Low salt diet benefits debunked

Public health advice to minimise salt consumption to lower blood pressure is based on spurious science and does not recognise the complex role of sodium in the body, say scientists whose study attacks the basis of dietary guidelines. As Australian authorities consider slashing salt recommendations to even lower levels, the most comprehensive survey of salt intake in the US found consumption there had not changed in more than 40 years, despite the recent rise of low-sodium foods, and the average was at least 50 per cent higher than the recommended maximum. As well, there was relatively little difference between the high and low ends of the salt intake spectrum - suggesting people naturally gravitate towards a similar amount of dietary salt, regardless of changes in food processing. The research, led by the eminent Harvard researcher Walter Willett, re-analysed all studies between 1957 and 2003 that measured sodium levels in urine - a more accurate method than asking people what foods they ate. Professor Willett said the finding that salt intake had not changed, while the prevalence of high blood pressure had risen, suggested the ''epidemic of obesity may be a more plausible determinant'' of high blood pressure rates than salt. His study, published yesterday in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, joins an international survey released last year with similar findings. Full article here.

Michael Fumento - why do we continue to believe bizarre things, from airships that weren't there to Gulf War Syndrome

We also suffer from Paleolithic man's dependence on pattern-seeking -- the only science he truly possessed -- which helped tell when berries would appear or when a wild animal was dangerous. But pattern-seeking also leads to superstition. Stellar constellations, "finding" patterns in random assortments of stars, was a science to the Ancient Greeks. Today we're constantly offered "patterns" from random events. We personally would never have identified them. But once somebody else identifies them, they become "obvious." Stare at a bunch of dots long enough and you'll eventually find what you seek. That's especially true for those with an agenda, including some in the media. They thrive on sensationalism and often convince even themselves it's right there in those random dots. Sensationalism brings money, fame and prizes to reporters. But in fairness, they're just giving the public what it wants.

The Rational Optimist - Shale gas changes everything

Some people think I am obsessed by the shale gas revolution and that I might be exaggerating its significance. Well, if anything I'm underplaying it. The International Energy Agency says so. Here's what it says (from UPI): "Production of 'unconventional' gas in the U.S. has rocketed in the past few years, going beyond even the most optimistic forecasts," said Anne-Sophie Corbeau, a gas analyst at the IEA. "It is no wonder that its success has sparked such international interest." The rest here

Watch this, you'll love his nuts

DJ Steve Porter featuring Vince Offer - "Slap Chop Rap"

Vince? I never knew he existed before today, but this 'remix' of his Slap Chop ad has made me a fan.

Atheists and agnostics speak out in Arabic

via Harry's Place

Greenpeace co-founder on the environmental group's descent into extremism

From The Vancouver Sun: You could call me a Greenpeace dropout, but that is not an entirely accurate description of how or why I left the organization 15 years after I helped create it. I'd like to think Greenpeace left me, rather than the other way around, but that too is not entirely correct. The truth is Greenpeace and I had divergent evolutions. I became a sensible environmentalist; Greenpeace became increasingly senseless as it adopted an agenda that is anti-science, anti-business, and downright anti-human. This is the story of our transformations.

Goat sings along with Usher

It started out simply enough: But before long, the goat was jamming with the best of them:

Tiny fossils offer clues to 'dawn of the dinosaur era' (with complete reevaluation of Eoraptor)

Eodromaeus, new basal theropod from the Triassic in Argentina. Triassic Park was a more diverse place than we thought, according to the latest finds from the 230-million-year-old Ischigualasto formation in north-eastern Argentina. Dinosaurs make up one-third of all vertebrate genera found in the fossil beds, and all three major dinosaur groups had already appeared – not bad for a time when the beasts were thought to be rare. New Scientist Steve Brusatte, quoted in the same story makes the important point about the tendency of even scientists to build narratives around scrappy and incomplete evidence, warning: against drawing major evolutionary conclusions. He points out that huge holes remain in the Triassic fossil record – the next-oldest well-preserved dinosaur fossils are about 15 million years younger. "You have to be careful in drawing big pictures from one site," he warns. Chicago Tribune article here. Mike Taylor in a post to the Dinosaur Mailing List has reaction similar to mine this morning, (though for me it was the newspaper article): Seriously?  Even freakin' Science is not capable of mentioning a theropod without throwing in an extraneous T. rex reference?  It makes me want to weep. Well, I didn't want to weep, but I did roll my eyes.

Is the international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944 on the verge of breaking down?

The international monetary system set up at Bretton Woods in 1944 is on the verge of breaking down. It could still be saved by heroic measures, especially if these were taken in the United States. They would include an immediate slash in projected government expenditures, an immediate balancing of the budget, and a halt in any further increase in the stock of money. But in the present political and ideological atmosphere, these measures are very unlikely. The advice at the end appears to be: buy gold.

Prehistoric Bird Had Wings Like Nunchucks

The flightless Xenicibis bird used its wings, like two clubs hinged at the wrist joint, to swing at one another, a new study says. A flightless bird with wings like martial arts weapons once thrashed its foes on what's now Jamaica, a new study says. Dubbed Xenicibis, the prehistoric bird wielded its unusual wings like nunchucks, or nunchakus, swinging its upper arms so that thick, curved hand bones hinged at the wrist would deliver punishing blows. The weapon-like wings are so unique that study co-author Nicholas Longrich of Yale University at first assumed the odd limbs were evidence of a deformity. "There are a lot of birds that do have weaponry," Longrich said. "Tthey just don't have anything like this." The rest here

Beaks Transformed Dinosaurs, Expanding Diet

The emergence of the beak on dinosaurs was "an evolutionary innovation," according to a new study that found this seemingly simple trait is like nature's Swiss Army knife because it functions as many tools in one.

