Steak Made from Poops?

I pretty much doubt it. Not only is this wildly implausible, the people reporting the story don't even bother to see if the words they are using are actual science words.

Like this quote:

After isolating those proteins in the lab, Ikeda's team then combined them with a reaction enhancer and put them in an exploder. What eventually came out was no filet mignon, but it was edible.

a reaction enhancer and an exploder.

Its like these people aren't even trying.

Now, maybe I could see if "reaction enhancer" was a weird way of saying "PCR", or maybe some sort of peptide synthesis but they put them in an exploder? Come on now, homologous recombinaltion tiniker at least tried to sound like science gobbledeygook!

Salon is reporting, thankfully, that this story is most likely a hoax

A Letter to PZ Myers

 The following is an email I sent to PZ Myers after reading his letter to Emma B.

PZ, I would like to slowly applaud your recent post. If I had it handy, a famous internet .gif would be included with this email displaying exactly how impressed I was with your letter.

As of writing the initial email, I have since found that .gif

I would like to take a quick second and give a defense of South Carolinian homeschoolers. You see, when I read Ken Ham's post, I noticed that the young girl in question was wearing a shirt that says "100% All Natural Homeschool Chick". As a "100% all Natural Homeschool Dude", from the same state as poor Emma B, I must give the disclaimer that we are not all like that!

In fact, the majority of the homeschooling community in South Carolina was either non-religious, or if they were, "religion" wasn't their reason for keeping their children from the public school system. Rather, it was the abysmal state of the public schools coupled with the lack of concern and outright hostility towards public education demonstrated by our legislators.

Given that seven out of the eight children I grew up with that were homeschooled along with me went on to achieve at LEAST a bachelor's degree, I don't want Emma B's mother to tarnish the reputation of the homeschooling community in South Carolina.

Some of us not only are committed to furthering our education and asking questions, but some of us are even scientists!

Also, I really think you should find a way to send that letter to the young girl, or at least her mother.

Sincerely, RZINZ

Why *aren't* there insects in the sea?

This is a question I have been asked many times, and have thought about myself.
Matthew Cobb over at Why Evolution Is True gave his take on this a few days ago

I basically agree with Matthew, but want to add something. I have two main points.

Raw Food, Soy Protein Isolate, and Misleading Claims

Today someone asked me (as I am a vegetarian)

"Hey RZINZ, do you know anything about vegan protein powder?"

I really didn't, but I looked around and found something interesting

Before I post it, I must also give the disclaimer that the site I took this from looks legit. That is, to someone without the proper resources, it looks like a trustworthy authority on healthy eating and living.

Unfortunately, what I found is that at least some of the content isn't just slightly misstated scare-mongering about "bad food", some of it is literally flat out wrong.

The quote below may only be one sentence long, but it carries a lot of meaning and some serious implications.

Here’s the deal: the protein isolates that are known carcinogens are soy protein isolates

Whoa there nelly hold the fucking phone.

This not only literally untrue, but also has the added benefit of making people think that soyfoods give you cancer. Which is also the exact fucking opposite.

Time to drop some motha-fuckin' science