What’s Science got to do with it? - Science and policy
Luxury surveillance - we willing put on "ankle monitors" and often pay a premium
science and policy
The new Biden Administration has a full plate. Here are the science, technology, and health policies it should prioritize.
Science and democracy, when museums were the source of scientific education, and what's the real deal with Prevagen?
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has canceled Thanksgiving as part of a new COVID lockdown. The Grinch of Whoville couldn't have created a better policy.
There are at least 24 different concepts of what constitutes a species. Unfortunately, politics plays a substantial role in the process.
The World Health Organization does a tremendous job advancing the cause of global public health. But two recent, major screw-ups show that the institution is far from perfect. In one instance, a group of UK scientists accused the WHO of spreading "blatant misinformation."
Many public health officials have called for mandatory vaccines to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. The motivation for this policy is understandable, but forcing parents to immunize their kids emboldens the anti-vaccine movement. By incentivizing people to vaccinate and holding them legally accountable when they don't, we can preserve individual autonomy, maintain herd immunity and undermine the anti-vaccine movement.
Since our founding in 1978, ACSH has stood for evidence-based science and health in combination with free markets and individual liberty. We feel that an educated public should be free to make its own decisions without a "nanny state" micromanaging our behavior. Occasionally, however, our guiding principles encounter intractable problems. Today, two of the biggest such problems involve public health.
The Trump Administration recently issued two executive orders relating to biomedical science. The first involved the regulation of biotechnology products; the second involved transparency in healthcare costs. We believe both are a step in the right direction.
If you're a scientist and public communicator, you are putting yourself in professional and personal danger. And as Kevin Folta's case shows, things are only getting worse.
Eating at Panda Express recently in Seattle, it was hard not to notice that after just a few bites some diners found their forks to be completely bent out of shape. A quick look at the handle revealed why: It was marked "compostable."
Vaccine resistance is one of the top 10 threats to global health. New York City is currently experiencing its worst outbreak of measles in decades, sickening scores of children in ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. Prominent health organizations and advocacy groups have called on state legislatures to eliminate religious and philosophical exemptions.