Hank Campbell

California, Washington, D.C., United States

📟 Founder of the nonprofit Science 2.0, the world's largest science writing community, but also published in everything from Wired to WSJ

Articles

Lottery Bottle Bill Could Improve Recycling

1 week ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

In the 1980s, there was a conflict raging about recycling. Governments were starting to do it while states that had a 'bottle bill' - a deposit on bottles you got refunded upon return - wanted to keep their success. Some environmental groups, like Public Interest Research Group, supported state bottle bills over expensive government recycling - that's right, an environmental group that didn't want more centralized control. They believed the private sector would continue to do it better and cheaper.
Golden Dome Missile Shield A 'No-Brainer', According To EMP Expert

1 week ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

Over 40 years ago, President Ronald Reagan, the most pro-science president of the 20th century, proposed a lot of bold initiatives. A Superconducting Super Collider was one goal, a big boost for government funding of basic research was another, and he also laid out a Strategic Defense Initiative. A missile defense system. That last one was dismissed by Democrats in Congress and media corporations as "Star Wars" fantasy.
Social Media Savvy: Democrats Request Community Notes On Twitter Twice As Often?

1 week ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

Disinformation and misinformation are common tactics and in the 2008 they entered the social media realm. Senator Barack Obama came from behind to overtake Senator Hillary Clinton to secure the Democratic nomination and then used the 100% greater funding he got by reneging on his promise to limit himself to public financing, as his opponent Senator John McCain did, to pour money into social media and an easy victory.
Isoprene: Plants Can Make Their Own Pesticide But The Environmental Cost Is High

1 week ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

As the developed world becomes more removed from science and health, it is easier to embrace beliefs that science and medicine are not needed at all, with some claiming that vaccines and pesticides are not really needed, the natural world can do it without modern tools. Companies will cater to that also. If enough people mobilized by politicians and activists insist they don't want some harmless food coloring or BPA, companies will remove those and simply charge more.
Yelling Fascism Is The Fashion, But The Left Is Actually Less Diverse

2 weeks ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

If you think you are in a totalitarian regime because the US President federalized National Guard troops, you may need to get a little more intellectual diversity. An experiment instead showed that those on the right are more likely to look into the facts and learn that federalizing the National Guard first happened in 1794. By order of President George Washington. Then it happened again in 1799, by order of President John Adams.
Meta-Analysis: Flower Strips With Two Or More Species May Reduce Pesticides

2 weeks ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

A new paper has found that flower strips along fields and ditches may be more than just a gimmick that lets people feel like they are improving the environment or saving bees. They may attract pests that eat pests that eat crops. If so, this could help Europe, which has declared it wants to reduce pesticides 50% by 2030 but found its efforts stymied when they had to engage in limited boycotts of its primary food exporter, Russia.
With New Acceptance Of Vaccines, The Left Needs To Rethink Pesticides Next

2 weeks ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

A few short years ago, the western left - America and Europe - had a holy trinity of things they opposed; medicine, food, and energy. There is no hope for energy, even 100% higher electricity rates in places like Germany and California won't get them to budge from insisting solar and wind are viable, but all it took for them to rethink vaccines was for one of their former chief evangelists, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to become a member of the Trump administration.
Nightshade: AI Scraping Arms Race Escalates

2 weeks ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

It's a good thing America is pivoting back to nuclear energy after a 30-year Clinton-induced hiatus because "AI" tools require a lot of energy, and a new tool to prevent scraping will make the cost for AI tools even higher. Their image protection tool, called Nightshade, uses data poisoning. LLMs being marketed as AI already face difficulties making humans without six fingers but they'll get better.
Decline In Male Fertility Linked To Male Paternity Leave

3 weeks ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

After Spain instituted paternity leave reform on 2007 - what the Spanish needed to help their highest unemployment in Europe was even fewer people working - male fertility went down, according to an analysis of birth records before and after the switch. This is in contrast to some claims that maternity leave can boost fertility. Uptake of the new paternity leave was very high among new dads. Then something strange happened.
Lemons To Lemonade Is Like Soda Cans To Hydrogen

3 weeks ago | science20.com | Hank Campbell

An old adage goes that 'if life gives you lemons, make lemonade', which basically means turn something negative into something positive. Pollution is bad but a new study shows that it may some day be a net win for energy. Like solar panels and quantum computing, hydrogen has been 'ready real soon' for decades but it hasn't happened. Like solar, it is great on paper.