Category Archives: Science And Society

Education, General Science, Media Criticism, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary

Politicians’ “War On Science”

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Who said it, Rubio or Obama? It’s useful to point this kind of thing out, of course, and I’ve always thought that Chris Mooney’s theses were nonsensical — both parties have ideologies that are opposed to scientific reality.

But I disagree with this:

So Obama believes in evolution, and presumably he’d like to teach it in the nation’s public schools, while Rubio suggests that “multiple theories” should be given equal time. But even so, both men present the science as a matter of personal opinion. Obama doesn’t say, Evolution is a fact; he says, I believe in it.

Well, he shouldn’t say that, because evolution is in fact not a “fact.” It, like gravity, is a scientific theory. And it is perfectly philosophically legitimate to say that alternate theories should be taught in school, but it should be done not in a science class but in one on comparative religions (of which science is one). That there is an objective reality about which we can discover things through scientific methods is not a fact, or “truth,” but an axiomatic assumption. Science is a form of faith, but in terms of understanding the natural world, and forging new artificial creations from it, it is a very successful and powerful one.

Health, Science And Society

Vitamin D

Well, this is certainly counterintuitive:

“We found that the offspring of nonagenarians who had at least 1 nonagenarian sibling had lower levels of vitamin D than controls, independent of possible confounding factors and SNPs [single nucleotide polymorphisms] associated with vitamin D levels,” write the authors. “We also found that the offspring had a lower frequency of common genetic variants in the CYP2R1 gene; a common genetic variant of this gene predisposes people to high vitamin D levels.

These findings support an association between low vitamin D levels and familial longevity.” They postulate that offspring of nonagenarians might have more of a protein that is hypothesized to be an “aging suppressor” protein. More research is needed to understand the link between lower vitamin D levels, genetic variants and familial longevity.

Of course, correlation is not causation. For now, I think I’ll continue to supplement.

Business, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary

Mike Bloomberg

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…is no Rudy Giuliani:

Michael Bloomberg must have hoped that Sandy would be his own 9/11. A population in shock turned to the mayor in their hour of need. He dominated the airwaves; he issued decrees. He seized the occasion to speak out on the big issues: climate change, endorsing a president. He worked to project an air of authority and calm: the Marathon would go on.

It must have looked for a while as if he had done a Rudy and resuscitated a tired mayoralty, relaunching a national career. Perhaps a cabinet appointment in a second Obama administration, perhaps another shot at an independent presidential campaign.

It is looking less that way by the hour. As the true dimensions of the damage in New York gradually appear, as the death toll mounts and as chaos at the gas stations and devastation in Staten Island undercut the narrative that the city has responded effectively to the challenge, Mayor Bloomberg looks more like the hapless officials of New Orleans than Rudy Giuliani or Chris Christie. The decision to divert badly needed resources to the Marathon looks callow. Big talk about climate change fails to impress; surely if the Mayor was so concerned about climate change he could have invested more time in flood preparations. It’s not the fault of conservative GOP climate skeptics that New York did so little to prepare for the rising sea levels that so trouble the mayor.

Actually, he is starting to look more like a Nagin.

[Update a while later]

The “Stop The Marathon” Facebook page is up. It really is amazing that Bloomberg is doing this when people are suffering on Staten Island, which is always the forgotten borough..

So how’s that Bloomberg endorsement working out for you, Mr. President? It would be pretty funny if, between this and reticence to go to the polls by disaffected Democrats, the Democrats lose in New York and New Jersey. Not to mention Connecticut.

[Update a couple minutes later]

A Staten Island tweet.

[Another update]

Cries for help replaced by a loss of words.

But the marathon must go on.

[Update a couple minutes later]

“The city of New York right now is talking about getting water out of the Battery Tunnel and preparing for a marathon,” U.S. Rep. Rep. Michael Grimm said. “We’re pulling bodies out of the water. You see the disconnect here?”

Hey, get with the program. There’s a marathon to run.

[Update]

It gets even more insane: “If you’re not familiar with SI the Verazzano Bridge is the only ground connection to rest of city. It’s CLOSED for the marathon.”

Maybe they should just secede and join New Jersey.

[Another update]

“I want to go home, but there is no home.”