Genetic Cuckoo

Deceiving Degrees

2012-02-08T12:31:00.002Z

http://www.dcscience.net/?p=19

While it may seem like there is more quackery now than ever before, however, British universities are finally starting to see the light and refuse to offer these pseudoscience courses any longer. A wonderful article in the Telegraph 1 this week discusses this sudden change of the range of courses offered by British universities in response to mounting pressure and campaigns by both the public and scientist, one of the largest was 10:23 2 which is a campaign to raise awareness of the ludicrous claims behind homeopathy, which involved thousands of people ‘overdosing’ on homeopathic tablets, only to show no side effects. While the situation seems to be improving within the UK, there is still a long way to go. The NHS still offers homeopathy and chiropractic treatments; which are a waste of resources, tax payer’s money as well as misleading the patients. Other countries with world renowned universities are also seeing their global reputation tainted because they still offer pseudoscience courses, most notably Australia. While they are many popular Australian evidence-based medicine proponents and celebrities, like Tim Minchin, this seems to not be enough to discourage ‘higher institutions’ from offering degrees is fake science.

So why are students allowed to waste their money and time on pointless courses, which discourages critical thinking, whilst lowering the value of real scientific courses? For the moment it seems to be down to money, as universities are run like any business, and require tuition to pay for professor’s wages and building maintenance. But putting pressure on the universities by exposing these fake courses has been shown to be successful in the UK, so it’s only a matter of time before the knock on effects are seen in Australia and other countries, in response to increased awareness and protest, but also increased pressure from the student and parents for quality courses in the wake of the depression and rises in tuition fees.

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9051103/Complementary-medicine-courses-in-universities-how-I-beat-the-varsity-quacks.html
2. http://www.1023.org.uk/

E Markham (2012). Deceiving Degrees Blogspot

Bird-Flu Bioterror

2012-01-27T17:20:00.002Z

http://d-koolest-ac.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html

Bird flu has hit the headlines yet again, this time in response to terrorism fears. Both the BBC1 and New Scientist2 have published articles on the issues involved. Scientists researching bird flu (H5N1) and its mutagenic properties have been developing a more virulent strain in order to better understand and prepare for potential outbreaks, which are likely to occur naturally in the future. However the US government have requested that key details are not published, as the fear is that it could be used for terrorism. The issue is that as soon as research is censored and the information is not freely shared between scientists and research groups then there can no longer be a united global research effort to better understand and combat potential future outbreaks. Research would be unnecessarily repeated and slowed down, due to a lack of openly sharing the information, essentially costing millions in wasted funding and delaying results.

Many factors make bird flu an inevitable threat in the future, as global populations increase, demand for meat also increases and so many people are forced to live in close contact with both pigs and chickens. Many chickens and birds naturally harbour influenza viruses, but it is not easily transmitted to humans, however it is deadly when it is transmitted, because humans are not the virus's normal host and we do not have any previous exposure or developed immunity. Pigs can however be easily infected with both bird and human strains, leading to a mixing pool effect and highly virulent mutant influenza strains can result which are infectious to humans, and have the potential to be transmitted from human to human, if a combination of gene mutations are present. Mutations are common and random but can be under selective pressure, depending on how successful these mutations make the virus. Essentially is boils down to a numbers game; with enough time and enough opportunities these highly virulent bird flu viruses will appear in nature. That is why a global effort to monitor flu outbreaks and develop research is so vital to avoid another global pandemic like that of the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed more people than both world wars combined. While it is important to be aware of potential terrorist risks, restraining research is only likely to make situations like that depicted in Contagion3 an ever increasing reality, because vital preventative measures and vaccinations would not be in place to combat an outbreak.

1, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16662346
2, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21311-killer-flu-research-to-be-censored.html
3, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagion_(film)

E Markham (2012). Bird-Flu Bioterror Blogspot

Exciting Elements

2012-01-19T12:47:00.001Z

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disappearing-Spoon-Sam-Kean/dp/0857520261/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1326388365&sr=8-3

Long gone are the thoughts of the elements being something resigned to a stuffy periodic table in a science lab, as Sam Kean brings the elements to life in his new book “The Disappearing Spoon” 1. It is a wonderful book, telling untold, unusial and often fascinating story behind the elements of the periodic table. This book is filled with wonderful anecdotes that the reader cannot help but quote for weeks afterwards. Each chapter focuses on a group of elements, and while the concept may seem dull, the book is written in a light and personal way, which gives its stories a page turning quality. It is critically acclaimed, having been short listed for the Royal Society Winton prize. It has also achieved praising reviews from newspapers like the Guardian, which describes the book by saying “The pace is enthusiastic, the tone and language are pitched at the young or the non-chemical and the examples are pleasingly unexpected” 2. The book is written for those with no scientific background, and so is accessible to old and young alike. It is an enjoyable read and is highly recommended.

1. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disappearing-Spoon-Sam-Kean/dp/0857520261/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1326388365&sr=8-3
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/10/disappearing-spoon-sam-kean-review

E Markham (2012). Exciting Elements Blogspot

Troubling Treatments

2012-01-12T14:09:00.001Z

Representing Science within popular culture can often be a difficult thing to achieve, as it is often complex and easily misinterpreted. This January's issue of Tatler, a high-end women’s fashion magazine, contained an article about how to “beat the Flu” 1. While we understand this is unlikely to be detailed medical advice, and more likely to be advice on general health, the article made some surprising statements.

The first thing to notice about the article is that is a blatant promotion of a health spa, as all the advice within it pertained to EF Medispa in London 2, however it did not state that it was an advertisement in the article. They offered treatments like “soft wave healing laser” which involved shining lights on you in order to “boost your immune system”, then there was Simon Cowels favourite treatment, the “drip and chill”, which is an IV injection of vitamins. Lastly, you could opt for the “Californian Colonic” which involves an enema of plant extracts, which will apparently kill any unfriendly bacteria in your gut.

Simson, I. (Jan 2012) Time to... beat the flu. Tatler.

While there is no doubt about the benefits of rest and relaxation, unless you like in a cave and have serious vitamin D deficiency, the “soft wave healing laser” will not have any effect, and will certainly not have any influence on your immune system. The IV of vitamins will do very little for anyone with a balanced diet, and since most vitamins cannot be stored within the body, the vitamins will simply be filtered out by the liver and kidneys. The “Californian Colonic” will probably make you fell better simply because it is quite an unpleasant procedure and you would feel quite relieved it had stopped, but medically it would have no benefits because the plant extract does not have any significant antibacterial action, and additionally, this is bacteria within the colon, which has nothing to do with the claims of the article, being able to beating the flu, which is a virus and does not live in your colon, so would be unaffected either way.

Upon visiting the clinics website 2, it offered many other treatments under the dubious title of “Age Prevention Medicine”, this included PRP therapy, which involved removing serum from the blood and micro-injecting it under the surface of the skin. But then it talks about obtaining fat cells, reprogramming them in to stem cells and then injecting them in to the face. This seemed like conflicting statements, as PRP therapy is a pseudoscientific treatment that is supposed to involve the extraction of serum that contains high levels of growth factors and this is then injected, in order to stimulate cell growth and repair 3. So it seems they are unclear of the actual procedure of the treatment they are offering! After contacting the clinic for more information and to clear up this discrepancy, no reply has been made.

Another treatment offered by the clinic is called Photo-biological Stimulation Therapy, with involved a small amount of blood being extracted and then exposed to UV light, before being returned to your body. Apparently this will allow your blood to bind more oxygen and so you will feel more energised. This same treatment, from the same clinic, also featured a Daily Mail’s article about the procedure 4, including a statement from a doctor saying “‘There is no evidence to show how the process of irradiating small amounts of blood and re-injecting it has a therapeutic benefit,’ says Dr Rajendra Sharma, of The Diagnostic Clinic in London.”. After all, how can UV light, which disrupts DNA, have any effect on the red blood cells ability to bind oxygen? Since red blood cells do not even contain DNA.

1. Simson, I. (Jan 2012) Time to... beat the flu. Tatler.
2. http://www.efmedispa.com/health/age-prevention-medicine/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platelet-rich_plasma
4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/beauty/article-1321397/Vampire-UVB-therapy-Having-blood-sucked-cleaned-work-miracles.html

E Markham (2012). Troubling Treatments
Blogspot

Museum Madness

2011-12-14T15:59:00.001Z

In September this year, the Canadian Air and space museum came under threat from development. The site is very unique and is a piece of history in itself, as it is comprised of decommissioned air force buildings, which were vital in the war effort. The site is recognized as a Federal Heritage Building since May 14th 1992, and yet this has been ignored by the government, and development plans for the site have been given the go ahead. As of the 20^th of September 2011, the museum was served an eviction notice and locked down. The museum provides not only interest to tourists but also a vital educational resource for school children and scholars alike. It is the original factory for the production of the tiger moth aircraft along with many other types of airplane within Canada. The museum houses a variety of exhibits, many of which can not be moved without being cut in to pieces. Not only that, but a vital part of the museum is simply the building it’s located in, and without this much of the atmosphere and history is lost. The local residents of Toronto and the Smithsonian museum have both opposed the eviction, but currently the plans for developing the site in to a new hockey stadium is still going ahead.

In a country as sparsely populated as Canada, why are we destroying the heritage we have, when a new location could have been used? Not only is this an attack on the importance of history, but also on the importance and availability of science to the young and old alike. Everyone needs to make a stand against such action, in order to preserve vital history and resources for the next generation. There is currently an online petition http://www.petitiononlinecanada.com/petition/longterm-reprieve-and-protection-of-historical-site-at-65-carl-hall-road/355 which is submitted to the planning and development department to oppose the development.

E Markham (2011). Museum Madness Blogspot

Horoscope Hogwash

2011-12-06T16:58:00.003Z

http://seeingtheworldthruheartshapedglasses.blogspot.com/2011/01/running-in-circles-comin-in-tails-heads.html

During the recession many people are finding it increasingly difficult to find a good secure job, where it is an employers market and many candidates are interviewed before companies select their ideal employee. But imagine that not only are you being judged on your academic ability, skills, previous employment, references but also your star sign?

In China many companies are now using horoscopes to help choose their ideal candidates1, often leaving many otherwise ideal candidates out of work. This may seem unlikely but it is a growing trend in China, where even university positions are requiring certain star signs which are deemed more desirable. One stated that “Scorpios had strong personalities and were moody, while Virgos were hugely critical and did not stay in one job for long”, but how could one 12^th of the population ( or 8.3% ) which all share the same star sign just by chance, be seen as all the same? Obviously, star signs are designed to pick up on general characteristics in everyone, because the people who write them want them to fit as many people as possible. They have to have something that most people within that group can relate to, and that needs to be broad when the group involved is one 12^th of the population, including both men and women, all age groups and all levels of society. Everyone is moody from time to time, everyone can be critical. But to say that everyone born between two arbitrary dates are especially moody or critical is just silly and statistically impossible, because there is no correlation between a person’s date of birth and their personality. The reason horoscopes seem to be accurate is because they use a variety of different techniques which are more commonly used in Cold Reading, like Barnum statements 2. These involve the subject making vague statements fit their situation, forgetting anything that was inaccurate and only remembering the accurate statements within the horoscope, this makes the horoscope seem like it is very accurate to your life specifically, even though in reality you could have been given any star signs horoscope for any month of any year, and due to the general and vague nature of the statements it would seem very accurate.

