Copernicus Publications, “the innovative open access publisher,” recently announced it was terminating one of its journals, Pattern Recognition in Physics due to concerns about the journal’s editorial practices. PRP was not even one year old. It seems the problems began when the journal’s editors agreed to a special issue on “Pattern in solar variability, their planetary origin and […]
Archive | Politicizing Science
Mann v. Steyn Mulligan
By Jonathan H. Adler on December 27, 2013 8:41 am in Climate Change, Defamation, Freedom of Speech, Politicizing Science
On December 19, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals effectively erased Michael Mann’s initial court victory in his defamation lawsuit against Mark Steyn, National Review, Rand Simberg and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Here’s how Mark Steyn pithily summarizes the developments: 1. Dr Michael Mann’s lawyer, John Williams, filed a fraudulent complaint falsely representing his client as […]
Study Linking GMOs to Tumors in Rats Retracted
In September 2012, Food & Chemical Toxicology published a peer-reviewed study purporting to show that rats fed genetically modified corn had a higher incidence of tumors than those that were not. This was significant, as this study was the first to find evidence of an adverse health effect in any mammal species from the consumption of GM […]
Mann v. Steyn — Mann Wins Round One
Last year, the noted (and controversial) climate scientist Michael Mann sued National Review and the Competitive Enterprise Institute for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress for blog posts written by Mark Steyn and Rand Simberg and posted on National Review Online and CEI’s OpenMarket blog, respectively. I blogged about the case in these four posts: 1, 2, […]
Profile of Judge Ed Korman
By Nick Rosenkranz on June 16, 2013 11:05 pm in Constitutional Law, Constitutional Theory, Health Care, Originalism, Politicizing Science
The New York Times has a nice profile of Judge Ed Korman, the judge who faced down HHS in the Plan B case. See Jonathan Adler’s posts, here, here, here, and here. Whatever one thinks of the merits, it takes great fortitude for a district judge to stand up to a recalcitrant administration. As for […]
Obama Administration Drops Plan B Appeal
Yesterday the Obama Administration announced it would drop its appeal of a district court ruling ordering the Food and Drug Administration to make Plan B contraception available over-the-counter to women and girls of all ages. According to the FDA, the pill will become available as soon as the manufacturer submits an application for OTC sales […]
Judge Denies Administration Request for Stay of Plan B Order
Judge Edward Korman is unhappy with the Administration’s handling of Plan B contraception. On Friday, the NYT reports, he denied the Administration’s request to stay his order requiring that Plan B be made available over-the-counter to all women and girls of any age.
“Judge Rips Obama’s Right-Wing Plan B Stance”
Salon has an interesting report on Tuesday’s court hearing before federal district judge Edward Korman in which the Administration sought to defend its newly announced policy of limiting the over-the-counter availability of Plan-B contraception to females 15 and older instead of removing all restrictions as Korman had previously ordered. A taste: This morning, Korman repeatedly […]
The FDA’s Two-Track Response to Plan-B Ruling
Last month, a federal district court rejected the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision not to allow the sale of Plan-B contraception over-the-counter to females under 17. On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responded. On Wednesday, the FDA announced it would allow Plan-B to be sold over-the-counter to females 15 and older. […]
Judge Orders FDA to Make Plan B Contraception Available Over-the-Counter Without Age Restrictions
This morning, a federal district court judge overturned the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision to maintain limits on access to Plan B contraception by girls under the age of 17. As I noted here, the Food and Drug Administration had initially decided to grant a petition urging a removal of the age restrictions […]
The “Marcott Mess”
A recent paper in Science reconstructing climate records for the Holocene received substantial media attention because it showed a gradual cooling for several thousand years followed by a dramatic uptick in temperature in the past 100 years. This uptick seemed to replicate the blade of Michael Mann’s “hockey stick,” and was highlighted in media reports on the […]
Science, Political Ignorance, and Deference to “Authoritative” Experts
By Ilya Somin on March 6, 2013 7:39 pm in Junk Science and Quackspertise, Political Ignorance, Politicizing Science, Public Opinion
Economist David Friedman has an insightful post on the problems inherent in deferring to the views of “authoritative” scientific bodies: A pattern I have observed in a variety of public controversies is the attempt to establish some sort of official scientific truth, as proclaimed by a suitable authority—a committee of the National Academy of Science, […]
Is the Climate Less Sensitive than We Thought?
At DotEarth, Andrew Revkin summarizes recent research that is leading to some to conclude that the climate is less sensitive to greenhouse forcing than previously thought. He writes: on one critically important metric — how hot the planet will get from a doubling of the pre-industrial concentration of greenhouse gases, a k a “climate sensitivity” […]
Exaggerating Species Extinction – The Sequel
By Jonathan H. Adler on January 26, 2013 8:57 am in Endangered Species, Environment, Politicizing Science
In 2011 I noted a report in Nature suggesting that species extinction rates have been overestimated. A new report in Science has similar implications, suggesting that fears many species will go extinct before they are even discovered are overblown. Specifically, the study suggests many common estimates exaggerate the likely number of species and presume greater […]
Did White House Suppress Science on GMO Salmon?
Jon Entine details the evidence that the White House forced the Food & Drug Administration to sit on a scientific assessment concluding that approval of a genetically modified salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies would have “no significant impact” on the environment. After Slate published an investigative report, the FDA quietly released assessment last Friday, over […]