News From Around The Blogosphere 9.5.08

Alternative Medicine News:

Accupuncture for babies – “When Savannah was diagnosed with autism a few months ago, Mary turned to acupuncture, in addition to more traditional therapies, to see if it would help. She said since the treatment began 10 weeks ago, the results have been encouraging.” -Does this article make anyone else feel like vomiting? As I reported before, acupuncture does not work!

Crap-Based Medicine and the medical territory Alt Med practitioners avoid at all cost

There’s a new movie being developed on the life of Charles Darwin – And it’s got an awesome cast. Hopefully, this will rock!

How To Improve Science Education

Just because? – The BBC has an article on correlation vs. causation – Perhaps Dr. Buttar can learn something from this.

John Stossel exposes the insanity of food fads like the raw food nuts – I tend to like Stossel a little bit more than PalMD seems to. I think Stossel can sometimes be a very good skeptic though sometimes he just misses the mark like when he criticized Michael Moore’s film by parroting the sillier arguments like that people would have to wait on long lines. But yeah, these raw food people are crazy.

Orac shares my current feelings about constantly blogging about anti-vaxxers – I’d really love it if the anti-vaxxers took a break from doing and saying stupid things so I could blog about something else for a little while. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look likely to happen any time soon. I think I’ll dub this phenomena of forcing bloggers to respond to one’s insanely stupid statements “The Palin Effect.”

Jon Stewart exposes Republican hypocrasy – A must-see clip

Fun with pareidolia, courtesy of Dr. Phil Plait:

First, from this funny piece from The Onion:

Followed by this real example of pareidolia, the Virgin Mary on a grape:

Minorities + Religion = Depression – New longitudinal study shows that for whites and blacks, religious participation leads to “fewer symptoms of depression.” But not so much if you don’t fit into these two camps.

AND NOW FOR A MOMENT OF SCIENCE:

Virtual Telescope Zooms In On Super Black Hole – “An international team, led by astronomers at the MIT Haystack Observatory, has obtained the closest views ever of what is believed to be a super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.”

Sun’s Role In Solar System Formation Questioned – “A strange mix of oxygen found in a stony meteorite that exploded over Pueblito de Allende, Mexico nearly 40 years ago has puzzled scientists ever since. Small flecks of minerals lodged in the stone and thought to date from the beginning of the solar system have a pattern of oxygen types, or isotopes, that differs from those found in all known planetary rocks, including those from Earth, its Moon and meteorites from Mars.”

Did Junk DNA Trigger Changes In Human Limbs? – “Out of the 3 billion genetic letters that spell out the human genome, Yale scientists have found a handful that may have contributed to the evolutionary changes in human limbs that enabled us to manipulate tools and walk upright.”

Last Woolly Mammoths Had North American Roots – “In a surprising reversal of conventional wisdom, a DNA-based study has revealed that the last of the woolly mammoths—which lived between 40,000 and 4,000 years ago—had roots that were exclusively North American.” – Once again science proves decidedly un-dogmatic and able to make new conclusions based on the evidence.

News From Around The Blogosphere 8.29.08

Sarah Palin – creationist sympathizer – In the past she’s stated that science classes should “teach the controversy” between Evolution and Creationism. I wonder if she thinks we should also teach these equally valid controversies:

Winged Cat in China:

Abbie Smith determines that Young Earth Creationists & Old Earth Creationists, as stupid as they are, are still better than the “Intelligent Design” proponents

Reasons to be skeptical of Meta-analyses

“Patient-Centered Care” and the Society for Integrated Oncology

Get ready for flu season – If you’re Kim Stagliano from the “Age of Autism” blog, you probably think the flu is harmless because you never saw anyone die of the flu in Leave It To Beaver, but it’s actually responsible for 35,000 deaths a year.

Autism “Research” Institute (ARI) announces Autism TV – Sounds like a great idea, right? Wrong. There’s a reason I put quotation marks around the word “Research.” Yup, this is a front group for propagating anti-vaccine misinformation. In fact, the Age of Autism blog says they’re sponsored by the ARI. What a depressing development. But I suppose Jenny McCarthy will probably have a job again.

Critical Thinking Test – Would you buy this product?

The Rick Warren Magazine – Could this be the future?