Horoscopes claim to work on the premise that at the moment of birth, the child is influenced by the gravitational pull of the stars in their current position in relation to the earth. Astrologers claim to be able to determine the personality of the child, just using information about its time of birth. This was tested by Shawn Carlson in a blind trial, where 28 astrologers were given information about the births of 100 children and given 100 personality profiles, and were asked to match the birth details with the personality. The studies findings were published in Nature in 1985 3, with the conclusion that the astrologers performed no better than chance, “clearly refuting the astrological hypothesis”.

So why are employers in China seeking to use a method with no scientific basis? Well, the same reason why many employers in the UK and USA previously consulted Graphologists to analyze a candidate’s handwriting, it is simply because deciding on a new employee is a difficult process, and training them is costly and time consuming. Managers have huge pressures on them to find the best person for the job, and by using Graphologists or Astrologers or any other pseudoscientific method, they are deferring the responsibility to someone else, and then if the employee turns out to be unsuitable then they can blame the astrologer, who will just brush it off with a vague statement like ‘mixed messages’ or ‘the stars were not clear’. It is understandable that companies would want to try anything to get great staff, in order to increase profits and productivity, and high levels of applicants’ only increases this selection pressure. It is important that both the public and companies should be made aware of the fact that graphology and other equally silly techniques have no evidence that they work and at best are a waste of time and should not be tolerated as part of a selection process, as candidates should be selected on their merits and abilities, and not on something arbitrary, often completely random and out of their control.

1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8914984/China-job-ads-discriminate-against-Scorpio-and-Virgo.html

2. Snyder, C.R., Larsen, D.L, and Bloom, L.J., Acceptance of general personality interpretations prior to and after receipt of diagnostic feedback supposedly based on psychological, graphological, and astrological assessment procedures. J. Clin. Psych. 32 (1976) 258-265.
3. http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf

E Markham (2011). Horoscope Hogwash Blogspot

Ridiculous Radiation

2011-11-29T14:45:00.002Z

A recent article in the Guardian exposes the pseudoscientific claims of Dr Christopher Busby, who has been promoting his ‘anti-radiation tablets’1. These are calcium and magnesium tablets which he has been targeting to the vulnerable and desperate Japanese people, at exorbitant prices in the wake of the recent nuclear disaster. His claims are not only untrue but highly misleading, as well as including unfounded statements that the Japanese government is trying to cover up the disaster and deliberately hurt its people.

http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Radiation-Tablets-KIO3-Potassium/dp/B001QVIOZA

Firstly, to make one thing very clear, there is no such thing as an ‘anti-radiation tablet’, or any other kind of medical prevention (except if you wish to wear a lead suit of armor everyday). Nuclear disasters are highly rare occurrences, and so even if medical prevention did exist, it would be a waste of time for the vast majority of individuals. Of the many by-products produced in the fusion from a nuclear disaster, one of which is radioactive iodide, the negative effect of this can by reduced by taking potassium iodide, as this will out compete the radioactive iodide for the natural affinity for the thyroid, where it would become concentrated and lead to thyroid cancer, however this only protects against thyroid cancer specifically, and has no protective effects on all the other types of cancer which are likely to occur depending on the levels and duration of ionizing radiation exposure. The WHO recommends 130mg of potassium iodide (which is 700 times the daily required dose) would be protective against thyroid cancer, small doses can be obtained through iodized salt, however 1kg of salt would be required to get sufficient protective levels, and this would be a lethal quantity of salt. But luckily potassium iodide is widely available in tablet form, even though its protective effects are limited. However, even this is highly unnecessary, but that hasn’t stopped thousands of people ordering these tablets, with production companies being swamped with orders2.

Other treatments for radiation effects include the use of antibiotics, because of the radiations negative effects on the rapidly self replenishing intestine, and so vomiting and nausea are common side effects, which are eased by reducing the levels of bacteria in the gastro-intestinal tract.

www.4u-detox.com

However, Dr Busby's tablets only contain calcium and magnesium, which he states provide protection from radiation, but lacks any scienitific studies or research to support these claims. It is hard to imagine why Dr Christopher Busby, a visiting professor at the University of Ulster would be supporting these mineral supplements, but it soon becomes clear when you find out that he actually runs the lab where the tests would be carried out and sells the tablets through the website www.4u-detox.com, and so would stand to gain financially from promoting them. He has a PhD in Chemical Physics, which goes to show that scientists can also be mislead and fooled by flim-flam. However, his anti-nuclear stance and subsequent promotion of pseudoscientific treatments for scared and desperate individuals living in the areas surrounding the disaster, is not only unethical but promotes the belief in miracle cures rather than trust in the local government and healthcare providers to address the risks and provide appropriate treatments.

http://www.japanprobe.com/

Japan has fair more stringent regulations than even Europe on the acceptable levels of radiation, not only from direct human exposure, but in food and water as well1, making the need for personal testing of urine or water outside of the evacuation zone not only pointless but a waste of money. It is understandable that when people are scared they act irrationally and don’t always check all the facts when they hear about a new treatment or prevention, but it is the scientific community and the medias responsibility to put the spotlight on these charlatans and expose the fraud and fake claims, in order to promote critical thinking and protect the most vulnerable people within our communities.

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/21/christopher-busby-radiation-pills-fukushima?INTCMP=SRCH
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/16/anti-radiation-tablet-sales-soar-us?INTCMP=SRCH

E Markham (2011). Ridiculous Radiation Blogspot

Awful Alternatives

2011-11-21T00:44:00.005Z

http://nomiwaters.com/2011/04/15/unethical-or-is-it-just-bad-behavior-either-way-it%E2%80%99s-your-decision/

A wonderful article in the Guardian this week is discussing the ethics of alternative medicine1, which at best is seen as a placebo and harmless, however this article explores how these treatments can actually be more harmful than no treatment. This may seem surprising at first, after all, treatments like homeopathy don’t contain a single molecule of the drug, so how could taking this possibly be harmful? However, many alternative medicine practitioners do not give patients all the information, the information is often misleading or wrong, and they also fail to obtain informed consent, which is a basic requirement of ethical medical practice. Another interesting finding is that those receiving a treatment have the belief that it is doing something beneficial, and so are more likely to have increased risky behaviour, because subconsciously they believe that the treatment will be counteracting such actions, for example smokers given a treatment they were told was a detox and would improve their health, and those given this treatment increased the amount they smoked in comparison to the control group2.

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/nov/08/alternative-medicine-ethics-free-zone
2. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/oct/11/placebos-reiki-cancer-patients-harm

E Markham (2011). Awful Alternatives Blogspot

Ubertan Unsafe

2011-11-10T02:24:00.004Z

http://ubertanreviews.com/

A nasal spray called Ubertan is a product which has become increasingly popular among people looking to get the perfect tan. It is available at most tanning salons and online, but upon examination of the bottle something seeming missing, the ingredients. When several concerned users contacted the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) a full investigation in to this product was launched 1. It has since been determined that Ubertan is an unlicensed medication, which mean it is both illegal to sell or advertise Ubertan. The products website appears to have been taken down, but upon further investigation it appears to have simply changed its name, from www.ubertan.com to http://tryubertan.net/. The websites most recent comments date from the 24^th of June, before media coverage of the risks of ubertan products. Since then, no-one has been able to get a statement from the company. Even so, many people are desperate to get hold of this product despite its risks. There is even a Facebook group dedicated to Ubertan, where many women exchange links to websites of where to illegally obtain ubertan products. But is it worth it? One of the biggest risks would be possible allergic reactions or medical complications due to taking the product, and this would be compounded by the fact that the ingredients of the product are unknown, so the doctors would not know an effective treatment.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/14344727

E Markham (2011). Ubertan unsafe Blogspot

Fairy Fantasy

2011-10-12T01:42:00.007+01:00

It has recently been claimed that a live fairy has been captured in Mexico 1, apparently it is now dead and preserved in formaldehyde. The man who caught it, a bricklayer called Jose Maldonado, said it appeared when he was picking guavas and he at first thought it was something shiny before he picked it up and realised it was a fairy. He has recently lost his job, and so he charges people who come to his house to see the fairy and take photos. Over 3,000 visitors have come to see the fairy, and it has sparked off locals making merchandise with images of the fairy or selling refreshments to people waiting to see it, bringing money to the local area.

It is quite obvious that the fairy is a hoax for many reasons:

-why would a bricklayer be picking guavas

-why would he kill the fairy, as it would be worth more alive than dead

-where would someone in the poorest part of Mexico gets formaldehyde from

-why is it identical to a plastic toy fairy sold in Mexico

Mexican Toy "Fairy"

http://yfrog.com/h4mx3jjtj http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2011/08/mexican-man-captures-live-fairy.html

All thought misleading gullible people in exchange for money is deeply wrong, it does have one positive impact by bringing tourism and business to one of the poorest parts of Mexico. However, this comes at a price; it does promote the belief in superstitions and mythology, which can have negative repercussions, like people seeking out alternative medicine rather than medicine that are proven safe and effective.

1 http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=415921&CategoryId=13003

E Markham (2011). Fairy Fantasy Blogspot

Oscillococcinum Oxymoron

2011-09-15T01:19:00.005+01:00

It seems to be a growing trend that big companies and corporations threaten legal action against anyone criticizing their product, however now even pseudoscience wants to masquerade as science, by suing bloggers and writers for libel when they discuss how the product doesn’t work or is scientifically incorrect. The most prominent case is this was when Simon Singh was sued by the British Chiropractor Association, but eventually the case was dropped, however this is significant because most people wouldn’t have the financial backing to fight the charges and so would become silences, but fortunately this was not the case.

http://www.multivu.com/players/English/45775-Boiron-Oscillococcinum/

Another case that has just come to light in the British Medial Journal, is a case involving an international homeopathy produced who is threatening an Italian blogger because he criticized the product 1, Oscillococcinum, because it technically contains no active ingredients, since the preparation of 200C is the equivalent of 1 in 100 then diluted serially 200 times, this is the same as “1ml of the original ingredients diluted in to water the same size as the known universe”, so clearly it cannot be claimed to have any of the original molecular present. But that doesn’t matter, to make matters worse, Oscillococcinum, the original ingredient that they claim to be diluting, doesn’t actually exist! As it was recorded and discovered by only one person, but apparently duck liver contains very high concentrations of this non-existent molecule. Even the principle behind the product does not follow the theory of homeopathy, as it is based on "treating like with like". Since this product is designed to threat the flu, so it must produce similar symptoms to that of the flu. Then is is suggesting that the flu is simply imaginary? Hopefully commonsense and science will prevail.

1 http://www.blogzero.it/contatti/prova/

E Markham (2011). Oscillococcinum Oxymoron Blogspot

Ocular Oddity

2011-08-20T00:53:00.004+01:00

http://medicine.iu.edu/oto/cochlearimplantprogram/patients/

Recently an English man was diagnosed with superior canal dehiscence syndrome after 6 months of progressive hearing loss, eventually cumulating in hearing his heart beat and hearing his eyes move 1. This is due to internal damage to the ear, which means internal noises can be heard, like the friction of the muscles moving in the eyes. It has an incidence of 1 in 500,000. Luckily, once diagnosed the operation was relatively straight forward.

1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-14308474

E Markham (2011). Ocular Oddity Blogspot

Train-track Therapy

2011-08-04T04:30:00.006+01:00

Another curious ‘Alternative therapy’ that has recently sprung up in Indonesia has been dubbed ‘track therapy’, this might sounds far fetched or something used as a motivation tool or to overcome irrational phobias, it is actually being used by desperate and poor people in Indonesia to treat their chronic illnesses where modern medicine has failed them. It’s recently popularity stems from a story where a disabled Chinese man goes to a train track to commit suicide, but instead is cured1. While most skeptics would say that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, this is not always a luxury that people suffering from a chronic disease can always afford.

