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sidebar3.jpg Chris Mooney is a visiting associate in the Center for Collaborative History at Princeton University and the author of three books, The Republican War on Science, Storm World, and Unscientific America.

Sheril Kirshenbaum is a marine biologist and author at Duke University. Sometimes she's a classicist, radio jock, or congressional staffer. Never sure what's next, she continues to enjoy the journey. For more information, visit her website.

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March 23, 2009

The Intersection Moves To Discover Blogs

Category: CultureMedia and SciencePolitics and ScienceTravelUnscientific AmericaUpdatesat the interSeCtion

Today, we move to our new home at Discover Blogs: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection

While we have immensely enjoyed being a part of Scienceblogs, we've decided together that it is time to move on. Our tremendous thanks go out to Seed for hosting The Intersection since 2006 where we've been honored to share the network with such an esteemed community of bloggers--many of whom have become good friends.

While we're excited to join Carl, Phil, and Sean, it is a bittersweet decision as we will miss the Sb 'family' tremendously. Of course, we will never be far--the blogosphere has no boundaries after all--and the discussion grows larger and more interesting every day...

The Intersection at Discover will maintain its archive of posts and comments, growing as we continue to explore the intersections of science, politics, and society. We're also preparing to announce some exciting new projects so stay tuned! Most of all, as we make this transition, the blog will become the central clearinghouse for discussions relating to our new book, Unscientific America, which we're very proud of and which hits this June/July.

Discover2.pngThanks to sciblings, readers, and Scienceblogs for years of support and friendship! Please update your feed, bookmarks, links, and blogrolls with our new address
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection and come visit us as we settle in!

Discover The Intersection 3.0

Another Big Announcement Coming...

Category: at the interSeCtion

Every now and then we plan something big and today's no exception so check back this afternoon...

Our Blogger Panel At Duke

Category: CultureEducationMedia and Science

As promised, photos* from last Friday with 'the Bloggerati'. Here I'm in terrific company with Misha, Bora, and Abel over lunch in Durham:

lunch with bloggers.png

Bora and I chat with students about why we blog:

blogger panel.png

* Special thanks to Abel for sharing the images!  For a terrific detailed description of the day, visit Terra Sigillata...

March 21, 2009

George Will Op-Ed Second Most Viewed Article at Washington Post.com

Category: Conservatives and Science

My oped is second only to a roundup of business news, as of 4 pm ET. See here.

The op-ed has generated some 440 comments, too, at last count. I wonder if we will hear anything further from Mr. Will....

UPDATE: Scratch that, as of 7 ET, it is the number one article on the website....

My Washington Post Answer to George Will

Category: Conservatives and ScienceGlobal WarmingMedia and SciencePolitics and ScienceUnscientific America

As any reader of this blog knows, I was for a while very critical of the Washington Post editorial page amid the George Will affair. Now, my view has changed.

Today the Post publishes, replete with links to many scientific sources, my op-ed answering three claims Will made in his now infamous "Dark Green Doomsayers" column, and also making a broader point about why we need standards in science-centered journalism and commentary.

I'm extremely heartened that the Post ran the piece, and has at least allowed me to correct Will--or, to "debate" him. Without further ado, the oped begins like this:

A recent controversy over claims about climate science by Post op-ed columnist George F. Will raises a critical question: Can we ever know, on any contentious or politicized topic, how to recognize the real conclusions of science and how to distinguish them from scientific-sounding spin or misinformation?

Congress will soon consider global-warming legislation, and the debate comes as contradictory claims about climate science abound. Partisans of this issue often wield vastly different facts and sometimes seem to even live in different realities.

In this context, finding common ground will be very difficult. Perhaps the only hope involves taking a stand for a breed of journalism and commentary that is not permitted to simply say anything; that is constrained by standards of evidence, rigor and reproducibility that are similar to the canons of modern science itself....

You can read the rest here.

I spent a weekend doing this column, wondering if I was wasting my time. Now I'm very glad I did it.

UPDATE: I didn't realize it until just now, but my column is paired with a letter from the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, Michel Jarraud, further debunking Will. In combination, this is a pretty powerful riposte, to say the least. Read Jarraud's letter here.

UPDATE II: Wow. Over at the Post there are already over 80 comments (as of 9:30 ET)...now there are 200 as of 12:30 ET....

UPDATE III: Linkage: Adam Siegel, Joe Romm, Michael Tobis, John Fleck, Think Progress, Mike Dunford, Tim Lambert, Abel Pharmboy, Carl Zimmer, David Roberts, Matthew Yglesias, Atrios, Brad Johnson (Wonk Room), Jamison Foser (Media Matters), Steve Benen, Simon Donner, John Fleck (again), John Quiggin, Adam Stein.....

March 20, 2009

On Michael Steele's 'Cooling Process'

Category: Conservatives and ScienceCultureGlobal WarmingPolitics and Science

Several readers have emailed me to comment on Michael Steele's ummmm...imaginative explanations of both global 'cooling' and Greenland:

"We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long."
You want me to respond to that gibberish? Seriously? The man got the history of Greenland wrong... need I really wax poetic on the rest? It's not a question of 'what this planet is all about', but rather what planet is the RNC Chairman on?

My take is that I'm embarrassed for the Republicans. No, I may not always agree with their policies, but in terms of who is representing their image right now, surely they can do so much better...

Morning With 'The Bloggerati'

Category: CultureEducationMedia and Science

Today Bora, Abel, and I visited Duke's Sanford Institute on Public Policy for the second year in a row to discuss the coverage of science, health, and policy. We chatted with a group of undergraduates about the evolution of science blogs, the emergence of blogging networks, the role of science blogs vs the MSM, and where open-access fits in. Our beloved scibling Isis even made a guest appearance via gchat!

We had a lot of fun and special thanks to GenomeBoy for inviting us to explore ideas with his terrific class! The other 'Beacons of the Bloggerati' had cameras, so photo to come. 

After the morning in such wonderful company, I'm already looking forward to next year!

The Frakkin' Finale of Battlestar Galactica

Category: AstronomyCulture

Battlestar-Galactica-battlestar-galactica-64006_1920_1200.jpg

Nothing else matters today. Nothing except what is going to happen in the very last episode of Battlestar, which has been running since 2004 and now culminates in a two hour extravaganza. We know the Battlestar is about to jump into the Cylon colony to rescue Hera, the human-Cylon hybrid child, and to make a last stand with guns blazing...what the frak is going to happen?

This thread is for you, nerds of the universe....

March 19, 2009

About That 'Something Called 'Volcano Monitoring'

Category: Politics and Science

'Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington.'
- Governor Bobby Jindal, February 24, 2009

If this video is any indication, both eruptions have the potential to do a lot of damage and it seems to me they're not mutually exclusive. So let's keep an eye on each.

(And spare the fruit fly funding too).

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