Fraudulent claim about MMR and Autism – the data was faked

The news is out, Andrew Wakefield’s study that claimed to prove a link between the MMR vaccine and Autism was not just shoddy, he actually faked the data, so it was outright fraud. Why would he have done this, where was his integrity? It turns out that he was being paid by a law firm … Read more

Climate Change Feedback loops

The Guardian has, what it is calling “The Ultimate Climate Change FAQ”, and today somebody has just updated the answer to one of the questions … its really quite interesting … well OK, all answers are, it just so happens that today’s caught my eye. The question is “What are Climate Change Feedback loops?” … … Read more

Surface of Mars Possibly Shaped By Plate Tectonics In Recent Past

Wow … cool … space.com reports that there is evidence that there has been plate tectonic activity on Mars as recently as 250,000 years ago. You can click on the picture to get a larger copy. What it shows is that the many ridges and scarps on the rumpled apron of land north and west … Read more

How “not” to secretly film a polar bear

When up the Arctic attempting to make a documentary about Polar Bears, how the heck do you get all those up-close and personal shots? Easy, you disguise the camera as part of the background so that it then blends seamlessly in. Good plan, yes? Unfortunately, this plan potentially has a wee flaw. The polar bear … Read more

Storm on Saturn – Cassini captures images

In the past few weeks a new storm erupted on Saturn. The Cassini probe did a pass on 24th Dec and successfully captured images of it. This is the raw unprocessed image … they will of course need to validate and calibrate it, then file in on the Planetary Data System, but that will not … Read more

Ben Goldacre at his very best – Video

This you have got to watch … its Ben Goldacre at his very best. He is the author of the Guardian’s weekly ”Bad Science” column and Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks, and Big Pharma Flacks, here he dismantles the questionable science behind an assortment of drug trials, court cases, and events of our time. Ben Goldacre … Read more