The horror that consumed Virginia Tech on Monday produced an unexpected hero: Professor Liviu Librescu, who gave his life to save some of his students: In Monday morning's lecture on solid mechanics, all was quiet except for the sound of Professor Liviu Librescu's voice. Then came the gunshots -- in the classroom next door. In an instant, Virginia Tech's Norris Hall, a building dedicated to the science of engineering, was torn apart by the worst shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. Junior Richard Mallalieu said he and about 20 classmates instantly dropped to the floor, ducking under and…

Researchers in Mexico have documented wild spider monkeys rubbing themselves with fragrant, chewed up leaves. Though the exact purpose of this behavior is yet to be proven, it appears as if the scents "may play a role int he context of social communication, possibly for signaling of social status or to increase sexual attractiveness," according to an article in the online journal, Primates. My name's Marcel...Sagitarius. Laura Hernandez-Salazar of Veracruz University in Mexico and colleagues witnessed "20 episodes of self-anointing, that is, the application of scent-bearing material onto the…

From fellow ScienceBlogger Abel, I'm made aware of an excellent post on the Health Care Renewal Blog about the financial reality of being an academic physician in a modern U.S. medical school. It's an excellent overview of how medical schools view clinical faculty as, in essence, cash cows that have to bring in the cash and pay for themselves. The same thing actually applies to basic scientists as well, and I do have to quibble a bit with the internal medicine-centered view of the various ways that faculty are expected to bring in money, which do not necessarily apply to academic surgery…

PZ Myers has identified contemptible ghoul #1, Debbie Schlussel, who has decided that it must have been a Muslim terrorist who carried out the horrific school shooting today at Virginia Tech (and is now backing off as more information comes out, as she claims that students should have been allowed to have guns on campus). Here's contemptible ghoul #2, Ken Ham over at Answers in Genesis, who blames the evil of the school shooting on atheism (of course!) and--wink, wink, nudge, nudge--evolution, even though he "isn't saying that," if you know what I mean: We live in an era when public high…

Crab spider preparing for take off, Misumenoides formosipes Humans have known for quite a while that some spiders engage in a kind of flying called "ballooning." To balloon, spiders release a parachute-like web into the air (with themselves attached) and allow the wind to pick them up and deposit them in greener pastures. What humans did not know until very recently, however, is that these spiders actually check the weather before taking flight. Biologists and mathematicians with Rothamsted Research in England first calculated the ideal flying conditions for spiders, finding cloudy fall and…

...because he's sure as heck doing his best to cause it damage with his latest antievolution "broadsides," even to the point where it needs the loving ministrations of a neurosurgeon! His latest screeds produce in me a nearly irresistible urge to pound my head against the nearest hard surface to make the psychic pain stop. He's placing me in danger of real, physical pain, from epidural hematoma (in fact, I wonder if I'm in the middle of a lucid interval right now) to subdural hematoma to cerebral contusions. First of all, regular readers may have noted that I haven't yet responded to the…

Granted, it is the print media, rather than the bubble-headed TV doctors that I railed against a couple of days ago, but even so I had a hard time believing this article in the Washington Post when it was forwarded to me. Compare: Washington Post article Part 1 and Part 2 of Early Detection of Cancer, by me. It's like a distilled version of what I wrote and excellent--dare I say it around here these days?--framing of a complex medical/scientific issue for a lay audience. Remember, as you read this, the term "overdiagnosis," which I should have discussed. Also remember that I (and the authors…

Heh. Although it's apparently been making the rounds over the Internet, I had never seen this list before until Andrew over at Flavor Country posted A Dictionary for the 9/11 "Truth" Movement, which, if you've ever read the comment thread (223 comments!) after my one major foray into discussing the true idiocy that is the 9/11 "Truth" Movement, you will immediately realize to be pretty darned close to the truth. A few key examples: Alternative theory: Something so wacky that even Twoofers don't give it much credence (e. g. holographic planes, pods). Brainwashing: non-conspiratorial thinking,…

Prometheus makes the case that our current age of unreason can be largely attributed to the Baby Boomers. As someone who can be viewed either as a very young Baby Boomer or a very old GenX-er, I nonetheless heartily agree with his clarion call near the end of his analysis: Our society is growing more and more dependent on rationality, science and technology to keep it from collapsing. It's too late to turn back, now - giving up on reason and returning to magical thinking will cause a human (and probably environmental) catastrophe that would beggar the imagination. And, at the same time, the…

