New Jersey residents may soon vote on investing heavily in Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Predictably the ignorance and pandering lobby is out in force with the same old tired song and dance:

"It will allow research that kills human beings," New Jersey Right to Life Executive Director Marie Tasy told Baptist Press. "It also will allow human cloning, despite claims that it will not. It's highly deceptive."

It's well past the time to deny clowns like Director Tasy even the thinnest veneer of credibility. Material for Embryonic Stem Cell Lines comes from blastocysts produced in fertility clinics and discarded by the thousands. Of those slated for destruction, a handful could be saved and used for research, otherwise they go straight into the trash can along with the rest. And honestly, this simple reality has been explained so many damn times, in such patient, exhaustive, documented detail to the loud-mouth opponents of ESCR, that it would be absurd to keep pretending they don’t understand it. They are lying, they know they are lying, and it's crystal clear by now they don't give a shit and they're going to keep lying. With that, check out a few science articles that aren't intended to mislead the reader.

• Carl Zimmer has an interesting evolutionary take on why the leaves of some trees change color in the fall.
• Mark H featured a really cool and kind of neat looking critter this week in his delightful Marine Life Series.
• Voting for the Best Science Blog of 2007 began Nov. 1 and the winner will be announced next week. Vote for your fave here!
• Congratulations to the men and women of the Chinese Space Program: On Oct 24 a Long March rocket blasted off from Xichang Space Center carrying China’s first lunar probe.
• All 7 parts of the Pandemic Flu Vaccine Puzzle, written by contributing science reporter Maryn McKenna for CIDRAP are now available. It's a superb series, covering why we will not have pandemic vaccine available for the public for several months after a pandemic starts, and why (for now) it has to be rationed. – DemFromCT