A NOW FOR A MOMENT OF SCIENCE:

Arctic Ice On Verge Of Another All-time Low – “Following last summer’s record minimum ice cover in the Arctic, current observations from ESA’s Envisat satellite suggest that the extent of polar sea-ice may again shrink to a level very close to that of last year.”

Why Flies Are So Hard To Swat – “Over the past two decades, Michael Dickinson has been interviewed by reporters hundreds of times about his research on the biomechanics of insect flight. One question from the press has always dogged him: Why are flies so hard to swat? … Long before the fly leaps, its tiny brain calculates the location of the impending threat, comes up with an escape plan, and places its legs in an optimal position to hop out of the way in the opposite direction. All of this action takes place within about 100 milliseconds after the fly first spots the swatter.”

Eyes Evolved For ‘X-Ray Vision’ – “The advantage of using two eyes to see the world around us has long been associated solely with our capacity to see in 3-D. Now, a new study from a scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has uncovered a truly eye-opening advantage to binocular vision: our ability to see through things.” The article also says:

“All animals have a binocular region — parts of the world that both eyes can see simultaneously — which allows for X-ray vision and grows as eyes become more forward facing.

Demonstrating our X-ray ability is fairly simple: hold a pen vertically and look at something far beyond it. If you first close one eye, and then the other, you’ll see that in each case the pen blocks your view. If you open both eyes, however, you can see through the pen to the world behind it.

To demonstrate how our eyes allow us to see through clutter, hold up all of your fingers in random directions, and note how much of the world you can see beyond them when only one eye is open compared to both. You miss out on a lot with only one eye open, but can see nearly everything behind the clutter with both.”

And in monkey news…

Unexpected Monkey Population Found In Cambodia – “A Wildlife Conservation Society report reveals surprisingly large populations of two globally threatened primates in a protected area in Cambodia. The report counted 42,000 black-shanked douc langurs along with 2,500 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in Cambodia’s Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, an estimate that represents the largest known populations for both species in the world.”

News From Around The Blogosphere 8.28.08

The broadcast of Stephen Colbert’s “Better Know A Lobbyist” segment featuring Lori Lipman Brown of the Secular Coalition for America was unfortunately postponed until tomorrow in a first-ever Friday broadcast.

The Stroop Effect – New website where you can take the color test. From a skeptical point of view, I find this test interesting because it’s an effective way of illustrating how easily the brain can be deceived. I’m reminded of the cheap trick creationist Ray Comfort frequently takes advantage of this basic psychological effect when facing a scientifically educated opponent when out “witnessing” or preaching on the street. Comfort will ask you to spell the word, “Shop.” Then after you do it, he’ll ask you what you do when you come to a green light.” After being primed with the word, “Shop” a moment earlier, most people automatically say “stop.” Comfort then uses this to knock down his straw man that you claimed some sort of infallibility. It usually impresses a crowd and makes Comfort seem as though he’s beaten you in a battle of wits even though he’s just as susceptible to the phenomenon and it has nothing to do with the debate. So if ever you want to look intellectually superior to someone before a crowd, here’s how. And here’s Ray Comfort’s Book of Tricks for your enjoyment.

Where’s Jesus Now! – If you guessed on a moth, YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!

My favorite Christian, Fred Phelps of The Westboro Baptist Church, on the DNC:

This guy makes my job SOOO much easier.

List of the most influential science blogs – Of those that made the list that I check on a daily basis: Pharyngula (#3), Respectful Insolence (#7), and denialism blog (#15). Congrats guys!

CATHOLIC NEWS

This is why we don’t take pope Ratzinger seriously – These are his white whales::

Galileo gets a statue at Vatican – I guess this is a just a small token to show there are no hard feelings over that whole having kept him under house arrest for the remaining years of his life under false pretenses. One conservative Catholic writer, Atila Sinke Guimarães dismisses the church’s mistreatment of Galileo as a “black legend” and says the scientist got what he deserved for having the audacity of being right, adding:

“The Inquisition was very moderate with him. He wasn’t tortured.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GAY NEWS

Lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin dies at 87

 

Lesbians – A threat to national security? – Oops. Correction, only lesbian t-shirts are a threat to national security. Oooohhh! That makes MUCH MORE SENSE! Wow. They didn’t even wait until the body was cold, did they?