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2011/07/20/train-track-therapy-Jakarta/

What is interesting is how the claimed principle behind track therapy is so similar to the electrotherapy popular in Europe in the mid 19^th and early 20^th century, where an electric current was passed through parts of the body in order to being about a therapeutic effect2. However the main difference here is than the track is not electrified, as the trains obtain electric from overhead power lines and not the track itself. So most people would say “What’s the harm then?” Well, there are many reasons why this practice is dangerous, the most obvious of which is laying across railway tracks that are in constant use, and the frequency of which is often unpredictable. The Indonesian government has erected signs in popular locations stating a prison sentence or large fine for anyone caught on the tracks, in order to try and discourage people from attempting this, but it has so far proved unsuccessful. There is another reason why this practice is dangerous, it is distorting the boundaries between medicine and placebo, as many people have claimed to feel better after laying on the tracks, and while this is beneficial the risk they are putting themselves at is significant. It is likely that more people will be killed using this therapy than will really benefit. Understandably being told by a doctor that there are no effective treatments for your disease, or that you cannot afford them, leads people to trying irrational things in order to seek relief, while many placebos can be effective this should not be one of them.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14381928
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrotherapy

E Markham (2011). Train-track Therapy Blogspot

Biocranial Baloney

2011-06-29T01:33:00.006+01:00

Recently in the field of chiropractic alternative medicine the ‘Biocranial Technique’ has become rapidly popular. Not satisfied with cracking your bones, this ‘technique’ seeks to realign bones in the skull and top of the spine to increase the efficiency and duration of the ‘correction’. Chiropractor S. Marmorstein describes the technique as "the membrane within the skull excerts and powerful influence over the integrity of the spine. With it, the entire spine and pelvis can be adjusted simply by working on the cranium"1. The exact procedure seems to vary from practitioner to practitioner; such variance would not be tolerated in the medical community. Robert Boyd developed the Biocranial system and claimed that “most injuries occur at birth, and that this can be influenced during pregnancy and from the birth of the mother, and so on”2 and that these ‘injuries’ don’t need to have symptoms to still affect us and our offspring. The idea that pressure on the soft bones of the skull during pregnancy and childbirth can cause or influence disease later in life is quite illogical, because the skull needs to be malleable in order to exit the birth canal, and so we would all be affected by this (which conveniently means this technique is applicable for everyone). It is also not explained how some gentle manipulation of the scalp or rubbing of the spine correct this. Another claim is that rhythms of the craniosacral system can be felt with the fingertips and that this is the flow of cranial fluid 3, the rate and flow of which has been claimed to have an influence or be an indicator of disease.

No properly randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled trials have been published regarding any Biocranial technique 3. Furthermore, of the small trials that have been carried out to compare practitioners, the practitioners were requested to record the ‘cranial rhythm’ they claimed to feel in their patents, however when compared there was no similarity in their measurements 3. Scientific evidence does not support the theory of misalignment of cranial bones, the medical community believes that the bones of the skull are fused by sutures 4 (fibrous joins), but allowing small expansion due to intracranial pressure, however, this does not suggest that they could become misaligned or that this could be a cause of disease since the movement would be miniscule. This technique has been claimed to treat a range of disorders including: Angina, hypertension, eczema, arthritis, asthma and gastric problems 3. Over all, this technique can be seen as another ineffective and unnecessary addition to the vast numbers of alternative medical procedures available, which seek to separate the patient from their money in exchange for unrealistic pseudoscientific claims.

1 http://www.drstuart.net/hole%20in%20the%20head.pdf

2 http://www.youtube.com/user/BioCranialInstitute

3 http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cranial.html

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suture_(joint)

E Markham (2011). Biocranial Baloney Blogspot

Fitflop Fallacy

2011-06-09T20:11:00.001+01:00

http://www.fitflop.com

A new crazy hitting the high streets this summer is the fit-flop 1, which has been promoted with claims such as “helps you lose weight and improve muscle tone”2 simply by walking. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and this product is trying to provide that evidence by extrapolating on the initial findings from a very small study of the shoes (only 20 women). Fit-flop claims to increase leg and thigh muscle activity by up to 30% 1, 2, however in such a small study it would be impossible to know if such a claim is true. While the position of the strap over the main part of the foot is beneficial over conventional flip-flops it is by no means a method for obtaining toned muscles. The method claimed this was due to the soft area of padding in the mid area of the shoe, which apparently means the foot is more unstable and has to work harder to keep balance. Would this not be the same as buying a pair of shoes that don’t fit properly? Because your legs would have to work harder to keep them on your feet. And if this is the case then why would you pay $50 for a pair of sandals that do not fit? Podiatrist Lorraine Jones says "If someone has excessive motion in the mid-foot that isn't controlled they could suffer tissue damage or heel or calf pain," 2 many other scientists have been critical about this product, sighting the pronation of the foot and the excessive rolling of the foot to be a major source of knee pain and foot pain, due to the lack of support. There is no evidence to suggest they are any better than another pair of footwear.

http://www.plus-size-tall.com/shape-ups-fit-flops-and-reebok-easytone-are-they-worth-it-8595/

Not only are they likely to be damaging to your feet, they also have no proof they will help you lose weight, except for maybe giving you the motivation to walk more because you have just spent $50 on a pair of flip-flops. Again, it is the age old saying ‘no pain, no gain’, there is no easy solution and the only really proven way to become more fit is to reduce your calorie intake, eat a healthy balanced diet and exercise regularly.

1 http://www.fitflop.com/
2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13669714

E Markham (2011). Fitflop Fallacy Blogspot

Zombie Zealously

2011-06-02T18:51:00.002+01:00

http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

The Center for Disease Control plays a vital role in a variety of programs and efforts; this includes tracking the spread of outbreaks of disease to educating communities about avoiding disease and assisting in the distribution of health supplies and resources. The CDC releases an information guideline for emergency preparedness every year, with guidelines on storing and sterilizing water to preparing a first aid kit. However this year there publication was slightly different, it had a zombie theme 1. This may seem unrealistic, but it is clearly a good way to communicate the desired information to the target audiences, where they would not normally pay much attention to a dry safety outline. The online guide was instantly so popular that it crashed the CDC servers due to the unexpectedly high levels of traffic to the site. It has since been featured on the news, social media and across the internet in general. Overall the guide could be described as incredibly successful, it has connected and informed so many more people than it usually reaches and clearly this represents the changing face of how information is distributed and communicated within this technology and film based generation.

1 http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp

E Markham (2011). Zombie Zealously Blogspot

Cryptic Codes

2011-05-31T20:22:00.005+01:00

http://lucatrevisan.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/cs276-lecture-1-introduction/

From the development of language and communication there has been the need to restrict those who receive this information from those you would choose not to share it with. This was the beginnings of encryption, a method of disguising the information, so that only you and the desired recipient knows what it written. Many ingenious methods have been employed, some for the purposes of war and others used to scam or to just confuse. This week’s New Scientist explores “Unbreakable” 1; a set of articles discussing unbroken codes and ciphers. It is a fascinating look at a variety of codes which have remained unbroken, even in the face of sophisticated analytical software and computer algorithms designed to break the most complex ciphers. One of the most famous code machines, the Enigma machine still has many codes which have remained unbroken, the article discusses how the codes are created and how modern code breakers that are taking on the challenge in the hope of finally decoding them. More disturbing is the still undeciphered message left by a serial killer during the 1960’s who became known as the ‘Zodiac killer’ 2, where even modern attempts to decode the messages have failed. What is fascinating is that these codes have grabbed the imagination of people through out the generations and the ingenuity of the creators has inspired many more people to follow in their footsteps, both in designing new codes and in developing ways to crack them, this has lead to a competitive one-upmanship, in so doing leading to safer encryption for online communications and maintaining personal privacy.

http://www.workman.com/products/9781579124854/

The book Codes, Ciphers, Secrets and Cryptic Communication 3 is a wonderful read for anyone interested in codes and ciphers. It discusses the history of early attempts at encryption and examines how these have evolved over time and to cope with different challenged from advancing decryption methods. It explored a variety of different unbroken codes and why they have been so successful, as well as why many are likely to simply be fakes because there structure is consistent with that of nonsense. It is a wonderful book, written in a lively style and with plenty of explanations and examples. The reader gains a firm understanding how the different types of encryption work and can have a go at designing their own coded messages.

1 http://www.newscientist.com/special/unbreakable-codes
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer
3 http://www.amazon.com/Codes-Ciphers-Secrets-Cryptic-Communication/dp/1579124852/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1306779591&sr=8-6

E Markham (2011). Cryptic Codes Blogspot

Rapture Recalled

2011-05-24T18:42:00.002+01:00

http://ricksgreengrass.blogspot.com/

Recently yet another ‘End of the World’ prediction has been taking over the media and internet, this time in the form of Harold Camping, an evangelical broadcaster who used a ‘mathematical equation’ to determine the end of the world. Apparently the equation goes a little like this:

“Camping dated the Great Flood to 4990 BC. Taking the prediction in Genesis 7:4 ("Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth") to be a prediction of the end of the world, and combining it with 2 Peter 3:8 ("With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day"), Camping concludes that the end of the world will occur in 2011, 7000 years from 4990 BC. Camping takes the 17th day of the second month mentioned in Genesis 7:11 to be the 21st of May, and hence predicts the rapture to occur on this date.
Another argument that Camping uses in favor of the May 21st date is as follows:
According to Camping, the number five equals "atonement", the number ten equals "completeness", and the number seventeen equals "heaven".
Christ is said to have hung on the cross on April 1, 33 AD. The time between April 1, 33 AD and April 1, 2011 is 1,978 years.
If 1,978 is multiplied by 365.2422 days (the number of days in a solar year, not to be confused with the lunar year), the result is 722,449.
The time between April 1 and May 21 is 51 days.
51 added to 722,449 is 722,500.
(5 × 10 × 17)2 or (atonement × completeness × heaven)2 also equals 722,500.
Thus, Camping concludes that 5 × 10 × 17 is telling us a "story from the time Christ made payment for our sins until we're completely saved."
In Camping's 1992 self-published book 1994? He predicted that the End Times would come in September 1994 (variously reported as September 4 or September 6). When the Rapture failed to occur on the appointed day, Camping said he had made a MATHEMATICAL ERROR.” 1.

http://allthingsd.com/20080410/microhoo-jesus-is-coming-look-busy/

What is surprising is that so many people believe Camper, and are willing to over look that fact that he already made predictions in the past which did not come to pass, so why should he be right now? Apparently 41% of American’s believe that rapture will occur before 2050 2. I find this hard to believe because only 76% of the population identifies themselves as Christian 3, and of those it would be fair to assume that most are quite rational and don’t hold extreme beliefs. Also, who is to say that the numbers he has chosen are the correct numbers? Clearly they are quite arbitrary and so anyone could look at the bible and get some numbers that seem to be suggesting something, carry out an equation and come up with a different day of judgment 4. So why is it that recently there has been a plethora of apocalypse predictions? Everything from the Mayan calendar to solar flares changing the magnetic poles of the earth, but in fact this is nothing new. During all of human history there have always been predictions of death and destruction 5, and sometimes these predictions coincided with natural disasters and achieved credibility. Unfortunately, predictions like this are not harmless, they often have unseen consequences, like many people euthanizing their pets before the event or committing suicide because it did not occur 6. But surely in the 21 century, with all the science and technology available to us, we should no longer need these primitive prophecies in order to explain the world around us. Would it not be better to see the world as it truly is rather than hide behind some illogical explanation?

