The FDA has announced a voluntary recall of the “sexual health” (ie, erectile dysfunction) dietary supplement ACTRA-Sx 500 due to “adulteration” with the active compound from Viagra, sildenafil citrate. This is yet another recall of a “dietary supplement” that happens to be adulterated with a pharmaceutical that has been proven to treat the condition the supplement claims to address. This might make the supplement “work”, but it poses a real hazard to customers who are not permitted to know what they are taking. Continue reading “When Supplements Work? “Sexual Health” dietary supplements like Viagra more than 60 year old investment bankers”
Author: Josh Witten
http://www.thefinchandpea.com
An ode to junk
_Britannica.png "Hunt-Lenox Globe (Kattigara - CC 3.0 Unported)")
It is an unfortunate circumstance that ENCODE publicity decided to declare “junk DNA” dead, again. It’s not a totally unique position. Creationists and John Mattick have argued that there is no useless DNA for ages.
The demise of “junk DNA” is a fait accompli of the way “functional” is defined. It is not a definition of “functional” most of us would recognize. Ewan Birney, who should know, explains that when ENCODE says “functional” they mean “not biochemically inert in at least one of our many assays*”. As Mike has noted from his own research experience, many totally random DNA sequences synthesized in a tube are “not biochemically inert” nor are they biologically “functional”.
The fact is, if you only think of “junk DNA” as a problem, you aren’t seeing the forest for the trees – and you certainly are lacking a touch of poetry in your bleak soul. Continue reading “An ode to junk”
Sometimes you wanna go…
…where everybody knows their genomics. Bum bum bum.
Which is as far as I’m taking that, because I have the bad feeling that y’all would suggest that I’m the Cliff Clavin around here (I’m so the Carla).
Technology willing (let’s all take a long, suggestive look at Mike for a moment), we will be doing a live Google Hangout to talk about the ENCODE project tonight (Tuesday, 11 September) at 9PM Eastern. We’ll chat about what it means for science, “junk DNA”, and who (if anyone) actually knows what they are talking about.
Oh yeah, it is BYOB until we get that whole virtual liquor license thing sorted out.
*Leave a comment here or tweet @joshwitten or @finchandpea if you are interested and need a hangout invite.
Science Caturday: I’m a cil? No. Uracil.
For Sale; 1 Vote, Price: “Science” or Best Offer
This was originally a guest post at Sheril Kirshenbaum’s Culture of Science. In light of Romney’s “defeat” of Obama in the Science Debate, I thought it was worth revisiting, as some of the points may help explain why Obama’s responses seemed to reflect minimal time, effort, and concern with the debate.
Perhaps my earliest political memory came from presidential election coverage in, let’s call it 1988. I distinctly recall a portion of a news segment on voting experiences in which a Catholic priest described the ghosts of his ancestors compelling him to vote a straight Democratic ticket.
I think about that priest when I hear the “why is the Republican party anti-science?” discussion and I wonder. While we can debate whether Republicans are more anti-science than Democrats[1], the rhetoric of Republican politicians is certainly more hostile toward science and the scientific establishment. When confronted with such statements about your colleagues, yourself, and your field of work, it is natural to wonder “why?”. Continue reading “For Sale; 1 Vote, Price: “Science” or Best Offer”
The Finch and Pea 