A few weeks ago I said that we don’t do enough science when it comes to heart disease, and may confuse correlation with causation. Here’s another interesting bit of data that reinforces the notion that cholesterol levels don’t necessarily cause heart disease.
Category Archives: Science And Society
Not Part Of The Consensus
Bill Gray is predicting global cooling within the next decade. And he’s willing to put money on it.
Of course, as he notes, at his age, he may not be around to find out whether or not he won the bet.
A Cure For Diabetes?
It seems to work in mice:
Last year, Dr Terry Strom and his team demonstrated that they could stop the on-going destruction of insulin-producing beta cells in mice using a combination of three drugs, although they were unable to regenerate the cells.
However, when they added an extra ingredient – an enzyme called alpha 1 anti-trypsin – a significant rise in the number of beta cells was seen.
I’m not sure what the point is here:
It is exciting that these drugs could stop the immune system from attacking insulin-producing cells, but it is too early to tell whether these cells recovered in the mice or if new cells were produced.
Does it matter, from a practical standpoint? I can understand why the researchers would be curious, but a cure is a cure.
Anyway, here’s hoping that it can work in higher mammals.
Proves Her Point About The Math Thing
Charlotte Allen is embarrassed to be a woman. She gets the math wrong here, though:
Women really are worse drivers than men, for example. A study published in 1998 by the Johns Hopkins schools of medicine and public health revealed that women clocked 5.7 auto accidents per million miles driven, in contrast to men’s 5.1, even though men drive about 74 percent more miles a year than women.
Since the statistic is on a per-mile basis, the fact that men drive more miles a year is irrelevant. So the disparity–5.1 versus 5.7–is actually quite small, and perhaps within the statistical error.
Of course, the thing that statistics like this don’t reveal is how many accidents they cause, unbeknownst to them, because they are oblivious to their surroundings. I’m always bemused by someone who I know to be a terrible driver bragging about the fact that they’ve never had an accident. Not to imply that men don’t do this as well, of course.
A Nanotech Dustup
A week-long debate over at the LA Times (similar to the one that Homer Hickam and I had on space last fall).
Got A Second?
On Leap Day, some thoughts on timekeeping problems from Alan Boyle.
Eating Themselves To Death
A new theory about the end of the Neanderthals:
“TSE’s could have thinned the population, reducing numbers and contributing to their extinction in combination with other factors (such as climate change and the emergence of modern humans),” he said.
Such diseases have very long incubation periods, he further explained, so affected individuals may not show symptoms for a very long time. Similarly, people who consume TSE victims may not exhibit signs of illness immediately after eating.
“Neanderthals would have been unlikely to spot any causal relationship between cannibalism and TSE symptoms,” Underdown said.
No kidding.
Good Medical Advice
Joe Katzman has some, as do his commenters. Doctors are not gods.
Are Americans Stupid?
Phil Bowermaster has some thoughts:
See how deftly it’s done? Stupid religious Americans, clever “heathen” Europeans. Unfortunately, in the context, this doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense. Americans are opposed to stem cell research because we’re ignorant religious bigots. Okay, sure. But we’re opposed to nanotechnology for the same reasons? And GM foods?
GM foods? Now wait a second…a lot of Europeans are opposed to GM foods. I bet they would even say it’s on moral grounds! Yet somehow, they manage to pull that off without being either 1) religious or — more importantly — 2) stupid. Personally, I think being morally opposed to GM foods is kind of stupid, and being “morally” opposed to nanotechnology is idiotic. However, I don’t see how American stupidity is dumber than European stupidity; one may be informed by religious belief, the other by a paranoid superstitious dread of scientific progress. Advantage: Europe? If you say so.
I just hope that Americans aren’t stupid enough to fall for Obama, as the Democrats currently seem to be.
Is The Leopard Still There?
The snows of Kilimanjaro are back.
Not to mention that the arctic icepack is growing.