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gregladen | September 25, 2011A paper coming out in the next issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases addresses the question of the link between vaccines and autism. This new review article examines three hypotheses linking vaccines to autism:
(1) the combination measlesâmumpsârubella vaccine causes autism by damaging the intestinal lining, which allows the entrance of encephalopathic proteins;
(2) thimerosal, an ethylmercuryâcontaining preservative in some vaccines, is toxic to the central nervous system; and
(3) the simultaneous administration of multiple vaccines overwhelms or weakens the immune system.
[…
gregladen | September 24, 2011Today is Stephanie Zvan's birthday. Instead of giving he the usual trinkets or consumables, a few of us got together and did something different. We pooled some resources and gave Stephanie a miniature.
A miniature what you say? A miniature non profit!
How does that work? Click here to find out.
gregladen | September 24, 2011There are several answers to this question. One was overheard the other day among a bunch of well educated people oriented towards science who were taking a break from their job.
Person 1: "So, how effective is the seasonal flu shot?"
Person 2: "I heard about 1%. If you get the flu shot, you'll have a 1% difference in if you get the flu."
Person 3: "That's crazy. I don't know where you are getting your data from. It can't be 1%, but I admit I don't know what the actual answer is, but it can't be that."
Persons 4 through 6: "Well, if YOU don't know, and HE says 1%, I'm going with the 1%.…
gregladen | September 24, 2011The virus that kills cancer is in the news again. Recent research at Penn State is being reported that indicates some interesting new findings. I have not read any of the original work in this and won't likely have time to, but there is a press release:
HERSHEY, Pa. -- A nondisease-causing virus kills human breast cancer cells in the laboratory, creating opportunities for potential new cancer therapies, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers who tested the virus on three different breast cancer types that represent the multiple stages of breast cancer development.
Adeno-…
gregladen | September 23, 2011Twitter Feed (most recent on top):
UARS_Reentry UARS Reentry
RT @SPACEFLIGHT101: Indications are that UARS is down following its last perigee. Waiting for official words. #UARS
ztresearch Tom A. Warner
by UARS_Reentry
RT @mycatthesquee: People north of Edmonton AB Canada saying they saw something "like fireworks" and 3 lights falling at10:20 pm MDT #UARS
SchwartzNow Jeff Schwartz
by UARS_Reentry
Source? RT @BASEDDRAG: Getting a UNCONFIRMED report saying that #UARS may have gone down in Northern Quebec.
RT @JPMajor: RT @b0yle: RT @numbercrunchers: RT @newswatchcanada Some reports say #UARS…
gregladen | September 23, 2011NCSE headquarters was flooded with almost 550 entries from almost 150 people, including sixty entries from a single indefatigable sloganeer. After days of statistical analysis and rigorous peer-review, we are pleased to congratulate the winners -- David Cone, Tom Griffiths, Michael Keller, Tania Lombrozo, Jerry Newton, Bill Pogson, S. Michael Smith, Drew Weller, and a few who preferred not to be identified -- who received such fabulous prizes as a Charles Darwin bobblehead from Southern Illinois University Carbondale's Department of Zoology, a DVD of Greta Schiller's documentary No Dinosaurs…
gregladen | September 23, 2011Newer update from NASA: Update #11
Fri, 23 Sep 2011 23:30:46 GMT
As of 7 p.m. EDT on Sept. 23, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 90 miles by 95 miles (145 km by 150 km). Re-entry is expected between 11 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23, and 3 a.m., Sept. 24, Eastern Daylight Time (3 a.m. to 7 a.m. GMT). During that time period, the satellite will be passing over Canada, Africa and Australia, as well as vast areas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans. The risk to public safety is very remote.
The Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies now says that the entry time is 4:04AM 23 September UTC (11:04…
krandall | September 23, 2011 By Dr. Gerry Harp, an astrophysicist at the
SETI Institute.
Figure 1: A waterfall plot. This shows the signal as a function of frequency (increasing to the right) and time (increasing to the top). A slanted straight line is just the sort of thing we look for in SETI searches. In this case, it is from the Voyager spacecraft, 100 times further from the sun than is the earth.
You know that feeling where you have a great idea about doing SETI but you don't have a large radio telescope handy when you need it? If so, then we have something for you.
For the past two years, the SETI Institute has…
gregladen | September 23, 2011Here's the latest from NASA. Look for an update fairly soon. Or a loud noise, perhaps!
Update #9
Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:01:35 PM CDT
As of 9:30 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 110 mi by 115 mi (175 km by 185 km). Re-entry is possible sometime during the afternoon or early evening of Sept. 23, Eastern Daylight Time. The satellite will not be passing over North America during that time period. It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any
gregladen | September 22, 2011Ride your bike to the state house on Saturday for MN 360
2 to 7pm on the State Capitol Lawn - St. Paul, MN
Inspiring Minnesotans to rise to the challenge of the climate crisis:
to create a new sense of urgency and possibility for our planet.
On September 24th, millions of people all around the world are joining together for Moving Planet--a worldwide rally to demand solutions to the climate crisis. In Minnesota we'll gather on the State Capitol lawn to send the message: It's time to move beyond fossil fuels.
We'll come on bikes. We'll process with Heart of the Beast puppets. We'll rally with…
gregladen | September 22, 2011A few items over on The X Blog that you may not want to miss: "Our Generation Has The Power To End It" regarding the tragic death Jamie Rodemeyer (feel free to spell that "Jamey"); We address the question "Should Scientists Date People Who Believe in Astrology?"; Huxley got called a sissy by some guy but he still has the coolest shoes this side of Stillwater, Minnesota; a little bit of Death Penalty Philosophy; and my thoughts on Troy Davis.
hrynyshyn | September 21, 2011From Long-term trend in global CO2 emissions, published by PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, comes some good news:
Even including the USA whose emissions in 2008-2010 are 11 percent more than in 1990, the industrialised countries have on average reduced greenhouse gas emissions by about 7.5 percent in the period 2008-2010, compared with 1990. Together they are well on course to achieve the [Kyoto] protocol, target of a collective average decrease in greenhouse gas emissions of 5.2 percent between 2008 and 2012 compared to the…
gregladen | September 21, 2011Just wanted you to know, for those who have asked, I have indeed written something on the tragic fate of Troy Davis. Here: Day of Justice, Day of Shame: The killing of Troy Davis.
I just sent off my submission to the Minnesota Atheist Book Project. If you were thinking of doing that, better get moving, the deadline is coming up. Details here.
I want to note that Sheril Kirshenbaum is running a series of guest posts on her blog, Culture of Science, and has two up already: Calling All New Ideas for 21st Century Science Funding, and Mitigation Via Domestication: The Link Between Global…
gregladen | September 21, 2011... or rather, Narrrr.
Arrrr is the term for "yes" spoke in a part of England whence that rascal Robert Newton hailed, so when he formed his dialect model for his stint as Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island, he threw that in. His other piratitisms he fetched from like personal background. The truth of it is that that Long John himself hails from the same digs (West Country), but most pirates did not.
Ker Than at National Geographic News has the skivy on the pirate lingo avast. Might I suggest you sail yer ship on over there for a maw full of learnin'
I made up the thing about…
gregladen | September 21, 2011The details are here.
Information on changes in Google's "real name" policy that would allow people to protect their identity here.
Oh. Right. Squat.
gregladen | September 21, 2011
Very cute song. But, I do find it a little poignant and even mildly disturbing that the primary motivating criteria for her raison d'être have to do with the whole journal thing and being like the established heternormativeoccidopatriarchic white guys. Instead of just discovery of things not previously known about bugs.
Hat tip: Bug Girl