Widely publicized studies have made extreme claims about microplastic accumulation are deeply flawed

I am not surprised! I have blogged here many times that Plastophobia is a serious medical condition and that most warnings about plastics are largely alarmism and hysteria!

"Over the past few years, a number of widely publicized studies have made extreme claims about microplastic accumulation in the human body. But a recent investigation by The Guardian finds that much of the research is deeply flawed, with many reported detections likely driven by contamination and false positives. Critics say a commonly used detection method can mistake fats in human tissue for plastic, and that some studies report amounts of microplastics that are simply “not biologically plausible.”"

Doomslayer: Progress Roundup - by Malcolm Cochran

Doubt Cast on “Microplastics Throughout Human Body”

‘A bombshell’: doubt cast on discovery of microplastics throughout human body "Exclusive: Some scientists say many detections are most likely error, with one high-profile study called a ‘joke’"

Researchers have engineered mice that menstruate

Is this not a case of animal cruelty in the name of science? Just thinking out loud! Where are the animal activists when you need them! However, I suppose this kind of research is very useful.

Notice here also the apparent deliberate confusion of female animals and any animals! When ideology trumps science? I bet, these researchers did not engineer male animals to menstruate.

"Efforts to study the female reproductive system have long been set back by societal stigma—but also by the problematic fact that most laboratory animals don’t menstruate. Now, researchers have engineered mice that get a period in response to certain drugs.

Among the handful of animals that menstruate—which include large primates, four bat species, and the elephant shrew—the inner lining of the uterus, or endometrium, thickens before the release of an egg from the ovary. The layer then breaks down and is shed if no viable embryo appears.

In the new work, a team of researchers engineered the endometrium of standard lab mice to react to signals that drive menstruation in other animals. They equipped the cells with a receptor protein that, when activated by a drug, amplifies their sensitivity to calcium, a trigger of decidualization which prepares the endometrium for embryo implantation. When the researchers raised those animals’ progesterone levels and stimulated the receptors, the mice produced a 3–4 day period about 3 days later, with hallmarks of human menstruation including an enlarged uterus and expanded endometrial blood vessels. ..."

From the abstract:

"During menstruation, an inner layer of the endometrium is selectively shed, while an outer, progenitor-containing layer is preserved to support repeated regeneration. Progress in understanding this compartmentalization has been hindered by the lack of suitable animal models, as mice and rats do not menstruate.

Here, we present transgenic mouse models that recapitulate the key anatomical, functional, and transcriptional features of human menstruation through targeted chemogenetic activation of premenstrual differentiation.

Using single-cell spatial transcriptomics, we define a new paradigm for spatially regulated fibroblast differentiation that drives pre-menstrual endometrial layering and ultimately determines the extent of tissue shedding.

Our results revise a century-old view of endometrial shedding and regeneration and establish new transgenic mice as powerful tools to advance menstruation research."

ScienceAdviser

Induction of menstruation in mice reveals the regulation of menstrual shedding (open access)

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires. Really!

Nice, new example of junk science disseminated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)!

Correlation/coincidence is not causation! 

When ideology and bias trump science!

The claim that "As climate warms and humans build in more undeveloped environments" is ludicrous!

Caveat: I did not read the paper.

"Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments." Nice try of association!

What about arsonists? What about increasing population and business density in wildfire prone areas? What about insufficient or incompetent firefighting departments? What about lack of adequate forest management to prevent fires? Etc. etc.

"... The team compiled and analyzed wildfire event data from 1980 to 2023 that represented the 200 largest economic losses compared to affected countries’ GDPs, and/or caused 10 or more fatalities. Indeed, they found that major economic disasters had increased more than fourfold in the four-decade span , while major fatality events increased threefold. And 43% of the biggest economic losses occurred just in the past decade, and billion-dollar disasters occurred across four continents (North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe). The Mediterranean forest biome, which populates much of Europe, southern South America, South Africa, southern Australia, and the western United States, was particularly susceptible to wildfires.

Increases in key climate indices like drought and dry air also correlated with increased wildfires—a combination called “disaster weather” that further links climate change to natural disasters. ..."

From the editor's summary and abstract:

"Editor’s summary

As climate warms and humans build in more undeveloped environments [???], the threat of costly wildfire disasters is thought to be increasing. Cunningham et al. examined data about the global distribution, frequency, and associated climate conditions of the most lethal and costly wildfire disasters from 1980 to 2023, finding that disaster risk was highest in regions near relatively affluent, populated areas, and that the frequency of economically disastrous wildfires increased sharply after 2015. They also found that major disasters coincided with extreme climatic conditions. ...

Abstract

Climate change and land mismanagement [???] are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially and economically disastrous wildfires, partly due to sparse systematic records.

Using a 44-year dataset (1980 to 2023) we analyze the distribution, trends, and climatic conditions connected with the most lethal and costly wildfires.

Disastrous wildfires occurred globally over this period but were concentrated in the Mediterranean and temperate conifer biomes.

Disaster risk was highest where highly energetic daily fire events intersected affluent, populated areas.

