Ewan's Corner » research

Yeah well you can prove anything with science

ewan — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 10:09:28 +0000

http://www.badscience.net/2010/07/yeah-well-you-can-prove-anything-with-science/

“Their views on each issue were added together to produce one bumper score on the extent to which they thought science could be informative on all of these questions, and the results were truly frightening. People whose pre-existing stereotypes about homosexuality had been challenged by the scientific evidence presented to them were more inclined to believe that science had nothing to offer, on any question, not just on homosexuality, when compared with people whose views on homosexuality had been reinforced.

When presented with unwelcome scientific evidence, it seems, in a desperate bid to retain some consistency in their world view, people would rather conclude that science in general is broken. This is an interesting finding. But I’m not sure it makes me very happy.”

Children of Lesbians May Do Better Than Their Peers

ewan — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:37:35 +0000

From Time – Study: Children of Lesbians May Do Better Than Their Peers

The point of this post is not to debate the results of the study – while they are very interesting, the best part by far is the conservative response. I’ll simply quote Survivingtheworld.net who says it best in Lesson 669:

I don’t make these studies up – I just make sure you’ve heard about them.

Of course, science is always open for debate – if you’ve ever been at a scientific presentation, people will routinely ask questions about methods and analysis, and what the conclusions actually mean. In other words, debating science in comparison to other science. So what does the opposing side have to say about this study? Well, let me quote the president of Concerned Women of America:

"You have to be a little suspicious of any study that says children being raised by same-sex couples do better or have superior outcomes to children raised with a mother and father. It just defies common sense and reality."

Ah, yes, common sense. Because nothing has driven society and science forward more than common sense.

African Skeptics / Science Blogroll and Carnival

ewan — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:45:37 +0000

From Ionian Enchantment – the latest version of the African science and skepticism blog-roll, or a list of “those dedicated to science and reason on the African continent”. I am proud to be included. Definitely something thought-provoking for everyone – and quite a few reasons to get vocal and involved, no matter what your viewpoint is on science, pseudo-science, skepticism, religion, homeopathy, maths, vaccines, general woo-woo etc.

The latest Carnival of Africans – the Phoenix Edition – is well worth a read.

Chemical Pollution Destroying Masculinity, not Humour

ewan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:14:27 +0000

As usual the comments are the best part of today’s Slashdot coverage of a new study claiming that “A host of common chemicals is feminizing males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people“:

On behalf of my fellow males I’d like to say:

…shit
Polygamy? Most man can hardly tolerate one wife!
- You think tolerating multiple wives is difficult, try more than one mother in law!
No you wouldn’t, because you can only have sex so many times in a given day. The rest of the day you’d have to put up with female whining — which is bad enough when it’s just coming from one of them.
- Two words: Coolidge Effect
women are complex, emotional creatures who need a whole lot of care and feeding
- Oh come on, your wife isn’t that fat.
On the behalf of my fellow males I’d like to say:

…wait a minute, that dress is for sale? brb
Finally an excuse for my weak body, small penis and my interest for tea. And sadly my limited interest for breasts.
- You need an excuse for being British?
- Hey, the British are completely obsessed with breasts (that’s why The Sun sells so many copies a day). As for the other bits, it’s 51 degrees N and the central heating is dodgy, so lack of exercise, shrinkage of extremities and interest in hot drinks are natural.
Not only is it destroying our masculinity, but it’s making my nails really dirty and I’ve just had them done :(
I can drink longer, fight harder, shout louder and piss further than any other man in the Yukon, and anyone who doesn’t believe me can step outside!
- “He’s a Lumberjack and he’s OK…”
Is one of those chemicals…. named Oprah?
What this really means is that us old guys have bigger dicks than you nelly boys. Now get off my lawn, pansy.

Bread : Shock Findings

ewan — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 13:05:40 +0000

Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, and osteoporosis.
Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households score below average on standardized tests.
In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid, yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.
More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of eating bread.
Bread is made from a substance called “dough.” It has been proven that as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average American eats more bread than that in one month!
More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.
Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.
Bread is often a “gateway” food item, leading the user to “harder” items such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.
Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than 90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey bread-pudding person.
Newborn babies can choke on bread.
Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.
Most bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

It’s Alive (ish) – Animats

ewan — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 10:00:40 +0000

Wired News: It’s Alive (ish). The whole concept of these living neural network “animats” freaks me out a bit. I know it’s just a small nervous system rather than a real brain, but still – the results point to some kind of awareness – bizarre and eerie indeed. They next hope to try and make the animats learn, and network multiple animates… when do you stop – if at all? I’m all for furthering our understanding of the brain, but this casual “let’s see what happens” attitude bothers me.

Researchers have found that lab-grown neuron cultures tend to fire in bizarrely synchronized, dishwide waves, eerily echoing the neural patterns seen during Alzheimer’s disease.
“It’s possible that this is a state of arrested development,” Potter said, “or that the networks are asleep because they’re missing the parts (humans) use to wake up. It’s (also) possible that the networks are in some sort of epileptic state.”

Being happy is good for you (duh!)

ewan — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 10:49:06 +0000

Wired says Happiness Is the Best Medicine. Obvious yes (and now i don’t have to worry about admitting that large breasts make me happy), but also fascinating:

“We learned that the patients with higher levels of spirituality or higher levels of religiosity may have a significantly slower progression of cognitive decline,” said Kaufman.
The new work may help to demystify the effect of spirituality or religion.

“There is some evidence that religious beliefs help people cope with the stresses and strains of life,” said Steptoe, “so this could be linked with the same processes that we have studied.”

Marmot concurred. “Our research shows that psychological processes have profound biological effects,” he said. “Spirituality can be one example of how the brain, acting through its connections with the neuroendocrine system, can have important effects.”

“Higher levels of religiosity”? A typical boring secular scientist term for “closer to God” – and don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying all scientists are boring and secular (case in point). This should be blindingly obvious to any Christian… it’s not hard to see why Christians are happier, when you see the promises we have :-)
Philippians 4:6-7