Recently, there has been a lot of controversy about so-called energy drinks.   These are caffeinated drinks sold as energy boosters.  They may be carbonated or uncarbonated and can be found at just about any convenience store or gas station.   Many come in large-sized cans, but an increasing number are of the “shot” variety, coming in a single small bottle or can that can be downed in just about one gulp.

VIA CBS NEWS:

San Francisco sues Monster for marketing energy drink to kids
A fight between Monster Beverage and San Francisco’s city attorney is intensifying. The city attorney is filing a lawsuit against Monster Beverage Corp, the maker of Monster Energy Drinks, accusing the company of marketing to young children.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said Monday that Monster markets it highly caffeinated drinks to children as young as 6 years old, despite scientific findings that such products can cause health problems including severe cardiac events.

The lawsuit comes after Monster last week sued Herrera over his demands that it reduce the caffeine levels in its drinks and stop marketing to minors.

On Monday, Herrera noted that his office had been working with Monster in “good faith to negotiate voluntary changes” when the company abruptly filed its lawsuit.

…
New York’s attorney general has subpoenaed energy drink makers including Monster about how the drinks are made and marketed, and Democratic Senators Richard Durbin of Illinois and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have repeatedly called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to look into the safety of the drinks.

Monster has been in the spotlight since October 2012, when the parents of 14-year-old Anais Fournier of Hagerstown, Md. sued the company after their daughter went into cardiac arrest after drinking two of popular energy drinks in 24 hours.

The FDA said in Oct. 2012 it was investigating five deaths and one heart attack linked to Monster Energy Drinks dating back to 2004. One can contains about 240 milligrams of caffeine.

The company denied its drink’s role in the girl’s death in March, with company lawyer Daniel Callahan telling the Associated Press at the time that physicians hired to review the girl’s case determined she died from natural causes, brought on by pre-existing heart conditions.

Oh great, my own Senator, Dick Blumenthal is now getting himself involved. In fact, Blumenthal does not just think that the drinks should not be marketed directly to minors, he actually has suggested that an ID be required to buy them, making them only available to those over 18. Presumably meaning they be kept behind the counter and being subject to carding like cigarettes and alcohol. (Sorry, I do not have a citation for that, as I heard this when he was speaking on a radio interview.)

There are a couple of problems with this:

1. Energy drinks, for all the hype are really nothing more than caffeinated beverages.   What makes an “energy drink” different than something like Coca-Cola or Pepsi is arbitrary.  Many have more caffeine than common sodas, but some don’t.  In general, all have much less caffeine than coffee, which, could legitimately be marketed as an energy drink, but usually is not.
2. There is no evidence that would indicate that there is anything especially dangerous about energy drinks.  It’s true that they are not very nutritious as far as foodstuffs go.  They’re loaded with sugar and their claims of having beneficial vitamins and enzymes are, at best dubious, but that does not make them any worse than any other soft drink.
3. The amount of caffeine in energy drinks is not so high as to preclude one from getting an equal or greater dose of the stuff from other means.  In other words, if you are going to go after energy drinks, you had best be ready to go after a large portion of soft drinks out there.

The example of Anais Fournier is certainly unfortunate, but there’s no reason to think that two Monster Energy Drink.   Based on the reports, she apparently drank two of the drinks over the period of 24 hours.   That means she had about 320 milligrams of caffeine during that period of time.

There is a great deal of hype over energy drinks, what they do and what active ingredients they may contain.   The truth is that, for all their claims of providing lasting energy from enzymes, vitamins, minerals, or some other special compound, they all work in exactly the same way that “energy drinks” have been working for centuries.

Although caffeine, the active ingredient in energy drinks was not isolated until 1820, the stimulating effects of caffeine-containing plant material, such as coffee beans, tea leaves and kola nuts had been known since antiquity.

Brewed coffee, which became popular across the Middle East and Europe in the 1600’s, remains one the largest sources of caffeine.  And, overall, brewed coffee is at least as potent a caffeine source as most energy drinks.

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The name probably does not sound familiar, but Dr. Eleanor Adair should be remembered as one of the most important figures in advancing our understanding of the health effects of microwave radiation. She did some of the first controlled large-scale trails on humans, including herself, which helped establish the thermal effects of non-ionizing radiation.

As it turns out, I also live in the same town where she did, but sadly I did not know this until after her passing.

