This past weekend, we turned back our blocks an hour as Daylight Saving Time came to an end. Many people are sick of this, and several states have passed laws abolishing the practice. Unfortunately, we'll all have to wait for Congress to act to allow states to proceed. We'll probably be waiting a while.
Regardless of what time it says on the clock, however, our team at ACSH has been tirelessly advocating for science. Here's where we appeared in recent days.
(1) Dr. Alex Berezow was cited in Forbes by astrophysics writer Dr. Ethan Siegel. Both Dr. Berezow and Dr. Siegel have fought against "wi-fi truthers" like UC-Berkeley's Joel Moskowitz, a conspiracy theorist who believes that wi-fi, cell phones, and 5G are dangerous and that the State of California is hiding evidence that these common technologies cause cancer. Dr. Siegel uses physics to explain why these devices are safe.
(2) Dr. Josh Bloom was cited by National Review. Dr. Bloom has become a nationally recognized expert on the chemistry and epidemiology behind the opioid crisis. Dr. Bloom's observation that, "The crackdown on prescribing opioid analgesics was not only associated with a spike in overdose deaths, but it also caused it," was praised as "common sense."
(3) Dr. Berezow left the confines of his favorite Seattle area coffee shop to give a lecture at the University of Washington in a class called "Calling Bullsh**." He drew upon his 9 years of experience in science writing to teach the students how to recognize junk science in the media.
(4) The inestimable Dr. Beth Whelan and Dr. Frederick Stare, who co-founded ACSH, were cited by the Harvard Crimson. A writer for the student newspaper was intrigued by a book they wrote many years ago titled The Harvard Square Diet. He correctly described the book as "requir[ing] its disciples to limit caloric intake, choose healthier options, and exercise. The book doesn’t ask me to 'cut out' anything from my diet but, rather, 'cut back.'" The student concluded, "I don’t think this diet is for me." Okay, then. Good luck losing weight.
(5) Dr. Berezow published his monthly column in the Puget Sound Business Journal (paywalled). In his most recent installment, he describes the threat that Big Tech (e.g., Google, Facebook, Apple) poses to our society because of its ability to make people or businesses disappear. For instance, with the click of a button, Google's algorithm tweaks can drastically cut website traffic, and Facebook can remove pages. In this way, they pose a bigger threat to free speech than Big Government.
(6) Dr. Berezow was quoted on the biotech and informatics website Bio-IT World. New research attempted to describe the "healthy microbiome" using students from George Washington University, but Dr. Berezow is skeptical. He told the publication, "The microbiome of a healthy person from the United States will likely differ from that of a healthy person from, say, Asia or Africa." Also, "a healthy microbiome probably changes over time."
(7) Dr. Chuck Dinerstein was quoted on The Rising, a website that deals with climate change. The authors cited his article about how predictions of catastrophe are often ignored by the public. He wrote that, instead, "they serve as clickbait or confirm an echo chamber belief, rather than facilitating discussion."
(8) Dr. Josh Bloom was quoted in The Free Press of Maine. The author was impressed by Dr. Bloom's ability to explain chemistry in an educational and (highly) entertaining manner. The author also described Dr. Bloom as an "accomplished chemist who I am quite sure is not as hairy as [Periodic Table developer Dmitri] Mendeleev." We challenge him on that one.
(9) As usual, ACSH also received some international press coverage. An article in which we explained that 10 million mites could be living in a used mattress was cited by Nigeria's The Punch.
(10) Dr. Berezow continues to do his twice weekly radio segment, "Real Science with Dr. B," on Seattle's Kirby Wilbur Show. In his latest segment (beginning at 21:40), he discussed debunking junk science and our need to fact-check the fact-checking websites.
