[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;513649]Juries are finding that glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) causes an increased risk of cancer[/QUOTE]So, juries are full of people that can act emotionally (read up on jury nullification.) They are not always good arbiters of what causes cancer. People talk about cancer clusters and think that 5 cancers in a group of 1000 people (with several different types of represented) is a cluster.

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;513651]So, juries are full of people that can act emotionally (read up on jury nullification.) They are not always good arbiters of what causes cancer. People talk about cancer clusters and think that 5 cancers in a group of 1000 people (with several different types of represented) is a cluster.[/QUOTE]I don't think that a court of law is a good venue for deciding scientific questions. It's not just that jurors can be swayed by appeals to emotion. It's the very nature of courtroom arguments. It's an adversarial system. Each side is geared to [i]destroy[/i] the other side -- the opponents are not just wrong, they're [i]evil[/i]. This is not how scientific inquiry is supposed to proceed (although, sad to say, in the annals of science personal considerations have many times overridden factual considerations, at least temporarily).

In the present instance, the defense is claiming that the jury is basing its verdict more on the way the company acted, than on the merits of the arguments on cancer risk.

Still -- if the evidence shows that the company's own internal documents indicate [i]the company[/i] was aware of credible studies showing an increased cancer risk, and sat on them, that would make for a persuasive argument in court. It's very similar to the situation in the lawsuits against Johns Manville regarding asbestos and mesothelioma, and the tobacco companies regarding the health effects of smoking.

1060 hour exposure of the LMC.

It is really spectacular:
[url]https://astrospace-page.blogspot.com/2019/04/1060-hours-image-of-the-large-magellanic-cloud-chile.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;513720]1060 hour exposure of the LMC.

It is really spectacular:
[url]https://astrospace-page.blogspot.com/2019/04/1060-hours-image-of-the-large-magellanic-cloud-chile.html[/url][/QUOTE]

The dozens of "bubbles" blown by long-ago supernovae in the first image ... amazing.

[URL="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/are-intellectuals-suffering-a-crisis-of-meaning/"]Are Intellectuals Suffering a Crisis of Meaning?[/URL]

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[URL="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/health/woman-pain-anxiety.html"]At 71, She’s Never Felt Pain or Anxiety. Now Scientists Know Why.[/URL]

[URL="https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/how-an-mit-research-group-turned-computer-code-into-a-modern-design-medium/?mc_cid=ef7de261af&mc_eid=2dfa8e8de4"]How an MIT Research Group Turned Computer Code Into a Modern Design Medium[/URL]

[URL="https://www.inc.com/greg-satell/a-simple-easy-to-understand-guide-to-quantum-computing.html"]Here's What You Really Need To Know About Quantum Computing[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190327112710.htm"]People 'hear' flashes due to disinhibited flow of signals around the brain, suggests study[/URL]

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[URL="https://phys.org/news/2019-03-einstein.html"]A new Einstein cross is discovered[/URL]

[URL="https://www.npr.org/2019/04/07/707326070/a-math-teachers-life-summed-up-by-the-gifted-students-he-mentored?fbclid=IwAR1O60ftzUAqSQzIO9rG2dW49RGNqzZ2M_NnbOdEvU3vEZ96eCWW5WjQgcw"]A Math Teacher's Life Summed Up By The Gifted Students He Mentored[/URL]

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Never mind Binge Watching, we'll be binge reading rogue's latest batch of links! :smile:

[QUOTE=Nick;513865]Never mind Binge Watching, we'll be binge reading rogue's latest batch of links! :smile:[/QUOTE]I've often wondered why, if the government is so concerned about the effects of binge drinking, they haven't taken steps to reduce the ready availability of binge.

It is better than bilge drinking. :sick:

[QUOTE=xilman;513866]I've often wondered why, if the government is so concerned about the effects of binge drinking, they haven't taken steps to reduce the ready availability of binge.[/QUOTE]Har-de-har-har. Unfortunately, the government [i]did[/i] take steps against drinking, due to the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition), and the enactment of legislation to enforce it (the Volstead Act).

Two lasting legacies of the "noble experiment" are organized crime and plea bargains.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;513972]Har-de-har-har. Unfortunately, the government [i]did[/i] take steps against drinking, due to the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition), and the enactment of legislation to enforce it (the Volstead Act).

Two lasting legacies of the "noble experiment" are organized crime and plea bargains.[/QUOTE]

I don't know to what extent this may have to do with prohibition since TV postdates the latter, but in American TV commercials for booze, actors are not allowed to drink the stuff on offer. So such ads inevitably turn into long foreplay-like teases: actors with drinks in hand, having a great time, actors pouring drinks into glasses, actors toasting and raising glasses to lips, and - so sorry, we can't show you the actual *drinking*, that might lead you into a downward spiral of dipsomania.