1 http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110520223656AAJ0vKQ

2 http://www.good.is/post/more-than-40-percent-of-americans-believe-the-rapture-is-coming/

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture

5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse

6 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/if-the-end-of-the-world-is-not-on-may-21-what-will-campings-followers-do/2011/05/20/AFWPfz7G_blog.html?wprss=under-god

E Markham (2011). Rapture Recalled Blogspot

Misleading Magnetism

2011-05-23T21:01:00.002+01:00

http://www.feedmyhealth.com/?p=1434

Recently a 6 year old boy called Ivan Stojiljkovic from Koprivnica, Croatia is being hailed as “Magnet Boy”, because apparently metal objects can stick to him. This story has been picked up by a variety of news providers including CBS 1 Reuters 2 and The Daily Mail 3. The same images and information are used by almost every version of this story, and it did initially look impressive.

However, the claims made are illogical at best. Firstly, many of the objects he is seen being magnetized to are non magnetic. Secondly, apparently he can only magnetize objects if they are in direct contact with his skin, but that doesn’t make sense, because magnets are able to be attracted to metal even if there is thin cloth or paper in the way (and one would assume that this ‘magnetism’ was already traveling through his skin, so it shouldn’t make any difference if he wore a shirt). Thirdly, when looking up this story on the JREF website 4, it outlines how this effect has been repeated by many people due to the natural oils in the skin building up and becoming sticky if a person sweats and goes without washing for a while. The ‘magnetism’ effect can be cured by the application of talcum powder to the skin.

1http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504784_162-20063282-10391705.html

2 http://www.reuters.com/video/2011/05/14/croatian-magnet-boy-displays-attractive?videoId=210783313

3 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385885/Magnetic-boy-carry-pans-chest-Ivan-Stoiljkovic-6-sticks-metal-objects-body.html

4 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1311-talcum-powder-cures-magnetism.html

E Markham (2011). Misleading magnetism Blogspot

Climate Criticism

2011-05-17T21:17:00.005+01:00

http://www.all-creatures.org/hope/gw/01_GW_humor.htm

Global warming is a complex issue, because there is no one single cause to blame. Many different events combine to influence the global temperature and so early attempts to explain the causes and what we should do to combat it have often been over simplistic. However, recent articles like “NASA gets caught faking climate change data again”1 are not helpful. They simply make out that the government is trying to deceive everyone and hide mistakes. Predicting future climate change and modeling it is a very complex job and unfortunately it is not always accurate, that is why it is a prediction not fact. Scientists at NASA use advanced algorithms in order to model climate changes based on past climate data. However, many other factors need to be taken in to account; solar activity, release of other green house causing gases and ozone damaging substances (venting refrigerants, aerosol use), levels of smog and volcanic eruptions. With so many variables, many of which are just unpredictable or erratic, how can it be constructive to criticize attempts at such difficult predictions with comments like “The climate change hoaxers use computer models to predict that sea levels would rise… But Mother Nature was never good at computer science”. Of course there will always be people who are skeptical about climate change, and a minority of people promoting conspiracy theories about it, but their uninformed opinions should not be given a voice in the media where is can masquerade as fact. There are regulating bodies and peer review systems in place to check the validity of scientific claims, if someone feels strongly that a mistake in the data has been made then they could contact the journal and original author in order for the relevant changes to be made and published, not write alarmist attacking articles in order for their voice to be heard. One thing is clear, action needs to be taken.

1 http://biggovernment.com/jdunetz/2011/05/13/nasa-gets-caught-faking-climate-change-data-again/

E Markham (2011). Climate Criticism Blogspot

Symbolic Stupidity

2011-05-16T06:06:00.005+01:00

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/archives/2008/Jul/

Everyone feels an importance to have their voice heard, but increasingly the way this is achieved is through opinion polls and online petitions rather than actual actions. These online petitions do make it easy for many people to feel that their opinion will make a difference, however if anything, they make opinion less significant. There are so many websites that will take your information, but what will they do with it? How will they achieve there goal? Obviously putting pressure on governments who are creating and changing laws, which will directly affect many people’s lives is important, but what difference will sending the government an email, which will be filtered and have an automated reply achieve? If someone really cared that much and really wanted to have their opinion heard why not protest or go out and physically do something?

Recently social websites and personal emails have become inundated with requests to sign petitions to stop the proposed anti-gay changes that are occurring in Uganda. Dozens of websites have taken this cause on and are giving it their support, many offer you a letter outline which you then sign and send to the government officials.1, 2. But thinking logically, why would the government respond to this? Especially an African government in which the email address is likely to simply be set-up to receive this kind of petition, and is not actually causing any inconvenience or even be received by the staff within the government itself. People should not ignore this violation in human rights because your email won’t make a difference, however contacting the United Nations or Amnesty International, which are both large organizations which have the power to make governments take action or impose trade sanctions etc is likely to be far more effective. Is it simply because online petitions are easy and fast, giving you an instant feel good factor, rather than something that involves a lot more time and effort in order to achieve actual change. Other problems with online petitions is there is no guarantee that it will get to the correct person, and then this needs to be someone who can actual make the change demanded for. In the Ugandan situation, it is unlikely there will be anyone within the government or top political party that the petition will actual be sent to or have any effect on at all, an email is simply a message that can be deleted with a click, it is not inconvenient to the life of the person reading it or the government as a whole, and is highly unlikely to change their current opinion. Just because lots of people are angry about the same thing does not mean that complex problems will be solved just because they all send one email.

http://alexhughescartoons.co.uk/2007/02/tribune-cartoon-16th-february/

Furthermore, online petitions can easily be forged and so are essentially useless. It is fine if the signee just wants to vent frustration, but expecting actual social change to come about just because they added their name to an online list is unrealistic. This is a form of Slacktivism -which is the feel good result from supporting an issue without actually having to physically do anything.3 This not only includes online petitions but joining Facebook groups and the wearing of awareness ribbons and bracelets. The rationalists Penn and Teller have a show called Bullsh*t, which addresses the futility of the pink ribbon campaign in the episode entitled Breast Hysteria, they discuss the way companies actually use breast cancer to sell things and to target buyers, the money raised is often used to underwrite the costs of events or just raise awareness, and is not used in a coordinated way in order to actually focus money towards one goal, like research, which will in the long run be the only way to really improve the treatment and detection of cancer. Why then does it have so much support and publicity? Because people can use the fact they wear a pink ribbon or have joined a Facebook group as a way to show the people around them that they care about a certain cause.

Of course the wearing of symbols can be motivated by a variety of factors including social and political reasons, for example the presidential candidates are expected to wear patriotic pins, and this is being used as a symbol, which in no way reflects or is proportional to how patriotic that person actually feels. The same can be seen in the seasonal wearing of poppies in the United Kingdom and Canada during the run up to Remembrance day (Nov 11), which is seen as a patriotic act, a recognition of the lives given during the war and the money raised is supports the troops and their families, but why should people be made to feel guilty if they do not wear a poppy even though they may feel very strongly towards the cause? Why should we want to publicly show we support a cause? Could it be because we want to be congratulated on it and to show we are a moral person, and so gain social standing and acquire friends and relationships with people who also care about the same things. So the motivation for wearing a symbol or being seen to support a cause is very different from actually helping the cause itself. Of course every action a person takes in life has a motivation; otherwise no one would do it, because in some way that action needs to be beneficial to that person, true altruism does not exist. Maybe this can explain why online petitions are so prevalent, it is because we want to be seen to be supporting moral causes and supporting social change, when in fact we really don’t want to invest very much effort in to bringing about the desired changes.

1 http://www.avaaz.org/en

2 http://www.allout.org/

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slacktivism

E Markham (2011). Symbolic Stupidity Blogspot

Splenda Scandal

2011-04-30T20:17:00.003+01:00

http://route2damascus.blogspot.com/

Recently more and more articles have been making their way around the internet regarding Splenda, making a variety of claims. One of the most shocking articles was from the website http://www.examiner.com/, which at first glance appears as a news website. The article “Killing household ants with Splenda” ₁ at first seems like an interesting housewife’s tip for getting rid of ant problems; however it is in fact an ill researched and poorly argued attack on a synthetic sweetener company. The author is Jasmine Jafferali, writing for the Chicago Family Health section of the Examiner, so it would be fair to assume she would be a medical doctor in order to be giving health advice, unfortunately this is not the case. Apparently her background is fitness means she is qualified to give advice on health issues. The article itself made 7 statements about Splenda, which it claims are researched facts, but is in reality alarmist comments in order to get an emotional response from the reader. It included statements such as Splenda was originally developed as an insecticide, it’s not ‘real food’, it contains toxic chlorine, and making a link between chlorine and cancer. The final statements were most shocking by saying that chlorine during pregnancy will affect the child’s anatomy and then made the comment “people that consumed diet drinks were 41% more likely to be overweight than those who did not”. However surely the logical reason why people who drink diet drinks tend to be more obese then people who do not, is probably due to the fact that obese people that are looking to loose weigh will want to drink diet products, where as people who have a normal weight are less likely to drink diet drinks, because they are not seeking to loose weight. The diet drinks containing Splenda or similar artificial sweeteners cannot be blamed for causing obesity just because there is a correlation, this does not prove causality. The comments in this article are designed to scare people, as most of the general public are likely to have heard of Chlorine before, and know that its used to sterilise swimming pools etc. and so would be worried at the thought of their sweetener containing chlorine, without considering that household table salt is Sodium Chloride (NaCl) and is perfectly harmless.

Sucralose is an artificially produced chlorinated Sucrose molecule, which is more stable, has no calorie content and is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Sucralose has undergone intensive testing for extended periods of time in a variety of laboratory animals before being approved by the FDA for human consumption. The molecule itself is broken in two when ingested, and then is excreted in an unaltered form. 92.8% of the sucralose is eliminated from the body via the faeces and urine when 1mg/kg body weight per day is ingested, and safe acceptable daily ingestion of Sucralose is determined to be 15mg/kg of body weight based on extensive testing ₂. A research publication evaluating the toxicity of Sucralose concluded with the statement “The global population is presenting rises in overweight, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia ….. As a result, there is acceleration in the use of light or diet products, and in the consequent consumption of sweeteners” This highlights how vital new research and scientific discoveries are in the field of healthcare, however this poses new challenges to educate the public and reducing the fear and uncertainty, which inevitably become alarmist, ill researched comments and articles online and in the media.

Surprisingly, simply typing ‘Splenda chlorine’ in to Google in order to research Splenda, returns a whole variety of websites outlining the ‘evils’ of Splenda. One of the top results was for the website http://www.splendaexposed.com/ selling an entire book about Splenda entitled “Splenda: is it safe or not?” More shockingly however was the website http://www.truthaboutsplenda.com/ which is an open attack against Splenda, which is in fact provided by The Sugar Association, which represents sugar beet and sugar cane farmers across

America

. This seems like a clever method of attacking the competition and damaging the reputation of a leading company who was gaining an increasing market share at the expense of the sugar farmers. This is hardly an unbiased source and the information available to the public regarding Splenda is confusing and conflicting at best. It is understandable that people can feel wary of new discoveries, but synthetic sweeteners have undergone rigorous testing before being approved as safe for the public, and since it is being used in so many products and in so many countries around the world it should be intuitive that it must be safe otherwise it would have been detected before now and taken off of the market. It has been studied intensively in laboratories and health clinics, and no significant associations have been found. Obviously there are going to be some people who take these products and then have ill health effects, but that does not mean causality and are more likely to simply be coincidence.

