Science is in big trouble. Or so we’re told.
In the past several years, many scientists have become afflicted with a serious case of doubt — doubt in the very institution of science.
As reporters covering medicine, psychology, climate change, and other areas of research, we wanted to understand this epidemic of doubt. So we sent scientists a survey asking this simple question: If you could change one thing about how science works today, what would it be and why?
We heard back from 270 scientists all over the world, including graduate students, senior professors, laboratory heads, and Fields Medalists. They told us that, in a variety of ways, their careers are being hijacked by perverse incentives. The result is bad science.
The scientific process, in its ideal form, is elegant: […]
2 Comments
Jane Mayer, Staff Writer - The New Yorker
Stephan: Almost everyone who knows Donald Trump, or does business with him, comes away feeling he is a sociopath, and having 3,500 lawsuits in your background would seem to support that conclusion. And yet there is a very good chance that he will be elected President of the United States. Here is one of the best assessments of Trump I have read, and I urge you to read it and pass it on to friends and family.
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in West Allis, Wisconsin, United States, April 3, 2016.
Credit: Reuters/Jim Young
Last June, as dusk fell outside Tony Schwartz’s sprawling house, on a leafy back road in Riverdale, New York, he pulled out his laptop and caught up with the day’s big news: Donald J. Trump had declared his candidacy for President. As Schwartz watched a video of the speech, he began to feel personally implicated.
Trump, facing a crowd that had gathered in the lobby of Trump Tower, on Fifth Avenue, laid out his qualifications, saying, “We need a leader that wrote ‘The Art of the Deal.’ ” If that was so, Schwartz thought, then he, not Trump, should be running. Schwartz dashed off a tweet: “Many thanks Donald Trump for suggesting I run for President, based on the fact that I […]
3 Comments
Benjamin Oreskes, - Politico
Stephan: I am not a Hillary Clinton fan, I was a Bernie Sanders delegate from Washington, and I profoundly dislike dynasty politics. But ours is a binary system and either Clinton or Trump is going to be the next President. Voting for third party candidates is essentially a vote for Trump, and I wish social progressives could get that through their heads.
However, that said, Hillary Clinton has surprised me, and this story describes what I think is the best news I have heard in this entire election cycle. I think it should also be noted that this is happening because of Sanders.
Hillary Clinton
ST. LOUIS – Hillary Clinton committed Saturday to introducing a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision within her first 30 days in office, if she’s elected president.
The announcement will come in a video during the closing keynote of the progressive Netroots Nation conference this afternoon, and it’s yet another attempt to adopt the positions of her vanquished primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“The amendment would allow Americans to establish common sense rules to protect against the undue influence of billionaires and special interests and to restore the role of average voters in elections,” a Clinton spokesman said in statement.
Last fall as the primary season ramped up and Sanders gained momentum, Clinton called for the 2010 Citizens United v FEC decision, which spawned the creation of super PACS, to be overturned. She also said she wanted more stringent political spending disclosure rules, and a new public matching regime so that presidential and congressional campaigns could more easily solicit small donations.
In […]
No Comments
Evan Lehmann, - Scientific American
Stephan: It is my personal view Theocratic Rightist governor of Indiana Mike Pence is another example of the Republican Party's collapse as an competent political organization. Like Rick Scott, Sam Brownback, Rick Snyder, Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, he is a man consumed by ambition, driven by Theocratic ideology, and incompetent in his job.
But the hard truth is these people were voted into office, and that tells us more than many may want to know about the American electorate.
Theocratic Rightist Indiana Republican Governor Mike Pence
It was a winter of record snowfall two years ago when Donald Trump’s reported running mate made a daring comment about climate change.
“We haven’t seen a lot of warming lately,” Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) said during a February interview with Chuck Todd on MSNBC.
It turns out that same year, 2014, would go down as the warmest since records began in 1880. The status was short-lived. The following year would supplant it as having the highest average temperature in the instrumental record, according to NASA.
Pence, a tea party favorite, is seen by many Republicans as someone who would be a calming choice for vice president in Trump’s unconventional candidacy. He would add legislative and executive experience to a party ticket headlined by a television celebrity who has never before run for political office.
Trump was expected to formally announce his choice of running mate this morning but announced last night that he would postpone his plans, citing the “horrible attacks” in Nice, France, […]
2 Comments
Heat and humidity are climbing in many of the most populous U.S. cities, and the perilous trend will continue through 2050 (see graphic to left). Heat is the top weather killer. Interactive graphics about increasing “danger days” can be found in a sweeping new report by Climate Central.