Anti-vaxxers dirty tactic – Orac discusses their habit of “outing” the identities of their anonymous blogger critics presumably to shut them up through intimidation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HEALTH NEWS:

Attitudes and Public Health

Largest “randomized” acupuncture study ever done: why do they even bother?

And here’s another skeptic’s take on the study.

 

 

 

 

 

A NOW FOR A MOMENT OF SCIENCE:

Subliminal Learning Demonstrated In Human Brain – “Although the idea that instrumental learning can occur subconsciously has been around for nearly a century, it had not been unequivocally demonstrated. Now, a new study published by Cell Press in the August 28 issue of the journal Neuron used sophisticated perceptual masking, computational modeling, and neuroimaging to show that instrumental learning can occur in the human brain without conscious processing of contextual cues.”

Jamaican Lizard Does Push-Ups To Stay Strong – “What does Jack LaLanne have in common with a Jamaican lizard? Like the ageless fitness guru, the lizards greet each new day with vigorous push-ups. That’s according to a new study showing that male Anolis lizards engage in impressive displays of reptilian strength — push-ups, head bobs, and threatening extension of a colorful neck flap called a dewlap — to defend their territory at dawn and dusk.”

One Form Of Adult Cell Transformed Into Another – “In a feat of biological prestidigitation likely to turn the field of regenerative medicine on its head, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) co-director Doug Melton and post doctoral fellow Qiao “Joe” Zhou report having achieved what has long been a dream and ultimate goal of developmental biologists – directly turning one type of fully formed adult cell into another type of adult cell.”

Teleological Argument is intellectual laziness

After reading PZ Myers’ recent blog about the Teleological Argument for Creationism, I thought I’d briefly weigh in on the subject. It’s a shame that a brilliant scientist like Kenneth Miller finds this sort of argument compelling. I’ve said it before but I think Miller is probably our strongest and best critic of  Intelligent Design and the mere fact that he considers himself a Christian alone defeats the old “Evolution is the religion of atheism” gambit. But quite frankly, I feel Evolutionary Theory inevitably leads to an atheistic view of the world, so it remains a major point of contention.

Miller demolishing ID proponents – part 3 of 8 (but it’s worth checking out the full debate )

A Lateral Look at Dogma

Here’s a great application of critical thinking skills to religion:

And here are the top 25 Creationist logical fallacies. Of course every argument Creationist argument is a logical fallacy of one kind or another but this is a good list of the most common arguments Creationists use:

News From Around The Blogosphere 8.21.08

Was there a hidden agenda behind the recent Big Foot hoax? – Steven Novella speculates on the role Tom Biscardi may have played in this incident. Biscardi is considered even by the “mainstream” Big Foot hunters as a conman. But has he made a monkey out of us all?

Interview with “pet psychic” dumbfounds Rebecca Watson – It never ceases to amaze me as well as others in the skeptical community how the media can treat such obvious tin-foil-hat-level nonsense so uncritically as part of a mere fluff piece to kill time. You can’t find a real news story? Really?

Pastor makes IRS mad by misusing pulpit – “An activist group has filed an IRS complaint against Cornerstone Church, accusing the megachurch’s pastor of endorsing three Sumner County school board candidates from the pulpit.”

“If an IRS investigation determines Davis violated federal rules, it could jeopardize the Madison church’s tax-exempt status. Since 2007, the IRS has revoked the tax-exempt status of about 190 organizations nationwide, according to its Website.”

That’s a shame.

PZ Myers compares and contrasts the words of Darwin with a repulsive fear-mongering Christian evangelical site: The Surretts concerning the idea of damnation.

Another classic Creationist quote mine – One of the most common techniques Creationists use to trick people is to take quotes out of context to suggest specific great minds were Creationists. (For example, on the top of this page here). And some great minds really were believers in a creator god. But of course, it’s all irrelevant as it’s an argument from authority. Even smart people can be wrong and in the end ideas stand or fall on their own merits, namely what the evidence shows. In this instance, Douglas Theobold demolishes creationist Berlinski’s claim that the famous mathematician John Von Neumann rejected Evolution.