1 http://www.examiner.com/family-health-in-chicago/killing-household-ants-with-splenda

2 http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/ijmorphol/v27n1/art40.pdf

E Markham (2011). Splenda Scandal Blogspot

Adverse Acupuncture

2011-03-28T01:36:00.005+01:00

http://www.brownchiro.com/acupuncture.htm

Today graduate student are leading the forefront of knowledge and scientific discovery. Graduate newspapers tend to explore there ability to form clear arguments and develop ideas. All though the content of such publications tends to be about student life, mostly consisting of articles about drinking, relationships and careers, sometimes they also explore issues like health. Today’s issue of New University, a student publication from the University of California, contained an article discussing Acupuncture 1. This looked to be an interesting article because it initially seemed to be a unbias analysis, however it then quickly degraded into a bias personal account of one person, that almost bordered on advertising or endorsing this practice. It stated “What if I told you that I found a doctor who simply sticks a few needles into you and all your pains and aches disappear in a matter of a few days…. Say goodbye to expensive doctor bills” within the second paragraph, it then went on to discuss the authors experience, the medical doctor had told her she had torn some ligaments in her ankle and needed to rest it.

Essentially, she didn’t listen to the doctor and instead went to see an acupuncture therapist which her relative had recommended, because apparently her ‘horribly allergies symptoms had miraculously disappeared after one needle treatment’. She claimed she was skeptical at first but then went, had two needles put into her arm and was told to start running, she said her ankle didn’t hurt anymore but that her arm started hurting. She was told that “Because the pain balled up in my left ankle was being released into my right arm, the needle pinpointed pressure pain points, which diagonally connected my left ankle to my right arm.” Now, I’m fairly certain that it does not take a scientist to know that this doesn’t make any sense. Why would separate body parts be joined diagonally? Why would putting ‘pressure’ on a point relieve pain elsewhere? Would it not be sensible to conclude that the pain relief could be due to different reasons? For example, the placebo effect is very strong and influential, and could well be responsible. Another explanation could be that the shock and fear of being pricked with needles has caused an adrenalin response, and so act as a pain killer, allowing her to run.

What is frustrating is that this article is written aimed at other college students, who are traditionally less economically stable and tend not to be able to afford medical treatment within the

United States

, where there in no national health service, and so if you are unable to afford private health insurance then you are left with very few options. This article is likely to have a negative impact on their lives, because they are likely to believe that since she is also a student then she will be educated enough to trust, and since it worked on allergies and injuries, then it could help them. This will simple make students consult alternative practitioners rather than medical professionals, and so not get the medication and treatment that would actually be beneficial, delaying treatment and putting students at risk. All “Thanks to Acupuncture”.

1 http://www.newuniversity.org/2011/03/features/acupuncture-alternative-remedy/

E Markham (2011). Adverse Acupuncture Blogspot

Herbal Hokum

2011-02-17T18:54:00.004Z

http://www.selectscience.com/product-news/broughton-laboratories-ltd/gmp-for-traditional-herbal-medicinal-products/?artID=17270

Once again

Britain

is seen to be almost medieval in comparison to much of the west when it comes to healthcare. Not only does the heir to the thrown support homeopathy and other useless pseudoscience, but now our own government has decided to over rule an European ban on herbal products that are not licensed and proven medicines. The headline of the Metro today read “

Britain

defies EU over herbal ban” 1 and went on to describe how it will leave

Britain

vulnerable to quacks and other fraudsters. It is partly understandable that a ban as soon as April would put many companies out of business, for example health food/supplement chains like Holland and Barrett. However, surely it is more important to consider that you are putting the publics’ health at greater risk by not enforcing the ban. What will happen when people go to these establishments looking for a treatment and are advised to take a certain supplement, but then the condition does not improve or gets worse, and in the process are not seeking qualified medical intervention. The public needs to be more informed that these shops are selling plant extracts that offer no health benefits over a normal balanced diet. They are seen to be more natural, however, those that were shown to work have been studied and the active chemical has been extracted and synthesized to allow for mass production and to avoid unwanted contamination that is inherent with plant material. If anything avoiding this ban is simply allowing a few retailers to stay in business which are quite happy to take advantage of the sick and vulnerable within our communities.

1 http://www.metro.co.uk/news/855767-chinese-medicine-and-herbal-ban-to-see-britain-defy-eu-laws

E Markham (2011). Herbal Hokum blogspot

Idiotic IQ

2011-02-13T10:24:00.003Z

http://emsap2.blogspot.com/2009/08/measure-my-head-heart-of-darkness.html

In Tuesday’s issue of the Metro, a study is quoted as proving that ‘a junk food diet can lower a child’s IQ’ 1. This article is trying to represent the research study it was taken from, but it is clear that the take home message has been exaggerated a bit. Firstly, there are many more factors involved with IQ that just diet, and so it would be easy to imagine that those parents who fed there children junk and processed foods before the age of 3 are also likely to be less than ideal parents, probably from a poor background and unlikely to ‘go the extra mile’ with regards to extracurricular activities and other stimuli, which is likely to have a bigger influence on the IQ that just the food. Secondly, the article also states there is a relationship with ‘head growth linked to intellectual ability’, this is a notion much studied in the 19^th century and there is no link between the size of the head or the size of the brain and the IQ. This article is poorly written, clearly the research was misunderstood and misinterpreted, and again the vital role of the media as a ‘go between’ from science to the public means that the actual facts become altered and distorted like a game of Chinese whispers.

1 http://www.metro.co.uk/news/854859-junk-food-diet-could-damage-your-child-s-iq

E Markham (2011). Idiotic IQ Blogspot

Interesting Imprinting

2011-01-27T12:37:00.006Z

http://www.hihg.org/modules/education/Design/page.asp?CourseNum=2&LessonNum=2

Every person inherits half of their genetic information from their mother and half from their father, which occurs at fertilisation when the sperm and egg meet. The chromosomes inherited from each parent are the same and form pairs in mitosis. Normally both the maternal and paternal copies of each gene are expressed, and when one or both is mutated then this can sometimes lead to disease. However, there is a special situation for a few genes where only one of the parental genes is allowed to be expressed and the other copy is ‘turned off’. This was discovered when patients affected by two very different diseases were discovered to have mutations in the same gene, and which disease they developed was depended on the parent that the mutated gene was inherited from. Further discoveries have been made in this direction by the identification of a gene which is only expressed in some tissues of the body when inherited from one parent and expressed in other tissues when inherited from the other parent, but never are both copes expressed in the same tissues. The outline of the research is posted on the New Scientist website with the article ‘Ma's gene does different things to pa's copy’ 1, this is a nice article discussing the complex genetic mechanisms we are only just beginning to understand, and is likely to change our understanding of genetics and inherited risk factors for disease.

1. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20030-mas-gene-does-different-things-to-pas-copy.html

E Markham (2011). Interesting Imprinting Blogspot

Science Skepticism

2011-01-25T20:05:00.001Z

Science plays a critical role in the way we look at the world around us, for designing things as different as a new efficient car engine to treating disease and developing solutions to combat world hunger. It is present in our lives everyday, and involved in almost everything we do. And yet, Science is under attack. It had been undermined by the media; confusing and distorting stories. It has been betrayed by scientists themselves; either from misquoting, cherry picking of statistics or publishing articles which have not undergone peer-review scrutiny. It has become something that the public has been made to feel wary of, and in some cases fear. Many examples come to mind when considering scientific advances which have been misinterpreted and condemned, GM crops and IVF treatment to name just two. It is vital that scientists address this problem, in order to regain the trust of the public and gain there support. BBC’s “Horizon: Science Under Attack” 1 highlighted many of these issues and tries to reconnect the scientific and public community, because only through exchanging ideas and becoming involved by asking people what they are worried about, are you then able to address these issues, before they become a problem. Communication and education is key in regaining the support of the wary public, and the Horizon program explored the underlying question of ‘why people believe what they believe’ in order to determine why past scientific advances have so much fear and hostility against them, and then work out a way to address these issues. Either way, science needs the backing of the public and government in order to secure funding and continue research, and so it is in the scientists’ best interests to interact with the public more, getting them more involved. After all, the greatest fear is the fear of the unknown.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00y4yql/Horizon_20102011_Science_Under_Attack/

Shoe Scams

2011-01-23T19:19:00.001Z

Many people suffer from back pain from time to time, and many people stand at an angle, but claims from shoe inset companies that different types of inserts can be used to treat back and foot pain has no scientific support. The LA Times published an article 1 discussing a new shoe insert product that was making claims it could not support, and subsequently made many people question the supposed benefits from orthotics and other shoe inserts that are advertised on TV and prescribed by doctors. Technically an orthotics 2 is a device which restricts the movement of an area, holding it in a desired position and giving it support, this tends to come in the form of a large brace. Simple inner soles for shoes are not orthotics. What is shocking is that all though some people are skeptical enough to know these devices will not instantly cure back pain or other chronic problems; there are many websites out there still willing to promote these misleading products. Some of which carry the NHS logo and state that this product is approved by the HNS 3, but if you look at there range of product they have one type called ‘Catwalk’ which is designed for high heels. I’m sorry, but if you’re suffering from foot pain the most likely cause would be the high heels, which are scientifically shows to cause deformation of the foot and lasting damage to the bones and tendons of the foot if worn for long periods. So, wouldn’t it make more sense to stop wearing high heels, than to buy some insert which claims to magically cure these problems? The user may feel some short term relief, the same with buying a new pair of shoes where the support has not been worn away, but these inserts are nothing more then foam and are certainly not going to be a solution to long term chronic problems.

1 http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-skeptic30-2008jun30,0,3021663.story

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthotics

3 http://painfreewalking.co.uk/orthotics-insoles-shoe-inserts.html

Successful Studying

2011-01-23T18:41:00.001Z

Studying and learning is something most people experience, and developing a good study regime can be very helpful in passion exams, but what are the key ways to actually learn? There are dozens of learning tips and pyramids out there, but how do you know what actually works? New research published in the journal Science 1 finds that being tested is a good way to learn and remember information, with 50% more information being able to be recalled a week later. Memory is all about retrieval, and so learning the best mechanisms to tap in to that is vital. Testing also allows people to identify gaps in there knowledge and so they don’t become over confident. It was also found that student who use diagrams during there studying were able to remember more details. Recalling may be more difficult, but because its reinforcement learning it will actually be easier to recall the memory later on.

A recent article on the BBC 2 also focused on methods of learning, this time examining the relationship between difficult to read fonts and retaining the information, which was part of a study published in the journal of Cognition. The idea behind this is that the person has to ‘concentrate more’ and used a ‘deeper kind of learning’. Both these studied points at little changes that can be made in order to improve memory skills and be more successful in exams.

Other skills and tricks people find useful is using something funny or interesting in order to memories a group of things. For example, you can use the Memory Place 3 technique to remember a room and then attach a thing to remember to each item in the room, then you simple need to recall the room in order to remember the desired items. The same technique can be applied to a journey or to a story or situation. At the end of the day, a combination of hard work and a variety of different techniques are likely to be successful. Linking colour, images and other visual stimulation will activate other parts of the brain and help with memory recall that just blind memorization on its own. However, revision and memory techniques are a personal thing and one in which everyone develops different systems that work for them.

