you’re aware that there’s a bit of a controversy surrounding a sweetener called high fructose corn syrup, … Continue reading
Unleashing the Ferrets of Fear
The second of two controversial papers on H5N1 “bird flu” came out yesterday, and if you didn’t hear about it, it wasn’t for lack of publicity. Not only did journalists get the usual embargoed access to the paper at the … Continue reading
The Day the Science Died
This afternoon, a coalition of influenza virologists released a statement saying that they are voluntarily suspending research on H5N1 “bird flu” for 60 days. This was in response to the Category 5 hype storm that has accompanied the publication of … Continue reading
TWiV Beats Placebo!
This is a screenshot from the iTunes store today (in Podcasts > Science and Medicine > Medicine): So our year-in-review episode is five places better than placebo. Be sure to take it weekly from now on.
The Biodefense-Industrial Complex vs. Science
I was revving up to post a long rant about the censorship of a new paper on H5N1 influenza, but my friend and TWiV co-host Vincent Racaniello beat me to it. I do, however, have a couple of things to … Continue reading
The “Growing” Ham Radio Hobby – Or Is It?
The American Radio Relay League, the main organization representing the US Amateur Radio community, likes to put out predictable press releases trumpeting the hobby’s growth. Back in October, they did it again: As the third quarter of 2011 came to … Continue reading
RNAi: Yep, Antisense All Over Again
Yesterday, New York Times reporter Andrew Pollack covered the pharmaceutical industry’s recent rush to the lifeboats of the siRNA/RNAi ship: When RNA interference first electrified biologists several years ago, pharmaceutical companies rushed to harness what looked like a swift and … Continue reading