Today I had an appointment with Judith Townsend, the Physician's Assistant who works with Dr. Louis Arrone, in New York City. Dr. Arrone is an expert in medications to treat obesity. I go there with the intention of trying medications to help me reduce my weight, which is an approach I haven't yet tried. When I last had my blood tested (about 2 months ago), my glucose was a little high (114), and while my primary care physician felt that was fine as long as I continued to be vigilant about exercise and nutrition, Judith was alarmed. In response, she prescribed metformin for me, which makes the  liver more efficient at processing glucose and helps it to lower blood glucose. I have been taking it for about a month, and am in the process of getting used to it. I think Judith was hoping that it would decrease my cravings for sugary foods and reduce my appetite and therefore my weight.

Has the London-based Daily Mail just pulled a deceiving article?

Click here for more details of how the chance spotting of 9 swimming polar bears two weeks ago has been used to inspire a pretty-much baseless news story of drowning bears last Saturday. And how that article, after worrying lots of people in many countries, cannot be found any longer on the original newspaper's website...

In my "Maurizio Morabito" blog in Italian, I have been following for the last few days the developing story of drowning polar bears, lost at sea after "the ice float they lived on melted".

ACHTUNG: the following is a 2 hot cocoa rant (HCR 2), meaning that it will take the author two 16 oz hot chocolates to recover from the depression of writing it.

I ran into an article on the NY Times' science page the other day that upped (perhaps the correct terminology would be lowered) the reading on my despairometer. Apparently reporters are just now cottoning on to the idea that excessive carbon emissions aren't our race's sole contribution to environmental ill health--a fact that has been noted and researched in the scientific community since well before I was born. There are papers, websites, videos, books, and classes devoted to many of the perils we inflict upon our world, including (apart from carbon):

Say Hello to Hurricane Ike above

For a Gustav Radar Loop and a Tropical Storm Hanna Radar loop, click here and navigate to your desired location.

On the webpage of Scientific America, there is an article (thanks to skepchick.org!) about how perception affects the geniousness of a kid. I thought I would put a psychology post, as a start up to my first year ever in a psychology class (and in High School!). ^_^ Basically, if you reinforce to a person that intelligence stays the same, then the person will not do the work required to succeed. Even geniuses recquired effort to reach where they were, but to these people, challenging works are kind of an attack on their egos, and since they believe that intelligence can't change, they are not motivated to work on it. Go and read it, it is fascinating.

It is about time that a candidate responds science based issues. It is my belief that the politicians, as a 21st century candidates, must take science into great importance. Science can help us solve a variety of issues like global warming, health, and good old scienctific exploration. Which is why I am so glad that Obama responded to the questions of 2008 Science Debate. Here is a link to his views. Not only that, his answers are detailed and concise. I would link McCain's view, but unfortunately, he hasn't answered any of the questions yet. Here is one of his answer to a question, which is below the fold.

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I have been questioned on other blogs more than one time about my references to people claiming we have passed the "tipping point"  in climate change.  Scepticism of a skeptic as it were.  So I took the time to write about some bigshot scientist who is making the over the top claims.

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His very impressive bio is HERE.  His research is funded by a wide range of government organizations HERE.

Now for the good part, you can read one of many articles HERE or read my excerpts below.

Today was our field trip to the Beech Creek Botanical Gardens and butterfly house. What an amazing and beautiful place. Monarchs, American Painted Lady, Eastern Black Swallowtail, Pearl Crescents, Red Admirals, Red Spotted Purples, Eastern Tiger Swallowtails ... I can't name them all. They were enchanting. They were also quite friendly, as you can tell from the photos.