BBC

A week ago, I noted that one of the stranger and less credible conspiracy theories promulgated by quacks and their believers was still going strong nearly three months after the first death that triggered it, the death of autism quack Jeff Bradstreet, apparently by suicide. Basically, three months ago, Dr. Bradstreet, who has long been a fixture in the "autism biomed" movement and a frequent speaker at autism quackfests like Autism One, was found dead in a river from a gunshot wound to the chest, an apparent suicide. A recent story about the investigation into Dr. Bradstreet's death included…

It's been a while since I discussed medical marijuana, even though it's a topic I've been meaning to come back to since I first dubbed medical marijuana to be the equivalent of herbalism and discussed how the potential of cannabinoids to treat cancer has been, thus far, unimpressive, with relatively modest antitumor effects. The reason I refer to medical marijuana as the "new herbalism" is because the arguments made in favor of medical marijuana are very much like arguments for herbalism, including arguments that using the natural plant is superior to using specific purified cannabinoids,…

The BBC stepped in it. First, they engaged in a totally absurd "false balance" presentation regarding climate change, then in response (link below) they aired very reasonable complaints by listeners, and to this, they responded officially that everything is fine, you can go home and lock your doors and windows, nothing to see here, our balance is in balance, thank you very much. Or words to that effect. If I was British I would be ashamed of the BBC for this, but since I'm not British I'm peeved. Should the Today programme have invited Lord Lawson, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and…

A new documentary from BBC called "Spy in the Pod" has captured what they claim to be footage of dolphins using puffer fish to reportedly "get high". According to a quote from the Daily Mail, "Zoologist and series producer Rob Pilley said that it was the first time dolphins had been filmed behaving this way." The toxins apparently have a narcotic-like effect on the dolphins. The "Spy in the Pod" two-part series begins tonight at 8:00pm on BBC1. Additional source: Daily Mail

I realize that I've been focusing on Stanislaw Burzynski the last couple of days, but it's just been one of those weeks. Between the release of Eric Merola's latest paean to the Brave Maverick Doctor and BBC Panorama's report on Burzynski and his activities, it's been an eventful week. My review of the second Burzynski movie and the Panorama report explain a lot, but there are some loose ends left over. So I might as well take care of that today before resuming regular blogging topics. (Yes, I know Stanislaw Burzynski is a regular blogging topic, but too much of a bad thing can get tiresome,…

After yesterday's epic deconstruction of the latest propaganda-fest from everybody's favorite Leni Riefenstahl without the talent, Eric Merola, on his most admired subject, "brave maverick doctor" Stanislaw Burzynski, I needed something science-based to cleanse the rancid taste of intelligence-insulting nonsense from my mind. Through a quirk of fate that couldn't have worked out better if I had planned it myself, a long-expected investigation of the Burzynski Clinic by the BBC, presented on its venerable news program Panorama. It was entitled, appropriately enough, Cancer: Hope for Sale? Ever…

Well, I've finally seen it, and it was even worse than I had feared. One might even say that watching it was like repeatedly smacking my head into a brick wall. It felt so good when it finally stopped. I'm referring, of course, to Eric Merola's latest cinematic "effort. Ever since it was revealed that ric Merola's planned to make a sequel to his 2010 propaganda "documentary" about Stanislaw Burzynski, Burzynski The Movie: Cancer Is Serious Business, whose rank stupidity provided me with copious blogging material, I've finally actually seen the finished product, such as it is. Of course,…

A beautiful BBC video: You have to stand back in awe at the resources they pour into taking photographs. Scientists can never afford that kind of money. BTW: this did weird things when I first wrote it, but don't blame me. I think scienceblogs or youtube are doing something weird with the processing. Here is the video.

tags: What Do You get a Heroin Addict for Christmas?, television, humor, funny, comedy, christmas, satire, Mitchell and Webb, BBC, streaming video For those of you who are starting to think about (GAG!!) Christmas shopping already, I thought you might find this funny. I am still trying to figure out what the "message" here is ... More at BBC's That Mitchell and Webb Look site.

tags: Bait Ball Feast, natural history, animal behavior, plankton, herring, seabird, humpback whale, television, BBC, streaming video In late summer, the plankton bloom is at its height. Vast shoals of herring gather to feed on it, diving birds round the fish up into a bait ball.