It's been a long time since I saw something like this. I remember back in the 1980's, I saw an utterly hysterically funny series on a religious cable outlet about the evils of rock 'n' roll, complete with dire warnings about how rock 'n' roll was a one-way ticket straight to hell. Well, it turns out that they're still making such amusingly over-the-top videos. Some of the targets haven't changed, many have. These are parts 1 and 2 of a four part series. Part I reveals Satan's true conspiracy that is rock 'n' roll, particularly the evil of George Harrison's My Sweet Lord. So, check out Part 1…

In February of this year Jill Pruetz, an anthropologist with Iowa State University, witnessed Kenyan chimpanzees break off branches from trees, sharpen them using their teeth, and then use these spears to hunt lesser bush babies, a kind of small primate. The bush babies sleep in the hollows of trees, and the chimps were repeatedly seen jabbing their spears into the hollows and pulling them back out with fresh bush baby babies impaled on the end.A chimpanzee, seen here, finishing up his degree in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix Online. Pruetz recorded a video of the…

Having done a lot of trauma coverage in my time (although the last time I covered trauma call was nearly eight years ago), I have to admit that, when I first heard of the motor vehicle collision (I never call such crashes "accidents" because they rarely are) in which New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine was seriously injured, the first question that popped into my mind after "How did this happen?" was: Was the Governor wearing seatbelts? Of course, I strongly suspected that I already knew the answer, and, indeed, I did. The answer was no. Here's what apparently happened: Gov. Jon S. Corzine was…

...and how! Who knew our intrepid mascot liked hockey so much? I wonder if he's Canadian. Maybe so.

Believe it or not, it's been almost nine months since, almost on a whim, I first started this little indulgence of mine known as Your Friday Dose of Woo, with some truly fine woo known as quantum homeopathy. Before you know it, we'll be celebrating a full year of woo. (Yes, I know that woo is eternal, and my little project represents a mere grain of sand on all the beaches of, for instance, California. If I'm going to be overwhelmed with woo and unreason, though, I might as well have a few laughs along the way.) One thing I've noticed over these months is that there are definitely recurring…

The answer is no, given his position on the Kathy Sierra case and the death threats she received and the online savaging to which she was subjected. Kos attacks calls for a bloggers' code of conduct. This is actually the one point where I tend agree with him. It wouldn't help the situation and would be a muzzle on free speech, although I can understand why Sierra might have called for such a code. Unfortunately, it would not have stopped what happened to Sierra. If Kos had stopped there, I might actually have found myself in the uncomfortable position of actually agreeing with him on…

If you ever want to wonder why I'm sometimes of the mind that the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine should be disbanded and its functions distributed among the other Institutes of the NIH, you just have to consider the sorts of woo-filled studies (like the Gonzalez protocol) funded by NCCAM mixed in among the more reasonable studies of herbal remedies and other modalities that have at least a modicum of scientific plausibility. With that in mind, I came across a study that seems to be getting a fair amount of play in the press, at least around here. The study purports…

It's that time again, and Geek Counterpoint has delivered the woo for you (and how!) in the 58th Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. Head on over for your fix of rational thought applied liberally to dubious claims, all expertly administered and arranged for your edification. Next up is previous two-time host Pooflingers Anonymous. The Pooflinger himself, Matt, has done an absolutely fantastic job hosting twice before. Check out the 21st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle and the 32nd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle to get a taste of what he's capable of. That's why I fully expect the next Circle,…

I sometimes wonder if those doctors who do health segments for various TV news outlets are "real" doctors, given the sorts of things they actually say. Oh, Dr. Dean Edell is a pretty evidence-based guy most of the time (one of his finest moments being his takedown of Dr. Lorraine Day on the air), but for all too many of these other docs, their brains shut down when the TV lights shine on them. Sadly, there were a couple of doozies of examples this week. First up is Val Wadas-Willingham, producer for CNN's medical news on Paging Dr. Gupta: My husband's best friend, Hans, was supposed to be in…

This particular woman makes the case that she deserves the title: I think she wins hands down, don't you? She must be one of those pollo-vegetarians. Because, after all, chickens aren't "animals."

A brand, spankin' new Tangled Bank has been posted over at fellow ScienceBlogger Tara's Aetiology. It's more science bloggy goodness than you can absorb in one day. And while we're on the topic of blog carnivals, don't forget that the latest Skeptics' Circle will be appearing at Geek Counterpoint tomorrow. You still have a few hours left to get your entries in.