Presidential Candidates on space policy – Find out where Obama and McCain stand…or rather how they currently claim to stand. Still no word on Paris Hilton’s space policy.

Stephen Colbert on the impacts of commodity markets focusing on oil – …and proves himself to be a formidable opponent!

When “Big Pharma” REALLY is lying to us – Obviously “Big Pharma” has become a popular scapegoat for the grand conspiracy theorists in recent years. And while those accusations are mostly unfounded, sometimes the pharmaceutical companies prove they really are like every other corporations by using clinical trials designed by the marketing department to sell product. Here’s another skeptical blogger’s take on this issue. Sadly, this is just the sort of news story that the “Big Pharma” grand conspiracy theorists will latch onto and invoke constantly because it just so happens to be a rare news story that is in line with their agenda and seems to validate their every suspicion. That might be the biggest tragedy of this whole thing. But I’m reporting it, so let it never be said by the conspiracy theorists that I’m just a “sheeple” who blindly accepts authority. Big Pharma is wrong in this instance, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Science blogger and Skeptologist Dr. Kirsten Sanford on Science Channel website – She’s conducting an interview at the World Science Festival.

And now for a moment of science:

Dr. Kirsten Sanford’s Science Word Ep.9

Dr. Kirsten Sanford’s Science Word Ep. 10

‘Materialism’ is just a fancy word for Reality

Like every skeptical activist, I often hear that old chestnut from the true believers and cranks of every imaginable form of magical thinking where they challenge science by getting their opponents to admit that science can’t prove anything 100% and then applying the logical fallacy known as an argument from ignorance or “god of the gaps” they try to stretch that infintisimal crumb of possibility that there might be something to their wacky idea into justification for absolute certainty in that idea.

The ultimate goal of the pseudoscientists and conspiracy theorists seems to be to back the person into a kind of wishy washy Pascal’s Wager, “what if you’re wrong” gamut. Steven Novella has a great blog entry on this. The problem with this argument is that that it’s also a red herring. Even if they could successfully cause us to seriously doubt the scientific consensus and the “materialist paradigm,” it’s really more of a scorched Earth kind of tactic as they’ve torpedoed their own faith-based idea along with every other idea accepted as reality. They haven’t given us a reason why they’re idea is better than the one they’re trying to overturn. And even if they could back it up with evidence, since their whole point was to render their idea critic-proof by devaluing evidence, they’ve refuted themselves by rendering their own attempts to show evidence for their ideas worthless. This is why relativism can only take you so far.

Of course, after so passionately arguing against evidence-based thinking and about how much they think we can’t trust logic, when you ask them why they believe what they believe, inevitably it always comes back to them having been convinced in some way through argument and a misguided understanding of what the evidence shows. After all, what else could convince them? After all this talk of not trusting evidence and logic, it turns out they only mean those who disagree with them can’t trust those things while the pseudoscientists and conspiracy theorists can–nay, must trust their view of what evidence and logic says is true.

Of course, I always like to challenge these anti-materialism yahoos by declaring that not only don’t I believe their arguments but that I don’t even believe that they believe them. So I suggest that if they really wantto prove to me that they believe that their perceived reality can’t be trusted to the extent that they want us to believe then they shouldn’t mind leaping from a 30-story window to prove their sincerity. So far, no one has taken me up on the challenge. Kind of strange considering how certain they are that evidence-based thinking is wrong.

News From Around The Blogosphere 7.30.08

There’s still no planet Starbucks but they can name a species -Remember that old sham years ago (it’s probably still around) where you were told that for a little money, you could get a star named after you or someone you loved? Well, that was bogus and in many cases the star you named didn’t even exist. But for the right price, you CAN name a new small species. Just don’t pick one of the names that are already names of species like: Mick Jagger, Marilyn Monroe, the members of the Sex Pistols, or the fish species dubbed beeblebroxi, a tribute to the character Zaphod Beeblebrox in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. And finally, there’s actually an species named: GoldenPalace.com.

Is that the Virgin Mary on your restaurant floor drain or just rust?