From "Life in the Undergrowth", perhaps the finest insect documentary ever made, a scene featuring Australia's intertidal ants: A few years back I traveled through northern Queensland with myrmecologists Phil Ward and Gary Alpert. Having heard about the aquatic abilities of these ants, we searched for them in a mangrove forest just outside the Cairns airport while waiting for our flight. After a bit of looking, Phil found a foraging trail of large black ants going up a mangrove trunk. We dropped a few into the water below, and sure enough- swimming ants! It's a remarkable behavior.

tags: Wonders of The Solar System, space exploration, astrophysics, spoof, parody, satire, humor, funny, fucking hilarious, Dr Brian Cox, BBC, television, streaming video Here is an inspirational video trailer from BBC's television program, "Wonders of the Solar System", where series host, Dr Brian Cox, exclaims; "That's why I love physics so much, cuz physics is all about tryin' to work out WTF is goin' on."

tags: Life, Discovery Channel, Reptiles and Amphibians, Waterfall Toad Leap from Danger, animals, mammals, birds, BBC, television, streaming video Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about TONIGHT's premiere on the Discovery Channel of BBC's LIFE, the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant groups, using…

tags: Tommy Davis, scientology, religion, cults, mind control, Thetan, silly, offbeat, beliefs, Xenu, L Ron Hubbard, television, BBC, CBS, streaming video This is an interview with Tommy Davis, international Scientology spokesman, regarding the tragic death of Jett Travolta due to the medical neglect that their cult demands from its adherents, including Jett's parents. Davis is very scummy because he never gives a straight answer to any question asked. I also have embedded some other videos of Davis, where he reveals his less than angelic side. Incidentally, Tommy Davis (the guy being…

Yellowstone National Park is an amazing place. I stayed there for three days longer than I had originally planned and I still was not ready to leave it. Even if I had spent another week there I still would not have seen all the natural wonders of the park, but fortunately the BBC recently sent film crews to Yellowstone to capture its natural history in every season. These vignettes were expertly strung together in the miniseries Yellowstone: Battle for Life, and embedded below is one of the scenes in which a fox tries to catch dinner in the middle of winter: see more Lolcats and funny…

A short clip from the BBC program "Ant Attack" Driver ant males are astoundingly strange creatures. They are larger, more muscular, more exaggerated than most other male ants. The reason is likely linked to the behavior shown in the above video: males must first be accepted by a gauntlet of choosy workers. A classic paper by Franks and Hoelldobler (1987) describes the theory. This preference of workers for bulkier males- and a corresponding slaughter of smaller or otherwise unsuitable ones- drives an evolutionary trajectory towards increasing monstrosity. It's an ant version of the peacock's…

When it comes to nature documentaries the BBC's natural history unit is the best of the best. Over and over again they have produced top-notch programming, and their new multi-part series Life is perhaps the best I have ever seen. The series contains some familiar moments, such as a sengi running down its carefully-groomed pathways, but the bulk of the series consists of vignettes that I have never seen on screen before. One of the most compelling is the story of the slow death of a water buffalo at the jaws of a horde of patient Komodo dragons, a portion of which I have posted above. I…

tags: Look Around You: Ghosts!, supernatural, documentary, science, BBC, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video Ghosts is part of the hilarious British comedy "Look Around You", series. The episodes are a satire/homage of 1970s and early 1980s educational videos and schools programs, with a different scientific subject being discussed in each episode, or "modules" as they are referred to in the series.

tags: Kitchen Science: An Offbeat Look at Water, water, documentary, science, BBC, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video A peculiar (scientific?) look at the three phases of water and how it affects living things ...

tags: Polar Bear Versus Walrus Colony, nature, global warming, climate change, BBC, Planet Earth, documentary, streaming video This video documents an awesome fight for survival as a grown male polar bear takes on a walrus colony at the edge of the Arctic circle. This was a truly epic battle, phenomenally captured in high quality, from the BBC natural history masterpiece, Planet Earth. What surprised you most about this footage? I was surprised that the walruses did not work together to defeat/get rid of the polar bear.