Obituary Via the New York Times:

Eleanor R. Adair, Microwave Proponent, Dies at 86

Eleanor R. Adair, a scientist who spent decades exposing monkeys and eventually people (including herself) to microwave radiation to determine whether it posed serious health risks — she concluded, emphatically and somewhat controversially, that it did not — died on April 20 in Hamden, Conn. She was 86.

The cause was complications of a stroke, her daughter, Margaret Adair Quinn, said.

In the early 1970s, Dr. Adair, who had done her doctoral work in sensory psychology, was pursuing an interesting but not necessarily provocative topic: how people and animals react physiologically to external heat sources. Yet over the next three decades — after her research led her to study heat generated through microwave radiation, which is used in microwave ovens and emitted at low levels by things like cellphones and electrical transmission lines — Dr. Adair became an increasingly prominent and firm voice of assurance that microwave radiation posed no health risk.

“All the emphasis that we need more research on power line fields, cellphones, police radar — this involves billions of dollars that could be much better spent on other health problems,” Dr. Adair said in an interview with The New York Times in 2001. “Because there is really nothing there.”

For some people close to the issue, those were fighting words.

Even as numerous studies have found that microwave ovens are safe and many scientists say there is no evidence that cellphones cause cancer or other health problems, the rising use of cellphones, wireless Internet signals and some medical and military devices has continued to raise questions about their risk. Last year, a panel of the World Health Organization listed microwave radiation as “possibly carcinogenic.” In March, the Federal Communications Commission announced that it would review its standards for cellphone use for the first time since 1996.

Some scientists do not use the term microwave radiation because they are concerned it is misleading and scares people unnecessarily. Microwave radiation is far weaker than the radiation in X-rays or gamma rays.

Advocates for more research count Dr. Adair in to a camp that focuses too much on heat or thermal effects from microwaves and is too quick to dismiss other ways microwaves might affect health.

“There’s something going on, and the question is what that is and whether it’s dangerous,” said Louis Slesin, the editor of Microwave News, a Web site that is often skeptical of the role industry and the military play in influencing health standards related to the issue. “Don’t let anyone tell you they know the answer to that question.”

Although Dr. Adair said she did not receive money from cellphone makers or industries whose products released microwave radiation, she served for five years late in her career as a senior scientist at the Air Force Research Laboratory in San Antonio. The Air Force uses radar that emits microwaves.

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Throughout medical history, it was always believed that peptic ulcers were simply the result of gastric acid and inadequate mucus lining within the digestive tract, the primary causes being diet and stress.   Sufferers lived for years with ulcers, with acid blockers, antacids and dietary changes helping to control the severity and symptoms of the ulcer.   More often than not, however, these measures did not result in the ulcer disappearing.

That all began to change in the late 1990’s.   Evidence for bacterial infections being involved in peptic ulcer disease had existed for many years, but conflicting experimental results lead early researchers to conclude that the bacteria detected in the stomachs of ulcer patients was caused by laboratory contamination.  Indeed, the treatment of ulcers with antibiotics had been established as early as the 1950’s, but failed to gain widespread acceptance.  It was not until the late 1990’s that a number of clinical studies conclusively proved that the overwhelming majority of peptic ulcers are caused by the bacteria Helicobacter pylori and that its treatment with antibiotics can cure upwards of 80-90% of ulcers.  Doctors Robin Warren and Barry Marshall, both of Australia had spearheaded the research that ultimately discovered the role of bacterial infections in ulcers.  They shared the Nobel Prize for this discovery in 2005.

The discovery forever changed how we view and treat peptic ulcers.   It did not entirely invalidate the role of stress in the formation of ulcers, since it likely plays a roll in producing the conditions where a bacterial infection can take root, but it resulted in new tests and protocols and the use of antibiotics in treating and curing peptic ulcers.  Countless lives have thus been improved.

We may now be on the cusp of a breakthrough that will dwarf the discovery of bacterial infections as the root cause of most ulcers

Via the Guardian:

Back pain breakthrough could eliminate need for major operations

The figures make for grim reading. When all costs are considered, the NHS spends more than £1bn each year on back pain. More than half goes on hospital costs. But £140m covers GP consultations, with even more spent on physiotherapy sessions. On any given day, 1% of the national workforce is on leave with a back problem.

Most people recover from acute back pain within six weeks but for a fair portion, around 8%, the problem becomes long-term. In the past, doctors prescribed bed rest for back pain. They now accept that only makes the pain worse, and instead recommend physical exercise, or at least staying active.