1 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/01/19/science.1199327.abstract
2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11573666
3 http://bonar13.web.id/2010/01/memory-palace-imaginary-journey-to-remember-things-better/

Realistic Risk

2011-01-20T09:54:00.001Z

Fergus Walsh writes for the BBC medical files section, and it is refreshing to see the relative risk from seasonal flu being assessed in a non-alarmist way. His article “What is the chances of dying of the flu?” 1 carefully asses your risk, which is depended on what age group you fall in to and other risk factors. Even at the highest risk, those of middle age, only 1 in 440,000 people are likely to die from swine flu. Obviously far greater numbers of people contract the flu for every one person who dies, but it is something we really should not be so worried about, as our individual risk is so very small. This doesn’t mean we should be complacent about cleanliness or the spreading of germs; as this is just good practice in order to lower your risk of most kinds of easily transmittable infections. It was nice to see such a well thought out argument, laid out in an easy to understand way, which might help set the public’s mind at rest and maybe go some way to lowering the number of angry mothers demanding the flu jab for there child. The NHS can only afford a limited number of immunizations, and so those at most risk need to get themselves vaccinated, while everyone else should practice common sense and good cleanliness. I agree vaccinations are vital for the protection of a population from a variety of deadly diseases, but the seasonal flu is not as deadly as the media is promoting it as and realistically, a number of people die from the normal flu every year, and so this is not particularly more virulent than any other. We need to keep in mind that if the NHS vaccinated everyone, then there would be no money to offer chemotherapy to cancer patents and to pay for preventative mammograms that save thousands of lives every year. It’s a difficult balancing act, and that is why we need to have a basic understanding of the risk involved before deciding a course of action.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/ferguswalsh/2011/01/what_are_your_chances_of_dying_of_flu.html

Fictitious Fertility

2011-01-20T09:28:00.001Z

Today the BBC published an article examining the supposed beneficial effects of antioxidants on male fertility 1. This article used a study on existing fertility data from men who took supplements compared with controls. The report initially looked positive until this statement “However, he said it was important to note that antioxidant therapy would be unlikely to increase the numbers of sperm men produce and could not therefore help with all cases of male infertility.” So essentially, there is no benefit in taking antioxidants to improve your fertility. Also, it is quite interesting how little science is actually included in this report, this is probably because there is no research clearly showing any affect of consuming antioxidants and all the antioxidant benefits that are cited are simply extrapolated from the effects seen with antioxidants produced naturally by the body. It is highly unlikely that any antioxidants consumed would be absorbed by the body, and it is more likely they will simply be broken down and excreted, because the body produces its own specific antioxidants at the required locations. Another important factor to bare in mind is that some oxidation processes are vital within the human body, like the use of oxidising free radicals generated by the immune system in order to fight off infections. If ingesting antioxidants had a direct effect on the body then this beneficial effect would be cancelled out by the lack of an affective immune system.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12215496

Genetic Gaming

2011-01-19T00:46:00.001Z

A new novel online scientific game recently reviewed by both New Scientist 1 and the New York Times 2 receiving much praise is Etherna 3, the premise of which is to complete challenges involving the folding of RNA in to desired structures by taking advantage of base pairing specificities. This program highlights the issues currently being experienced in the field of genetics, as the RNA molecules can fold in a variety of ways dependent on many factors. This game is very clever and simple, it has an easy to navigate layout and is vibrant. The idea may seem geeky and daunting to non scientists but the theory behind it is made simple and easy to understand during the tutorial, and in essence is fun to play. The website also contains a live chat forum to allow the exchange of ideas and has a series of challenges for every type of gamer. The game itself is somewhere in between Bejewelled, Bubble, and Tetris. The benefits of such a game include new structures can be designed by the player and lead to the discovery of new mechanisms in the folding and regulation of RNA molecules. The possibilities are huge when large groups of people work together and apply different methods of thinking and problem solving to the same task, and the data generated from the game can go on to benefit scientific discovery in the future. This is just another online problem-solving community currently part of a growing trend, taking advantage of offering fun tasks in exchange for large amounts of information and data.

Games like this are making science fun and exciting for a wide range of people, teaching them some basic biology along the way. It is vital to promote since in a range of forms and media in order to appeal to different groups of people, and this game goes a long way to achieving this goal. After all, the best kind of learning is the kind that doesn’t feel like hard work.

1 http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19966-online-game-helps-predict-how-rna-folds.html

2 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/science/11rna.html

3 http://eterna.cmu.edu/htmls/welcome.html?AAAA

Nobel Nonsense

2011-01-19T00:04:00.001Z

A recent publication which has sparked a lot of controversy and anger in the scientific community is a scientific paper by Nobel prize winner Luc Montagnier 1. His paper made claims that DNA was able to make a “quantum imprint” in water, and so fool enzymes and replication machinery in to replicating what is not there, in a kind of teleportation effect. Geneticists are outraged, as this is clearly impossible and a purely ridiculous claim. A variety of ‘experiments’ were carried out, including applying weak electromagnetic fields in order to allow the ‘teleportation’ of DNA from one tube to another neighboring tube containing only water, but only if the DNA had undergone several serial dilutions first. Also claims were being made about water having ‘memory’ and that the structure could be imprinted and recovered later.

Filtrations ‘experiments’ were also carried out, where the filter was so find it would not allow bacteria to pass through it and yet the filtrated solution contained infectious organisms, this was thought to again be due to the waters memory and ability to produce ‘ghost molecules’. This is probably one of the most ridiculous pieces of pseudoscience in recent memory. The 12^th Jan issue of New Scientist 2 gave an unbiased view of this article, however promoting these idiotic ideas in a scientifically respected magazine is dangerous. What is curious is that Luc Montagnier has already received a Nobel prize for his work with HIV, and so this paper gains credibility because many people are willing to listen and accept what a respected scientist has ‘discovered’, without questioning it. There are many fundamental flaws in the study, firstly, it is not explained why they are examining electromagnetic ‘imprints’, no one in the field of genetics uses electromagnetic fields to study DNA, because it doesn’t make any sense. All though the shape and structure of the DNA is very important to its function and interaction, and this could, in theory, be replicated by vibrations, the most important detail is the specific hydrogen bonds which form between the bases of the two strands which form the helix. These bases carry the genetic information and require the machinery to add complementary base pairs in order to replicate the DNA. This is the principle behind PCR 3, which was the technique used to amplify any DNA present in the sample. The fact that a PCR product was formed from the ‘water’ tube simply shows that one of the reagents must be contaminated, because scientists use water controls when carrying out PCR replication of DNA. The method of replication relies of the DNA physically being there and changing shape to allow replication, so even if you suppose that a structure could be formed from electromagnetic waves in the water, it would not be preserved during the heating and cooling cycles of PCR, and would not be able to alter its shape to allow for DNA replication. It is simply ridiculous that any respectable scientist would entertain such ideas. Secondly, diluting the DNA makes no sense, because it would be quite dilute anyway, and diluting it would surely only reduce the effect seen. Serial dilutions are used in biology in order to take chemicals or bacterial solutions from a highly concentrated form to a lower concentration which contains the desired number of particles to make studying them easier. However, this paper was hailed as support for homeopathy, which is illogical, because homeopathy uses so many serial dilutions that would be physically impossible to have a single molecule present in the final solution. The idea of water memory is also illogical, because what would stop water having memory of all the other things it has been in contact with? And how would it be able to transfer its memory in to positive therapeutic effect?

Fortunately, this paper has been met with much skepticism, as well as gaining the attention of James Randi and other well known debunkers of pseudoscience 6. The article “Delusions and dilutions never cease” 4 on the JREF website, beaks down the arguments from the paper and expose the bad science within. The paper was also critically examined by the website Science – Based Medicine 5, and found to be wanting. If only New Scientist could have been more faithful to the scientific community and exposed the paper as the unscientific report it is. It is likely that with the current media attention, within the scientific community at least, the paper will gain no ground and will not mislead people with false claims for water memory.

1 http://www.springerlink.com/content/0557v31188m3766x/

2 http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927952.900-scorn-over-claim-of-teleported-dna.html?

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction

4 http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/743-delusions-about-dilutions-never-cease.html

5 http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=2081

6 http://www.quackometer.net/blog/2009/10/why-i-am-nominating-luc-montagnier-for.html

Periodic Problems

2011-01-11T17:04:00.001Z

The Periodic table, in which orders all the elements by atomic number, and groups them in families with similar properties. However, this table is undergoing a revolution. Recently CNN published an article describing the changes that will occur next year. Essentially the weights of 10 elements will be altered; this is because they need to be expressed as a range rather than an exact number, in order to me more accurate. This may not seem like a very big change, but the current table has been used in this form since 1985. However, the first periodic table was developed in 1789 and has undergone numerous changes since then, so changing the current table in order to make it more accurate would actually be far more beneficial to scientific procedures, which would outweigh the hindrance of updating the table in every laboratory. Something like the periodic table needs to be accurate in order to be useful, and so as new discoveries are made then it will need to be updates and changed to reflect this. But this in turn will help other scientific experiments become more accurate, and so we should not be so precious about changes occurring to the current periodic table, even though it seems so familiar, because it is simply a tool to be applied to equations and experiments, and not blindly memorized because then it has no value, because it would no longer be open to change and update with new discoveries.

The periodic table has not always been the same shape and can be interoperated in a variety of ways; the New York Times published a wonderful poster showing an alternative version of the table, in the form of a spiral. The most important consideration in the designing of a periodic table is the needs to represent the information in an easily accessible way, grouping the elements in some sort of order and for it to be accurate. A wonderful variety of tables and diagrams have been produces over the years, but the basic table format seems to have endured the test of time, if for no reason more than ease of use.

Pointless Placebo

2011-01-06T15:56:00.001Z

Newsnight this week 1 featured a segment on homeopathy and calls for more controls and regulations for the industry. Many popular celebrities and much of the royal family use homeopathy, making it popular and trendy within the media and public alike. The use of homeopathy to treat mild conditions, in which effective treatment does not exist I’m sure has a place within medicine, as science has already established that the placebo effect can be very powerful. However, what is not acceptable is when homeopathy is used instead of conventional medicines and so putting a person’s life at risk. The program talked with Simon Sigh, who recently won a liable case in court when he spoke out against pseudoscience, and consulted with Zofia Dymitr, the current chairwoman of the society of homeopaths. The debate was interesting because Zofia said she did not condone the use of homeopathy in treating tropical diseases, or as a prophylaxis to prevent infection, which is something many homeopathic clinics have been claiming. Unfortunately there is on unified regulatory body in order to police the homeopaths claims.

Homeopathy has a huge following, many of whom don’t know the truth about the treatment and the scientific fact that it is so dilute that it doesn’t actually contain any active ingredients what so ever. The problem arises not just from misleading the public and the lack of accurate labeling on the packaging, but from well meaning people traveling out to developing countries and setting up clinics there, in order to offer homeopathic treatments to the local population. This is fundamentally wrong, the community in many developing countries tends to have a respect and trust in westerners and there western medicine, and they usually only have a basic understanding of English, these facts combined make them very vulnerable. They are not making an informed decision as to what they are taking, and in doing so do not receiving often life saving real medication for the diseases. The standard of health care in many of these countries is often very basic; patients tend to have very little understanding of what they are taking and so trust the doctor. Further challenges arise from the existing alternative medicines provided from the witch doctors or other respected members of the community, which are cheaper and seem more natural and closer to the peoples cultural beliefs, mislead thousands of people every year, preventing then from obtaining effective treatment. This is challenging enough without adding to this by offering homeopathy to an already crowded and confusing selection of treatment options.

