"Some people call me Maurice." Humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae A study from two Australian researchers from the University of Sydney shows that male humpbacks who sing while migrating have better luck with the ladies than those who don't. Michael Noad and a group of colleagues tracked a population of humpbacks while it migrated to its Antarctic breeding grounds. Noad found that male humpbacks who sing while migrating averaged only 2.5 km/hour as opposed to non-singing males who averaged 4 km/hour. Noad and his team are speculating that by slowing down and singing the males allow…

This is not free speech; it's vandalism: ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. -- Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday. Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags were in charred tatters Sunday in the cemetery, authorities said. Swastikas drawn on paper appeared where 14 of the flags had been. Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington's northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon. The vandals struck again on…

A new Gallup poll shows just how bad things are for science and reason: PRINCETON, NJ -- About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word. This percentage is slightly lower than several decades ago. The majority of those Americans who don't believe that the Bible is literally true believe that it is the inspired word of God but that not everything it in should be taken literally. About one in five Americans believe the Bible is an ancient book of "fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by…

It never seems to end, does it? I'm talking about the hype and questionable practices revolving around dichloroacetate (DCA), the small molecule chemotherapeutic agent that targets the Warburg effect, in essence normalizing the metabolism of tumor cells and thereby inhibiting their growth. (See here and here for more details.) A report by Evangelos Michelakis at the University of Alberta in Cancer Cell in January reported strong antitumor activity against a wide variety of tumors in rat tumor models resulted in a phenomenon ballooning out of control in a way that he could never have imagined…

I didn't see this one in time to include it on my list of Memorial Day links. In it, Brett confesses: Here's a confession: I don't really get Guernica -- the painting, that is, not the event. Read the whole thing and see what he means.

i think I've made it exquisitely clear how much I detest and despise the term "Nevile Chamberlain School of Evolutionists." Indeed, my disgust at the term led me to sic the Hitler Zombie on (of all people) Richard Dawkins, the originator of the term, a deed that was either the boldest thing I've ever done as a blogger or the stupidest. (In retrospect, I haven't decided which.) Recently, however, one of the most vociferous users of the term (and fellow victim of the Hitler Zombie with Richard Dawkins) seems to have backed away from the use of the term. I'm talking about Larry Moran, of course…

Here in the U.S, it's Memorial Day, the day that we set aside to pay tribute to our men and women in uniform who have put their lives on the line to defend our nation in its wars. On this day, I'd like to present a few links and thoughts: Here's my post about Memorial Day from last year. Memorial Day 1942. Shorpy is my favorite picture blog. it regularly features amazing historical pictures from the first half of the 20th century. The last full measure: 1863. From the History News Network, here is a list of posts about the origin of Memorial Day. Tom DePastino argues that we ought to…

I've been a bit remiss in my blog carnival plugging; so here's my chance to make up for it. Here are some carnivals worth checking out: Carnival of Bad History #14: The Backlog Edition (The name speaks for itself.) Carnivalesque #27 (Ancient, medieval and early modern history.) Tangled Bank #80 (Science.) The Creation Museum (The blogosphere's skeptical response to Ken Ham's creationism museum, which recently opened. Unfortunately, I forgot about this, and didn't write up something suitably snarky myself, but fortunately plenty of other bloggers did. Alas, the message will be lost on the…

Recently, I discussed a story by the BBC news show Panorama about the Church of Scientology and its ridiculous anti-psychiatry museum. Unfortunately, the show doesn't always do things right. Over at Bad Science, I find how badly Panorama messed up a story on Wi-Fi, claiming health dangers on the basis of bad science and interviews with activists that sell shielded netting and hats that supposedly protect the user from microwaves and radio waves. This definitely looks like a case of going from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Over the last couple of months, I've written periodically about cancer research and the complaints that the present system of funding grants and of peer review stifles innovation, as well as whether ideas for which there is some evidence but which fall out of the mainstream are given a fair shake. My overall take has been that, while the complaints have some merit, those making them tend to overstate their case dramatically. Either that, or their obvious agendas, such as making it easier to get funding for pseudoscience or rehabilitating the reputation of a crank, make it obvious that their…

I think I've finally found the religion for me... (Click the picture to read about the religion! Hat tip to Robster, FCD.) Moreover, in a direct comparison between Christianity and this new religion, Christianity doesn't come off so good. (The sad thing is, I get each and every reference in this comic.) Indeed, in the U.K., the sacrament of this new faith is occurring as we speak. We poor U.S. faithful have to wait a few hours to worship, though, at least long enough for the object of our devotion to show up as a Torrent file. (Worse, those who don't know how to use BitTorrent or don't…

Cicadas! I don't think I'd have the self-control that the children pictured above do, though.