In more than 80% of cases, there is no clear cause of back pain. But to the long list of factors, from lifting and posture, to stress and anxiety, scientists in Denmark have now added bacteria.

Microbes should not be lurking in the spine, but Hanne Albert and her team at the University of Southern Denmark found a common bug called Propionibacterium acnes inside the slipped discs of patients who had operations for the problem. The bacteria normally live without oxygen, in hair follicles, or at the bottom of crevices in teeth, but brushing teeth can sweep them into the bloodstream.

The bacteria should pose no threat as they circulate around the body, but when a person has a slipped disc, the body grows fresh blood vessels that reach into the soft disc to repair the tissue. This gives the bacteria a route in, where they can thrive, scientists believe. As the bacteria grow, they cause inflammation around the disc, and release propionic acid, which irritates nerves, and may even cause the painful microfractures seen in vertebrae around the disc.

The Danish researchers found that a long course of common antibiotics, lasting three months, killed off the bacteria, and alleviated pain in most patients who took part in their trial. All had been in pain for more than six months and showed signs of vertebrae damage in MRI scans. They took six to eight weeks to feel better.

The drugs must be taken for so long because the blood supply to spinal discs is very poor. Once the disc is free from infection, the inflammation dies down, and the vertebrae begin to heal.

The discovery could transform the treatment of chronic lower back pain and save health services millions of pounds by doing away with unnecessary operations. When patients have no other options, surgeons can fuse damaged vertebrae, or transplant artificial discs into their spines, but both of these operations might largely be replaced with courses of antibiotics.

WOW!

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This may be old news (about a month) but it is still worth posting.   A poll was recently conducted by Public Policy Polling of Americans on the topic of conspiracy theories.   The number really do not surprise me very much.  If anything, it shows a few conspiracy theories are LESS popular than I might have expected.   Then again, the numbers are still soberingly high.

Via the Atlantic Wire:

Conspiracy	Percent believing	Number of Americans believing
JFK was killed by conspiracy	51 percent	160,096,160
Bush intentionally misled on Iraq WMDs	44 percent	138,122,178
Global warming is a hoax	37 percent	116,148,195
Aliens exist	29 percent	91,035,072
New World Order	28 percent	87,895,931
Hussein was involved in 9/11	28 percent	87,895,931
A UFO crashed at Roswell	21 percent	65,921,948
Vaccines are linked to autism	20 percent	62,782,808
The government controls minds with TV	15 percent	47,087,106
Medical industry invents diseases	15 percent	47,087,106
CIA developed crack	14 percent	43,947,966
Bigfoot exists	14 percent	43,947,966
Obama is the Antichrist	13 percent	40,808,825
The government allowed 9/11	11 percent	34,530,544
Fluoride is dangerous	9 percent	28,252,264
The moon landing was faked	7 percent	21,973,983
Bin Laden is alive	6 percent	18,834,842
Airplane contrails are sinister chemicals	5 percent	15,695,702
McCartney died in 1966	5 percent	15,695,702
Lizard people control politics	4 percent	12,556,562

The margin of error of the poll is 2.8 percent. As with any poll, it’s important to remember that the margin of error may not reflect the true accuracy of the poll, as it can depend on factors like how careful the pollsters were in selecting an appropriate demographic cross-section of the US.  It’s very easy to get skewed results with polling, because telephone surveys tend to get more responses from certain demographics, such as retirees, the unemployed and others who are more likely to be home and willing to answer questions.   Still, the numbers certainly seem plausible and are in line with other polls that have been conducted.

Of course, one also wonders how many people might say yes to certain conspiracy theories while only harboring a slightly sarcastic belief in them.   As with any such numbers, it’s hard to be sure who is a hard-core believer and who has only a passing belief.   One can certainly hope that they might be lower.

You can read more about the poll here. According to Public Policy Polling, the total respondents were 1,247 all of whom were registered voters.   That’s a reasonably good size sample.  The questions were also direct and avoided bias.   The figures also show the breakdown between Republican and Democratic-registered voters.  As one might expect, Republicans tend to be more prone to believing things like Bin Laden is alive, while Democrats are far more likely to think Bush lied about WMD’s.