The call for better labeling on homeopathic treatments is one graining much support both within and outside of the scientific community. I’m sure there are many homeopaths that follow current regulations, and advise patients to seek conventional medicine for serious conditions and do not make outrageous and unsupported claims. But there is also a minority, who are putting people at risk, and this needs to be addressed. Many people also seek out homeopathic treatments after reading alternative medicine books and websites, and so pharmacies that insist on selling these treatments need to have clear labeling to advise the customers of what they are actually getting, as many believe they are buying herb extracts when in fact its just sugar pills. Education and clear labeling are the most effective ways to insure that people know what they are getting and can make a decision for themselves. Sense About Science 2, a organization who campaigns for accurate science within the media and public domain, have produced a memorandum for people to sign in order to push the government in to clearer and more accurate labeling on homeopathic treatments 3. I would urge everyone to please sign this petition in order to allow people to make informed decisions for themselves, rather than allowing them to be misled by the current labeling. For those who feel more strongly about the fallacy which is homeopathy and do not support the governments decision to offer it on the NHS, costing the tax payer thousands of pounds which could have been better spent on proven effective treatments. There is a campaign called 10:23 4, which is organized by the Merseyside skeptics and is a large scale protest and event where people gather and ‘overdose’ on homeopathy treatments. Because the tablets are sugar pills, and contain no actual active ingredients at the standard 30c dose, they are harmless and so the guidelines on the packaging make it look like a medication with complex warnings and dosage guidelines, when in fact it is just placebo sugar pills. Last year demonstration saw 400 people take a mass homeopathic ‘overdose’, to show ‘there is nothing in it’, which will be repeated this year on a larger scale. All thought this campaign has received much media coverage, there are many people out there still unwilling to accept the science and reality behind it, but at least they have been presented with the facts and allowed the freedom to choose.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xfn7t/Newsnight_04_01_2011/

2 http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk

3 http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/567

4 http://www.1023.org.uk/

Hologram hoax

2011-01-06T02:01:00.001Z

Today’s edition of the Metro shone a light in to the darkness of pseudoscience with its article explaining the recent fraudulent claims made by the sellers of “Power balance bracelets”. Recently the companies branch in Australia have acknowledged that there claims are fraudulent and that anyone who has been misled can claim a full money back refund, this is a huge step forward in combating pseudoscientific claims, however the other branches of this company are not retracting there claims and they try and promote the ‘benefits’ of the bracelets from anecdotal evidence rather than fact. The theory behind it is that the hologram ‘improves the body’s energy flow’, whatever that is supposed to mean. Science has long established that there is no ‘energy’ flow within the body, electrical or otherwise. There are highly controlled movements of electrons, ions and chemicals within the body, but the presents or absence of a hologram will make no difference. Part of the way they carry out this con is by tricking the potential buyer by carrying out a ‘test’ to show how you’re physically stronger when wearing the bracelet compared with not wearing it (by taking advantage of applied kinesiology). But obviously this is a biased and not controlled test, to try and sell the product. Many famous people have been sucked in to this scam and there comments form more anecdotal evidence to support the bracelets ludicrous claims. What is frustrating is that more people don’t question these claims and push for the government to regulate these products more in order to protect people from being conned.

Pseudoscience Predictions

2011-01-05T01:42:00.002Z

Another daily does of pseudoscience courtesy of The Times today, which printed an article, entitled “Can we really predict a baby’s sex?” It sited several ‘old wives tales’ and then explained if there was any scientific research or data to back up the claims. It ranged from bathing in different liquids in order to change the pH of the uterus, to eating lots of carbohydrates. This may seem like a harmless article but unfortunately this is a not just a pointless waste of newspaper column space. As we already know, the sex of a child is determined solely by genetics, the genes which are contained within the egg and sperm which come together at fertilization. It is articles like this that confuse the reader and have no scientific value; it is frustrating that people will still tolerate respectable newspapers printing this rubbish. The worst part of this article is that it suggested that eating a certain diet would give you a higher chance of conceiving a child of a desired sex. This is a ridiculous misrepresentation of a scientific study and is simply a correlation between two unrelated things. It may seem like a bit of a harmless report in order to fill the column space during the quite holiday period, but it undermines the reader’s intelligence and could easily guide an unquestioning reader to become mislead by the scientific sounding claims.

Another frustrating piece of pseudoscience which seems to have a growing following is baby sex predicting tables, like the one above. This may seem like a harmless piece of fun in developed countries, but these tables and charts are becoming wide spread across the world and making there way in to medical clinics and pharmacies in many developing countries. The problem with this is that people using them are often uneducated and so are becoming mislead by there predictive claims. What is interesting about pseudoscientific charts like this is that when they are wrong they are never blamed, that it is somehow your fault, the dates you gave were not accurate, but when they happen to predict the sex correctly (50% of the time) then the chart is hailed as legitimate. Many people are conned out of money for these charts, often the poorest and least educated within the community and the people buying them feel guilty and cheated when the chart is incorrect. We have made such progress in science in the last few decades and yet people are still being swindled by this widely peddled pseudoscience.

Statistical Revolution

2011-01-02T19:16:00.001Z

The word ‘mathematics’ or ‘statistics’ often produces fear and panic in most people; however it is easy to forget this is something we do everyday. Fortunatly there has recently been resurgence in maths based popular books and websites, not discussing math and equations but using them to represent complex ideas or data in a simple, easily understandable, and often humorous way.

Recently the BBC cashed in on this rise in popularity by producing a program called “The Joy of Stats”, which was also available on the Iplayer 1. It was a popular show in spite of its cheesy title because it discussed an often scary and dry subject in a fun and exciting way. Statistics is one of several subjects which is hard to translate in to a TV show because of its often complex nature and impenetrable language, however this show focused on the statistics that are fun, useful and most importantly applicable to everyday life, and so was well received by the general public.

Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics 2 are two wonderful books which discuss hilarious correlations between people or things, examining the subjects from a purely statistical point of view, often exposing an interesting underlying relationship which previously would not have been identified. It is written in a very easy to read way, and once you start reading it is hard to put it down. The authors write articles for the New York Times and on the success of their two books they have now expanded the website to include a weekly podcast and blog to discuss new interesting topics they are currently exploring.

Another website, which has become a bit of a cult over the past few years, is GraphJam 3, a website which allows anyone to create venn diagrams and other charts about interesting correlations between current affairs or pop culture. This is a fun website, which again shows complicated ideas in an easy to understand and often funny way. Obiously these diagrams are not based on actual data but are a symbolic way to represent ideas. This website highlights the fact that maths is sill a very relevant and applicable subject for the general public and is not the scary monster it is made out to be, and over all that statistics can be used to produce a humorous image.

A clever new blog becoming popular at the moment is Indexed 4, a blog updated weekly with is a simple venn diagram on an index card representing a clever observation or interesting correlation. This is a highly amusing and very simple website; its popularity has spurred the author to produce a postcard book, which is currently available on Amazon 5. This is a nice idea because it allows people to use these highly effective and funny little diagrams as a greeting, while promoting the simplicity and effectiveness of mathematical diagrams.

Finally, David Spieglehalter, a professor at Cambridge University has created a wonderful little website called Understanding Uncertainty 6, in which there are several games and diagrams which allow you to alter the parameters and explore different ways to interpret and represent the same set of data depending on what you want to show. This allows you to change the settings and parameters and so alter the impact that a set of data has when represented in a graphical format. This is useful because it allows the user to better understand how the media can represent data in a biased way in order to get more of a reaction when presenting a set of complicated data, and gives you the tools to ask more questions and really asses the true meaning of the data.

It is wonderful to see maths moving in so many different directions and being used in such a variety of ways. It is important that maths and statistics changes and adapts with the changing generations and technologies in order to not be left behind, because without maths we would be unable to understand and interpret the complex world around us.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wgq0l

2 http://freakonomicsbook.com/

3 http://graphjam.memebase.com/

4 http://thisisindexed.com/

5 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0811868427?tag=indexed09-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0811868427&adid=1R48B3RKA1XKSXNA7B7A&

6 http://understandinguncertainty.org/

Scientific Christmas

2011-01-01T14:13:00.003Z

The Royal Institutes annual Christmas science lectures is one of the highlights of the scientific calendar. The institute itself was founded in 1799 with the aim to introduce science to the general public, the Christmas lectures began in 1825 and was initiated by Michael Faraday 1. The lecturers have become increasingly popular ever since. It is a platform for a variety of scientific topics to be addressed, often presented by famous or well renowned scientists, like David Attenborough.

The institute approaches the education of the public in a fun and interactive way, getting young people actively involved with science in a variety of ways. As well as the Christmas lectures they also boast an impressive museum and young scientist centre 2.

This years Christmas science lectures explores the topic of Size Matters 3,4,5, covering a wide range of angles and everyone has something to learn from such a charismatic and knowledgeable presenter. The lecture is kept very lively, with audience participation and active problem solving to investigate why size matters and how changes is size can influence the way the objects interact. It is interesting how you often have to leave your ‘common sense’ behind and not rely on your past experiences when considering objects on different scales and how they interact, as the principles governing there interactions are very different. This was demonstrated in a variety of ways, including how Velcro works at its current size, but if you try and scale it up then it will no longer function.

The Christmas lecture is powerful because it brings science to the living room of people across the country and often across the world, together exploring the topics being presented and learning some science which is practical to everyday life, hopefully igniting a passion for the sciences in both the young and older generations alike.

1 http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=00000003534

2 http://www.rigb.org/contentControl?action=displayContent&id=00000002976

3 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x1v7l/Royal_Institution_Christmas_Lectures_2010_Why_Elephants_Cant_Dance/

4http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x1ygp/Royal_Institution_Christmas_Lectures_2010_Why_Chocolate_Melts_and_Jet_Engines_Dont/

5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00x1yny/Royal_Institution_Christmas_Lectures_2010_Why_Mountains_Are_So_Small/

Infulenza Fears

2010-12-29T00:43:00.001Z

The annual flu season has returned however this year it carries more of an alarmist name. Since July 2009, when the last large pandemic of swine flu gripped the country 1, the government tested its measured to see if it would be able to control and cope with a large scale pandemic. I think we can clearly say that it was fairly unsuccessful, leading to unnecessary fear and scaremongering of the public by the media. The only thing that was really determined during that summer was that the virus was targeting the young rather than typically attacking the elderly, however it was no more deadly than previous seasonal influenzas. During that year swine flu only killed 0.03% of those infected 2; the only difference was that a greater proportion than normal was children. It is because the media have thrust this virus in to the public eye and over stated the severity of its spread that we are now in a situation where many individuals are demanding medication and treatment and not taking the time to rest and recover. There is no instant cure for any type of flu, because it is a virus, and so notoriously difficult to treat with medication.

The main medication available to treat swine flu is Tamiflu, which is one of a few effective anti-viral drugs on the market. It is not 100% effective, but it can reduce the viral burden in infected individuals and allow a quicker recovery in most people.

Another misconception is that antibiotics are required; this will not help in the recovery from influenza because it is a virus and antibiotics only work on bacteria 3. Over prescription and not completing all of the doses lead to an increase in antibiotic resistance in the bacterial population, which causes situations like the recent MRSA infections, which are no longer susceptible to antibiotics and so no effective treatment options are left. So doctors are advised to only prescribe antibiotics to patients who have a preexisting medical condition, because the decrease in their immune system due to influenza would leave them susceptible to potentially deadly secondary infections, which most health people could fight off without the need for antibiotics.