Pterygotid sea scorpions: No longer terror of the ancient seas?

Experiments by a team of researchers in New York and New Jersey have generated evidence that questions the common belief that the pterygotid eurypterids ("sea scorpions") were high-level predators in the Paleozoic oceans. This group, which ranged the seas from about 470 to 370 million years ago (long before the dinosaurs appeared), included the largest and, arguably, scariest-looking arthropods known to have evolved on planet Earth.

Okay, what the InnarToobs are really for

 

 

From:

http://www.sondrak.com/index.php/weblog/tonitez_antidote/

Reports of Pacific Ocean's plastic patch are greatly exaggerated

Remember that Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the pile of floating plastic and other debris “the size of Texas” or more?...What's more, the oceanography professor says the data suggest that plastic patches actually haven't increased in size in recent decades, despite greater use of plastic. 

There's too much plastic in the ocean, White says, but the hyperbole about the extent of the problem drives a wedge between the public and scientists. 

 

 

 

Via SondraK

Steven Pinker on why we are living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence

"Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from Biblical times to the present, and argues that, though it may seem illogical and even obscene, given Iraq and Darfur, we are living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence."

The King speaks to his peoples around the world (interesting in the light of the film The King's Speech)

His Majesty King George VI addresses his peoples around the world from Buckingham Palace in light of him being at war with Germany, 3 September 1939. You can hear him wrestling with his speech impediment, the subject of the recently released film The King's Speech, in this recording. Via @lifeasdaddy and @Colvinius on Twitter.

Geologist: 9,099 Of Last 10,500 Years Warmer Than 2010

On Watts Up With That?, Dr. Don J. Easterbrook notes the attention 2010 is getting as a contender for the warmest year of the century. And then he calms everyone down: Another graph of temperatures from the Greenland ice core for the past 10,000 years is shown in Figure 5. It shows essentially the same temperatures as Cuffy and Clow (1997) but with somewhat greater detail.  What both of these temperature curves show is that virtually all of the past 10,000 years has been warmer than the present. Figure 5. Temperatures over the past 10,000 years recorded in the GISP2 Greenland ice core So where do the 1934/1998/2010 warm years rank in the long-term list of warm years? Of the past 10,500 years, 9,100 were warmer than 1934/1998/2010.  Thus, regardless of which year ( 1934, 1998, or 2010) turns out to be the warmest of the past century, that year will rank number 9,099 in the long-term list. The climate has been warming slowly since the Little Ice Age (Fig. 5), but it has quite a ways to go yet before reaching the temperature levels that persisted for nearly all of the past 10,500 years. From Planet Gore

Area Of Thick Arctic Ice Has Doubled In The Last Two Years

US Navy PIPS data shows that the area of ice greater than 2.5 metres thick – has doubled since the same date in 2008. http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/ From Real Science

As usual, Britain's wind farms generated almost no power during the recent freeze

Wind farms in Britain generated practically no electricity during the recent cold spell, raising fresh concerns about whether they could be relied upon to meet the country’s energy needs. Despite high demand for electricity as people shivered at home over Christmas, most of the 3,000 wind turbines around Britain stood still due to a lack of wind. Even yesterday , when conditions were slightly breezier, wind farms generated just 1.8 per cent of the nation’s electricity — less than a third of usual levels. The failure of wind farms to function at full tilt during December forced energy suppliers to rely on coal-fired power stations to keep the lights on — meaning more greenhouse gases were produced. Experts feared that as the Government moved towards a target of generating 30 per cent of electricity from wind — while closing gas and coal-fired power stations — cold, still winters could cause a problem in the future. The wind turbines may even use up electricity during a calm period, as they were rotated in order to keep the mechanical parts working. There are more than 3,000 turbines in Britain and the Department of Energy and Climate Change planned to have up to 6,000 onshore and 4,000 at sea by 2020. Charles Anglin, of Renewable UK, which represented the wind energy industry, said that over a normal year wind turbines were working about a third of the time. He said future energy plans took into account periods when wind turbines were still, just as current models had backup available for when nuclear or coal plants were down. “There are periods, of course, when it is not windy but year on year we are seeing growth,” he said. Britain had 2 per cent of electricity from renewables in 2002, but that figure was now almost 10 per cent, with wind providing about half. SOURCE Via Greenie Watch I'm sorry, all this money is being poured into useless windmills that work "about a third of the time?!"

A brief history of wrong (and lessons in denial)

David Viner is the first act in Maxim Lott’s list of Eight Botched Environmental Forecasts: 1. Within a few years “children just aren’t going to know what snow is.” Snowfall will be “a very rare and exciting event.” Dr. David Viner, senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, interviewed by the UK Independent, March 20, 2000.   The response: “A spokesman for the government-funded British Council, where Viner now works as the lead climate change expert, told FoxNews.com that climate science had improved since the prediction was made.” Paul Ehrlich’s forecast is also worth a look: 7. “By the year 2000 the United Kingdom will be simply a small group of impoverished islands, inhabited by some 70 million hungry people ... If I were a gambler, I would take even money that England will not exist in the year 2000.” Ehrlich, Speech at British Institute For Biology, September 1971.   Ehrlich’s defence is brilliant: “When you predict the future, you get things wrong,” Ehrlich admitted, but “how wrong is another question. I would have lost if I had had taken the bet. However, if you look closely at England, what can I tell you? They’re having all kinds of problems, just like everybody else.” So he was just a little bit wrong. England still exists, but it has “problems”. From Mr Blair