Science 2.0

Epidemiology: Microplastics Cause Lung Cancer

Unless you are a cigarette smoker, you can't be 'inhaling' enough polypropylene and polyethylene to impact your lungs even if you live for 7,000 years. That doesn't stop fad claims that microplastics cause lung cancer.

Hank Campbell Sun, 09/06/2026 - 06:29 Categories Chemistry

Your Smartphone May Be Off On Your Exercise Calories By 25%

Sorry, Apple. Sorry, Fitbit. You're overcounting calories burned and science shows it.

Hank Campbell Sat, 09/05/2026 - 13:28 Categories Technology

When A Bump Gets Greedy: A Connection I Had Missed For 25 Years

Back in 2009 I wrote in this blog a rather technical post about something I had called the “greedy bump bias.” (GBB) The effect I referred to had emerged from a 2003 CDF study of mine, where I considered the extraction of small signals sitting on top of much larger backgrounds.That work went unpublished, but then I took revenge with the blog post...

Tommaso Dorigo Thu, 09/03/2026 - 09:15 Categories Physics

If You Like Stories, Thank The Inventors Of Fire

Gather 'round, listeners, and learn of the storytelling ape.

News Account Wed, 09/02/2026 - 17:53 Categories Anthropology

Rain Gardens: Placement Matters More Than Square Footage

The Canadian capital of Ottawa was bombarded with 167 millimetres of rain in five hours earlier this summer in what the city called a one-in-200-year event. Close to 5,800 basement-flooding reports followed, and the worst of it hit the city’s west end, including the Crystal Beach neighborhood.

The Conversation Wed, 09/02/2026 - 16:18 Categories Environment

The Precedent For Creating A 'Conservative' Science Journal

In 2009, with a Democrat back in the White House, corporate science and medical journal publishers asked Rep. John Conyers, Jr. of Detroit, a staunch ally of President Obama, to get the new president to issue an executive order and undo the work of his predecessor, President George W. Bush.

Hank Campbell Wed, 09/02/2026 - 13:33 Categories Science Education & Policy

Are You Your Brain Or Your Body?

A “racing heart,” “choked up” - language treats emotion and thought as if they inhabit the body. But why are events of the mind felt in the heart or stomach?

News Account Mon, 08/31/2026 - 17:38 Categories Neuroscience

The US Creating Starfleet Academy Sounds Exciting

He didn't call it a Moonshot or a Manhattan Project of Space, that is the kind of language his political opponents use(1), President Trump announcing a U.S. Space Academy invoked something even bolder - Star Trek.

Hank Campbell Mon, 08/31/2026 - 14:59 Categories Aerospace

Dog Aging Project: Humans and Dogs Age A Lot Alike

Metabolites associated with earlier or later death in dogs behave in much the same way they have been shown in humans.

News Account Mon, 08/31/2026 - 14:37 Categories Genetics & Molecular Biology

People Who Appropriate Oppression Are Harming Socialization By Their Kids

Actors are famous for manufacturing traumatic situations about every movie they've done but the public builds that into their psychological makeup. So do their kids, and not for the better. A new paper says appropriated oppression is a cultural legacy.

Hank Campbell Mon, 08/31/2026 - 14:08 Categories Psychology

Tax Breaks, Not Subsidies, Spur Innovation

The world has spent $9,000,000,000,000 on alternatives to energy and has very little to show for it.

Hank Campbell Fri, 08/28/2026 - 10:57 Categories Science Education & Policy

AI Breakthroughs And An 11% Surge In Math Majors

University admissions data show an 11% increase in applications to study maths in college. The reason is that young people see AI as being the biggest boost to the field since the calculator

The Conversation Thu, 08/27/2026 - 14:56 Categories Mathematics

Navigating Vaccine Guidance

During the Obama administration, he was concerned about vaccines causing autism and it showed when it came to guidance about swine flu vaccines. His administration banned multi-use vials because of his party's insistence that preservatives caused the disorder.

Hank Campbell Tue, 08/25/2026 - 13:56 Categories Psychology

Tariffs Have Been Good For U.S. Whiskey Drinkers

Alcohol is a legitimate class 1 carcinogen but if you are going to roll the dice with cancer, tariffs have made it more affordable.  In 2018, the Trump administration began to place retaliatory tariffs on countries that had been penalizing American producers for decades.

Hank Campbell Thu, 08/20/2026 - 18:52 Categories Public Health

Fasting Linked To Faster Disease Accumulation

Intermittent fasting, and fasting in general, has been a popular fad health gimmick, but the science isn't on its side. Instead, proponents believe mice are little people so if mice weaned on starvation diets lived longer, people would also.

News Account Thu, 08/20/2026 - 13:27 Categories Public Health

Your Brain Is Still Analog

The world around us may be digital, 0s and 1s shaping information, but the delivery mechanism is still analog; electricity and wires. Our brains, including cognition and consciousness, are also.

Hank Campbell Thu, 08/20/2026 - 09:19 Categories Neuroscience

With Hannah McElhinney's 'Wormhole', Alternative Medicine Risk Gets A Spotlight

A book that criticizes alternative medicine to treat conditions that have names but no criteria is controversial - because it runs up against a supplement and alternative medicine enabled by governments that believe science can't be trusted

The Conversation Wed, 08/19/2026 - 16:59 Categories Random Thoughts

Is Climate Doom Discouraging Action? Here's How To Identify It

People see climate doom claims as manipulative but inoculation improves people’s ability to discern climate doom from climate science.

The Conversation Tue, 08/18/2026 - 10:13 Categories Science Education & Policy

Halloween Science Is Now In Its 2nd Edition

Halloween is the most rumor-prone of holidays. If you read the folklore that passes as social media, Halloween has its own holiday character, like Santa, but he's named Secret Sadist and putting razor blades in candy bars. Or LSD in...candy bars again.

Hank Campbell Mon, 08/17/2026 - 19:18 Categories Random Thoughts

Antonio Rosino, a Life for Chess

It is with quite a bit of sadness that I received this evening the news of the passing of Antonio Rosino.

Tommaso Dorigo Mon, 08/17/2026 - 15:22 Categories Culture