Beer

I like beer. I have a spreadsheet to keep track of the beer that I’ve tried.

I like science. Good science makes my inner nerd very happy. I have huge issues with journalists/bloggers (JBs) who don’t know their science from a hole in the ground. When eejit JBs start talking nonsense smack about beer, it’s time to raise my hand and call BS.

This is the BS in question:

http://banoosh.com/blog/2014/04/03/8-beers-stop-drinking-immediately

I followed the link, read the information about the first beer, and stopped reading. There was no point since the first description was a fat load of dingo’s kidneys. This is the bit that got my Irish up:

“Class 3 and 4 caramel coloring is made from ammonia, which is classified as a carcinogen. “The one and only” beer with cancer causing qualities.”

The article says it used The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) as a source. Horse hockey. Here is a direct quote from the ATSDR Public Health Statement on ammonia:

“There is no evidence that ammonia causes cancer. Ammonia has not been classified for carcinogenic effects by EPA, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), or the International Agency for research on cancer (IARC)”

You can check the ATSDR for yourself:

http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=9&tid=2

Did I mention that the blog post was a heaping pile of meadow muffins? And codswallop? And more than 1.3 million people have liked the Banoosh Facebook page? Holy crap. It’s no wonder egregious ignorance is rampant.

That banoosh blogger is really stupid. Or ballsy. Or both. Or maybe he/she (we don’t know because the post is unattributed) is knowingly spreading misinformation. Whatever. It’s still BS.

Just because chemical A is made from Chemical B does not mean that the two share the same human toxicologic effects. Geez. That’s Toxicology 101. For instance, some ammonia compounds are beneficial:

·         The active ingredient in smelling salts is ammonium carbonate.

·         Ammonium bicarbonate is used in baking. http://www.food.com/library/ammonium-bicarbonate-780

Words of wisdom from a sarcastic scientist:

Beware of what you read on the internet. Check your facts. Do your own research. Call BS when you read it. 

Science education for the everyman (and woman...and child)

I stumbled across this website via iO9 today and it seems pretty freaking fantastic!  Free online science education at various levels of depth taught by leading experts in an interesting and engaging manner. Perfect for the modern day ADD adult, or child.

The initial offerings are from Brian Greene, who is a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and the co-director of Columbia's Institute for Strings, Cosmology, and Astroparticle Physics. So basically, he's pretty fucking smart. You can kind of view him as the ying to Neil DeGrasse Tyson's yang.  Both are huge advocates of science education and furthering the "truth" of science but they have differing views about how to go about it.

World Science U will eventually cover many areas of science but it is currently focused primarily on physics and astrophysics.  The cool thing is that it has multiple levels of instruction based upon how deeply you want to dive into a subject.  If you just have a basic conceptual question you can browse through the hundreds of topics posted and find out the basics.  Alternately if you want to take a short course or full on university level course those options are on there as well. Education doesn't have to (and shouldn't!) stop just because you're not in school anymore.  Think how boring life would be be if we stopped learning new things.

http://www.worldscienceu.com/

Now go forth and do a science!!