Science

"Last week the University of Texas provost announced he would re-examine a report by a UT professor that said fracking was safe for groundwater after the revelation that the professor pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars from a Texas natural gas developer. It's the latest fusillade in the ongoing battle over the basic facts of fracking in America."

"Richard Muller, a cantankerous but creative physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, who once derided climate change research, then dove in with his own reconstruction of terrestrial temperature changes and confirmed substantial warming, has now concluded that recent warming is 'almost entirely' human caused."

"Secret files reveal the German maker of thalidomide ignored and covered up repeated warnings that its drug could damage unborn babies."

The University of Texas says it will commission and independent review of a fracking impact study.

"The League of Conservation Voters will launch a $1.5 million campaign Tuesday targeting five House Republicans who question the connection between human activity and climate change, in an effort to test whether the issue can sway voters."

For years, controversy has been raging over what little 'science' there is on questions related to the environmental and health impacts of the hydraulic fracturing boom. The scientific controversies may be a proxy for the conflict over the gas-extraction method itself. Billions of dollars are at stake, the debate is getting ever more intense, and its intensity challenges the objectivity of scientists, government regulators, and journalists.

"WASHINGTON -- A wide-ranging surveillance operation by the Food and Drug Administration against a group of its own scientists used an enemies list of sorts as it secretly captured thousands of e-mails that the disgruntled scientists sent privately to members of Congress, lawyers, labor officials, journalists and even President Obama, previously undisclosed records show."

"A conservative group that has used public records requests in an attempt to publicize emails written by climate scientists has turned its attention to reporters who cover the environment."

"OTTAWA -- Several hundred Canadian scientists and their supporters held an unprecedented protest march on Tuesday to demonstrate against the government's decision to close down major facilities and fire research staff."