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Autism Bioethics Medicine Quackery

Arthur Allen on conflicts of interest in the mercury militia movement

Those arguing the “conventional” view that sound science and epidemiological studies have failed to find a link between vaccines and autism are often tarred with the “pharma shill” brush. Meanwhile, researchers who have ever taken drug company money (particularly if it’s from a drug company that makes vaccines) are castigated for having a serious conflict […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine News of the Weird Politics Quackery

Vaccines caused the Virginia Tech rampage?

I hadn’t planned on writing again about the horrific massacre at Virginia Tech. After all, what more could I say that hasn’t been said before in the blogospheric chatter that’s erupted in the five days since the killings? Despicably, everyone’s blaming their favorite cause. Fundamentalists are blaming atheism, secularism, and even Charles Darwin for the […]

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Evolution Intelligent design/creationism Medicine Pseudoscience Science Skepticism/critical thinking Surgery

More confusion on the “intelligent design” front

I’m confused again about what appear to be mutually conflicting statements. The Discovery Institute’s favorite creationist neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor two months ago on Pharyngula: Perhaps a fable (not a just-so story!) will illustrate. Imagine that you, P.Z., were a student in 1925. You would study Darwinism fairly intensively as a high school student, undergrad, […]

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Medicine

Cyborg Pigeon Makes Debut in China

Chinese scientists have made a remote controlled pigeon. By planting micro electrodes in the pigeon’s brain, the scientists can make the bird fly up, down, left or right.“I’m looking for a boy named John Conner. Have you seen him?” Chief scientist Su Xuecheng explains, “”The implants stimulated different areas of the pigeon’s brain according to […]

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Medicine

Female Wasp Larvae Eat Brothers for the Good of Their Genes

Bear with us on this one…it might get a little complicated: Wasps from the genus Copidosoma lay two eggs into a host egg (for example a moth or butterfly egg). One of these two eggs is male and one is female. The male and female larvae then begin multiplying–much like single celled organisms–into a thousand […]