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Bad Science

Posts Tagged ‘Bad Science’

Cleaner Air Creates Global Warming

THE BBC brings news that the dirtier the air, the cooler the planet.

How sunny do you want it?

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Posted: 21st, January 2009 | In: Reviews | Comments (4)


Obama Inauguration Viewer Survey Results

The result of a survey tells us that the No 1 turn-off for viewers are political speeches.

Says one seasoned celebrity watcher:

People can stand Obama’s for 34.5 seconds – which is up by a full second and a half on Bush – but anything longer and they switch off.

A survey reveals that the following percantages would remain tuned in if the broadcaster cut away to shots of:

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Posted: 21st, January 2009 | In: Politicians | Comment


Recession And War Breathes New Life Into Mars

“MARS IS ALIVE,” screams the Sun. “NASA prof, there’s evidence.”

Anorak has looked at the data and can confirm that in times of stress and recession, talk of alien life and Mars rises by a factor of 29.54.

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Posted: 16th, January 2009 | In: Reviews | Comment


Sticky Tape X Rays For Electric Farmers

BAD Science: Sticky tape electricity for X Rays

Scientists have known for years that peeling up a strip of sticky tape can set off some subatomic fireworks. But in the current issue of the journal Nature, UCLA researchers prove that the X-rays released are both powerful and plentiful.

Really:

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Posted: 22nd, December 2008 | In: Strange But True | Comment (1)


How Man’s Warming Prevented The Ice Age

A PRESS release explains that it wasn’t the industrial age that sparked global warming. No, it was Asians and the Hun:

SAN FRANCISCO — The common wisdom is that the invention of the steam engine and the advent of the coal-fueled industrial age marked the beginning of human influence on global climate.

Wisdom?

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Posted: 19th, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)


The Magnetosphere Is Leaking On Your Head

EARTH’S magnetosphere is leaking.

The magnetosphere is the region around our planet that shields us from the worst solar storms, says Space.com. It’s the big new scare:

The leaks are defying many of scientists’ previous ideas on how the interaction between Earth’s magnetosphere and solar wind occurs: The leaks are in an unexpected location, let in solar particles in faster than expected and the whole interaction works in a manner that is completely the opposite of what scientists had thought.

Scientists think? But isn’t it all maths and facts?

“Wildlife Experts Ponder Gender of Santa’s Reindeer” – Associated Press…

Well…

Posted: 19th, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comments (3)


Bad Science And Sample Bitter Pills

TERRIBLE news buried at the foot of a Guardian medical research report today.

Researchers have a shock for Anorakians turning to hangover cures.

The answer you probably already knew has been confirmed:

“After an extensive review of evidence for the curative benefits of bananas, aspirin, vegemite, fructose, glucose, artichoke, prickly pear and the drugs tropisetron and tolfenamic acid, they conclude that none has been proven to cure hangovers. “No scientific evidence … supports any cure or effective prevention for alcohol hangovers.”

..and shock, horror, dismay:

“The most effective way to avoid a hangover is to consume alcohol only in moderation or not at all.”

The funnier side to this is the fact the British Medical Journal traditionally tries to take the piss out out of the medical correspondents at this time of year. Spoof articles, using research techniques without doing the research on clear nonsense subjects is a BMJ Christmas howler, an in-joke for the clinicians.

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Posted: 18th, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comment


Those Newspaper Equations In Full: The Perfect Orgasm Formula

THE FORMULA FOR THE  PERFECT ORGASM revelead:

BOFFINS at the University of Wisconsin have come up with a sexy new formula – for the perfect orgasm. The equation reads: X = (D+KY)^2/sin(PG-1) (where X = ecstasy, P = penetration, G = G spot, D = Dale Winton, K = Kleenex and Y = yoghurt)

AS Ben says:

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Posted: 16th, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comments (2)


White Possum Is First Mammal Wiped Out By Global Warming: Fact

THE Australian a white possum is the first animal to be made extinct by global warming. Possibly. Dame Edna may not outlive her audience. The Courier Mail enlarges:

Scientists believe some frog, bug and insects species have also been killed off by climate change. But this would be the first known loss of a mammal and the most significant since the extinction of the Dodo and the Tasmanian Tiger.

Believe. Let’s stick to the scientific facts on the “Dodo of the Daintree“. The G’Day Gonad.  

“It is not looking good,” researcher Steve Williams said.

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Posted: 5th, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)


How Global Warming Created The Earth

GLOBAL wamring is now called global cooling. It was called climate change but then the climate changed in something called the “seasons”.

Now the New York Times beigns news of a scientic breakthrough on teh orginas of life on eArth and how when the plent was formed all life wold ahve bene klileld, ahd theri been any, posisbly:

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Posted: 4th, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comment


One In Suffer Child Abuse: Fact, Allegedly

FACTS on child abuse in the Guardian:

Some 5-10% of girls and 1-5% of boys have been subjected to penetrative sex, usually by a family friend or relative. If sexual abuse is defined more widely – as anything from being shown pornographic magazines to rape – it is estimated that it will include at least 15% of girls and 5% of boys.

Porn mags to rape?

 Those like Baby P who are picked up by the social services and placed on the at-risk register are only the tip of the iceberg.

The only statistic that would appear to be correct is: not everyone gets caught.

Posted: 3rd, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)


Sigmund Rascher’s Death Camp Research

NEVER forget:

Perhaps the most enthusiastic user of human guinea pigs was the ambitious young SS doctor Sigmund Rascher, who employed camp inmates at Dachau to test the human body’s reactions to rapid decompression and lack of oxygen, in an attempt to help pilots forced to parachute out of their planes at high altitudes. He called some of his research sessions “terminal experiments”. He measured the time it took his subjects to die as their air supply was gradually thinned out. He showed his work, which led to the deaths of between 70 and 80 prisoners, to a conference of Luftwaffe medical experts in September 1942.

The following month, Rascher presented the results of another experiment to a conference of 95 medical scientists in Nuremberg. This time, he showed how long inmates dressed in Luftwaffe uniforms and life jackets could survive in cold water, simulating conditions in the North Sea. The average time that elapsed before death, he reported, was 70 minutes. None of those listening to him raised any ethical objections.

Richard J Evans is Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge.

Posted: 2nd, December 2008 | In: Reviews | Comment