Those liberals! First it was gay marriage, now it’s cloning. When will they learn?
I guess Star Trek was right:
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Tip o’ the allele to Ken Levine.
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What happened to Bad Astronomy???
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
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Death from the Skies!
Order a copy of Death from the Skies! from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders.
"If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?"
-- Adam Savage, Mythbusters"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating."
-- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising -
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People who like me!
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DISCOVERmagazine.com: Latest Articles on Space - DISCOVER Blogs: The Loom
September 5th, 2008 at 8:07 am
His mother is just a cover-up.
September 5th, 2008 at 8:17 am
[…] Obama, gameting the system? | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine __________________ "Das Herz und den Geist eines Entdeckers, und die Seele eines Poeten". Diesen Traum versuche ich zu leben. Planeten.ch - Acht und mehr Planeten… Final-Frontier.ch - Kommentare vom Rande des Universums […]
September 5th, 2008 at 8:49 am
LOL! You watch those rednecks who won’t vote for him coz his middle name is Hussein and they are convinced he is a Muslim (Obama/Osama what’s the difference right?) Now they have his mixed race AND single sex parentage to deal with!
September 5th, 2008 at 9:24 am
Phil:
I know this is off-topic for this post, but you have to see this, from our friends at The Onion:
Evolutionists Flock To Darwin-Shaped Wall Stain
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/85766
September 5th, 2008 at 9:29 am
GKopy that’s going up later today.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Now that I would love to see… well, not… ummm… nothing to see here, move along.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Off-topic but important and hilarious.
Gorilla199 is holding votes on leaving youtube due to people telling him to leave. And his infamous speech of the LHC is now in Matrix style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ9q0ihuGAs
September 5th, 2008 at 9:53 am
So who’s cloning technology did they use? Merck, Pfizer, Bayer or GlaxoSmithKline? And how did they keep it secret for 47 years?
September 5th, 2008 at 9:53 am
It’s like that old TV show, My Two Dads, except one of the dads is black and from Kenya, and the kid is male…and dark skinned…and an adult. Other than that, it’s just like that show.
September 5th, 2008 at 9:54 am
@Cory Albrecht
The government is very adept at keeping secrets. Just look at their UFO data!
September 5th, 2008 at 10:12 am
“Obama, gameting the system?”
Someone, anyone, please PLEASE take away Phil’s Pun-O-Matic ‘76! For the children!
September 5th, 2008 at 10:20 am
As I was walking this morning thinking about everything, it occurred to me that those folk with a genetic propensity toward Autism might be getting their (cerebral) developmental genes turned off by a strong immunological response. It would of necessity be timing dependent and would explain why we see no general population relationship with vaccination, yet SOME people see a correlation with their childrens development of Autism soon after vaccination. Aspergers could therefore be dependent on WHEN those developmental genes were turned off.
Just a random, off topic thought,,,
GAry 7
September 5th, 2008 at 10:24 am
If only this were their Last Battlefield.
September 5th, 2008 at 10:31 am
GKopy:
Funny!!!
As I was taking my 2 mile walk this morning, thinking about Everything(is there anything better to do) it occurred to me,,,perhaps SOME anti-vaxers have a point, ie, that there are those who carry genes sensitive to environmental/immunological interference in the brains developmental pathways, specifically those responsible for mirror neuron development. IF(and this is a BIG if), we find certain genes that, if turned off too soon, leave the brain undeveloped, these genes COULD be influenced by the immune function, such that, when vaccinated and the immune system gets stimulated, those genes get turned off and we have symptoms of autism or Aspergers syndrome. This COULD explain why some develop full blown Autism, but because of differential timing, might only result in Aspergers, of varying degrees of severity.
I note that exposure to German measles in the first trimester can result in cardiac malformation in the fetus and subsequent death. It’s not too much of a stretch to imagine a similar effect in the genetically susceptible to immune system stimulation, especially since most Autism appears to manifest around the time brain development is progressing toward empathic/social awareness.
Hey, just a little off topic pondering,,,Too bad we don’t have a rat model of that disorder.
HEy, I thought I had lost this post. This is more inclusive than the previous one.
GAry 7
September 5th, 2008 at 11:04 am
“That is a moment for the history books”
I guess it’s a moment for the history books in more ways than one!
September 5th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Umair Rahat,
Perhaps we could stuff the ballot box.
But which way to vote?
September 5th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Yes, better watch them series of interfallopian tubes. ‘And if you don’t understand, those tubes can be filled and if they are filled, when you put your sperm in, it gets in line and it’s going to be delayed by anyone that puts into that tube enormous amounts of material, enormous amounts of material.’
So your claim is that you have no data and that parents are misunderstanding a medical diagnosis of Aspbergers for autism?
Meanwhile the finding of no correlation with autism, timed or not, can be interpreted as … a finding of no correlation with autism.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Tim G:
That shouldn’t be a problem. Look forward (progressive).
September 5th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I sure hope his parents’ doctor delivered him by C-section!
September 5th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
On topic, this is one of the many reasons I stopped watching ABC News:
http://www.turningleft.net/2008/04/17/george-stephanopoulos-and-charlie-gibson-are-morons/
I can’t take them seriously any more.
September 5th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Torbjörn Larsson, OM Says:
From Wikipedia:
Of the other four PDD forms, Asperger syndrome is closest to autism in signs and likely causes; Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder share several signs with autism, but may have unrelated causes; PDD not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) is diagnosed when the criteria are not met for a more specific disorder.
Thus Aspergers syndrom and Autism causes MAY be related.
Also note: The rate of Autism is given as ” 1 or 2 /1000″ in the general population. That’s a variation of (approximately) plus or minus 50%, which leaves plenty of room for speculation. What we don’t have is good data relating how often (or if at all) Autism seems to appear after a systemic infection.
Investigating large groups of “normal” people while looking for variations in a very small group(1/1000) is subject to random noise in the sampling procedure. Better to observe large groups of known carriers of genetic disturbances to determine what environmental changes MAY be associated with triggering a full blown case of Autism. I doubt vaccination per se is a causative factor, even in the genetically susceptible however, immune response is a potentially violent activity, with H2O2 used by scavenger cells to destroy invading protozoa, virus, etc and that oxidative process COULD stimulate defective gene sites to turn on or OFF. In the development of any organism, limbs, heart and other organs and especially the brain are extremely sensitive to the timing of genetic switches. German measles in the first trimester can cause cardiac mis-development. The destruction of certain B vitamins ( as I recall it was vit B12) by thalidomide causes the genes responsible for developing limbs to turn off before the job is done.
I’m just saying, it may be worth a closer look at how the genetic switches may be affected by immunological function in susceptible individuals which, of course, requires us to know a great deal more about the genetic variance associated with Autism.
Gary 7
September 5th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Addendum:
I prefer the term “genetic varience” rather then “genetic abnormality” because, while some such variation is lethal and therefore definable as “abnormal”, many such have survival value in the appropriate environment. Sickle cell varience is one example. Diabetes is another.
See Paiute and Pima Indians and the survival value of hyperglycemia.
GAry 7
September 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
I wonder if this guy was listening to what he was saying!
September 6th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Holy Land of Gorshin! If you ask my Impression: that truly was a riddle!
September 6th, 2008 at 1:20 am
Frankly speaking that is.
September 6th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
@ Gary Ansorge:
No, I didn’t say that.
… and as for the rest of the comment, it didn’t answer my previous comment, which then remains.