----------------------

[url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190415122249.htm]New evidence suggests volcanoes caused biggest mass extinction ever[/url] | ScienceDaily: [i]Mercury found in ancient rock around the world supports theory that eruptions caused 'Great Dying' 252 million years ago.[/i]

The article's "killed off 95% of life on earth" note re. the Permian-Triassic extinction event is in fact a gross understatement, because it should read "killed off 95% of [b]species[/b] on earth". It's [url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died]been estimated[/url] (that foregoing is a great article, BTW) that the more-recent K-T (or K-Pg, in more modern nomenclature, where 'Paleogene' replaces the older 'Triassic') event killed over 99.9999% of living organisms on earth and a somewhat smaller % of species than the P-T extinction, so that 99.9999% likely serves as lower bound for the latter.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;513974]I don't know to what extent this may have to do with prohibition since TV postdates the latter, but in American TV commercials for booze, actors are not allowed to drink the stuff on offer. So such ads inevitably turn into long foreplay-like teases: actors with drinks in hand, having a great time, actors pouring drinks into glasses, actors toasting and raising glasses to lips, and - so sorry, we can't show you the actual *drinking*, that might lead you into a downward spiral of dipsomania.[/quote]I knew booze ads didn't show people actually drinking, but wasn't sure why. I remember seeing beer ads back in the day, where someone raised a cold one, and shortly thereafter put down the glass, with nothing but a bit of foam left in it. So [i]implied[/i] drinking in booze ads is OK.

More recent ads for "alco-pop" have had me wondering. One purveyor (I think it was Mike's Hard Lemonade) had an ad where, one swig, and the guy's dog had [i]laser beams[/i] shooting out of its [i]eyes![/i] Geez (I thought), what are they putting [i]in[/i] that stuff, LSD? It was almost as bad as those allergy medicine ads whose spokes-critter was a talking [i]bee[/i] with [i]big blue eyes![/i]

[b][i]Side effects may include hallucinations...[/i][/b]

But this is the information age, so...

[url=https://www.quora.com/Why-are-TV-beer-commercials-not-allowed-to-show-people-drinking-the-beer]Why are TV beer commercials not allowed to show people drinking the beer?[/url]

[quote]Technically, they are allowed to show people drinking, but the alcohol companies have very strict self-regulation policies that they all agree on. The reason there are few laws on advertising alcohol is because of the self-imposed rules. This is in stark contrast to the tobacco industry who pushed the envelope too far (including marketing to children) is why they can no longer advertise on TV. Alcohol companies don't want this to happen to them, so not showing people drinking is one of the things they decide not to do.[/quote]
[quote]----------------------

[url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190415122249.htm]New evidence suggests volcanoes caused biggest mass extinction ever[/url] | ScienceDaily: [i]Mercury found in ancient rock around the world supports theory that eruptions caused 'Great Dying' 252 million years ago.[/i]

The article's "killed off 95% of life on earth" note re. the Permian-Triassic extinction event is in fact a gross understatement, because it should read "killed off 95% of [b]species[/b] on earth". It's [url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-day-the-dinosaurs-died]been estimated[/url] (that foregoing is a great article, BTW) that the more-recent K-T (or K-Pg, in more modern nomenclature, where 'Paleogene' replaces the older 'Triassic') event killed over 99.9999% of living organisms on earth and a somewhat smaller % of species than the P-T extinction, so that 99.9999% likely serves as lower bound for the latter.[/QUOTE]

I believe I've mentioned before on this forum (but am too lazy to look up), there is a theory that the Permian extinction may have been kicked off by a huge asteroid impact, whose crater is under Wilkes Land in Antarctica. It may have initiated massive volcanic activity on the surface diametrically opposite, in what is now Siberia. There is a similar notion for volcanic activity around the time of the KT extinction. Current fashion seems to be to blame the KT event's lethality on sulfur at the impact site, but I'm partial to the "double whammy" idea
:-D

Hmm. "Over 99.9999%" is way better than disinfectant ads claim their products kill. And I imagine a lot of the organisms that got killed off [i]were[/i] microscopic. After all, the human body (one organism) plays host to [i]tens of trillions[/i] of microbes. One can only imagine the appalling carnage of microbes that depended on, say, trilobites.

I've heard that one type of smallish organism, "water bears" (tardigrades) have survived [i]all five[/i] major extinction events in the last 540 million years or so. They'll probably outlive humanity. Heck, they'll probably outlive cockroaches.