Does organic food cause autism? Could Nicolas Cage movies make you more likely to drown? Six ways to misuse statistics

Back in the 1940s before the polio vaccine was invented, the disease caused a lot of anxiety among parents of small children. How could you reduce your child’s risk of contracting this nasty illness? Some misguided public health experts apparently … Continue reading →

Chemical crusade: How the Food Babe ignores the real problem with American health

You can live to be a hundred, if you give up everything that makes you want to live to be a hundred. -Woody Allen Last year I wrote about an author/blogger called The Food Babe who boasts a following of … Continue reading →

Sorry, dear Atlantic: essential oils are probably not “the new antibiotics”

I feel like there’s a lot of hype about essential oils and herbs in popular culture today — check out the herbal aisle at Whole Paycheck sometime for example. They get advertised as possible cures for all kinds of disorders, often on the … Continue reading →

I’m back! (Sort of)

Yeah, I know I haven’t posted anything for a while, but I’ve been busy — sure you know how that goes. Anyhow, we’re off on another trip around the sun, and…one of the things I’ve promised myself I’ll do this … Continue reading →

Jon Stewart and the Food Babe, or: toxins in your tea

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Let me start by saying I truly love the Daily Show. Jon Stewart cracks me up, and together with MSN (my homepage) and Facebook, he’s one of my three main sources of political news. His focus, of course, is politics … Continue reading →

Chemical spill in West Virginia: what IS that stuff?

A few days ago a company called Freedom Industries spilled a massive amount of a licorice-scented compound called 4-methylcyclohexane methanol into the Elk River, contaminating local water supplies and forcing authorities to turn off the taps until they can determine … Continue reading →

What psychedelic drugs illustrate about religion, death and consciousness

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The last sixty years have witnessed what may well be the greatest unplanned mass experiment in the history of neuroscience. Thousands of people have deliberately experimented on themselves by taking chemicals that altered their experience of reality — chemicals like … Continue reading →

The reign of poison, part II: Why the debate over GMOs is based on misinformation

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Not long ago I was talking to a fellow environmentalist about fracking. It was her latest big cause, she said — really bad for the environment and on the rise across the United States. “I don’t know a lot about … Continue reading →

The reign of poison, part I: Rachel Carson strikes back

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The modern environmental movement owes a great deal to biologist Rachel Carson, best known as the author of A Silent Spring. When you think of Silent Spring you probably think of the pesticide DDT; what few realize, however, is that Carson … Continue reading →

Drugs, facebook and open comments section: admin update

This blog hit some more milestones recently; all-time hit count is now over a quarter million, and Puff has attracted a little media attention. The BBC News linked to the piece on meth, for example, my post about sarin got … Continue reading →

Deadly cloud: The science behind the Syrian chemical weapons attack

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It’s believed that last week the Syrian government*** murdered hundreds of its own civilians with chemical weapons. We don’t know which weapon they used, but we do know it’s one of a handful of chemicals called nerve agents. Nerve agents … Continue reading →

Is evolution a lie?

Honesty and an open mind are critical to science. You have to let the data tell you what to think and not the other way around. If you start out expecting x, and you only accept data that confirms x, … Continue reading →

There’s rat poison in my milk? or, why everything is toxic (even Kombucha tea)

WOULD you like to eat rat poison? Probably not, but that’s OK, because you’ve eaten it already. Most milk in the United States has rat poison added to it. If you find this disturbing, you can always start reading ingredient … Continue reading →