A few quick things that I’ve been meaning to write about for a while: I’ve added a link to the Bad Astronomy blog by one of my favorite astronomers/debunkers of pseudoscience.

Always an enjoyable read, and another example of how to run a good blog. And today’s post mentioned the Amazing Randi, with some links (particularly to his TED lecture) that are well worth watching. Also search for James Randi on Youtube for more videos.

And another topic that made some news a while back, before dying down again, was whether the personal DNA testing companies should be regulated by the FDA or not.

Here’s 5 reasons why Walgreen’s selling personal DNA tests might be a bad idea, and what I thought was a must-read account of one man’s attempts to look into his genome, and why that’s a more serious endeavor than we perhaps give it credit for.

I thought it was thought provoking particularly since I’ve heard a lot of people talk about doing a personal genetic test as if it was some party trick or something. It’s a great technology with a lot of potential, and it’s only going to get better and cheaper, but given the relative inaccuracy of current tests and the potential for receiving truly life-altering information about yourself, it’s worth at least thinking it through a little bit.