OK, people, who crapped on the coral?A study led by a biologist from Florida’s Rollins College says human sewage has been leaking into the ocean and is likely the reason the Caribbean Elkhorn coral was added to the endangered species list.The research says Serratio marcescens, a bacteria found in human…
Rick Scott’s decision to appoint a pro-business corporate executive to the South Florida Water Management District’s governing board is not exactly stunning. This is the governor, after all, who declared Florida “open for business.” But Timothy Sargent, an at-large member who now represents Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade, and three other…
ITropical Storm Emily was declared dead by the National Hurricane Center at 5 p.m. yesterday.What was once the cause of alarmist hurricane threats, South Florida’s weekend weather forecast is now a 50/50 chance of raindrops.The weather prophets over at the NHC had originally warned that Emily had the potential to…
When hurricane season comes around, it seems like weather forecasting is about as effective as homeopathy.The National Weather Service and its subsidiary, the National Hurricane Center, have been putting out updates every few hours over the past couple of days on the latest happenings of Tropical Storm Emily.Emily was declared…
A tornado — yes, a tornado — touched down in Broward County yesterday evening, according to the National Weather Service.The NWS says the tornado was first spotted on the east side of Tamarac, although it was reportedly seen in North Lauderdale and Margate as well.The preliminary guesstimate from the NWS…
Florida residents are the third-most at-risk among the 50 states from toxic emissions from coal and oil-fired power plants, according to a study released today.The report, from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Physicians for Social Responsibility, found that only Ohio and Pennsylvania had filthier air.According to the report, the…
Remember the environmental apocalypse Rick Scott was supposed to create?While campaigning for governor, Scott called the Department of Community Affairs, the state agency charged with overseeing local development projects, a “jobs killer.” He said he’d heard complaints that development permits were issued too slowly. (That building boom? It was just…
If you see a seven-foot lizard in your Broward or Palm Beach residence, that’s a problem, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.Nile Monitor lizards, native to Africa, have been popping up around the two counties — enough times to warrant a hotline and a website dedicated to…
Two weeks ago, the Pulp published a small item about Mark and David Geier — a father-son team of self-proclaimed autism experts who treat the condition with a powerful chemical castration agent called Lupron. They’re from Maryland, but their interests run deep in Florida.They’ve got a clinic here, out in…
Respect and gratitude to the monkey lovers at the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) for ensuring that humanity will enjoy the company of AIDS, blindness, and hepatitis a little while longer.These are just three of the maladies under investigation by scientists who use nonhuman primates in their research –…
Governors should stay the hell out of the autism wars.Their intrusion leads to naught but embarrassment and the enfranchisement of questionable characters. Example: In 2009, Charlie Crist appointed anti-vax chiropractor Dr. Gary Kompothecras to his Autism Task Force. After his appointment, Kompothecras — not incidentally, a man whose uncanny ability…
James “The Amazing” Randi was nowhere near New York City when the New York Observer researched its feature, “Dinner With The Unknowers: The NYC Skeptics Break Bread,” so it says something about the long shadow the guy casts that it was his picture, and not that of any of the…
The American Lung Association came to Florida to learn, and left holding their noses. The air in Broward County has officially received a not-bad “B” for ground-level ozone (which is actually smog, as explained in the Sun Sentinel’s chastising article) and a grim “D” for “Particulate Pollution” (soot). These grades…
On the first anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster that spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, Gov. Rick Scott celebrated by going fishing.Sounds strange, but Slick Rick didn’t have much choice. He favors offshore drilling. He’s refusing to sue the owner of the Deepwater Horizon…
Despite protests by union workers, environmentalists, and competitors, the Palm Beach County Commission yesterday handed one of its largest public works contracts to a company owned by controversial war contractor KBR.Acting as the Solid Waste Authority, the commissioners approved a bid by Babcock & Wilcox Power Generation Group and KBR…
We are fifty years and one day into the era of manned space flight. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin’s successful of into Earth’s atmosphere and safe landing in the Saratov region of Russia made him a hero the world over, in Communist and capitalist countries alike. Everywhere, people sensed…
The federal government issued a cease-and-desist order last week for a beach-nourishment dredging project off Hillsboro Beach and Deerfield Beach. The order cites a leaky pipe that dumped sand on an area of “hardbottom,” or limestone that’s home to coral reef. The contractor, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock, initially reported…
Yesterday, on April 1, my friend and ex-employer James Randi unveiled the recipients of this year’s Pigasus Awards. This isn’t the kind of award one wants to receive, necessarily. Randi, a local legend and internationally renowned enemy of pseudoscience and superstition, awards these flying piggies to those who have distinguished…
Michael Madfis refused to give up.He used to work as an architect, overseeing a team on large projects. His wife was an interior designer. Both of them made a living off South Florida’s housing bubble, and when it burst, they suffered. He lost his job, his house, “everything.” Legally blind,…
A few last words on Coulter’s radiation fetish. Two weeks ago, she claimed ionizing radiation could act as a cancer vaccine, and that nobody died of radiation poisoning at Chernobyl. Then she appeared on the The O’Reilly Factor to defend the column. Last week, she devoted a second column to…
At left, you’ll find the single most interesting picture taken in Florida in the last five years. (Other than this one, I mean.) Pictured is a 13-foot Burmese Python which has bitten off more than it can chew — except the python has dispensed with the biting, and the chewing,…
Whoops, I was wrong. Last week, I wrote that the so-called “supermoon” wouldn’t cause any problems, ‘cuz it’s a silly astrological concept with virtually no real-world significance. Read the debunking here! It’s great!Unfortunately, it failed to account for human boneheadedness, which often foils good science. Because while the supermoon was…