It’s not surprising that the Kennedy Assassination ranks at the top of the poll.  If anything, it’s surprising it is not higher.   The Kennedy Assassination has always fascinated me, because, despite being a relatively straight-forward shooting, it spawned the single most widespread and enduring conspiracy theory in the US.   There are many reasons for this, including the efforts of those like Oliver Stone and the fact that the events were shocking and the guilt of Lee Harvey Oswald seemed so anti-climactic for such an event.

The Kennedy Assassination is unique in that the conspiracy theories have transcended the normal conspiracy theory subculture and become entirely mainstream.  A large number of Americans did not accept the Warren Commission report as soon as it was published in 1964.  That number continued to climb after a second investigation by the House Select Committee on Assassinations and with the production of numerous books and documentaries supporting conspiracy theories.

The most dangerous of all these conspiracy theories, however, is likely to be the 20% number for autism being connected to vaccines.   This is directly responsible for a number of outbreaks in the US.  Indeed, this belief is hardly just American.  Fear of vaccines has become a major problem across the industrial world.   It goes to show that more effort still needs to be mounted against these harmful myths.

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As you may be aware, it’s wildfire season, and this year, there is a massive wildfire sweeping across California.  Really, this is not all that unusual.  Almost every year, there is a massive fire in some part of the Western US.   They tend to strike different areas, as once they have struck a part of the country, the vegetation is burned up enough to prevent them from occurring again, in the same place, for several years.

Via USA Today:

Calif. wildfire threatens 4,000 homes as flames spread

LOS ANGELES — A fast-growing wildfire along the Pacific Coast Highway northwest of Los Angeles nearly doubled in size Friday and was threatening more than 4,000 homes as crews battled strong winds, tinder-dry conditions and record-breaking temperatures.

The Springs Fire had burned more than 18,000 acres of rugged, brush-covered terrain by late afternoon and was 20% contained, the state’s fire agency reported. Forecasters said that 45-mph wind gusts would taper off and that cooling may begin by evening.

At midday, the temperature hit a record 96 in Camarillo, where the blaze began, about 50 miles north of Los Angeles.

Thousands of residents had already evacuated the Ventura County fire, including 118 families ordered from a premier Navy base because of heavy smoke after flames jumped the scenic highway Friday morning.

The fire began Thursday during the morning rush hour near U.S. 101, which is the major commuter route into Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. After reaching the coast overnight, the fire headed back inland Friday.

The fire had damaged 15 homes and destroyed at least 25 outbuildings and other property by midday. Large animals and livestock were being taken to the county fairgrounds.

In addition to 4,000 homes, the wildfire was threatening 100 businesses in its southwestern race toward Malibu. Officials said Friday afternoon that the famous beach community was not threatened.

When these fires threaten homes and communities, it’s firefighting aircraft that can be used to make a big impact. Aircraft can rapidly lay down large strips of water or fire retardant. For this reason, they have been the mainstay of wildfire fighting for decades.

Unfortunately, the current fleet of firefighting aircraft is nowhere near as capable or as new as one would hope. In fact, it’s a hodge-podge of new and old aircraft, some dating back to the Second World War. A few are very large aircraft, such as C-130’s, and are capable of dropping large loads of water or retardant, but many are vintage 1940’s flying boats and bombers, with only a few thousand pounds of capacity.

Even the highly capable C-130’s are showing their age. In 1994, a C-130 broke apart in mid flight while fighting forest fires. The aircraft had been an ex-military transport and was long past its prime, having experienced more than its recommended flight hours and been subject to some extremely stressful maneuvers. Last year, two 50+ year old Lockheed P2V’s experienced problems while fighting fires, one of them crashing.

When it comes to fighting fires, there are a few things that are clear:  bigger is always better.  A bigger aircraft can deliver more retardant or water than a smaller one.  If it is big enough, it may even be able to put out a large fire in one pass, without having to return for more water, giving the fire time to grow.   It’s also clear that fire fighting aircraft should be designed to fight fires without exceeding their normal flight characteristics.   And, since aerial firefighting is so demanding, newer aircraft with fewer flight hours are always preferable.

Thankfully, someone stepped up to the plate and built one…

This is the Evergreen Supertanker.   A firefighting aircraft engineered and built by Evergreen Aviation.   It’s a Boeing 747-100, but it’s a lot more than just a jumbo jet with big tanks slapped on.   The Supertanker uses a specially engineered system of tanks and pressurized nozzles to allow it to disperse water or retardant while maintaining a flight profile entirely within the normal margins of a 747 during flight and landing.  With a total capacity of 20,500 US gallons, the supertanker dwarfs most other firefighting aircraft.

