Category: Dubious science

Pew: Fox News is conservative. Who knew?

The Pew Center has come up with big news: Fox News is perceived as conservative.

That's the trouble with academic and research types. Most have pretty much run out of ideas, except proving the obvious.

Reminds me of this recent research: Learning how to swim reduces the chance of drowning.

And this unneeded study: Sleep is good for you.

How about government grants to nail down these still-unproven concepts:

Walking in the rain increases you chance of getting wet.

People who exercise risk breaking out in a sweat.

Buying a lotto ticket means you have a chance to win.

And so on.

Here for story.

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Category: Dubious science

Cows cause global warming. What to do?

Measuring Earth's temperature change is easy. But responding to the guesswork about the effect of temperature change is more difficult.

For example, there's no sure way to measure cow carbon, reports the Wall Street Journal. That is, how do you figure how much each bovine product affects the environment? Says one expert: There's no right way to do it.

That's no doubt true of measuring the carbon angle on any number of products and procedures. So how can the feds possibly create a credible way trade carbon credits. They'll probably just create an arbitrary system to give the illusion of doing something worthwhile. And by definition, an arbitrary system is based more on politics than science.

As often reported, there's plenty of disagreement on the ultimate effect of recently rising temperatures, which represent a tiny slice of billions of years of Earth history.

A couple of years ago, critics fingered global warming as a culprit in the drop in water levels of Lake Huron and other Great Lakes. Warm temps results in more evaporation, some said. But now the water levels are rising, suggesting something else at work.

Scientists are on solid ground when they measure temperature. They're less credible predicting the future, what with some even saying higher temperatures may even prevent another ice age.

If losing lower Manhattan to high water means preventing another Big Chill, let's opt for downsizing Manhattan.

The California crowd in Congress beats on Detroit's auto industry as a carbon-producing problem. But horseless carriages account for only 15 percent of global carbon emissions. And cars have been a big advance in human health care, in that tons of horse manure no longer foul streets and breed disease. Cars earn their keep.

But it's politically correct to harass the auto industry, so lawmakers do so to impress unthinking crowds back home.

Here for cow story.

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Category: Dubious science

Swine flu. Severe or mild? Take your choice.

The hyperbolic warnings against swine flu continue. But finally there's a counter-move. Doctors say the new warning from the World Health Organization is off base.

The disagreement raises questions. Two sets of experts. One set of facts. Two prognoses. Somebody's science is dubious.

Somebody will prove to be wrong -- just as one side or the other will be wrong in the global warming debate, as to whether the measured temperature rise will be catastrophic or not.

Here for story.

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Category: Dubious science

Global warming weather report: Both calm and windy

Environmental update. According to dueling experts, global warming is causing the wind to either speed up and slow down.

In effect, they don't really know. But it's fashionable to blame perceived changes on global warming.

Meanwhile, there are proposals to cool the Earth, including injecting sulfates into the stratosphere and spraying ocean water to create more clouds. But if some eons-old cosmic cycle starts to cool the Earth in, say, 75 years, we'll be scrambling to find ways to make the the ol' planet retain heat.

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Category: Dubious science

For my vegetable, I'll have chili fries...

So much for do-gooders hassling restaurants about healthy menus. Research suggests that the presence of healthy options on a menu can induce some diners to eat less healthily than they otherwise would, reports the New York Times.

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Category: Dubious science

Swimming: Science proves the obvious

This is a shocker. Learning how to swim reduces the chance of drowning. Film at 11.

What next? Imbibing water slakes thirst?

Overall, some scientists may have too much time on their hands, or to much grant money to spend.

Here for story.

Category: Dubious science

Re global warming: Climate experts guess wrong on Red River

Weather forecasters recently had trouble predicting the rise of the Red River, which threatened to wipe out Fargo, N.D.

Now if scientists can't accurately predict the action of one river over a short period of time, what are the odds they're correct about the temperature of the Earth over the next 100 years?

I don't fault scientists for taking their best guess. But be careful about adjusting public policy based on those guesses.

Here and here for story.

Category: Dubious science

Coffee is good for you (again)

Another finding in the coffee-is-good-for-you department: Java may help prevent skin cancer.

Over the years, coffee has been dubbed bad for you.

Then good.

Then back to bad.

By the time they figure it out, you might be dead.

So go ahead and imbibe.

Here for story.

Category: Dubious science

Environmentalism: No free lunch

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There's always a price to be paid for "green." Solar cells are the current rave. Yet to make the metal and sun-gathering material requires huge amount of energy, most of which is supplied by coal.

Recycling? Imagine how much energy goes into making those trucks that pick up plastic bottles and such. And then imagine all the fuel used to drive those trucks around behind the regular garbage trucks. In effect, curbside recycling in a community doubles the amount of fuel the community uses to remove refuse.

Now the upgrade to LCD television sets, touted as energy savers of the future, is going to send a lot of old used sets to the dump -- including the toxic materials in those sets.

Reminds me of my favorite green story: The Sierra Club offered tourist trips to Antarctica -- burning fossil fuels to give its members time and space to trample that relatively pristine area of the earth.

Go Green!

Here for the TV story.

Category: Dubious science

Want to know what's in the bottle? Read the label.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is at it again. Seeing problems where there are none. It's now suing Coke over Vitaminwater.

The center alleges deceptive practices re the drink. Hey, guys, just read the label. It'll tell what's in the drink, including the added vitamins. Read it and you won't be deceived.

Consumers read labels all the time. They don't need do-gooders raising the cost of doing business (and thus the cost of products). It's really not a science matter: Anybody can read the label and check the contents, no science required.

Here for story.