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Not the typical butterfly – but this is the protein folding structure from a South American hemorrhagic fever – the Machupo virus. The article was found on Science Daily. A striking resemblance to a butterfly, maybe even a Hesperiidae (photo from Sommerfugler of America).
Del dette!Jeg fanget en kort lufting av TV-show “The Doctors“, dagens episode var tittelen “Medisinsk nødhjelp Du kan ikke ignorere”. For det meste regurgitate de positive medisinske helse affirmasjoner. De babler også på om “sunt” matvarer og ting som er bra for deg og “farene” of all kinds of common household bacteria/chemicals and everything else. By and large nothing apocryphal. But then Dr. Lisa Masterson opened her mouth with this advice for people looking to quit smoking (paraphrased from memory) “You can try these, it is called EZ-Quit spray. They are HOMEOPATHIC … You should still consult your doctor because, you know, some of these ingredients can be strong”. The ingredient list is “Antimonium crudum 5C, Caladium seguinum 5C, Ignatia 5C, Lobelia inflata 5C, Nux vomica 5C, Tabacum 5-7-9C. Inactive ingredients: Purified water, alcohol 20%.” Første, let’s understand the “C” scale of potency measurement. A 1C potency is one part ingredient diluted in 100 parts water, en 1:100 ratio. A 5C solution is equivalent to 10^-10 power dilution or .0000000001mg of “active” ingredient. So drink up, you would need to drink one of these to get enough active ingredient: But thats the whole point! In homeopathy, the single molecule of ingredient that comes in contact with water MAGICALLY imparts its power to the water molecules. When asked to explain this most homeopaths invoke quantum mechanics. Good to know they are totally ignorant of science. The basic principle of homeopathy states that the MORE diluted something becomes the MORE powerful it is. The standard dilution is 30C or 10^-60 , but it does go up to 10^-1500. You would literally need to consume a sphere of water the size of our solar system two billion times for one single molecule of ingredient. And thank god there is .0000000001mg of Nux vomica in the solution because that is commonly known as strychnine, an incredibly powerful alkaloid toxin with an LD50 of 10mg. In doses of less that 5mg it acts as a powerful stimulant and was used historically for stomach aliments and even for doping by athletes. Strychnine hasn’t been used since the invention of safer medicines. Homeopathy is absolutely bullshit. There is zero supporting evidence, in fact in the UK they finally agreed to stop funding this insanity; which is no surprise since any intelligent person who understands the true principals of homeopathy should know better. Egentlig, anyone who creates a homeopathic medicine that is scientifically proven, can apply for the JREF million dollar challenge. Is it any surprise that it remains unclaimed? Dr. Lisa is a complete moron and a quack. It is scary to think she spreads this misinformation on public TV, but not all that surprising. She should issue an apology for recommending homeopathy and the california medical board should consider disciplinary action or pull her license. Of course this won’t happen… But think of the potential dangers, consider the case of the parents that killed their daughter with homeopathy. Nå, enjoy James Randi explaining Homeopathy: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U] Del dette! Kommentarer er stengt  Skepsis  Alternativ medisin, Bad Science, Homeopati, JREF, Quack, Svindel og bedrageri, Skepsis Vel, I bet if I was selling something it would show up pretty damn low on this chart. Nedenfor kan du se ulike alternative løsninger rangert i henhold til deres vitenskapelige effekt. Følg linken for en mer omfattende forklaring av rangeringer, men de rettsmidler er rangert basert på hver påstand – green tea for instance rates very poorly for cancer but very well for cholesterol. Take notice of just how much is below the “worth it” line.
Continue reading Buy Chris’s all new healing tonic! Del dette!Fordi jeg ville ha vært utsatt for dette. Snakk om dyremishandling! OK, bare tuller, men denne historien er litt latterlig. Artikkelen sier at forskerne hadde brukt stemmen Limbaugh fordi det var “lett tilgjengelig”, ikke fordi de hatet ham. Vel det viser seg ikke å være sant, de valgte Rush fordi det var den “mest irriterende lyd [de] kunne tenke på”. Ikke så overraskende at den liberale entomologi agenda hater Rush (spøk), men jeg vet at jeg er sikker på do. Hvis du blared som babler bajas på meg for en time jeg hadde Plath meg selv. Det viser seg disse gutta var på rett vei, men. Mens Limbaugh kanskje forutsigbart hadde ingen effekt på insekter, lyder tatt opp av barkbiller gjorde. Når opptak av lyder laget av billene i sine tunneler ble avfyrt tilbake i trærne observerte de insekter flyr inn i et raseri og drepe hverandre. Høres ut som det kan være et nyttig verktøy hvis de kan finne en måte å levere dette til trær uten ledninger hver og en med høyttalere. Jeg tror ikke at sprengnings disse innspillingene Apocalypse Now stil i skog vil være sannsynlig eller effektiv så forhåpentligvis de kan tenke på noe annet smart. Historien kan være morsomt, men jeg tror gjør en bjørnetjeneste for deres sak generelt. Bruke Rush var noe annet enn et forsøk på å hente trykk, som er tydelig arbeide. Ville noen har lest en historie om barkbiller ellers? Jeg sannsynligvis ikke ville ha selv gitt den en titt. Til slutt takeaway historien for meg er at jeg tenker for meg selv “interessant, de fant et potensielt nyttig verktøy mot barkbiller”. Men til mindre science rate eller politisk motivert de sannsynligvis tror “stor, flere liberale forskere sløse våre skattepenger som spiller musikk til biller”. Vi vet allerede hva republikanere tenker om vitenskap. Vennligst, la oss ikke kaste mer fôr inn i de bakover hodet av den anti-vitenskap republikansk agenda (OK, riktignok, fundamental republikansk finanspolitikken er noe jeg kan forstå… men de er en pakke med idioter resten av tiden). Jeg tror ikke at Limbaugh har kommentert denne spesifikke historien, men er det vanskelig å forestille seg hva han har å si? Del dette!Rivers Cuomo wrote me a song. Not bad, but now I think I want that mantis costume for Halloween. And of course I am obliged to point out that earthworms are not insects… [vimeo=14822451] Del dette!Came across dette article today care of Doug Yanega at UC Riverside, which spurred the search for further information. Who can tell me what those “flowers” faktisk are? 10 points to the first to guess correctly… or maybe some awesome prize?