The aircraft was manufactured in 1971 but is still well within the typical flight hours for a 747 and has undergone a complete structural inspection.   It has been extensively tested and represents an investment of many millions of dollars in design and construction.

The Supertanker has proved itself highly capable, putting out fires in Israel and Spain.  It has the ability to lay down a strip of fire retardant three miles long (5 km) or can drop its load in segments, putting out hot spots without needing to discharge it all at once.   This capability has proven to be extremely valuable in real world fire fighting.

So where is it?   Is it in California fighting the fires?   If not, why isn’t it?

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Many of my skeptical and pro-science friends are extremely passionate about the issue of autism and vaccines.   The scientific data indicates, very compellingly, that vaccines do not cause autism.  So when a press release came out claiming that a new vaccine could actually reduce autism, many jumped on and posted it all over social media feeds, as if it was vindication of the positive effects of vaccines and science in combating disease and disorders.

But lest be careful, because it’s not quite what it seems.

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Activists have often claimed that the United States Nuclear Regulatory Committee is in the pocket of the nuclear industry.   However, based on the attitude of some of the recent commissioners, that seems to be quite the opposite of the truth, as is especially evident with former chairman Gregory Jaczko.

Jaczko was first appointed as a commissioner in 2005 and was promoted to the head commissioner and chairman of the agency in 2009.   He served until his resignation last year.  Jaczko was controversial for the entirety of his time at the NRC, and especially after becoming chairman.  He was widely accused of withholding information, in an attempt to slow or stop regulatory approval.  For example, in 2011, Jaczko failed to release sufficient information to allow the Yucca Mountain project to be evaluated properly, effectively halting approval from moving forward.   Jaczko was also accused by NRC staffers of frequently losing his temper and verbally assaulting those working under him.

It has always been clear that Jaczko’s opinion of nuclear energy has been generally unfavorable.  Indeed, he was the only commissioner to vote against approval of new plant licenses in the United States in 2012.   He was also generally not well received by the nuclear industry.

Yet the extent of Gregory Jaczko’s anti-nuclear feelings did not become entirely apparent until after his resignation from the NRC, in July 2012.   As a commissioner, Jaczko was not able to provide entirely candid comments on nuclear energy.  Had he spoken out directly against nuclear energy, it would have shown a very obvious conflict of interest with his regulatory position.  Yet, after resigning, Jaczko stated that he believed that ALL US nuclear reactors are so flawed and unsafe that they should be shut down as soon as possible. When asked why he did not state this during his time on the commission, Jaczko stated ” didn’t really come to it until recently.”

Calling for what amounts to a complete phase-out of nuclear energy puts Jaczko on a very extreme end of the spectrum.   It is very disturbing, though not entirely surprising, to learn that NRC had been chaired for three years by someone who is so anti-nuclear that he wants a full nuclear phase-out.   It’s the equivalent of someone who believes that humans are not fit for flight being the head of the Federal Aviation Administration.   Indeed, with such extreme views, they may as well have just made Helen Caldicott or Amory Lovins the NRC chair.

Unfortunately, if you thought we were done with this guy, that is not the case.

In addition to the distinct possibility that his mindset is not entirely uncommon at the NRC, it seems Jaczko has found his way back into a federal position.   He was just appointed to oversee the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Via the Hill:

Reid appoints former NRC chief Jaczko to nuclear panel

Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Gregory Jaczko was appointed Thursday to a new panel charged with monitoring the agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tapped Jaczko — a former aide for the Nevada Democrat — for the position with the Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise.

The panel was created by the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act. Its purpose is to make recommendations for improving operations at the Energy Department’s (DOE) nuclear weapons agency.

Those suggestions regarding the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will be revealed in a report that’s due by February, 2014.

Jaczko has kept a low profile following an unceremonious departure from the NRC in which he resigned his post following allegations that he verbally abused staff.

His appointment to the 12-member panel, as well as a book deal he signed with Simon and Schuster on Wednesday about “Jaczko’s controversial years as the top nuclear regulator in the country,” will change that.

The controversial former NRC chairman’s appointment to the panel will likely rile conservatives.

Well, it has certainly riled me!

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I am sure that I do not have to tell readers that there was a bombing, which occurred near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.   Two explosions occurred, in relatively rapid succession, resulting in three deaths and more than one hundred injuries.   At the time of writing, there are several people in critical condition and it is possible more will die.  Some of the injuries confirmed include spectators who lost one or more limbs.

