Tag: scientists

Commentary: New Is Not Always Better

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Jesus Christ

Imagine a scientist who decided to reject every scientific experiment or study that had come before him and would trust only scientific principles that he demonstrated with his own experiments.

Naturally, he would completely handicap himself. In his arrogance, he’d accomplish very little with his science, since he’d be hard at work re-demonstrating every scientific discovery ever made, many of which build on each other. He could never hope to repeat what generations of scientists (many of them much smarter than he) had accomplished over hundreds of years. But if he wasn’t willing to accept their testimony, writings, and conclusions, he’d have no other choice.

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CDC Overrules Mask Advisers and Its Own Research Finding ‘No Difference’ Between N95, Surgical

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Grocery Shopping Masks

Nearly a year ago, the respected research collaborative Cochrane drastically reinterpreted its own “systematic review” of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on masking in response to media pressure, deeming them “inconclusive” after the review team found that masks make “little to no difference” against COVID-19 or influenza.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is following Cochrane’s lead by publicly pressuring its advisers to revise their recommendations on masking in healthcare settings, which are based on its own systematic review that now undermines CDC preferences.

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COVID Restrictions Stunted Kids’ Immune Systems, Could Explain Surge of Other Illnesses: Scientists

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For two years and counting, the scientific and medical establishments have urged Americans at all risk levels to limit their exposure to the microbial world to effectively reduce the spread of COVID-19, rather than focus on protecting the vulnerable.

The unexpected surge of other pathogens starting last summer, however, has challenged the wisdom of frequent sanitizing, social distancing, remote work and education, and routine mask-wearing, especially applied to children.

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NIH, Agency Scientists Received Estimated $350 Million in Royalty Payments over Last Decade: Report

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The National Institutes of Health and its scientists received an estimated $350 million in royalties from third-party payers between 2010 and 2020, according to an investigation by government transparency watchdog Open the Books.

The third-party payers are, according to the report, mostly pharmaceutical companies that credit NIH scientists as coinventors on various patents.

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Scientists Believe Meteor Exploded over Pittsburgh

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aerial view of Pittsburgh, Pa.

Scientists believe a meteor exploded early New Year’s Day over Pittsburgh, causing mysterious loud noises and vibrations that shook the city.

“The loud explosion heard over SW PA earlier may have been a meteor explosion,” the U.S. National Weather Service tweeted Saturday, posting an image showing a flash of light it claimed was “not associated with lightning.”

“No confirmation, but this is the most likely explanation at this time,” the agency said.

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Three Scientists Remove Their Names from Lancet Statement Denouncing Lab-Leak Theory

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Doctor with protective gloves handling vaccine

Although the magazine Lancet has doubled down on its efforts to defend China and claim that there is no evidence behind the lab-leak theory of the coronavirus origins, three prominent scientists who originally agreed with this assessment were absent from the magazine’s latest statement, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

On July 5th, the magazine published yet another statement, with numerous signatories, claiming that there is no “scientifically validated evidence” to suggest that the coronavirus pandemic originated at the suspicious Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Although many of the names signed onto the statement were the same as those who made a similar assertion back in February of 2020, at least three names are missing.

One of the names is William Karesh, who serves as the executive vice president for health policy at the nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance. As has been widely documented, EcoHealth was a major benefactor of the WIV, providing gain-of-function research funding directly to the institute after the funds had been granted to the nonprofit by the United States government.

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Commentary: ‘Woke’ Science Has No Place in Government Policymaking

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“Science, at its core, is a social phenomenon.” This observation, from Alondra Nelson, the newly appointed deputy director of President Biden’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), certainly qualifies for a prominent place in the Pantheon of Inane Statements. The core of science, in fact, is the scientific method—posing and testing hypotheses; carefully gathering, examining, and generating experimental evidence; and finally, synthesizing all the available information into logical conclusions. 

Dr. Nelson’s assertion is inauspicious, but perhaps we should not be too surprised by a “squishy” statement from someone whose undergraduate degree was in sociology, while her doctorate is in “American Studies.” What, we wonder, qualifies her to be deputy director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy? And how does it comport with President Biden’s commitment to always rely on “science and truth.” We suspect it is an example of how lip service to science has invaded the domain of real science. 

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Trump Called Out the ‘Political Agenda’ Surrounding Global Warming; Scientists and the Media Aren’t Happy

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by Michael Bastasch   President Donald Trump pushed back on suggestions from “60 Minutes” host Lesley Stahl that Hurricane Michael was somehow proof of man-made global warming, also claiming that climate scientists have a political agenda. Early in the interview, Stahl said he’s fantasized “the hurricane situations” changed Trump’s mind on man-made global warming. “What an impact that would make,” Stahl said. Trump responded, “They say that we had hurricanes that were far worse than what we just had with Michael.” Stahl pressed Trump on what he mean by “they,” and the president responded with “people.” “60 Minutes” put its interview of Trump in the context of Hurricane Michael, which they claimed “comes on the heels of a series of super storms: Florence in the Carolinas, Maria in Puerto Rico, Harvey in Texas.” Yet, Trump’s point is correct — the U.S. has seen more powerful, destructive storms than Hurricane Michael, which hit the Florida panhandle on Wednesday. Michael made landfall just below Category 5 strength, putting it in the top four strongest storms to hit the continental U.S. Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach noted in The Washington Post that Michael’s strength ranked “behind only the three Category 5 hurricane landfalls in the…

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Identity Politics Is Now Undermining Science

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JPL Scientists

by Michael Liccione   The prestige of science in our culture is well-earned. That scientists discover truths (or at least serviceable approximations to truths) is undeniable. The evidence for that is how successfully scientific findings have been applied for centuries as technology, which has improved life greatly for countless people. Sound science depends on methodologies that are as objective as possible, in the sense of being designed to minimize various forms of bias. Through objective methodologies we can discover what is really the case, versus what we want or expect to be the case. It’s how science corrects its errors over time and makes progress. But scientific progress is now threatened by a new form of ideology. This time around it’s not religious ideology, but political. It’s not news that identity politics and two of its intellectual pillars—the push for “diversity” and the theory of “intersectionality”—have strongly influenced the practice of the social sciences. A good deal of the peer-reviewed literature in sociology, political science, and even psychology is now produced from that perspective, and amounts to political advocacy. This decline in the objectivity of the social sciences is seen by many as a virtue, because the bias is seen as favoring the right sorts…

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