-Classic case of pareidolia. I’m sure it’s not as tasty as the Virgin Mary on the grilled cheese sandwich:

Oh, and on a related note, here’s Jesus Cat:

Jesus Sucks -That’s according to a television comedy show host who commissioned to have an airplane fly across Toronto while waving a banner with those two words printed on it. Of course many Christians with no sense of humor are deeply offended.

Astrologer fails to predict Earthquake–there’s a shock for you:

Just when you thought it was safe to defile crackers again… -This really is the story that won’t die. Crackergate is back on! PZ Myers responds to another set of religious yahoos who can’t accept that we don’t have to show respect for their dopey sacred cows and that’s just the way the cracker crumbles.

Karl Giberson talks gibberish

-I know. I know. It was the best title I could think of at the time. Anyway, here PZ Myers presents his rebuttal of Giberson’s claim that atheist activists are fundamentalists of the religion of science. Yeah, like we never heard that shite before. It’s all part of the creationist Orwellian strategy of framing:

Religion is Science
Science is Religion

I’m calling bullshit!

Phil Plait’s follow-up comments about Ed Mitchell & the UFO believers -Phil addresses the logical fallacies of those who responded negatively to his blog about Apollo 14 Astronaut Ed Mitchell’s claims (also reported on here at Skepacabra) that he knows for certain that space aliens have been to Earth and that the government is covering it up.

Anti-vacciner booth infiltrate Netroots Nation -These vampires are everywhere. Perhaps it’s advisable to always carry a wooden stake and cloves of garlic for just this sort of occasion.

Most & Least Religious Colleges in the U.S. 2008 -Damn, NYU didn’t make the list of least religious! I thought I left a better impression. Oh well, at least New School, where I gained my graduate degree is on the list.

How Real Science Works -A great article that tries to demystify this strange thing we call science. So how does science work? I’ll give you a hint. It requires a lot of hard work and does not work by making shit up. Sorry creationists.

RationalWiki to the rescue -This is a great source of skeptical inquiry. Check it out.

And now a moment of science:

Did Dinosaur Soft Tissues Still Survive? -New research challenges suggests that the supposed recovered dinosaur tissue is in reality biofilm – or slime. Sorry again, creationists.

Possible ‘Sleep Gene’ Identified In Fruit Flies -In a recent study of fruit flies, researchers identified a gene that controls sleep.

Lost An Appendage? Grow Another -Understanding the molecular pathway responsible for limb regeneration in some animals is a research objective for MBL investigator William R. Jeffery, a former director of the MBL Embryology course and professor of biology at the University of Maryland.

You might be delusional if…

Belief in pseudoscience begets belief in more pseudoscience, folks. And after you’ve interacted with enough delusional people certain patterns begin to emerge.

So here are just a few tell-tale signs of delusion that I came up with. Feel free to make your own additions to this list in the comments section or argue against any of them. Some non-delusional people fit 1 or 2 of these, but I don’t think sane people should agree with too many more than that.

You Might Be Delusional If…
1. You think there’s a grand conspiracy where the whole government in general, the whole media in general, and/or a whole industry such as, say, the medical industry in general is really out to get us all for A. their own evil pleasure, B. to make profit and like The Underpants Gnomes from South Park have no clear Step 2, C. to control the world somehow, D. for reasons that don’t concern you as all that is important is that some authority figure or a small fringe group of authority figures tells you this is true while the overwhelming majority of experts deny these claims. Extra credit if when you mention the conspirators, you include the epithet “Big” in front of the group, such as “Big Pharma”, “Big Government”, “Big Media”, “Big Oil”, or “Big Underwear.”

2. You think there’s a grand conspiracy run by super geniuses who have successfully removed all empirical evidence of their crimes that fools virtually every expert but were stupid enough to leave just enough anomalies to have the “truth” exposed by a minority of people who have no expertise in any relevant field. And the amount of effort needed to cover up the crimes clearly would require thousands of obedient mystery henchmen all of whom are reliable enough to keep the secret.

3. You’re shocked that other people don’t find blurry photos/videos of the paranormal nearly as convincing as you do.

4. You consider lack of evidence for a conspiracy to cover up a crime or for the paranormal to be even more evidence that it’s real. After all, isn’t the file a little TOO CLEAN, almost as though conspirators snuck in and removed incriminating data.