Of course, despite the death toll being relatively light, the event was shocking, due to the bombing happening at a public event that is high profile and because the attack seems to have come out of the blue, at a time and place that had not been suspected to be at risk.

It is important to note that at the time of this writing, the person or persons who perpetrated this.

While there is no solid information on who was behind it, what is currently known seems to indicate that this was an attack of relatively low sophistication which would not have required a large group or resources to carry out.  The explosives were low velocity and not especially difficult to obtain.  The bombs were likely contained within pressure cookers and surrounded by shrapnel made from commonly available items, such as ball bearings and nails.

The image to the left shows a portion of the bomb’s casing, which was recovered shortly after the blast.  It has been identified as the lid to a pressure cooker.  The results of analysis of bomb residue has not yet been made public, but it is known that the explosive was of the low velocity type, which is more easily obtained than more powerful explosives like TNT.

At this point it could be anyone.   Islamic terrorism is one possibility, although no group has claimed responsibility.  Political terrorism or domestic groups is another, although there were no claims of responsibility or political messages included.   It could certainly have been a “lone nut.”  It could have been a doomsday cult.  It could have been a right wing group or a left wing group.  It could have been related to tax day, but it might not have been.

There is, however, no reason to believe that this attack would have required anything like the resources of the Federal government.  Nor is there any evidence to indicate that it was part of a massive conspiracy.  If nothing else, there is no obvious gain to any grand conspiracy by committing an act of this type.

That has still not stopped conspiracy theorists from coming out of the woodwork, literally within hours.

Here’s what pathological nutball Alex Jones had to say, within just hours of the bombings:

Our hearts go out to those that are hurt or killed, But this thing stinks to high heaven #falseflag.

Wow.  Really?    It takes the government now to stuff gunpowder into a cooking pot.

Jones went on to post a video, which you can see here.   His rambling claims include stating that he had predicted that the government was preparing to attack Americans before the explosion even happened.  That might seem amazing, except he says that every day.

Even more ridiculous are claims that the show Family Guy contained references to the planned attack.   This is based on two clips from the show, edited together.  In one episode, the main character wins the Boston Marathon by using his car to plow through runners.   In another unrelated clip, from the same episode, the character starts hanging out with a Muslim man, only to discover he was a terrorist. Conspiracy theorists claim this is foreshadowing of the planned attack and go on to point out that the World Trade Center was also featured in a number of television shows and movies.   Well, yes, that is true, it was a prominent place.  But how that relates to anything, they do not explain.

Others have said that the bombing was a complete hoax, perhaps with nobody killed or injured.   At least one has claimed that a video shows that the blood seen after the bombing is fake.   In one video, it is claimed that the blood disappears when a man walks by in the video.   It’s hard to say what is happening, however, as the video is extremely low quality and the station’s logo obscures much of the area in interest. Another video (WARNING GRAPHIC) shows an image of a victim who had literally had most of their leg blown off, with bone sticking out from the gaping wound. It claims that the proof of the hoax is that there is no blood seen. Of course, the victim was not at the location where the injury occurred and had a tourniquet applied to stop the bleeding.

A large number of conspiracy theorists have latched onto the presence of bomb-sniffing dogs as evidence of a government conspiracy.   Their observations, however, seem to indicate a lack of understanding of how bomb sniffing dogs are used.   For example, it is not surprising that the dogs would not have found the bomb, since, given their small number, they cannot inspect every single area of an event, and because the best current evidence is that the devices were planted shortly before detonation, making it less likely that the area in question would have been inspected in time.  In crowded events, dogs trained to sniff explosives are a valuable, but far from foolproof tool. It is also not unusual that the dogs were training at the event, as large events are often used to train bomb dogs, something which was announced before the bombings.   In order for bomb dogs to be effective, they need near constant training and practice.

This site helps explain the facts about the bomb dogs seen at the event.

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What can I say.  I am mad.   I am ripping mad.  I’m disgusted.  I’ve seen a level of dishonesty and scientific misinformation so grotesque, I don’t even know what to say.

One expects that vested interests will tweak data or publish biased studies to support their own causes from time to time.  It’s dishonest and unacceptable, but it happens.  Still, sometimes the level of dishonesty is so severe it really shocks the conscious.