Another point to raise is that many people have become unnecessarily wary of vaccinations, this was highlighted during the summer of 2009 when people in at risk groups were offered the swine flu jab. Even thought it was proved safe and effective, many people refused to be vaccinated. The jab was only offered to those who are likely to have medical complication if they contracted swine flu, like pregnant women. Vaccination is an important part of risk management and so those in at risk groups should protect themselves.

But it is important to note, that not enough vaccine is available for everyone, so only those who really need it should become vaccinated, the BBC this week highlighted this point in a article attempting to quell the fears of over protective parents 5. The same limitations apply to antibiotics and antiviral drugs, where only those at increased risk should be offered them. It is important to note that these all cause a huge financial strain on the National Health Service and so should be prioritized to those at most at risk. Unfortunately the health service has to carry out a balancing act between the numbers of people who need medical treatment and the financial constraints of said medial treatment. Simple preventative actions cannot be over stated enough, the “catch it, kill it, bin it” campaign 6 and intensive hand washing campaign are likely to reduced the spread of viral infections just as much as the drugs used to treat them 4, after all, prevention is better than treatment.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_influenza

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibiotics

4 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Swineflu/DG_177831

5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12085345

6 http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_080839

Understanding Space

2010-12-28T02:19:00.001Z

The sheer vastness of space is almost impossible to imagine, all of those planets, stars, and solar systems that make up the many universes, all waiting to be explored and understood. This is one of the great challenges for NASA in the 21^st Century, to begin to understand the universes around us, how they came to be, how they are changing, as well as try to answer the big question of ‘is there life out there?’ This is in no way a small feat, as technology advances, progress also needs to be made in data analysis in order to keep up, otherwise huge amount of data are collected but not interpreted. This is the current situation with the Hubble telescope 1 taking constant detailed images of the universe. Huge amount of data accumulates but it needs interpreting. This is not an easy task, because of the subtlety of many of the images, computers cannot yet distinguish the shapes and outlines and accurately determine what type of astral body it is, or if in fact it is just an artifact.

This has lead to the rise of several projects, one of which relies on people around the world who have an interest in space and who want to help out, joining the network “Galaxy Zoo” 2 which allows members of the public to go through the images that have been collected and classify them in to categories. This is quite enjoyable and you get to see many incredible images taken by the telescope. However, this is obviously a slow process relying on people accurately being able to classify the images by hand, and several people need to classify each image to make sure its accurate, whilst it is enjoyable and you can have your name referenced when any discoveries are made; it is labor intensive and not efficient.

Another route being explored is looking for people with knowledge of computer programming and machine learning to get involved 4 in designing a program able to analyse these images accurately, making the process more efficient. Derren Brown recently wrote about this on his blog 3, and although this would not easy to design, computer algorithms would be more desirable in the long run.

Over all, it is nice to know that ordinary individuals can contribute to the great discoveries currently taking place in physics and astronomy, and that when groups of people get together and help each other great problems can be over come. We are a long way off understanding all of the data currently collected, but we are slowly moving forward, and with each step we get closer to really understanding the universe we live in and how we came to be here.

1 http://hubblesite.org/

2 http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

3 http://derrenbrown.co.uk/blog/2010/12/15105/

4 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/great-dark-energy-competition/

Discovering Science

2010-12-26T02:03:00.002Z

Julia Sweeney discusses her personal journey to question her beliefs, in an animated and comical way in her talk “letting go of God” 1. The story flows from growing up as a Catholic, she then plays with the idea of Buddhism but then finds Atheism. It’s an insightful story, highlighting some of the parts of the bible that are often skipped over in conventional teachings and media, and exposes the real stories and makes you question why so many people follow Christianity and its ‘teachings’ and yet have not read the Bible and fully understand what they claim to believe. Obviously, it’s a book which was written in a very different era, and so some of the messages need to be ‘open to interpretation’. But when you get down to it, many of the passages are conflicting, worrying or just plain non-senseical. Julia point out the fact that people today are far more ‘moral’ and humanitarian than the role models in the bible, but the whole topic is approached in a light hearted and humorous way.

What is interesting is that at first she felt science was intimidating and “unable to deal with uncertainty”, however, the more she explores science in order to better understand the world around her and back up her beliefs, this in fact causes her to question those very beliefs and she comes to the conclusion that science seems to better explain her questions and the more she asks questions the more fulfilling answers she receives from science. Her talk emphasizes the feelings of reward and fascination at suddenly having answers and theories to so many things in the world around us, and is far more fulfilling that just blind unquestioning faith. Her journey leads her to the realization of having to “except what is true over what I wished was true” and the importance “that everything we now know about the world is not blatantly ignored” in favor of ignorance.

1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geRUTfgTQlo&feature=player_embedded

Commercial Christmas

2010-12-25T17:01:00.005Z

http://www.artofthestate.co.uk/banksy/Banksy_christ_shopping.htm

Christmas has conventionally been about family and feasting, but a recent trend has moved the focus of this holiday more towards gifts and spending money. Obviously there is a religious side to christmas for many people, but even this has seen a stead decline over the years in favor of presents and unnecessary objects, which will then be discarded after the holiday season is over. This is all summed up wonderfully in a piece of street graffiti by the artist Banksy, who has become well known for his hard hitting and often controversial street graffiti. Bansky's "Christ with Shopping Bags" was displayed in Santa's Ghetto in London back in 2004, along side many other artists. The Guardian produced an review article for the event 1, stating that the gallery "rallies against the commercialisation of Christmas by selling lots of stuff", which is an interesting take on this modern holiday season. This image is interesting because it turns the conventions of christmas and what it was originally about on its head, and leaves the viewer with a strong take home message about how commercial christmas has become, from its origins as a religious festival.

1 http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2004/nov/18/1

E Markham (2010). Commercial Christmas blogspot

Counterfeit Claims

2010-12-24T10:58:00.007Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3236118.stm

This week I was reading Yahoo.co.uks most popular Odd Stories of 2010 1, when I came across this completely ridiculous 'news story'. Yahoo News are not known for accurate and unbiased news reporting, so I was happy to allow them some creative license with the chosen stories, however the story at number 3 is just plain illogical and even a child could see that this is in no way factual. The article claims that Prahlad Jani, a 83 year old man from India, has not eaten or drank anything for 70 years, stating that he exists on meditation alone. If this was not farcical enough, they then state that the Indian military are trying to study him in order to improve the national army and for astronauts training. I'm sorry but this is not a news story, this is just plain illogical and even a child could tell you this is not possible. I was curious if any other websites had a more accurate version of the story, or if in fact it was something only Yahoo were willing to claim was 'news'. Unfortunately, Googling his name only leads to the story in dozens of websites, including the Telegraph 2 and the BBC 3. The Telegraph reported on the most recent 'scientific study' on Prahlad Jani, carried out this year, where he was studied for a week. This involved him being watched by CCTV and receiving medical checks from the doctors. If this was carried out in a scientifically rigorous way then maybe he would have something to support his claims, or he would then be exposed as the faker he clearly is. Unfortunately, he was allowed visitors and was not constantly monitored, leading to the study being carried out under uncontrolled conditions. Luckily any findings from this study are unlikely to make it into any reputable medical journal or scientific paper. What is distressing about this story is the fact that most of the news reports are not balanced, and so allowing people to think that this man has actually fasted for 70 years, which is clearly not true. The use of the scientific study to try and back up his claims was a pointless exercise, unless its carried out under stringent conditions in order to actually sort the fact from the fiction.

http://fr.toonpool.com/cartoons/Prahlad%20Jani_82491

Why his claims cannot be true:

It would break the laws of physics and thermodynamics, because he was obtaining 'energy for work' ie movement, without an input of 'stored energy' ie food.
The longest period most people can go without food for is roughly 4-6 weeks, after this the major organs begin to fail and the person is likely to go in to a coma because the brain requires high levels of glucose to remain functional.
Humans can only survive a few days without drinking water, because its required in order to replace water lost through sweat and urination, as well as other metabolic processes.
If people can survive without food, then why do 4 million people starve to death every year?
In order for an organism to be considered alive, it must take in nutrients and excrete waste.

Fortunately, there are a few people logical enough to see through this story. One of which is James Randi, and world renowned magician and skeptic. He has been fighting pseudoscience and ludicrous claims like this for years, and offers anyone 1 million dollars for proof of any supernatural claim, when carried out under scientific conditions. In his response to this news story 4, he outlines the the fallacies of the claims and the fact that this was an illogical waste of time and money for the Indian government. It is stories like this that make you wonder how stupid the media believes there readers to be, and why the news cannot actually consist of factual reports.

1 http://uk.yearinreview.yahoo.com/2010/uk_mostpopular_odd#3the-atkins-diet-is-for-wimps
2 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/7645857/Man-claims-to-have-had-no-food-or-drink-for-70-years.html
3 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3236118.stm
4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0u6eJB9GLY

E Markham (2010). Counterfeit Claims blogspot

Homeopathic Hazard

2010-12-24T01:49:00.008Z

http://www.newser.com/tag/1334/2/autism.html

This week the BBC reported on the the risks associated with the use of alternative therapies instead of conventional medicine 1. There is no scientific proof to support the efficacy of homeopathy 3, and so many people are not obtaining correct information, leading to them being misled by the scientific sounding claims of alternative medicine such as homeopathy, and so not receiving potentially life saving vaccinations. This trend has developed since the MMR scare of 1998 2, in which autism was suggested to be linked to the Measles Mumps and Rubella vaccination, this was later disproved in several large scale studies. However the damage had already been done, parents feared for there children's safety and so chose not to vaccinate there children. Since then, measles has seen a huge resurgence within the UK, leading to 10 fold increase in the number of cases, and reports of mumps increasing to almost 5,000 cases in per year. Vaccination is very important for 2 reasons, firstly it protects the individual from a potentially lethal disease, like Measles or Polio. Secondly, when roughly 95% of the population is vaccinated this stops deadly pandemics and epidemics from forming, because the number of people vaccinated create a 'herd immunity'. Herd immunity protects the few people who are not vaccinated, because the number of susceptible people is not sufficient to allow the disease to spread.

http://www.newser.com/tag/1334/2/autism.html

The report from the BBC highlights the fact that many people are becoming misled by pseudoscience and in doing so are attempting to protect there children from 'unnecessary medicine' and use more 'natural alternatives', however these are not alternatives, because they are putting their child at unnecessary risk of serious illness and death. This would not be such a problem if people choosing homeopathic vaccinations only made up a small percentage of the population, because then they would be protected from herd immunity. But in the recent years the use of alternative medicine has seen a dramatic increase, leaving the population vulnerable to a resurgence in diseases almost eradicated in previous generations, due to the lack of herd immunity in the current population. One of the main problems is due to the misunderstand of what homeopathy actually is, and this is compounded by the fact that the NHS offers homeopathic treatments 4. The reasoning behind this varies, but it is suggested that for mild problems where no effective treatment is available, homeopathy can be offered, and can be seen as effective in some cases due to the placebo effect 5. However this is a topic for another day.

1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11277990

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMR_vaccine_controversy

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy

4 http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Homeopathy/Pages/Introduction.aspx

5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo_effect#Mechanism_of_the_effectacebo_effect#Mechanism_of_the_effect

E Markham (2010). Homeopathic Hazard blogspot