science

The Homeopathic poll – Justifying how you should vote.

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The UK’s Guardian is running a homeopathic poll in which they ask you to vote “yes” or “no” in response to the question, “Should homeopathic treatments be available on the National Health Service?”.  Perhaps you have already had this pointed out and have been encourage to vote “no”, but have you really thought about it?

Hey it’s an easy question, the answer is obvious … or is it? (Don’t panic, it is, I just want you to think through the arguments and to also explain why the NHS still has it on offer)

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Republicans Against Science

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Yesterday’s Op-Ed column in the New York Times by Paul Krugman, is quite disturbing to read. In essence the GOP contenders appear to be frantically striving to present themselves as complete lunatics. He puts it more politely and uses the term, “Anti-Science” (well it is the NYT, they tend not to publish if you use terms such as “Clueless Gobshite”, even if it is accurate). He writes:

Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, recently made headlines by dismissing evolution as “just a theory,” one that has “got some gaps in it” — an observation that will come as news to the vast majority of biologists. But what really got peoples’ attention was what he said about climate change: “I think there are a substantial number of scientists who have manipulated data so that they will have dollars rolling into their projects. And I think we are seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists are coming forward and questioning the original idea that man-made global warming is what is causing the climate to change.”

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Underground river ‘Rio Hamza’ discovered 4km beneath the Amazon

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The news is that Brazilian scientists have found a new river in the Amazon basin – around 4km underneath the Amazon river. They have called it the Rio Hamza after the bloke who led the team that found it. Its fascinating … but does warrant a little bit of clarification, because its not quite what you might think it is from the description given.

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Argument From Authority – Baroness Greenfield on Autism

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She is at it again, making silly pronouncements, this time it is Autism. Least you missed it, in New Scientist, she has been casually linking internet use with autism. (So no not vaccines, just using the Internet). Now, since this is Baroness Greenfield, CBE,  scientist, writer, broadcaster, and member of the House of Lords, specializes in the physiology of the brain, and has worked to research and bring attention to Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease – we can just take her word for it … right?

Exactly, the old “I’m a doctor just trust me” line simply does not cut it when it comes to claims like this. So what do you need? How about some actual “Evidence”.

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Cosmos is coming back

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Do you remember Cal Sagan on Cosmos? Well, plans are afoot to bring it back in 2013. Sadly Carl is no longer with us, so it will be Neil deGrasse Tyson leading the charge. He is truly a great choice to do this. At one point Sagan himself went out of his way to recruit Tyson. During an interview with writer Daniel Simone (in the November 2, 2007 issue of Dan’s Paper here) Tyson said,

“Interestingly, when I applied to Cornell, my application dripped of my passion for the study and research of the Universe. Somehow the admissions office brought my application to the attention of the late Dr. Sagan, and he actually took the initiative and care to contact me. He was very inspirational and a most powerful influence. Dr. Sagan was as great as the universe, an effective mentor.”

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What do you need to do to live to be 95 and beyond?

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We all know the guidance: exercise, eat well, don’t smoke, etc… but is that really all it takes to live to be 95 and beyond? Apparently not. There is a new study that throws some interesting light on all this.

It was conducted by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and was published, August 3, 2011 in the online edition of Journal of American Geriatrics Society entitled “Lifestyle Factors of People with Exceptional Longevity“.

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