Dr. Hawking's recent turn toward morbid pessimism is unfortunate. He is saying things that, if they weren't coming from him, most scientists would laugh at. It's sad that such a great physicist and science communicator is tainting his legacy with nonsense.
Celebrities Vs Science
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation banning the use of electronic cigarettes indoors. It's a move that ensures his position as being pro-cancer and anti-science.
We get it. The actress hates guns. But please don’t use your high visibility to spread untruths about the medical profession, just to make a political point.
Kurt Eichenwald, a journalist with enormous influence, claims to have predicted features of Hurricane Irma using a climate change equation. A contributing editor to Vanity Fair and a New York Times bestselling author, he took to Twitter to boast about his accomplishment. It didn't take long for him to be rightfully mocked.
To make our society better informed, we have to fight back against the Fear Industry. We can do so by publicly identifying those people who spread misinformation. And then we encourage people to never listen to them again.
Hollywood will make no sequel to Erin Brockovich, nor will Pacific Gas & Electric be reimbursed $333 million. However, after nearly 20 years the truth about hexavalent chromium has finally been revealed by California regulators.
Although his reports on the spurious connections between vaccines and autism have been roundly refuted and his "research" report retracted, Andrew Wakefield's poison continues to harm children. In Minnesota, the continuing outbreak of measles in a Somali community is the latest case in point.
Our society is woefully illiterate on scientific matters. Yet instead of taking the opportunity to educate customers about the benefits of food science, some companies have chosen to cash in on public ignorance.
Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs is one of the world's most influential public intellectuals. His war against global poverty is commendable, if not always congenial. His expertise is rightly sought by national and international media outlets.
It's strange, then, for someone of his knowledge, accomplishment, and reputation to repeat verifiably untrue claims. A recent exchange on Twitter reveals that, at times, Dr. Sachs has merely a casual relationship with the truth.
Jeffrey Sachs's War on the Pharmaceutical Industry
The actor and musician knows how to convey a message that effects medical change, helped in part by his visit top be with sick kids at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Now, let's see if Hollywood follows suit.
It's one thing to be anti-vaccine. It's another to compare the "damage" that vaccines are doing to the damage done to the children killed in Syria by Assad's chemical weapons. But that is exactly what "The Health Ranger" did in a recent article. For that, he should be ashamed and his followers should really think twice.
Jade Erick was interested in holistic health but she ended up anything but healthy. The 30-year-old California woman died after receiving an intravenous dose of turmeric, a spice that has not been shown to offer any health benefits whatsoever. Of course this won't stop Joe "Big Dough" Mercola from selling it on his website. The ridiculous claims are free.