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Science and law are both relatively recent human creations. Applied science made its appearance well before its written version. The people of the British Isles erected Stonehenge, and the Egyptians built the pyramids. The science of that time was goal-directed, finding a better way to live in the world and connect with the controlling powers of their gods. Today, science has taken on new roles, especially in understanding those controlling powers and seeking ways to better predict and manage them.

In Part I, I presented a precis of the methodology the authors of Nature’s Earth System Boundaries had for the “… multiple levels of likelihoods to reflect underlying scientific uncertainties and variabilities.” As their findings “are meant as a transparent proposal for further debate” let’s now consider and debate the more contentious methodology underlying their proposed action – justice.

The nightly news often brings a surfeit of environmental disasters: forest fires, floods, tornados, drought, iceberg melting. What have we done to deserve them? Here I draw on various sources of climate change data to provide some understanding of what may lie ahead.

“Humans are taking colossal risks with the future of civilization and everything that lives on Earth.” So begins a report in Nature attempting to quantify Safe and Just Earth boundaries. The findings “are meant as a transparent proposal for further debate and refinement by scholars and wider society.” I took them at their word; let’s consider and then debate their proposals.

One of the (many) overhyped "miracle cures" we're seeing constantly is apple cider vinegar. Sure sounds nice, right? Of the dozens of health claims about the stuff perhaps the claim that it treats heartburn and acid reflux makes the least sense since vinegar is acidic enough to dissolve steel wool. What's the deal?

The virus leads to approximately 60,000-120,000 hospitalizations and 6,000-10,000 deaths yearly in people over 65 in the U.S. It also threatens young children and pediatric vaccine approvals are expected soon.

A recent prospective study of post-surgical patients confirms what many other studies have already shown: prescribing opioids to control pain carries a very low risk of addiction or misuse.

The Agency's drug approval and enforcement actions are falling through the cracks, while regulators are squandering time and resources on insubstantial trivia.

Congestion pricing
Visually literacy requires us to go slow
A fork in the fertilizer path
African American English

Nitrates – widely used preservatives – are found in a variety of foods. Are they good or bad? After all, they can form nitrosamines, recognized carcinogens. A new study uses the metaphor of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to separate science truth from science fiction. Here’s what I learned.

The fluoride issue has moved from conspiracy theories of the 1940s and 50s – claiming it was a communist plot or a government mind-control trick – to today’s science-based debate. The outcome of a court case involving fluoridation could have serious ramifications for EPA rules in the years to come. 

Do condescending "food experts" make you feel like a war criminal for eating a so-called "unhealthy snack?" If so, there's a pretty good chance they're pontificating about something like a Twinkie. Or maybe a Pop-Tart. Is a Pop-Tart a food? A lab creation? Or a death sentence? All the yummy answers are here!

The opioid crisis is fueled by fentanyl, largely a direct product or precursor manufactured in China. It's a rocket-fuel inversion of the Opium Wars, when Britain smuggled illegal opium into China.

Long COVID remains an enigma wrapped within a conundrum. Many individuals claim the affliction. But without a consensus on its diagnosis, unraveling its underlying physiologic changes, let alone therapeutic approaches, is a random walk. It's a lot a drunk searching for their keys under a streetlamp because the light is better. Two developments this week may well begin the unwrapping.

Chatbots – trainable software applications capable of conducting intelligent, informed conversations with users – have tremendous potential for vast societal benefits but also tremendous mischief. We are at the earliest stage of the learning curve.

Hands began wringing about global warming and subsequent climate change in the 1980s, and those predictions are now being seen. It’s not rocket science; temperature will increase when heat is pumped into a system limited by greenhouse gases. Electric power generation has been the largest source of heat-trapping gases, and the emerging popularity of electric vehicles promises to increase that share. What exactly are the costs and characteristics of electric generating systems?

Peer review has long been considered the gold standard guarantor of good science and medicine. It is also a rubric upon which legal standards of scientific admissibility are based. When the process fails – which is becoming increasingly common – medical practitioners and scientists alike are led astray, as is the law.  But while the scientific establishment is becoming aware of the concerns, such awareness is glaringly absent in the law.  

Europe’s proposed pull incentive for antibiotic R&D is a mixed bag ...

The Lessons of COVID
Chimp lessons
A.I. comes for you
Sabbath bread

Credit card purchases, unlike those made with cash, are traceable. Leaving the value of untraceability for criminal enterprise aside, do consumers choose one over the other based on traceability? A new study suggests we choose cash when we wish to “forget” a purchase.

If you're one of the 100% of viewers who want to put a brick through your TV when one of the ceaseless, nauseating Ozempic ads comes on there's hope on the horizon. Pfizer has a pill that seems to work as well as the O-O-O-Ozempic injections. Perhaps this will shut up those wretched ads. A look at Pfizer's clinical trial data.

Melatonin is a neurohormone that the body uses to regulate sleep. It's sold as a dietary supplement without a prescription. As the CDC states, in "2020, melatonin became the most frequently ingested substance among children reported to national poison control centers.”

Many of our national leaders appear to suffer from some sort of cognitive impairment or other mental disorder. Should they undergo periodic intelligence and mental status testing?

When we turn on the tap, we all expect clean and safe drinking water. Threats to the cybersecurity of public drinking water systems are critical, but often overlooked, issues facing our country. The EPA is faced with the challenge of how to regulate these emerging threats. 

EPA has a long history of pandering to activists, encouraging them to sue the Agency and then capitulating to their agenda. Their stock in trade is shoddy science and dishonesty, resulting in farmers deprived of safe, effective pesticides.