Economic disasters increased sharply from 2015 onward, with 43% of the 200 most damaging events occurring in the last decade. Disasters coincided with increasingly extreme climatic conditions, highlighting the urgent need to adapt to a more fire-prone world."

ScienceAdviser

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires (no public access)

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires (preprint, open access, however it seems to be an early, outdated version)

When and how Nature journal spreads propaganda in one chart

Here is a nice example!

Nature Briefing: Cancer (Actually the whole issue of this news letter is mostly propaganda) E.g. "‘It will take decades to recover from this’" meaning from President Trump's alleged cuts to cancer research in the US. Really!

Socialists love to compare the US with Scandinavian countries. This has a long tradition! What is wrong with the chart below? A lot:

1. Only two years are compared. Any honest scientist and science journalist knows that this is a deceptive practice.
2. Using only percentage changes is another common deceptive practice. Why don't they show per capita results as well?
3. What if the US has been so advanced by 2010 that Denmark was only able to catch up with the US by 2019?

After 30 years, Japanese women, victims of forced sterilization, may receive government compensation

Good news! What took so long!

Again an US elite university, i.e. Johns Hopkins U, calls women people! Disgusting! Women were forcibly sterilized, not people! Same applies to The Telegraph news media!

"Nearly 30 years after forced sterilization ended in Japan, victims there are finally able to apply for government compensation. 

Background: Between 1948 and 1996, at least 16,500 people were forcibly sterilized in Japan under the country’s Eugenic Protection Law, and ~60,000 more underwent abortions without or with only dubious consent. 

Most were people with intellectual disabilities or hereditary diseases, and a large number of the victims were children. 

Other countries like Peru and the U.S. are also grappling with recent histories of forced sterilization of Indigenous people and incarcerated women—and advocates say the practice persists worldwide among ethnic minorities and those with intellectual disabilities. "

"Just last week, in the Miyagi prefecture of Japan, the local governor met victims of an official eugenics policy to apologise for the suffering they underwent.

“On behalf of the prefecture, I would like to offer my heartfelt apologies for the immense suffering caused to the 900 (victims),” said Murai Yoshihiro while lowering his head. ..."

"In January, victims of Japan’s forced sterilisation programme were finally able to apply for compensation for the first time.

Between 1948 and 1996, at least 16,500 people were forcibly sterilised in Japan under the country’s Eugenic Protection Law. Nearly 60,000 more underwent abortions without, or with only dubious consent. Most were mentally handicapped people or those with hereditary diseases. ..."

Global Health NOW: The ‘Hollowing Out’ of Public Health; Reckoning With Forced Sterilization; and Renewed Focus on Road Safety

As Japan starts compensation payments, forced sterilisation continues around the world "Non-consensual sterilisation of those considered genetically inferior persists in some parts of the world today"

AAAS: How scientists are confronting the lingering imprint of (European) colonialism. Really! Disgusting! Outrageous!

This is a gigantic example of junk science and junk journalism produced by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Shame on them!

This is pure fascist/socialist like demagoguery or Marxist ideology! So shoddy!

This is pure falsification and distortion of history in the name of some ideology! 

The focus seems to be only European colonialism!

This piece of garbage was not written by a some summer intern, but by following authors:

1. Elizabeth Culotta is a Deputy News Editor at Science
2. Shraddha Chakradhar is the deputy news editor for diversity
3. Rodrigo Pérez Ortega is a science journalist covering life sciences, medicine, health, and academia.

The map below stinks and reeks of fabrications, abhorrent mistakes, and a breath taking Amateurism!

1. Europe was not the only colonial power in history. There were many others!
2. China was never colonized??? What about the Mongol empire? What about the Japanese invasion? China colonized Tibet!
3. The Osman empire reached as far as Vienna and Algeria!
4. What about the Russian/Soviet Union empire? Most of Central Asia was colonized, shown on the map as not colonized!!!
5. The Caliphate empire colonized much of North Africa and Spain and so on.
6. What about several large African empires colonizing their neighors
7. The Inca empire colonized a large part of southwestern South America
8. No data on Greenland? It was first colonized by the Vikings!
9. And so on ...

How scientists are confronting the lingering imprint of colonialism | Science | AAAS "Remapping Science"

Columbia University: Study Finds Switching From Gas to Electric Stoves Cuts Indoor Air Pollution. Really!

What an absurd joke by an elite university! Another case of junk science, propaganda and demagoguery! Another call for Big Government to run your life!

In most cases it is as simple as opening a window to reduce indoor pollution!

Some people prefer cooking with gas, which is very understandable! The impact on climate is so minimal as to be laughable!!!

"Switching from a gas stove to an electric induction stove can reduce indoor nitrogen dioxide air pollution, a known health hazard, by more than 50 percent according to new research led by scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Columbia Climate School.
The study was carried out as part of a pilot project titled “Out of Gas, In with Justice” led by ... nonprofit WE ACT for Environmental Justice. ..."

