Science

The Center for Inquiry has released a detailed critique (PDF) of a U.S. history textbook by James Q. Wilson and John Dilulio, Jr., pointing out that it falsely claims that there’s doubt about the very existence of the greenhouse effect, falsely claims that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned prayer in schools (as opposed to teacher-led prayer), falsely claims that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas overturned Texas’s anti-sodomy law on a close 5-4 vote (it was 6-3), falsely claims that the checks and balances of the U.S. Constitution were motivated by worries about original sin, and so on. (A summary can be found at the Friendly Atheist blog.) Wilson is Ronald W. Reagan Professor for Public Policy at Pepperdine University and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute; Dilulio was the first head of George W. Bush’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The problems in this textbook were uncovered by Matthew LaClair of Kearny, NJ, who previously received a lot of press coverage for his exposure of a U.S. history teacher at his school, David Paskiewicz, who was using the classroom as a forum for proselytizing evangelical Christianity. That story broke in the mainstream media only after being publicized on this blog. ...

Orac discusses a recent study in the Clinical Journal of Pain that compared the effects of “real” acupuncture (with real needles) to fake acupuncture (with needles with blunt ends that retract after hitting the skin, and do not puncture it) on test subjects between 2001 and 2003. The result: Both treatment groups, “true” and sham acupuncture, experienced decreases in the intensity of arm pain, arm symptoms, and noted improvement in arm function. However, patients in the sham acupuncture group improved more than patients in the “true” acupuncture group in the intensity of arm pain and just as much in measures of arm function and grip strength. The difference between the two groups was not sustained at a followup visit one month after the treatment ended, although the improvement in both groups remained detectable compared to baseline. Indeed, arm pain and arm symptoms scores declined faster in the sham compared with the “true” acupuncture group. In this study, which was the largest, best-designed trial thus far for acupuncture for arm pain due to RSI, sham acupuncture was better than “real” acupuncture! ...

Alonzo Fyfe, the Atheist Ethicist, has come up with an interesting suggestion–rather than purchase a ticket to go see “Expelled,” purchase a “truth ticket” by sending a contribution equal in value to a movie ticket ($10 is the suggested number) to the National Center for Science Education. (Click that link, and select “donation only.”) Alonzo’s sending 10 “truth tickets” worth of payment to the NCSE to promote good science. I’ll match him, and raise him 5 “truth tickets.” Anyone else care to buy a few? Pass it on… UPDATE (April 8, 2008): P.Z. Myers compares this idea to carbon offsets. The Panda’s Thumb has also reported on the idea. UPDATE: BTW, if you must see the film in the theater (my wife and I rarely go to the movies anymore, since Netflix is so much more convenient, and I don’t really have any interest in seeing this movie in any case), wait until after opening weekend. The “stupidity offset” for contributing to the opening weekend box office gross should probably be a much, much larger donation to the NCSE–better to make a smaller donation and see it the following week, if you must. ...

An NPR story on a Hawaiian botanist’s lawsuit against CERN to try to prevent the Large Hadron Collider from being turned on for fear that it will destroy the earth. This is worth listening to in order to hear Rudy Rucker read from one of his novels, Spaceland. Historical Comments Eamon Knight (2008-04-06): There's a James Hogan (spit) novel uses the same idea (only in that case it was a pulsed-implosion fusion reactor). ...

Robert F. Scott and Ernest Shackelton’s Antarctic campsite cabins at Cape Evans on Ross Island have been sitting there since 1913 and 1908, respectively, and are still intact and remarkably well preserved. The Fogonazos blog has the photos. (Via The Agitator.)

Intelligent design advocate Michael Behe scored another “own goal” like he did in the Dover trial, this time in the law suit by the Association of Christian Schools International and Calvary Chapel Christian School against the University of California. ACSI and Calvary were arguing that the UC system was unfairly refusing to accept transfer credits from certain courses taught at Christian schools which used inadequate materials in their curriculum. Behe testified in court on behalf of the plaintiffs that “it is personally abusive and pedagogically damaging to de facto require students to subscribe to an idea . . . . Requiring a student to, effectively, consent to an idea violates [her] personal integrity. Such a wrenching violation [may cause] a terrible educational outcome." The judge cited this reasoning in his decision in favor of the University of California: Yet, the two Christian biology texts at issue commit this “wrenching violation.” For example, Biology for Christian Schools declares on the very first page that: (1) “‘Whatever the Bible says is so; whatever man says may or may not be so,’ is the only [position] a Christian can take . . . ." ...

CNN reports that Arizona’s paramedics have changed their processes for dealing with cardiac arrest victims, going against the recommendations of the American Heart Association, and the result has tripled the long-term survival rate: Until three years ago, Arizona’s success rate in cases like this was no better than most of the country. This past month, however, physicians in the state reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that a new regimen by paramedics has tripled the success rate, to more than 5 percent. Among patients whose collapse from cardiac arrest was observed, long-term survival went from 4.7 percent to 17.6 percent. ...

I previously noted that none of the cases of alleged persecution of intelligent design advocates in the film “Expelled” come close to the case of political persecution of an advocate of evolution, Chris Comer, who lost her job at the Texas Education Association for sending an email announcing an academic talk by a critic of intelligent design. Troy Britain now lists some additional cases where intelligent design advocates are the persecutors: Nancey Murphy of the Fuller Theological Seminary, who said she faced a campaign to get her fired because she expressed the view that intelligent design was not only poor theology, but “so stupid, I don’t want to give them my time.” Murphy, who believes in evolution, said she had to fight to keep her job after one of the founding members of the intelligent design movement, legal theorist Phillip Johnson, called a trustee at the seminary and tried to get her fired. ...

It looks like Vancouver, British Columbia will become the second city to host a SkeptiCamp, which will be the third to occur. (Previously, previously.) Historical Comments Reed (2008-03-26): We're quite pleased that the first skepticamp outside Colorado is even outside the borders of the US. We've gone international!Its organizer tells me that BC is a hotbed of crankery which should make for an eclectic event that will make Colorado's look tame by comparison. ...

Phoenix Skeptics Executive Director Michael Stackpole now has an asteroid named after him: On March 23, 2001, David Healy and Jeff Medkeff discovered an asteroid about a mile in diameter, in the asteroid belt on the Mars side of the solar system. It was designated 165612. Until today. Now that asteroid is officially known as Stackpole. The International Astronomical Union approved the designation on March 21. Also getting asteroids named after them: Rebecca Watson (Skepchick), Phil Plait (Bad Astronomy), and P.Z. Myers (Pharyngula). Very cool! UPDATE: And Mike Stackpole posts his reaction to learning the news.