Bad Science

Climate change data somehow thrown away ?

The Resista

Nov 30 |11:43

I am sorrry I do not beleive this. They can not be allowed to get away with it.

SCIENTISTS at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have admitted throwing away much of the raw temperature data on which their predictions of global warming are based.

It means that other academics are not able to check basic calculations said to show a long-term rise in temperature over the past 150 years.

The UEA’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) was forced to reveal the loss following requests for the data under Freedom of Information legislation.

The data were gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals — stored on paper and magnetic tape — were dumped to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.

Another Grey Area

The Resista

Sep 19 |05:57

Scientists hope to reconstruct Neanderthal DNA

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/world/07/21neanderthal.html

If scientists should succeed in reconstructing the entire Neanderthal genome, it might in principle be possible to bring the species back from extinction by inserting the Neanderthal genome into a human egg and having volunteers bear Neanderthal infants. But scientists are quick to point out the great technical and ethical problems in any such venture.

Your harshing my mello

The Resista

Aug 10 |02:13

Western values 'are causing mental illness'

THE rapid spread of Western business practices in Japan has caused widespread mental illness and is responsible for a deepening demographic crisis, government officials say.

Statistics indicate that 60 per cent of workers suffer from “high anxiety” and that 65 per cent of companies report soaring levels of mental illness.

Meanwhile, the size of the Japanese population is shrinking, and for the first time the Government has acknowledged that the falling birth rate is linked to job-related factors. Directors of the Japanese Mental Health Institute blame the same factors for rising levels of depression among workers and the country’s suicide rate, which remains the highest among rich nations.

Merit-based pay and promotion are of particular concern because they are at odds with the traditional system, built on seniority, that has reigned supreme in corporate Japan. In the harsh new atmosphere of cut-throat rivalry between workers, the Institute for Population and Social Security argues, young people do not feel financially stable enough to start families.

The trend is put down to Japanese companies’ attempts to globalise by adopting working practices more closely in line with US and British models. Larger numbers of temporary staff, a greater willingness to sack people and greater pay disparities are the downside.

A spokesman for the Mental Health Institute said that the emphasis on individual performance was driving Japanese workers — particularly those in their thirties — to mental turmoil. “People tend to be individualised under the new working patterns,” he said. “When people worked in teams they were happier.”

Morons claim that clones 'would feel individuality'

The Resista

Jul 18 |05:59

I realize that this is an article about a study and not a copy of the study it's self but that is one of the problems indeed. This is one of the poorest experiments I have ever had a chance to hear about.

Where are the interviews with Twins that grew up separated? Plus this seems really subjective and dismisses the belief that there may be more to life that what one can see with the eyes. I am not a christian but this seems to argue strongly against a soul. I think I would be a little offended if I were a born again Christian . I guess they know the Christians are not going to riot so there is no fear on their part.

A cloned human would probably consider themselves to be an individual, a study suggests.

Scientists drew their conclusions after interviewing identical twins about their experiences of sharing exactly the same genes with somebody else.

The team said the twins believed their genes played a limited role in shaping their identity.

The UK/Austrian research will shortly be published in the journal of Social Science and Medicine.

Co-author Dr Barbara Prainsack, from the University of Vienna, Austria, who worked with Professor Tim Spector, from the Twins Research Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, said: "The birth of Dolly the sheep triggered many questions about what it would be like to be a clone.

"We don't have clones we can interview - but we do have identical twins."

This interesting study reveals how we should not have any prejudiced feelings about the idea of genetically identical individuals living amongst us
Professor Lovell-Badge

Identical twins are created when a single egg, fertilised by a single sperm, splits into two separate, but genetically identical, embryos.

The researchers said because twins - like potential clones - share the same genes, they offer the only existing method of studying the feelings a clone might experience.

But they also emphasized twins would differ from clones because they are born at the same time, whereas clones would differ in age.

One of a pair?

The scientists carried out 17 interviews of identical, non-identical and non-twin siblings.

The identical twins said being a twin did not compromise their individuality - although they pointed out that people often had preconceptions that they were one of a pair rather than individuals.

Those interviewed viewed being an identical twin as a blessing, and said they would not rather be a non-identical twin or a "singleton".

They also said they believed their genes had no great bearing on their relationship with their twin and their identity.

The twins felt factors such as being brought up in the same environment, having spent a large part of their lives together, and being treated in a similar way by their parents were more important.

One interviewee said: "We spent 20 years together, and so that was a close experience. And that hasn't changed all of these years we've been apart. So I don't feel that genetics made any difference."

From these findings the scientists said they could assume a clone would probably not feel their individuality was compromised by sharing genes with someone else; that their relationship with their co-clone was a blessing; and their uniqueness was not a negative thing.

Dr Prainsack said: "According to the genetically identical people in our study, the problem would not be genetic sameness, but more the motives with which somebody would determine somebody else's genome.

"The cloning debate would benefit from shifting away its focus from genetic sameness to looking more at social reasons for why the deliberate creation of human beings with a certain genetic make-up could hurt society."

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, a geneticist from the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research, London, said: "Human reproductive cloning is not safe and should not be attempted with current knowledge.

"In my opinion, there are no strong reasons for even attempting it.

"But this interesting study and, although small, reveals how we should not have any prejudiced feelings about the idea of genetically identical individuals living amongst us."

(K.W. how about that statement up there from Prof. Lovell-Badge. up there , he said human cloning should not be attempted with "Current Knowledge". Nice to see he has an open mind about it. That is really what is wrong here. It's not that they have some moral problem with it. It's that currently they don't know how to do it. Isn't it obvious what is going to happen one day. It could be a cult or it could be North Korea, could be South Korea, but one day some nutcase is going to clone a person and tell us about it. What are they doing here laying some ground work for the future?)

The Incontentent truth

The Resista

Jun 07 |05:14

This is so funny. I haven't seen the movie yet but isn't Al Gore like the main character in the movie? Isn't it just a movie who's sole content is the presentation that former Vice President Gore has taken world wide in his Gulf Stream G5? Wasn't he at the Cann Premier. Why did drudge have to go there?

GORE NAME DROPPED FROM 'WARMING'

MOVIE POSTER, CREDITS
Wed Jun 07 2006 10:28:38 ET

Former Vice President Al Gore's name is nowhere to be found on Paramont's poster campaign for the new 'global warming' movie 'AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH.'

Gore's name is not featured on the dramatic poster promoting the movie -- a poster which welcomes moviegoers at the nation's theaters!

[Click for Large View]

"It's not a political movie," a top source at PARAMOUNT explained, offering no other explanation on why Gore's name does not appear, even in the film's credits on the poster.

Here is the real inconvenient truth of the movie (ed)

A rival studio executive claims marketing research showed little audience interest in a movie starring Al Gore.

The film has made $2,070,413 so far at the boxoffice in limited release.

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