Study Finds Switching From Gas to Electric Stoves Cuts Indoor Air Pollution – State of the Planet

COP28: Loss and damage, fossil fuels and the failure of climate diplomacy. Really!

I think most of us should be very happy that COP28 failed!

When propaganda is sold as science! So much junk science!

"The 2023 COP28 climate conference produced the first global stocktake of progress toward the objectives of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), including its aim of preventing “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system,” and subsequent protocols, notably the 2015 Paris Agreement and its intent to limit global warming to “well below” 2°C—ideally 1.5°C—and to help poor countries affected by climate change [1]. The stocktake revealed the extent to which international diplomacy and governance have failed to prevent the advancing climate crisis."

COP28: Loss and damage, fossil fuels and the limits of climate diplomacy | PLOS Climate

The author (what a fool): Professor HARRIS, Paul Gordon, Chair Professor of Global and Environmental Studies at Education University of Hong Kong

All I got was a lousy T-shirt from the American Association for the Advancement of Science

It is pretty pathetic and disturbing what the once prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science has to offer these days!
P.S. This offer from AAAS was in my email today.

Ethnologie-Kongress Seattle: Woker Zeitgeist beschädigt Wissenschaft

Wie Wissenschaft leidet, wenn sie «woke» sein soll! Wer glaubt Wissenschaft sei frei von Ideologie, Propaganda, oder Demagogie irrt sich!

Hinweis: Habe den Artikel nicht gelesen.

Ethnologie-Kongress Seattle: Woker Zeitgeist und Wissenschaft Am Ethnologie-Kongress in Seattle kann man den progressiven Zeitgeist, der an den amerikanischen Universitäten herrscht, wie unter der Lupe beobachten. Eine kleine Feldforschung bei einem seltsamen Stamm.

Nature journal: Nationwide geospatial analysis of county racial and ethnic composition and public drinking water arsenic and uranium. Caution: Pseudoscience

Smells awfully like pseudo or even junk science!

The study does not mention how white people are affected by this! And, oh by the way, it happens in "regions where concentrations of these contaminants are high".

This is pure propaganda and demagoguery published in a prestigious academic journal like Nature! Disturbing!!!

This study was of course readily picked up by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health:

"US communities with greater proportions of Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Black residents have higher concentrations of uranium and arsenic in their drinking water, a study in Nature found; the findings were consistent regardless of socioeconomic status. The Hill"

From the abstract:

"There is no safe level of exposure to inorganic arsenic or uranium, yet recent studies identified sociodemographic and regional inequalities in concentrations of these frequently detected contaminants in public water systems across the US. We analyze the county-level association between racial/ethnic composition and public water arsenic and uranium concentrations from 2000–2011 using geospatial models. We find that higher proportions of Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaskan Native residents are associated with significantly higher arsenic and uranium concentrations. These associations differ in magnitude and direction across regions; higher proportions of non-Hispanic Black residents are associated with higher arsenic and uranium in regions where concentrations of these contaminants are high. The findings from this nationwide geospatial analysis identifying racial/ethnic inequalities in arsenic and uranium concentrations in public drinking water across the US can advance environmental justice initiatives by informing regulatory action and financial and technical support to protect communities of color."

Nationwide geospatial analysis of county racial and ethnic composition and public drinking water arsenic and uranium | Nature Communications (open access)

Fighting The Plastic Epidemic (India)

Plastophobia is a serious disorder! Immediate treatment is advised! Banning plastic is based on a hysteria; a highly irrational and crude measure. Substitutes for plastic are hardly friendlier to the environment! The benefits of plastics far outweigh their disadvantages! Better, environmentally friendlier materials are already being developed. Plastic munching bacteria have been discovered, better and degradable plastics are developed etc. etc.

The Diversity & Inclusion Propaganda Fermilab

Posted: 8/27/2019 

President Trump needs to stop this propaganda coming out of leading federal research facilities!  In this case it is Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FermiLab). This propaganda is spread by none other than “Copyright 2019 Symmetry Magazine A joint Fermilab/SLAC publication/U.S. Department of Energy | Office of Science”. There still is a lot of swamp to drain in Washington DC!

I have previously blogged about the “The LGBTQ Livermore National Laboratory”.

Now, the world famous Fermilab features “Channeling Shuri as a physicist at Wakandacon

08/27/19 By Bailey Bedford/Fermilab scientist Jessica Esquivel donned a superhero costume to celebrate diversity in STEM, nerdiness and science at Wakandacon in Chicago.”

I don’t think I have to go any deeper into this article, you get the idea! This is again diversity & inclusion propaganda disseminated by top federal research institutions! Appalling! Propaganda trumps science!

Wakandacon hardly qualifies as a science convention! Wakandacon’s “Pillars” reads “In creating Wakandacon we imagined a place free and unshackled from the ravages of racism; of exploitation; of discrimination; of emotional, physical, and sexual violence.”.

I don’t think that any federal employee needs to be featured attending such a conference. This is private, personal business of this employee!

Sources (S):

1. https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/channeling-shuri-as-a-physicist-at-wakandacon (8/27/19)
2. Pillars of Wakandacon