Sarah Palin Loses the Geneticist Vote

This is already burning up in the science-oriented part of the blogosphere, but I want to mention it here too.

I've talked before about how Sarah Palin is a heartless lawbreaker who would love to shoot every wolf in Alaska. But did you know she's also opposed to basic scientific research?

Well, more specifically, she doesn't know what she's talking about when it comes to research. Otherwise, why would she highlight spending on fruit fly research in Paris as a "pet project earmark"? Did no one in the McCain campaign bother to find out what kind of research they were doing? I hate to tell you this, Ms. Palin... but fruit flies are the favored lab animal for genetics research around the world, both in Paris and here in the good ol' USA. (Except for New Jersey, which is not part of the "real" America.)

I think PZ Meyers, who writes the excellent blog Pharyngula, said it best:

Yes, scientists work on fruit flies. Some of the most powerful tools in genetics and molecular biology are available in fruit flies, and these are animals that are particularly amenable to experimentation. Molecular genetics has revealed that humans share key molecules, the basic developmental toolkit, with all other animals, thanks to our shared evolutionary heritage (something else the wackaloon from Wasilla denies), and that we can use these other organisms to probe the fundamental mechanisms that underlie core processes in the formation of the nervous system — precisely the phenomena Palin claims are so important

.

Oh, and he also threw in this disturbing but excellent point:

You damn well better believe that there is research going on in animal models — what does she expect, that scientists should mutagenize human mothers and chop up baby brains for this work?

If you're interested in watching, Think Progress has a video clip of Palin delivering the remarks. You can read the original prepared text at the McCain campaign page, but they differ somewhat from what she actually said. (For example, sarcasm is not noted anywhere in the prepared text.)

With the election so near (I've been unable to think of anything else lately), I think it's important to recognize what a McCain victory would do to the scientific community. Government funding for basic research is non-negotiable.

Why Bother?

Michael Pollan wrote an article for the NYTimes magazine this week. What, you thought I wouldn't post it? I was saving it for Earth Day!

Why bother?

In brief: plant a garden, it's good for you, it's good for the planet, and it will give you food.

I am excited to say that Dustin and I are trying to plant a garden this year. We're starting small -- a few sugar snap pea, tomato, and jalepeno plants, and some pots of herbs. Since we don't have any land, we have to fit everything on our balcony, and we've never done this before. So far so good, though. Everything is sprouting nicely. The tomatoes shot up in two days, the peppers , basil, and cilantro followed after about a week, and we're finally starting to see some pea shoots and tiny parsley seedlings. It's all very exciting. We even play them death metal on occasion. Photos to follow, as soon as I take some.

Free Rice

See the link to the left? (It's below the saiga antelope.) Click on it to play the best vocabulary-building game ever. Every time you get a word correct, they donate 20 grains of rice. Might not be the most effective way of donating food, but it's really addictive. So far my best level is 49. (Max is 55, I'm still trying to get there.)

In case you're interested, a cup of rice contains approximately 7200 grains. (I know that that's a fact because I found it on the Internet!) So get clicking, you just need to get 360 words right to get there. That isn't very many, and it goes by fast!

Godwin's Law: The Movie

A new movie is coming out this Friday called Expelled. It claims to present evidence that intelligent design (aka creationism) is being pushed out of academia despite being well-supported and a good alternative to evolution. Oh, and it also links Darwin to Hitler.

Right.

It is propaganda and lies, pure and simple, which is why I'm not actually linking to the movie's web page. (Learn more here.) I actually had this quandary a few weeks ago, and here comes Pharyngula with a solution to my problem! I couldn't bear to link to the actual movie page and boost their Google ranking, but I couldn't just let Ben Stein and his pseudoscience slide under the radar entirely. NCSE to the rescue!

Feeding the World

Right. I said last month that I am not a vegangelical, and I stand by that.

But it needs to be said.

Stop eating meat.

Despite the fact that I am an animal lover, I am not saying this to spare the cute 'n' cuddlies. The simple fact is that we are running out of grain, and eating animals is an inefficient use of grain, and although I sometimes don't like people, it doesn't mean I want a massive food crisis to hit around the globe. It takes 700 calories of grain to produce 100 calories of cow. I don't know about you, but 14% efficiency, to me, is WAY too low.

Some recent reading material:

Grains Gone Wild -- Paul Krugman's editorial from a few days ago.

Farmer's Spurn Conservation Program -- Science/Business Times this week.

First one is straightforward, just read it. Second article... well, do we want to eat or do we want to worry about the birds, as the baker says? Why can't we do both? Cattlemen have the answer:

“This program is taking money out of your pocket twice a day,” said Jay Truitt, vice president for government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “Do you think it’s right for you to pay so there’s more quail in Kansas?"

The cattlemen and bakers argue that farmers should immediately be allowed to take as much as nine million acres out of the Conservation Reserve without paying a penalty, something they say would not harm the environment.

Of course the cattlemen want more land out of the conservation program, they need it to feed their meat-producing machinery. What if I want to pay for the land in Kansas? It doesn't matter to me if the price of beef goes up, but it does matter to me if there is less land available for our native birds. (And who made a bunch of bakers and cattlemen experts on what would or would not harm the environment? Probably the same group that decided airlines could monitor themselves.)

Further, one of the demands on the food system is that countries that traditionally haven't eaten much meat (looking at you, China) are starting to adopt American-styles diets, full of beefy goodness. So, as though Americans weren't enough of a strain by themselves, people around the world now want to eat the way we do. And there just isn't enough land to support that lifestyle.

We're not going to get any more land. We have one planet, and that's it.

There's really only one solution. Stop eating meat. It's the easiest thing you can do today to save the world.

S.O.S.

Save Our Seals!

It's late March, which means it's time for a different kind of madness...

Canada's seals are once again in danger of being brutally clubbed to death.

Yesterday I said I was in favor of some hunting of deer in NJ. Things that I am decidedly not in favor of include brutal, medieval hunting techniques; killing baby animals just a few weeks old; and skinning animals while they're still alive -- all to benefit the fur industry. Seal hunting is a far cry from the forest management/subsistence hunting of white-tailed deer.

So if you think this:
is cuter than this:then YOU have a responsibility to spread the word about this shameful hunt. If you eat fish, boycott Canadian seafood. (More information on the other end of the links about how, where, and why.) Tell everyone you know about seal hunting. This slaughter serves no purpose beyond indulging the "fashionable" elite in their desire for sealskin clothing. Haven't we moved beyond that? Blood on the ice will never be fashionable.

Please note: They're really not kidding about the graphic images in the video. May cause the following: tears, revulsion, anger, compassion, dismay, renewed desire to bring about change, loss of appetite for Canadian seafood.