Such is the case with a recent “study” from the Radiation and Public Health Project.   It is so dishonest in its claims it really makes me wonder about the pathology of those who are behind it.  What is their goal?  To they, deep down, think they are serving a greater good with these lies?   Have they justified this to themselves through some rationalization that preserves their need for attention and to appear to be heros?   I’m sure a psychologist could have a field day.

Here is how it was reported in Yahoo News:

Fukushima fallout may be causing illness in American babies: Study
A new study from the Radiation and Public Health Project found that babies born in the western United States as well as other Pacific countries shortly after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan in March 2011 may be at greater risk for congenital hypothyroidism.

Babies born in places including Hawaii, Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington shortly after Fukushima were 28 percent more likely to suffer from the illness, according to the study, than children born in those same regions one year earlier. The illness, if untreated, can cause permanent handicaps in both the body and brain.

According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, “If untreated, congenital hypothyroidism can lead to intellectual disability and abnormal growth. In the United States and many other countries, all newborns are tested for congenital hypothyroidism. If treatment begins in the first month after birth, infants usually develop normally.”

But… how could this possibly be?

It is true that nuclear fission produces a significant quantity of iodine-131, a radioactive isotope which can cause damage to the thyroid, due to its high biological uptake and tendency to accumulate in the thyroid.   Thyroid tissue is radiation-sensitive to begin with, so in nuclear accidents, iodine-131 is one of the greatest concerns.

Of course, we are talking about the United States of America.  This is thousands of miles from Japan and any iodine-131 that might make it across the Pacific would be expected to be extremely dilute.   Not only that, but with a half-life of only eight days, the fact that it takes a minimum of a few days for atmospheric material to traverse the Pacific (and usually more than that) means that a good portion of the isotope would have decayed by the time it reached the US.

This is born out by the fact that when iodine-131 (which normally does not occur in nature) was detected in the US, after the Fukushima incident, the levels were miniscule.  Radioisotopes like iodine-131 can be detected at extremely low levels. This is done by collecting samples of precipitation, dust or air and placing them in a detector which can detect the characteristic energy levels of the gamma ray photons radioisotopes emit.  When a gamma ray of the energy associated with iodine-131 is detected, it indicates an atom of the isotope has decayed.  Since its half-life is so short, even a few hundred atoms of iodine-131 will produce detectable radiation, if they are present in a sample.

It is a testament to the precision of modern gamma spectrometers that iodine-131 could be detected at all in both the US and Europe.  Yet, although it was detected, in some cases, the levels were so low that the actual concentration could not even be reliably established.    This is not a big surprise, given that even in Tokyo, which was thousands of miles closer to Fukushima, the levels of iodine-131 only briefly exceeded what is considered the “safe” standard for infants.   It should be noted that the standard is extremely conservative.

If that is not compelling reason enough to be skeptical of claims that the iodine-131 levels in the US were high enough to cause harm to infants, it should also be noted that an entire generation of US citizens was exposed to hundreds or thousands of times more iodine-131 from atmospheric nuclear testing.   What harm this may have caused is still a matter of debate.  it likely did result in some additional cases of thyroid cancer, but it certainly did not lead to a large number of kids of the 1950’s and 1960’s with major thyroid problems.

So how could these babies possibly have been damaged by Fukishima fallout?

IT DIDN’T

Lets take a look at the actual study, which can be downloaded here.

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After doing some reading about solar energy I came across some information on a danger that had, quite frankly, not occurred to me before.  It seems that many forms of solar thermal energy production carry a very high risk of severe fire and even explosion.

Solar thermal power plants use large mirrors to concentrate the suns light on collectors.  In most systems this works through trough mirrors which focus the light onto long pipes.  In others, an array of mirrors focuses the energy on a central receiver, which contains a fluid that is heated by the light.   The fluid is normally pumped continuously through a system of collection tubes in order to transfer as much heat as possible.

Leaks have always plagued solar thermal power systems.   The tubes must be thin to maximize thermal transfer and to keep costs down, and the scale of the systems is necessarily very large.   This, combined with the stress of daily heating and cooling has lead to what might be called a “plumbers nightmare” and explains why so much labor is required to keep solar thermal plants up and running.

The engineering challenge of providing a leak-resistant way of transferring the fluid through miles, under such harsh conditions has resulted in a number of approaches, including the use of ball joints and flexible hoses.   The sheer size of utility-scale installations has also been a problem, since the connections and tubing must be made as economically as possible.

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