Get the science you pay for

By Chet Raymo

In Science

Thursday, 22 July 2021Friday, 16 July 2021

Should scientists studying the health effects of nicotine accept funding from the tobacco industry?

Image of multiple stacks of assorted old books

Photo by Ed Robertson on Unsplash

Growing up with the BOMC

By Chet Raymo

In Science

Monday, 12 July 2021Friday, 9 July 2021

Dear Book-of-the-Month-Club, this is a fan letter from someone who has never belonged to your club.

Image of television with static on screen

Photo by Zach Vessels on Unsplash

Prime time isn’t ready for real science

By Chet Raymo

In Science

Monday, 5 July 2021Friday, 2 July 2021

Nobel prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman wants to bring science to prime time television.

Image of three people in eccentric clothes with their fingers in their noses

Patch Adams (center) in 2014 • Photo by Ricardoh Fernandez (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Let’s hear it for the eccentrics

By Chet Raymo

In Science

Wednesday, 26 May 2021Friday, 21 May 2021

Meet Patch Adams, M.D. Laughter is the best medicine, says Dr. Adams, who has a degree in medicine from the Medical College of Virginia.

Image of single lit lightbulb hanging in front of white background

Photo by Omer Sonido on Unsplash

Who’s winning culture war? Who cares

By Chet Raymo

In Science

Monday, 26 April 2021Friday, 23 April 2021

Thirty-five years ago [in 1959], C.P. Snow, in a now famous essay, wrote about a polarization of academics into two camps: literary intellectuals and scientists. Not only did the two groups not understand each other, said Snow, they worked at cross purposes.

Black and white photo of a debate at the Scopes Trial

William Jennings Bryan (left) debates Clarence Darrow (right) at the Scopes Trial, Dayton, Tennessee, 1925.

The real battle over creationism

By Chet Raymo

In Science

Thursday, 8 April 2021Thursday, 8 April 2021

Here’s a statistic that may surprise you. According to a 1993 Gallup poll, 47 percent of all Americans believe that God created human beings pretty much in their present form sometime during the past 10,000 years.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Throw the bums out and let the people run science

By Chet Raymo

In Science

Monday, 22 March 2021Friday, 19 March 2021

“Good morning, guys and gals, this is your favorite talk show host, Chet Raymo, with another round of chat with the real people of America. My guest this morning is Ernest Crank, the president of Sensible Americans for a People’s Science. Good morning, Ernest.”