After all the scare stories about the dangers of cell phones the Herald carries an article today that is a delicious irony. Mobile phones may improve memory – study The headline is, of course, the usual media hyperbole. The study they are “interpreting” is one on mice that have been genetically engineered to develop a [...]
BBC News reports on a fascinating study that demonstrates that victims of child abuse may have accelerated aging. Telomeres are relatively short sections of specialised DNA that sit at the ends of all our chromosomes.They have been compared to the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces that prevent the laces from unravelling. Each time [...]
Sometimes you just shake you head in wonder at the complete pointlessness of some research… There is a prime example in the Herald today which declares Heavy drinking can cut risk of heart disease, says study. Drinking a bottle of wine a day, or half a dozen beers, cuts the risk of heart disease by [...]
Occasionally, you come across a piece of research that has ramifications far beyond the ones envisaged by the researchers. The Journal for Nanotechnology, appropriately named Small has this experiment reported in this month’s copy. In a fascinating understatement they say: The concept of releasing a drug inside a cell and following its action is applicable [...]
Stuff reports on a new vaccine that has been shown to provide some protection against AIDS. The vaccine was shown to reduce the incidence of contracting the disease by 31%. All other vaccines against AIDS have been abject failures. While this is indeed great news, the MacDoctor cautions against breaking out the champaign. 31% is [...]
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. (MacDoctor definition) Congratulations on the Dominion Post for getting two Spam Journalism awards in a row on the same day. Nats set to cut science budget National is set to slash funding for agriculture and food research, dumping Labour’s [...]
Interesting piece in USA today, detailing some research into the shelf-life of antioxidants. Using green tea and extra virgin olive oil as their test ingredients, the authors of this research tested their antioxidant levels at one week, and every month for six month. Both were properly sealed and stored. The authors report a linear deterioration [...]
And we can award an M.B.O. – Master of the Blooming Obvious – to the British research group who have discovered that “unhappy children are more likely to grow up to become adults who are permanently sick or disabled“. No shit, Sherlock. I’m sure there must have been someone, somewhere that wasn’t yet convinced that [...]
A new process has made it possible to turn skin cells into stem cells, obviating the need for human embryos for stem cell research. It is not fully perfected yet, but will almost certainly provide stem cell researchers with “ethical” material in abundance. These new stem cells are potentially much better than embryonic ones, because [...]
The Dominion Post has an article breathlessly telling us that information obtained under the Official Information Act shows that Solid Energy paid hundreds of thousands of dollars towards the NZIER report that slammed the Emissions Trading Scheme. Yawn. I’m sure that they would like us to think this is some dirty little secret; showing the evil coal [...]
