News From Around The Blogosphere 8.14.08

Again, as you know, I’m a sucker for a good cryptozoology story. So sorry to once again disappoint everyone but the Georgia Big Foot sighting was a hoax. But don’t worry, Big Foot hunters. You’ll get that wily rascal next time (though probably not).

Placebos work better in children– from Skepchick

Uri Geller’s latest crushing legal defeat- Hooray! – Long-time psychic fraud and amateur magician Uri Geller had been suing those who have dared post videos of his most embarrassing failures citing copyright laws in an attempt to remove them from the internet, but a decision has finally been reached and it didn’t go Geller’s way. The ruling essentially told Geller that he can stick those spoons of his up his ass.

The makers of sham product Airbourne are fined $30 Million – And apparently, one of the agency’s five FTC Commissioners who thinks the final ruling was too weak, Commissioner Thomas Rosch, shares my family name (though there’s no relation). Commissioner Rosch wrote in a dissenting statement that:

…I believe that the Order provision allowing the defendants to deplete their existing inventory of paper cartons and display trays until October 31, 2008 will continue to perpetuate misperceptions about the products’ ability to prevent or reduce colds…I also believe that the Complaint and the Order should address claims on the current packaging that assert that the product has “immune-boosting” qualities. Finally, and most importantly, it is my opinion that the only way to effectively remove these lingering misperceptions about the qualities of the Airborne Health Products would be to require the defendants to engage in corrective advertising. Therefore, I respectfully dissent.

Medscape’s latest correction regarding Gardasil

And now for a moment of science:

Episode 5 of The Science Word – Dr. Kirsten Sanford briefly summarizes some of the top science stories of the week. Check it out.

Robot Controlled By Biological Brain – “A multidisciplinary team at the University of Reading has developed a robot which is controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. This cutting-edge research is the first step to examine how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data.”

DNA Repairs Alter Genome, Spawn New Species – “Researchers at Duke University Medical Center and at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) have shown how broken sections of chromosomes can recombine to change genomes and spawn new species.”