Snipped from BMJ.com.

Are you ever standing around and happen upon a conversation where people are perpetuating inane myths, urban legends or folk tales as true. It gets you off your rocker, doesn’t it? Well, here is a list of some medical myths, and the science to back up why it is, and always will be, a myth.

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Cans I help yuoz?
AP Photo

Now, I received this by email, so I don’t know if this is actually true, or who the originator of this story is, but knowing the state of our education system, I don’t doubt it to be true. Anyways, this is how the email went:

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Snipped from PopulistAmerica.com.

Now here is someone that actually thinks with his cerebrum, and not his penis. While I was reading this, I kept saying to myself, “this is exactly what I have been saying … damn it, why is this type of thinking so rare?” If one wants to truly solve our geopolitical problems, then close all of our military bases, cut military spending by half or MORE, and bring every single troop home. Militarily speaking, become an isolationist nation.

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Snipped from Scotsman.com.

I have had a strong curiosity about dolphins for a very long time. It started after I watched a special on them when I was a kid about how they could tell colors, shapes, sizes and solve problems. They could do all kinds of amazing things that no other comparable animal could do. Then, my curiosity peaked a decade later when I read an article about how the dolphin “language” was more complex than any of the human languages. I started thinking to myself, “what if dolphins were as smart or smarter than us, but they just lack an opposable thumb to show off their ‘intelligence’.”

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The search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (a.k.a. SETI)

If these gizmos were pointed at Washington, D.C., it’d be a long, grueling search…

Starting right at home (but looking outward) the interwebs are all atwitter with discussions of the new Allen Telescope Array. Named after Microsoft co-founder (and major project funding source) Paul Allen, the ATA has been a bit of a soap opera to date. It’s planning was announced, then construction was delayed, funding was on, then off… Well, as of the 11th of October, this beastie is officially a going deal.

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I’ve been struggling this week to think of an excuse to mention Disney coupons. This is a science blog after all, but as regular readers are well aware it is supported in part by a coupons section. At the weekend, I usually try to shoehorn in some spurious reference to a product or service for which there is a coupon on the site in the hope that dedicated readers, hoping to see the site continue well into its second decade (version 1.0 appeared in May 1996), will lend support by using said coupon.

Anyway, it’s the turn of Disney coupons this week, but where’s the science link? I could talk about some of the absurdity of the organisation’s paranormal output - Mary Poppins, Bedknobs & Broomsticks, and Herbie, for instance. Or, I could mention the psychological damage caused to me in trying to ponder, as a child, how Mickey Mouse’s ears always face forward no matter which way his head is turned. I could even mention Discover magazine, but, then again, maybe not.

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original image from flickr user
“Nemo’s great uncle“

Three years ago, I joined a small group at the Academy of Sciences named the Greenteam. Little did I know that green issues would be such a hot topic today because of global warming. Many people feel that little to nothing can be done about turning back the clock. Yet, if everyone did a few things it would lead to significant progress. I’ve observed over the past two years that little things people do consistently have a greater impact than going to the extremes. Our Executive Director recently took a step toward sustainability by banning water bottles at meetings and functions, noting that bottled water is expensive, wastes plastic, and is harmful to the environment. Better and cheaper alternatives are tap water as well as filtered water. The following bullet points explain why tap water is a more sustainable choice:

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Snipped from DailyMail.co.uk.

Some of the arguers against evolution ask, “Well, if evolution exists, where are the species that are evolving themselves? Or middle-species?” Well, although there doesn’t need to be a middle species, this story may give a debater of evolution some ammunition. If a middle species is what you want then a killfish (among many more, but let’s stick with this one) is what you get. Here is a fish that is adapting has adapted to surviving outside of water for longer than thought possible.

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You know you hate me?

When the voice with India-accent started to ask my social security number and my password, that’s when I hung up. Don’t the customer service reps in India know that’s a no-no. And then I thought, that was a damn good way to make me hang up and call back and be someone’s else problem. Is that what was going on?

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Is flu vaccination a shot in the dark? Regular readers will recall the recent debate on multiple vaccines, statistics, and risk we had here in September. I also have rather close personal experience of one of the risks associated with having the annual flu vaccine - Guillain-Barr� Syndrome (GBS). This autoimmune disorder is purportedly associated with a respiratory or gastrointestinal tract infection although there is a statistical risk that connects it to the flu vaccine. A close relative of mine developed GBS symptoms about six weeks after having the flu jab last December and has not yet fully recovered. GBS support groups recommend she not have the vaccine again.

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