Anti-Glyphosate Is Looking Like Anti-GMO

""An extensive database exists for evaluating the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate, including 23 epidemiological studies, 15 animal carcinogenicity studies, and nearly 90 genotoxicity studies for the active ingredient glyphosate. These studies were evaluated for quality and results were analyzed across studies within each line of evidence. The modified Bradford Hill criteria were then used to evaluate multiple lines of evidence using such concepts as strength, consistency, dose response, temporal concordance and biological plausibility. The available data at this time do no [sic] support a carcinogenic process for glyphosate. Overall, animal carcinogenicity and genotoxicity studies were remarkably consistent and did not demonstrate a clear association between glyphosate exposure and outcomes of interest related to carcinogenic potential."

EPA States That Glyphosate Does Not Cause Cancer - Again

What's Happening Now With String Theory?

"In cosmology, string theory 'packages physical models in a way that’s easier to think about,' Silverstein said. It may take centuries to tie together all these loose strings to weave a coherent picture, but young researchers like Beem aren’t bothered a bit. His generation never thought string theory was going to solve everything. 'We’re not stuck,' he said. 'It doesn’t feel like we’re on the verge of getting it all sorted, but I know more each day than I did the day before – and so presumably we’re getting somewhere.”"

The Strange Second Life of String Theory

Sleep Patterns

"One thing you can do is rearrange your sleep cycle to give yourself more time. Paleoanthropologists espouse that our ancestors probably didn’t sleep for seven hours at a clip, as it would make them easy prey. Instead, they probably slept at different periods throughout the day and night, and you can too."

With Polyphasic Sleep, You Can Thrive on as Little as Two Hours per Night

The Bible Is An Ink Blot

"Someone determined to hold onto their presuppositions ride in a self-sealing ideological lifeboat, but they’ve also insulated themselves against any information showing their initial views to be wrong. This is not someone following the evidence."

Bible Interpretation? It Works Like the Paul-is-Dead Rumor.

Oh, for those who think that the Bible is "The Good Book" and the Quran is a bad book, this will give you pause.

Towards Understanding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

"The results are preliminary and with a small number of people and needs replication. So maybe it will pan out or just be another dead end. But it would a very satisfying explanation of SEID if validated."

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease Speculation 

Lies From Republicans Over Hillary's Denunciation Of Half Of Trump Supporters

The dust still hasn't settled on Hillary Clinton's comments about half of Donald Trump supporter being "deplorable."  While most media have criticized her for this statement, it actually is essentially correct.  This editorial piece by conservative columnist Ed Rogers is a prime example of the lies being perpetuated around this story.  Of course Hillary recognizes and supports the character of working class people.  She was just telling the truth about the large portion of Trump's support coming from the "Alt-Right" bigots.

Clinton’s remarks show how Democrats really feel about working class

Atheism Is The Answer To Religious Extremism

"Atheism, Ali points out, is a logical step that comes after Enlightenment values like rationalism and tolerance, and the liberties of a free, open and secular society are in place."

How to Fight Extremism with Atheism 

The Probability Of A God Is "Undefined"

It is easy to find religious apologists, and even a physicist, positing "evidence" showing that there probably is a god.  These attempts usually use some sort of mathematical calculation, like a variation of the Drake Equation or Baysian Analysis for example.  However,  all of these attempts ignore the fact that there is no evidence for any god.  Therefore, the denominator in the calculations is zero (0).  Whenever a number is divided by zero, the results are "undefined."   In other words, the results have no meaning.

Jesus And Mo Embarrass Themselves

"This is why, if you have evidence, you don’t speak of faith, and why scientists don’t say they 'have faith in evolution'. Faith is not a virtue, but a character flaw."

Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ faith

The Scientific Method 101

"So what is the scientific method, and why do so many people, sometimes including those trained in science, get it so wrong?

"The first thing to understand is that there is no one method in science, no one way of doing things. This is intimately connected with how we reason in general."

Why People Get the Scientific Method Wrong

Magical thinkers like to challenge the statement that their claims have been "debunked" by science. Even some science-based thinkers challenge it. I say that many claims can be debunked if there is no evidence for such and all parts of it have been shown to be against known science. Yes, science can never “prove” anything but when you get such a low probability for a claim to be true, I think we can easily say it is debunked even though science is based on probability and not a certainty. This YouTube lecture of fewer than 40 minutes discusses this issue both from a scientific as well as a practical standpoint.

All Successful Animal Species, Including Humans, Have These Traits

I am visiting Washington, DC focusing on seeing some Smithsonian museums that have added displays since the last time I was here.  My favorite is the Human Origins area withing the Museum of Natural History.  The biggest takeaway?  All animal species, including homo sapien sapien, display the traits of caring and cooperation.  How are homo sapien sapiens doing now?  Think hard about it.

Supplement Industry Hype Parallels Tobacco Industry

"This hype parallels that of the tobacco industry, which used economic analysis to argue that tobacco control policies would create havoc on jobs, tax revenues, tobacco farmers, and the economy in general".  (Stephen Barrett MD, Quackwatch)

2016 Economic Impact of the Dietary Supplement Industry