US Court affirms thimerosal-autism connection "not...scientifically sound"

"US court rules again against vaccine-autism claims":

Vaccines that contain a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal cannot cause autism on their own, a special U.S. court ruled on Friday, dealing one more blow to parents seeking to blame vaccines for their children's illness.

As I've written before, the connection between vaccination and autism was started by a deeply flawed study created (largely out of whole cloth, it seems) by British "Dr." Andrew Wakefield. The belief that vaccines cause autism has caused significant abandonment of vaccination both in the US and in Great Britain, resulting in probable loss of herd immunity for segments of the population, especially against measles.

In the US, the case against thimerosal-caused autism is clearly shown by the continuing rise in autism diagnoses despite the removal of thimerosal from vaccines. This leaves anti-vaxers reaching for conspiracy theories rather than admit that thimerosal doesn't cause autism.

One would hope that the complete discrediting of the original "research" linking autism to vaccinations would have terminated this foolishness. Since it hasn't, I don't think this court case is going to do much good in that regard.

I wish critical thinking were taught in schools. And that lawyers who brought patently silly lawsuits based upon discredited science were severely sanctioned unless they won.

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Stepping Out Of The Frame

I have a geek question in search of a serious answer or a fresh theory: I just read this article at Eureka! Science News about how the genome of an entire family has been sequenced to track how genetic mutations are handed on. The article states "Scientists long had estimated that each parent passes 75 gene mutations to their children." However, the actual rate of passing on was less than half of what had been estimated -- "By comparing the parents' DNA sequences to those of their children, the researchers estimated with a high degree of certainty that each parent passes 30 mutations — for a total of 60 — to their offspring."

My question is, why was the erroneous estimate so high to begin with? What were they observing that caused them to attribute a passing on of mutations at this level? And if the mutations are present but not being transmitted via our parents' DNA (which seems likely), then what IS causing the mutations?

I'm theorizing it is genetic reconfiguration that is the result of environment in early development. Cultural biological mutation, a la epigenetics. Which biological determinists and essentialists of all stripes do NOT want to admit is the case -- especially all those among us obsessed with "masculinity" as if it has authentic biological reality, instead of being a pathological cultural construct in the midst of epic fail. I am as interested in hearing "examinations of masculinity" as I am in hearing about exploring white supremacy -- i.e., it has shot its wad and we can't afford to waste any more time pretending it has value to impart. Yes, my generation looked at "femininity" which had been crammed down our throats (sometimes literally) as part of girl conditioning, but we quickly understood it was a bogus binary and instead began focusing on what was HUMAN -- and reclaiming humanity for women.

I feel this morning as if we have lost an entire generation to the rabbithole of feminist denial and a lopsided, desperate clutch at keeping the gender binary alive through the pretense of "subverting" it.

The silver lining is that money has been poured into scientific studies which hope to bolster biological determinism, and the vast majority of them (except for the tiny ones done on selected populations of adults) keep proving that culture and environment are the major factors in determining "identity". Truth will out, even if it is funded by the boys (and boy fetishists) who want to prove their definition of boy is triumphant.


NOTE: Here's another recent article from The New York Times, Human Culture Plays A Role In Natural Selection, which states that genetic adaptation to sustained cultural change "works more quickly than other selective forces, 'leading some practitioners to argue that gene-culture co-evolution could be the dominant mode of human evolution'". Yep.

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When Google Translate Fails...

Art can elucidate.

(This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow.)

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GNB Late Night: You won the gold and you have health care!

(Photo: Charles Dharapak / AP, from "The hockey sweater, White House style")

The hockey sweater, White House style:

Four of us Canadians stood together in the White House briefing room this afternoon for the big moment.

One wore a Canadian hockey jersey, one wore the now-famous red "Canada" mittens. We each wore smiles as our American colleagues teased us about the 'important' Canadian story.

The U.S. President's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, kept his Olympic hockey bet today with Prime Minister Harper's press secretary, Dimitri Soudas. Gibbs lost the bet, and so today he delivered on his end of it. Sort of.

He did indeed wear a Team Canada hockey jersey to the press briefing, as per the bet.

(Dimitri Soudas had the jersey delivered to Gibbs, generously adding the number 39 worn by Ryan Miller, the fine goalie for Team USA.)

Gibbs appeared in front of the room and before the live cameras to what sounded like good natured groans. He turned for the cameras, and explained how President Obama had instructed the U.S. Embassy to send a case of Molson Canadian (from Canada's oldest brewery) and a case of Yuengling (brewed in Pennsylvania, by the oldest beer maker in the U.S.) to the Prime Minister's office.

Gates then he removed the sweater and conducted most of the briefing in a Team USA jersey that he was wearing underneath the winning jersey.

The bulk of the briefing was about health care reform in the U.S.

One of the American reporters quipped to the Canadians, "you won the gold and you have health care!"

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Greatest 3 Game Comeback Ever in NHL

(Video: Joe Pavelski amazing spin o rama goal against predators 3-11-2010,

posted to YouTube by FlyingMagicPotatoes)

Drew Remenda:

Do you wanna know what a hockey player is? A hockey player is a guy that keeps playing, no matter what the situation. Joe Pavelski did not have a very good first or second period. But Joe Pavelski is such a player -- is a guy who will continue to play as hard as he can and do what he gets, do what he can when he gets the opportunity. That's a hockey player, right there, ladies and gentlemen.

In their last three games (all home at the Shark Tank in San Jose: March 4th against Montreal, March 6th against Columbus, and March 11th against Nashville), the San Jose Sharks have done something unique in NHL history: won three consecutive games when trailing entering the final period.

I know that most of you could care less about hockey, and probably those of you who care about hockey could care less about the San Jose Sharks. But I suffered through eight seasons of tickets with the Boys in Teal, starting their first year in San Jose at the Shark Tank, and that experience marks you -- at least it marked me. The experience of utter team failure and spectacular over-achivement. Agony over losses, ecstasy over victories. Pain over injuries. Endless figuring of possible routes to the playoffs or useful trades. Learning that your team can manage to lose no matter what the situation. The Noise*

The Sharks are getting a reputation for playoff choking in the NHL because they keep re-loading for a Cup run and failing. This year there are indications that they may beat that reputation. Four Sharks (Thornton, Heatley, Marleau, and Boyle) came home from Vancouver with gold medals. Joe Pavelski (shown above scoring one of his four points in last night's 3rd period) came home with a silver medal. And now the Sharks have come back in three straight games when trailing entering the 3rd period.

I've seen the Canadian Men's and Women's Hockey teams bring home gold this year at home. When Sidney Crosby's "golden goal" went in, we at home could hear the roar from "downtown" Lynn Valley where a big screen was set up. I'm surprised we didn't hear all the way from Vancouver. If the Sharks go all the way this year, I think I'll hear the cheer all the way up the West Coast from San Jose.

And I would love that.

* If you say The Noise to anyone who's been in the Shark Tank during the playoffs, they will understand. It's the sound of 17,100 of your closest friends whose names you don't know exploding in cheers. It's not unlike the sound a space shuttle makes taking off -- a sound which is visible crossing water and tactile when it reaches you. The Noise is more than decibels. Earplugs will stop The Noise from deafening you but they can't keep you from feeling it. Because you're a Californian, you know the building isn't shaking from an earthquake, but if you weren't a Californian, you'd be running for a doorway. You can't record The Noise -- it just comes out sounding like a big hum -- whether it's the Shark Tank or the space shuttle.

But if you're there, you can feel it.

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