Agriculture

Agriculture

Are You Getting Anti-Vaccine Information From Russian Propagandists?

The spike in the number of measles cases in the United States is finally garnering the attention it deserves, as the number of new illnesses continues to accelerate. The number of cases in the United States now stands at more than 750, the highest number recorded in a year since the ...
Agriculture

A Scientist’s Week at the Vatican

Ten years ago this month, I had the experience of a lifetime. I was one of a small group of scholars from around the world who were convened by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences for a “study week.” Our subject was “Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context ...
Agriculture

Virtue Signaling at the Neighborhood Diner

The old adage goes that you should never talk about religion or politics at the dinner table. Working in a political world, I try to heed that advice whenever I leave work.  The last thing I want to face when going out for dinner with friends or family is politics.  ...
Agriculture

The Brave Old World of Genetic Engineering

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Rob Wager A Washington Post article, “The Future of Food,” discussed the methods we use to breed food crops but suffered from a shortcoming we see often: “pseudo-balance” — the seeking out of clueless commentators to contradict advocates of superior modern genetic modification ...
Agriculture

We Don’t Need to Ban Pesticides to Save Bees

Some old ideas for bad laws are endlessly recycled. Take the case of the Saving America’s Pollinators Act, a nearly six-year-old initiative now cosponsored by two Democrat representatives, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. Reintroduced for the fifth time since 2013, the bill would usurp the Environmental ...
Agriculture

Earth Day: Opposing Progress Trumps Protecting the Planet

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Jeff Stier Today is Earth Day, a celebration originally conceived by then-U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) and first held in 1970 as a “symbol of environmental responsibility and stewardship.” In the spirit of the time, it was a touchy-feely, consciousness-raising, New Age experience. ...
Agriculture

Does California Have a Future?

Republican California State Assemblyman Vince Fong recently tweeted about California’s 19 percent poverty rate, which he said “is driven by the extreme high cost of living here.” “Yet,” said Fong, “Sacramento continues to pass policies that make it even more expensive.” In a story illustrated by an artist’s rendering of a family in ...
Agriculture

An April Fool’s Day Quiz

Right by the Bay is celebrating (or lamenting) April Fool’s Day by creating the following quiz on weird and goofy laws beginning in 2019 in California.  If you get a perfect score, you get a one-way ticket to Texas (April Fool’s!). True or False: Surfing is now the official sport ...
Agriculture

Don’t Scapegoat Charter Schools For School Districts’ Fiscal Woes

Governor Gavin Newsom’s move to have State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond create an expert panel to review the financial impact of charter schools on regular public schools, and put out a report by July, smells like an attempt to scapegoat charter schools. First, comments by the governor’s office ...
Agriculture

America’s Citrus Fruits Are Being Decimated By An Incurable Disease — We Need GM Science to Save Them

Farmers in the major U.S. citrus-producing regions—Florida, California, Texas and Arizona, in particular—are facing a plague of epic proportions. Oranges and a range of other citrus fruits are being decimated by an incurable disease, a lethal, bacterial infection known as “citrus greening”—or Huanglongbing. It is spread by a tiny insect, ...
Agriculture

Are You Getting Anti-Vaccine Information From Russian Propagandists?

The spike in the number of measles cases in the United States is finally garnering the attention it deserves, as the number of new illnesses continues to accelerate. The number of cases in the United States now stands at more than 750, the highest number recorded in a year since the ...
Agriculture

A Scientist’s Week at the Vatican

Ten years ago this month, I had the experience of a lifetime. I was one of a small group of scholars from around the world who were convened by the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy of Sciences for a “study week.” Our subject was “Transgenic Plants for Food Security in the Context ...
Agriculture

Virtue Signaling at the Neighborhood Diner

The old adage goes that you should never talk about religion or politics at the dinner table. Working in a political world, I try to heed that advice whenever I leave work.  The last thing I want to face when going out for dinner with friends or family is politics.  ...
Agriculture

The Brave Old World of Genetic Engineering

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Rob Wager A Washington Post article, “The Future of Food,” discussed the methods we use to breed food crops but suffered from a shortcoming we see often: “pseudo-balance” — the seeking out of clueless commentators to contradict advocates of superior modern genetic modification ...
Agriculture

We Don’t Need to Ban Pesticides to Save Bees

Some old ideas for bad laws are endlessly recycled. Take the case of the Saving America’s Pollinators Act, a nearly six-year-old initiative now cosponsored by two Democrat representatives, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. Reintroduced for the fifth time since 2013, the bill would usurp the Environmental ...
Agriculture

Earth Day: Opposing Progress Trumps Protecting the Planet

By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Jeff Stier Today is Earth Day, a celebration originally conceived by then-U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) and first held in 1970 as a “symbol of environmental responsibility and stewardship.” In the spirit of the time, it was a touchy-feely, consciousness-raising, New Age experience. ...
Agriculture

Does California Have a Future?

Republican California State Assemblyman Vince Fong recently tweeted about California’s 19 percent poverty rate, which he said “is driven by the extreme high cost of living here.” “Yet,” said Fong, “Sacramento continues to pass policies that make it even more expensive.” In a story illustrated by an artist’s rendering of a family in ...
Agriculture

An April Fool’s Day Quiz

Right by the Bay is celebrating (or lamenting) April Fool’s Day by creating the following quiz on weird and goofy laws beginning in 2019 in California.  If you get a perfect score, you get a one-way ticket to Texas (April Fool’s!). True or False: Surfing is now the official sport ...
Agriculture

Don’t Scapegoat Charter Schools For School Districts’ Fiscal Woes

Governor Gavin Newsom’s move to have State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond create an expert panel to review the financial impact of charter schools on regular public schools, and put out a report by July, smells like an attempt to scapegoat charter schools. First, comments by the governor’s office ...
Agriculture

America’s Citrus Fruits Are Being Decimated By An Incurable Disease — We Need GM Science to Save Them

Farmers in the major U.S. citrus-producing regions—Florida, California, Texas and Arizona, in particular—are facing a plague of epic proportions. Oranges and a range of other citrus fruits are being decimated by an incurable disease, a lethal, bacterial infection known as “citrus greening”—or Huanglongbing. It is spread by a tiny insect, ...
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