Del dette![youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHdKEhFM7mY&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0] Del dette!This is something I’ve never seen before. Growing up I have always had someone give me some kitsch object with insects on them, even playing cards. Well even last year I got another insect themed tie. (I don’t have the whimsey of PZ Myers and his awesome tie.) Men, they were all printed images of course. New this year from Upper Deck, entomology cards! If you scroll down the page you notice something striking – they aren’t pictures, but actual insects. Here is an image from the link above:
Wow- and follow this link to Facebook to see more of what is to come. I guess these are a modern version of the “tobacco card”, which was an extra collectors card inserted into regular card packs. Last year the company passed out redemption cards that would allow it to be returned for the real thing seen above. According to ESPN, these cards are going for over $100 to people who have no idea what insect they may get. A quick look on e-bay found one currently bid to $87.00. Gå figur. In all, Upper Deck plans to release 30 different types of insects. On the back of each card there is an old-timey “range map” and short blurb about the insect. They are also “certified” as being genuine, whatever that means. Do they have a taxonomist consulting? I bet my hourly rates would be less than whoever they have now… The butterfly ones crack me up, they are just closed specimens laid on their side. I would think a spread specimen would be more appealing, but maybe no one at Upper Deck realizes this is how they should be prepared. Whoever is giving them their mantids though are taking lots of time to make them look fancy. I really wonder how many of these are being made, obviously this could not be sustained in any large number. I guess in the end this makes a very interesting conversation starter among people who might never look twice at an insect, and especially as something collectible. I wonder what PETA thinks… OK, we know that much already. Del dette!Jeg kom over dette article today and it put a smile on my face. A traveling malaria researcher came across an “electronic mosquito repeller” for sale in his in-flight catalog. Being an intelligent man, he realized this was total and utter BS. He also realized this product probably sells best while in-route to malaria ridden countries; and that there were naive tourists walking around with $23 worthless pieces of crap on their belts feeling protected. The airline, KLM, had likely been selling the item with no second though whatsoever, just part of the standard issue crap-on-a-plane shopping selection. So as soon as Bart Knol returned home he began to dig deeper. He contacted KLM and tried to figure out why they were selling this item. Politely, the airline offered a response from the manufacturer backing up the efficacy of the device – and stated that they sell over 1,000 a month. Clearly that couldn’t be acceptable – in fact there has been research conducted to test just this sort of machine – all of which showed zero effect. Again Knol informed KLM of this fact, with evidence in hand, and received a surprising reply. “The product will no longer be for sale on KLM aircraft from March onwards“. Son-of-a-bitch. He confronted a company that was selling a scientifically falsified device. Instead of blowing this scientist off – they looked at the evidence – and acted logically. Within 2 months Knol had KLM pulling the product from its shelves. The airline should give Knol a lifetime supply of vouchers for his suggestion. Imagine if you will: a gullible tourist headed to Africa for your first safari. Wanting desperately to avoid the sometimes horrible side effects of anti-malaria medication they see this miracle product that will keep them safe instead. Vel, the product failed to work, and he contracts malaria while running from elephants in Kenya. Attempts to sue the company failed since they were based in Sri Lanka – but not to worry, KLM has vast and deep pockets. 10,000,000 euro later, KLM pulls the product form the shelf and the dead tourists kids replace everything they own with gold. But no, instead, a vigilant skeptic stepped up and saved the day! Thanks for your skepticism Knol, you get a high-five. The action he took provided KLM with evidence they were conducting a wrongdoing. Had the airline been sued in the future and this prior knowledge had come to light, they would have lost. I wish KLM could appreciate it just as much as I do, but at least they took the proper action. Fly KLM. It’s always nice to see a story like this because this is certainly not how things usually happen. Take for instance the “dowsing for bombs” scandal brought to our attention by the JREF. I guess it’s a bit difficult to call it a scandal because the press only briefly covered it here in the US. Quickly: A British based company was selling dowsing rods, that consisted of nothing more than metal rods and handles, as bomb, gun, knife, drug and even body detectors. The major buyer was the Iraqi government in around tens of millions of dollars. People bet their life on this machine; and it failed, 100% of the time. Even today the Iraqis swear by this device. But let’s not forget the history of this detector, which is basically the same as the “Quadro Tracker” bought by OUR government in the late 90’s. At least in the QT issue we only purchased 1,000 units and quickly tested them to discover the fraud. The result – the FBI issued a warning against it. The company promptly picked up shop and moved to the UK to re-invent this device sold to Iraq (amongst other countries). Thankfully the scammer, Jim McCormick, was recently arrested in Britain for fraud and the item has been banned for export. Go find your own MozStops, Pest Repellers, SunBeams and SOLAR powered mosquito repellers (hey you can be green while being a sucker) and take that store to task! Seriøst, this crap is everywhere and it’s 100% fraud. Del dette! 2 kommentarer - (Kommentarer er stengt) entomologi, Skepsis Dowsing, JREF, Malaria, Mosquitos, Pseudovitenskap, Svindel og bedrageri, Skepsis |
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