More meningitis and more deaths — and probably more on the way. The new, industrial-strength, compounding pharmacy. "A spectacular failure of consumer protection." Who should regulate compounding pharmacies? A neurosurgeon claims meningitis took him to heaven. And then, big surprise, he wrote a book about it. A neurologist explains what really happened. NASW meeting next week, @ScienceWriters, #sciwri12. How to write and market science and medical ebooks.
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Hormone therapy in rehab. Again. New hormone therapy data confirm that timing matters. The Nobel Prizes. Chemistry is biology, and biology is physics. Reprogramming stem cells: betcha didn't know it dates to 1962. G protein-coupled receptors: "bio with huge pharma implications." Physics: uhhhh ... But why not the Higgs boson?
Fraud is the reason for most research paper retractions. Nobelist is trying to clean up social science methodology. Fraudulent peer review and peer reviewers. Is this the End of Science? Politicians misrepresent the facts, too. Lies, damn lies, and statistics about health care and environmental issues clogged the presidential debate between Obama and Romney, but climate change was ignored. Al Gore says Obama's lame performance was due to Denver's altitude.
Jonah Lehrer resurfaces briefly to announce that he's writing about fraudulent science writing. What a surprise. Genetically manipulated organisms, giant rat tumors, and how to promote a book and movie. Scientific research declares that bad science writing is all the fault of scientists.
The mouse retrovirus XMRV does not cause chronic fatigue syndrome, but there's more, much more. XMRV doesn't cause prostate cancer either. But, you heard it here first, maybe some other infection does? Should PLoS have retracted the prostate cancer paper without consulting the authors? Plus, savor the big book of best science blogging.
New York City's Health Department is requiring parental consent for a specific form of Jewish ritual circumcision amid claims that it interferes with religious freedom. The pediatricians' official claim that circumcision is good for you and prevents disease appears to be preaching to the converted. How are bloggers at Discover paid? An encore for the ENCORE dispute. What does it mean to say 80% of the human genome is functional?
ENCODE says 80% of our noncoding DNA is doing something, but the real story, brought to us by bloggers, is the scientific dispute over whether that figure is a fantasy. Total change is coming to Discover magazine. Officially there will be no changes with star bloggers like Carl Zimmer, Ed Yong, Phil Plait, and Sean Carroll, Hah. Finally, the end of Jonah Lehrer.
Curiosity's landing on Mars was perfection. Early photos, including the first Mars panorama. Chemistry and geology on Mars. Diabetes blogger sues the state. Which Paleo diet is right for H. sap? The Obesity Paradox: Why do fat diabetics live longer? Zoom through the 3-D universe and blow your mind.
Prominent climate change denier Richard Muller now admits he was wrong (+video). Anthony Watts says global warming is due to lousy placement of weather stations. Several bloggers note that neither paper has been published. Curiosity to land on Mars, maybe. Goodbye Charlie. Jonah Lehrer moves on to fiction, and the psychologizing is piled higher and deeper.
The 2012 Olympics begins today in London, as the 19th International AIDS Conference concludes in Washington. The science and medicine of the Olympics, from brain to brawn: mental prep, swimming, pseudoscience, air pollution, the medal metals, comparing athletes with spectators, and more. Apps for keeping up with the games: iPhone, Android, tablets, TV, and maybe Twitter, which is having trouble staying up. Bone marrow transplants may have cured two more HIV infections. Getting antiviral drugs