5. You have an unhealthy obsession with the films “V For Vendetta” and “The Matrix,”so much so that you fill your Myspace page with iconography from the films.

6. Incidentally, you find yourself loving Ron Paul even though this is entirely unrelated to your particular conspiracy or paranormal belief.

7. You think everyone else is blind to the obvious truth and join a movement with the word “Truth” in the title so you don’t forget that you do indeed know The Truth.

8. The only videos favorited in your YouTube account relate to conspiracies, secret societies, the paranormal, alternative medicine, comforting self-help messages that explain how materialism (aka reality) is nonsense and you have the power to achieve magic with enough will power. Bonus points if those last type of videos cite Quantum Theory as the explanation for how this is possible.

9. You find yourself making more than one “Down The Rabbit Hole” reference to Alice in Wonderland a week or more than one reference to George Orwell’s 1984 a week, and in the process, devalue Orwell’s message.

10. You have an unhealthy obsession with many different “mysterious” conspiracies and paranormal phenomena that don’t necessarily have any connection to one another.

11. You’re convinced that making a series of outrageous evidence-less claims in all capital letters is a rational and convincing argument. (This one courtesy of a Myspace user named: “THEYRE LYING TO US!! 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB”

12. David Icke and Alex Jones are your heroes.

13. Despite the fact that you’re certain you know there’s an evil conspiracy that has committed the worst crime imaginable and despite you’re knowing exactly who the culprits are, you still feel the best use of your time is to try to convince random people on the internet who don’t believe you that the conspiracy is indeed real rather than, say, actually trying to stop the evil conspirators by any means necessary.

14. You find yourself making similar arguments implicitly made here by a moon hoaxer (note: this is actually a rather lengthy response to a Moon Hoaxer by Tom Dickson).

15. Despite being absolutely convinced that your own government is involved in a grand conspiracy in which their evil and their power are shown to know no bounds, you still think it’s a good idea to keep living in your home in the very country where this government rules and continue to live a fairly normal life where you can easily be found while trying to expose the conspiracy on public forums on the internet, all the while not finding it at all odd that the government (who you believe has secret police) haven’t bothered to come after you to keep you silent.

16. Everyone who doesn’t agree with you or does not accept “The Truth” is either blind to the truth or part of the conspiracy. Bonus points if you use the word “sheeple” to describe the former.

More Rational Responses to Creationist arguments

Can science determine whether someone loves you or not?

To a large degree, yes.

The Fine Tuning argument:

“Amazing fine tuning occurs in the laws that make this [complexity] possible. Realization of the complexity of what is accomplished makes it very difficult not to use the word ‘miraculous’ without taking a stand as to the ontological status of the word.” George Ellis (South African astrophysicist)

The logical fallacy of the fine tuning argument is The Fallacy of Misused Statistics, aka The Lottery Fallacy. The argument is basically saying it’s impossible for anyone to win the lottery because all 6 numbers have to line up perfectly. But of course people win the lottery every day, not because they play every possibility but because so many people play that it’s statistically likely that SOMEBODY is going to pick all 6 winning numbers. If you and Ellis choose to view winning the lottery as “miraculous,” feel free. Though I think you’ve set the bar for the miraculous quite low.

Of course we’re dealing with a larger data set with the universe but the principle is the same. The odds of the universe coming out exactly the way it happens to be is orders of magnitude less likely than a particular numerical sequence coming up in the lottery. But it’s a fallacy to assume the universe had this end result involving human beings in mind and that if one thing was different, no other alternative exists. This is also sort of a false dichotomy. It’s kind of a macrocosm of Behe’s irreducible complexity argument. But if the universe were even slightly different, who’s to say entirely different forms of life wouldn’t have come about? If so, and they evolved to higher order thinking, who’s to say they wouldn’t be making the same assumption that the cosmic lottery had to come up the way it did to justify their existence?

Indeed, what we find is a planet where 99% of all the species who’ve inhabited it have already lost the cosmic lottery and gone extinct. We come from the limited perspective of having won the lottery, then working backwards creating post hoc rationalizations for our win as if it were destined to be so, though there is no evidence to support this.
For further insight into this fallacy, find out how HIV Deniers use the same reasoning on The Skeptic’s Guide To The Universe podcast 59 (55 minutes into the show).