Human stem cell brain injection approved by FDA

The FDA has approved a procedure to be done at Stanford University involving stem cells. The stem cells are harvested by a private group from aborted fetuses. "Immature neural cells" (brain stem cells) are yoinked out of the dead not-quite-humans and injected into the brains of children sufferring from Batten disease.

Batten disease is caused by a defective gene that fails to create an enzyme needed in the brain to help dispose of brain cellular waste. The waste piles up and kills healthy cells until the patient dies. Most victims die before they reach their teens.

The kids being experimented on WILL DIE within years without the experiment. They'll probably die anyway, but maybe more slowly. The injected neurons take over the kid's brain and make it work right.

Astrology and ID both scientific, claims Pennsylvania prof

A trial facing the US courts is over whether K-12 teachers in Dover, PA, should read a statement to their students questioning Darwinian evolution before teaching the content. Eleven parents are sueing the school board saying that the statment is tantamount to promoting religious creationism, while the school board claims that they are only making the students aware of the controversy in an unestablished claim. In the quote below, Rothschild is the attourney for the plaintiffs (the 11 pro-evolution parents), while Behe is a witness for the defense (pro-intelligent design school board). Behe is a biochem prof at University, Bethlehem, PA.

Rothschild told the court that the US National Academy of Sciences supplies a definition for what constitutes a scientific theory: “Theory: In science, a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses.”

Because ID has been rejected by virtually every scientist and science organisation, and has never once passed the muster of a peer-reviewed journal paper, Behe admitted that the controversial theory would not be included in the NAS definition. “I can’t point to an external community that would agree that this was well substantiated,” he said.

Behe said he had come up with his own “broader” definition of a theory, claiming that this more accurately describes the way theories are actually used by scientists. “The word is used a lot more loosely than the NAS defined it,” he says.

Hypothesis or theory?

Rothschild suggested that Behe’s definition was so loose that astrology would come under this definition as well. He also pointed out that Behe’s definition of theory was almost identical to the NAS’s definition of a hypothesis. Behe agreed with both assertions.

The exchange prompted laughter from the court, which was packed with local members of the public and the school board.

Behe maintains that ID is science: “Under my definition, scientific theory is a proposed explanation which points to physical data and logical inferences.”

“You've got to admire the guy. It’s Daniel in the lion’s den,” says Robert Slade, a local retiree who has been attending the trial because he is interested in science. "But I can’t believe he teaches a college biology class."

What's wrong with Astrology

Have you noticed that when you click on people's blogger profiles, it lists their astrological sign?

There are numerous things wrong with astrology.

•At its vaguest, it is unfalsifiable by making general statements that can apply to anyone. (I.e., this aspect is unfalsifiable.)

•At its most precise, it should have been able to predict the discovery of planets such as Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and maybe even asteroids (Ceres) and Kuiper Belt Objects (Quaoar, Sedna, Xena/2003UB13). Astrologers failed to do so, and therefore have failed the one objective test that we could administer. (I.e., this aspect has been falsified.)

•Precession - a wobbling effect of the Earth's axis - means that you weren't actually born in your birth sign, but the one after. The "first point in Aries" (vernal equinox, first day of Spring) actually is in Pisces, and it's nearly the "Age of Aquarius."

•They left out Ophiuchus. There's actually 13 zodiacal constellations, and it's the extra.

Now that you've listened to me rant about it, listen to someone else rant, and then try very hard not to mock ID proponents.

Brits asked to count frogs for science

Worldwide one-third of frog species are facing extinction from two diseases, one viral and one fungal. This is of course in addition to their sensitivity to pollution, climate change, and destruction of its natural habitat. If you live in Britain, you can help with the effort to track frogs and determine whether they're sick by visting the website Froglife and filling out and mailing a 14-question survey. Not that bad a task to help protect frogs worldwide. One thousand responses are needed to adequately sample British frogs.

HST repair?

This one's a request for info if any of you know, rather than an explanation.

Formerly, NASA had said the minimum number of shuttle flights needed to construct the orbiting station was 28; now, that number has been reduced to 18, plus another flight to repair the aging Hubble Space Telescope.

Has anyone heard anything, or is this a typo or new thing? The AAS (American Astromical Society) doesn't say anything, and if anyone would know, they would.

Biological basis for lying

A USC study has found the first proof of structural brain abnormalities in people who habitually lie, cheat and manipulate others.
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The subjects were taken from a sample of 108 volunteers pulled from Los Angeles’ temporary employment pool. A series of psychological tests and interviews placed 12 in the category of people who had a history of repeated lying (11 men, one woman); 16 who exhibited signs of antisocial personality disorder but not pathological lying (15 men, one woman); and 21 who were normal controls (15 men, six women).
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After they were categorized, the researchers used Magnetic Resonance Imaging to explore structural brain differences between the groups. The liars had significantly more “white matter” and slightly less “gray matter” than those they were measured against, Raine said.
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[Yaling] Yang, the study’s lead author, said the findings eventually could be used in making clinical diagnoses and may have applications in the criminal justice system and the business world.

“If [the findings] can be replicated and extended, they may have long-term implications in a number of areas,” said Yang, a doctoral student in the USC department of psychology’s brain and cognitive science program.

“For example, in the legal system they could potentially be used to help police work out which suspects are lying. In terms of clinical practice, they could help clinicians diagnose who is malingering – making up disability for financial gain.

“And also in business, they could assist in pre-employment screening, working out which individuals may not be suitable for hiring.

Controversy in Human Evolution

This one really IS a controversy. On the Indonesian island Flores, inside a cave, bones from a number of humans from some 12,000 to 95,000 years ago have been found. "Human" here is a broad term including neanderthals down to modern homo sapiens sapiens. These particular bones are significantly smaller than those of other homo sapiens of the same time, and most archaeologists/biologists believe they're of a new species and call them homo floriensis, familiarly known as Hobbits. A number of scientists remain unconvinced; they point out that these could've been an isolated group of dwarf homo sapiens. Only time will tell which hypothesis will win out and become the accepted theory.