Illumination 2.0

I'm so excited about the comments coming in on a potential replicate of the "Stunning Corn Comparison" originally posted on Moms Across America. I've asked for a large, transparent and independent series of tests and I'm willing to cover the costs, personally.  It will not be cheap.  The plant science community has stepped up and offered many excellent comments about experimental design in the comments section of previous posts.  I have not heard anything from those promoting the data as real.  This morning I sent the following email to those named in the salutation: Dr. Ho, Mr. Vlieger and Dr. Huber,  I hope that we can move forward with a series of independent, transparent and replicated tests on GM corn grown in glyphosate-treated fields versus non-GM corn.  The data presented in the original data set certainly raised eyebrows and drew criticism.  I was one of the biggest critics.  I don't understand much about the data, such as how corn can have 1

The Stunning Corn Comparison promoted by Zen Honeycutt at Moms Across America was certainly stunning.  While Zen, farmer Howard Vlieger and Profit Pro stand by these data as authentic, a codified scientific community sees them as either poor quality, a mistake, (or at worst) fraud. If the results are real and GMO corn is stripped of almost all carbon, loaded with (carbon-based) formaldeyde and glyphosate, plus a Brix of 1%, it would be a remarkable story that would shake the foundation of modern production agriculture. Such findings, if found transparently and in independent, replicated trials, would likely grace the covers of major science weeklys like Science or Nature . It would be huge news, and as a scientist, I am thrilled to test the hypothesis that the previous data are authentic. So excited!  I love to see experimental data replicated!  More numbers, locations, etc, the better I sleep at night! I have agreed to personally finance the analytical portion of a r

As the fields begin to grow and acres of corn blanket the nation, it is a great time to re-think the numbers from the chart shown on Moms Across America .  To recap, a chart claiming to be a chemical analysis of GMO and conventional corn was shown, featuring dramatic differences in nutrient content and chemical contamination. The data, without information of source or method, were widely criticized, including by Yours Truly . However, the person that did/commissioned the test, Howard Vlieger, stands by the data as authentic, along with a host of others, including Zen Honeycutt from "Moms".   UFO Blogger  and the Paranormal Society have lent their scientific analysis and are convinced too. However, in the YouTube video (@7:51) Vlieger says clearly that the data were not repeated , "Just those two samples".  He then goes on to defend the Seralini rat study, so the scientific rigor is not necessarily high here. Let's re-test those results!  Who's on b

Yesterday I wrote about a website I found  HERE  and could not believe my eyes.  It was a picture of Himalayan Sea Salt, VERIFIED GMO-Free!   I wrote a little something about this and its insanity.  I decided to follow up on this curious stuff.  Himalayan Sea Salt.  GMO-Free. Going forward, when I mention "salt" we're talking table salt. Table salt is one simple molecule, a sodium and a chloride locked together in ionic bliss.  In our typical table salt they add a pinch of goiter-busting iodine and calcium silicate to prevent caking. Other than that, pretty simple stuff.  I know I'm risking being called a shill for big salt, but here goes... So I go online and the first thing that pops up is Mercola's website- he loves not good old sodium chloride, but Himalayan Salt, over 250,000,000 years old, so it claims.   Dr. Mercola must have slept through chemistry class. Click on this to read the words of a true anti-scholar.  Plus, people that refer to the

Last week the interwebs reverberated in shock over news that a student had been expelled from school for conducting a science experiment. I was shocked too, certainly I've been extremely active in science fairs, elementary school science education and fostering the adoption of STEM disciplines by minorities and young women.  This is an outrage! Until you read the details.  I don't know why the world has rushed to her defense.  To me, this is entirely different than a science experiment gone bad, as it is described in the press . A science experiment gone bad?  Are you serious?  This is an insult to every child in a science fair that does a hypothesis-based, replicated, rigorous science experiment.  I contend that she was curious and put a caustic chemical into a container with a catalyst and it exploded.  That's not an experiment.   Of course, her parents have lawyered-up, the public is in a state of outrage and many are screaming for justice.  I just have a f

Is the anti-GMO movement scientific terrorism ? Terrorism is defined as  acts committed which are intended to create fear (terror), perpetrated for a religious, political or, ideological goal.  Here I will show evidence from only one recent source that supports the assertion that the anti-GMO movement is scientific terrorism. Last week we saw Zen Honeycutt and Moms Across America deploy explosive nonsense, outright falsehoods, in an attempt to cause as much intellectual collateral damage as possible- to build fear, create terror -- when no scientific reason exists. This week let's look at an on-line petition from ForceChange.org.  Note, this is not "inspire change" or "scientifically influence change".  it is FORCE CHANGE.  Change is demanded and they will use any means possible to achieve it, even if it is not scientifically warranted.  Their stated goal is to force change because their beliefs and ideological goals dictate that they do-- they have ma

The tragedy at the Boston Marathon was a rookie job.  Sadly it ended in death and injury, so to those it touched it is quite serious and just as horrendous as a jet plane into a skyscraper.  The unexpected instantly changed many lives, and those killed and those surviving feel tragedy forever. The goal of the perpetrator was to generate fear and terror. Fail. In their place is only anger and courage, and an understanding that we will not tolerate this bullshit and we'll fix it if it happens again.  We will care for those affected. (Predictions and thoughts ahead) If the goal of this person, and it was one person , was to generate terror and fear, then it is a major fail. This 34-year-old white male targeted the Boston Marathon.  He wanted to raise fear and terror. Instead he raised anger, resolve and dedication to a bigger ideal.  He picked the wrong event. The marathon is the ultimate display of human resolve and character, an ability to play through pain, move when you