As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, an online hub which explains science news and implications to laypeople is in the works. And not a moment too soon. For the schist is up to here, folks (you can thank D for this one).
While more of the same continues in Washington, the general public is less and less informed of what’s going on, parrots the media soundbites of the day (“I hear the oil has vanished, Maitri. Herp derp.”) and is unconcerned about things like independent and unfettered scientific analyses performed for their own benefit.
* DOJ gags scientists studying BP disaster
… ecosystem biologist Linda Hooper-Bui describes how Obama administration and BP lawyers are making independent scientific analysis of the Gulf region an impossibility. Hooper-Bui has found that only scientists who are part of the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) process to determine BP“s civil liability get full access to contaminated sites and research data. Pete Tuttle, USFWS environmental contaminant specialist and Department of Interior NRDA coordinator, admitted to The Scientist that researchers wishing to formally participate in NRDA must sign a contract that includes a confidentiality agreement that prevents signees from releasing information from studies and findings until authorized by the Department of Justice at some later and unspecified date.
* University of Southern Florida says government tried to squelch their oil plume findings
“I got lambasted by the Coast Guard and NOAA when we said there was undersea oil,” USF marine sciences dean William Hogarth said. Some officials even told him to retract USF’s public announcement, he said, comparing it to being “beat up” by federal officials.
The USF scientists weren’t alone. Vernon Asper, an oceanographer at the University of Southern Mississippi, was part of a similar effort that met with a similar reaction.
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In related energy news, I am happy to report that my house did not explode “into a fireball so massive observers saw it 20 miles away” thanks to my early detection of a leak in the fixtures surrounding the external gas meter and an extremely faint gas smell in the basement. This morning’s conversation with the gas company’s emergency worker went like this:
Gas man: The meter doesn’t detect a leak. Not even a slight bump. You sure you’re not smelling one of the local gas wells?
Me: I smell it right now. Right *pointing at leak* here.
Gas man: Oh whoa, there it goes! You’re right!
Me: Duh.
Gas man: They say women have better noses.
The old South Indian Sense Of Smell TM. Never doubt it.
I’ve also heard that we women have a better sense of smell (on average), have no idea about the reality of that, though. Maybe your gas dude’s gas detection nose was blown out by going to too many houses with leaks.