I had thought of featuring this little gem on Your Friday Dose of Woo before, but my Friday feature usually requires a bit more to go on. Well, not exactly. Rather, it requires a bit more quotable material, the better for hilarity to ensue, and this is just a book with a description and some comments, but it's a nice bit of bizarre bonus silliness to start out the long holiday weekend. The title of the book? How to Good-Bye Depression: If You Constrict Anus 100 Times Everyday. Malarkey? or Effective Way? by Hiroyuki Nishigaki I kid you not. Thanks, Stupidity Tracker, for turning me on to this…

I've been meaning to go through the recent meta-analysis of Avandia published by the New England Journal of Medicine that purported to show major increase in the risk for cardiac events (myocardial infarctions and cardiac death) in patients who use Avandia, but somehow never got around to it. I'm not sure I need to now, given how, via Kevin, MD, I've found this rant byThe Angry Pharmacist, who has looked over the meta-analysis and found that there is considerably less there than meets the eye and that the value of the study is considerably different than what has been reported in the press.…

Hot on the heals of the loss of Flea and other medical bloggers, Dr. Hébert announces without explanation other than that "I've had enough" and "I'll be gone for a little while." Cryptic indeed. I can understand why someone might quit blogging or take a hiatus. However, if I were ever to decide to do either, I'd at least give you an explanation.

One of the banes of a physician's existence is not so much keeping up with changes in how medicine is practiced, studying new treatments, and following the medical literature. After all, that comes with the territory; it's part of the job. Failure to keep up is to become increasingly ineffective and even to risk malpractice lawsuits. No, what's a major bane is to document that you've kept up. In other words, it's to get enough continuing medical education (CME) credits to be able to renew your medical license. In my state, I have to get 100 CME credits in two years in order to renew my…

Our creationist neurosurgeon, Dr. Michael Egnor, isn't going to like this one bit. No doubt he'll try to call it "artificial selection" or a "tautology" when he finds out about it, if he doesn't just ignore it because he it doesn't fit in with his view that studying evolution is "of no value" in medicine. Too bad, because, via Derek Lowe at In the Pipeline, I've found a really cool application of evolutionary biology to the development of antibiotic resistance in response to vancomycin that sheds light on the molecular mechanisms behind the development of antibiotic resistance in…

In honor of Towel Day, the theme of the latest meeting of the Skeptics' Circle is The Hitchhiking Skeptic's Guide to the Galaxy. Join Rebecca (a.k.a. The Skepchick) as she takes you on a tour of the skeptical blogosphere. But don't do it for me. Don't even do it just for Rebecca. Do it for Douglas. After you're done gallivanting about the universe with your towel, don't forget that two weeks from now we'll be doing it all again. Next up to host will be Thursday at Polite Company. Start getting your best skeptical entries together for our next go-around. Better yet, if you want to avoid the…

A number of readers have mailed me links to this story, and, yes, it is right up my alley. In reading it, I fear that it's a vision of the future for two young cancer patients who are very unlikely to survive their cancers because their parents eschewed evidence-based medicine in favor of woo, Starchild Abraham Cherrix and Katie Wernecke, both of whom had relapsed when last I discussed them. The case is one with which I had not been familiar, namely that of Noah Maxin, of Canton, OH: CANTON No one in the courtroom nearly five years ago wanted this day to come. Not Noah Maxin's parents. Not…

Ask yourself this: What do the convicted do, either in prison or when facing prison? They find Jesus, of course: It's inevitable any time anyone's going to jail, it seems. My prediction for Paris' next stop: Kabbalah! It would, however, be even more amusing if she were to convert to Islam while in prison.