Scientists have just shown that one of Bob Dylan’s most famous lines–”everybody must get stoned”– is correct. That’s because they’ve discovered that the brain manufactures proteins that act like marijuana at specific receptors in the brain itself.

The possibilities are intoxicating.

This discovery may lead to new marijuana-like drugs for managing pain, stimulating appetite, and preventing marijuana abuse.

Dylan says it all.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFbZxV4KMvo[/youtube]

That performance of “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35″ was recorded at a concert in Dallas in 2008. Lyrics are posted here.

Over 40 years after its release, whether “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35″ has anything to do with marijuana remains controversial.

In a recent interviewe with Marshall Allan of the Las Vegas Sun, he gave this response when asked about the relationship between science and religion.

When you go to ask a question you have to know what kind of question it is and therefore what is the right set of tools to answer it. If it’s a question about “Why am I here?” or “What’s the meaning of life?” or “Is there a God?” then science is not going to be useful. Either you have to decide those are questions that are irrelevant and shouldn’t be discussed or you have to step outside pure materialism and have another world view, which is a spiritual one. As long as you’re clear about the kind of questions you’re asking then there is really no conflict between having both a scientific and a spiritual world view.

Dr Collins’s common-sense view sounds positively refreshing after listening to the reductionist tripe of the so-called New Atheists.

h/t: Faith-Science News

Marijuana, a commonly abused drug among high school and college students, is linked to a severe form of vomiting syndrome and compulsive bathing behavior. This form of severe vomiting sickness is increasingly recognized with widespread abuse of marijuana. The syndrome usually subsides with strict abstinence from marijuana abuse.

Because this syndrome is newly recognised and because marijuana use appears to be increasing, especially among young people, diagnosis of the syndrome will likely become more common in coming years.

[S]ome anthropologists say the decision is based on politics, not science.

“This is scandalous,” says Robert Bettinger, an anthropologist at the University of California, Davis, who is on the panel that oversees how archaeological remains are handled at all ten University of California campuses. The panel was not consulted on this transfer proposal.

Paleoanthropologist blogger John Hawks points out the absurdity:

So let me get this straight. The University of California has an expert panel to consult on matters of exactly this kind, matters in which University facilities and collections may intersect with federal agencies or laws regarding archaeological remains.
[…]
And the president and chancellor just decided, “What the heck? Who needs experts? Time to rebury these bones!”

Chancellor Fox offers a pathetically bogus defence of her anti-science decision:

Fox declined an interview, but said in a statement that the transfer “seems an appropriate balance between the interests of science and [those] of the Native American community”.

What nonsense! If the skeletons are handed over, they will quickly be buried at an undisclosed site. Remains of great scientific value will be lost forever. Any “balance” exists only in Fox’s mind. Political correctness trumps science.

h/t: Faith-Science News

And I thought public health officials are interested in helping people to avoid getting sick.

The United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS) in a 2003 study indicated that condoms are ineffective in protecting against HIV an estimated 10 per cent of the time. Other studies have suggested that failure rates might be as high as 50 per cent.

In Thailand, Dr Somchai Pinyopornpanich, deputy head of the Disease Control Department in Bangkok, said that 46.9 per cent of men and 39.1 per cent of women who use condom are infected by HIV-AIDS.

When the Pope said “we risk worsening the problem,” statistics bear that out. Countries like South Africa, which have embraced safe sex and condom use with support from the United Nations, the European Union and non-governmental organisations have seen AIDS explode. Countries that have promoted abstinence and fidelity have cut infection rates.

One study is a case in point. In his research, Edward Green of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies looked at Uganda’s ABC method (ABC as in Abstinence; Be faithful; Condom), which was introduced in 1986. His findings indicated that infection rates in that country dropped from 21 per cent to 6 per cent since 1991. Green, who once was a supporter of safe sex and condom use, is now in favour of abstinence and fidelity within couples.

See also further comments from Edward Green posted at National Review Online.

The claim that the Catholic church is encouraging the spread of AIDS by opposing use of condoms is a canard, but one that keeps coming back.

In a study published recently in the Journal of Neuroscience, UCLA neurology professor Paul Thompson and colleagues used a new type of brain-imaging scanner to show that intelligence is strongly influenced by the quality of the brain’s axons, or wiring that sends signals throughout the brain. The faster the signaling, the faster the brain processes information. And since the integrity of the brain’s wiring is influenced by genes, the genes we inherit play a far greater role in intelligence than was previously thought.

I.e., socio-economic status and other environmental factors play a far smaller role in intelligence than was previously thought.

Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray would not be surprised by this discovery.

Source: BBC Day in Pictures

Joe Walker has another odd BBC photo.

1. No scientific forecasts of the changes in the Earth’s climate.

2. Improper peer review process.

3. Complexity and uncertainty of climate render expert opinions invalid for forecasting.

4. Forecasts are needed for the effects of climate change.

5. Forecasts are needed of the costs and benefits of alternative actions that might be taken to combat climate change.

6. To justify using a climate forecasting model, one would need to test it against a relevant naïve model.

7. The climate system is stable.

8. Be conservative and avoid the precautionary principle.

Dr Armstrong is author of Long-Range Forecasting, the most frequently cited book on forecasting methods, and co-founder of the Journal of Forecasting, the International Journal of Forecasting, the International Symposium on Forecasting, and forecastingprinciples.com. Among many professional accolades, he was named one of the first six Honorary Fellows of the International Institute of Forecasters in 1996. His complete CV is posted here.

h/t: Andrew Bolt

The projects were made more viable last month by the introduction of a net-metering program, essentially allowing electricity meters to run backward when the wind turbine is creating more energy than the rink needs.

“The purpose of this session is basically to advise community rinks what the program is all about,” said Scott Harper, CEO of the Wind Energy Institute of Canada.

Think of all the ice they could make by harnessing the hot air produced at the provincial legislature in Charlottetown.

During bison mating season, the quietest bulls score the most mates and sire the most offspring while studs with the loudest bellows see the least action, according to a surprising new study by researchers at University of California, Davis, and Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. The researchers also found that the volume of a bull’s bellow was not related to its weight or age.

“We were expecting to find that the bigger, stronger guys – the high-quality males – would have the loudest bellows, because they can handle the costs of it,” said Megan Wyman, a graduate student in geography at UC Davis and the lead author of the study. “But instead, we found the opposite. My collaborator in San Diego wanted me to call the paper ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick.’”

Teddy Roosevelt would love that.

Combined with earlier evidence that circumcision is associated with lower risk of contracting HIV, these studies present a strong challenge to the politically correct claim that male circumcision is child abuse.

Two new studies suggest that male circumcision may assist in the prevention of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, particularly infection with the high-risk subtypes associated with cervical, penile, and other cancers.
[…]
High-risk subtypes of HPV have been estimated to be present in 99.7 percent of cervical cancers worldwide. Evidence has shown that women with circumcised partners have a reduced risk for genital cancer. Two new studies sought to discover if HPV infection is more likely to occur in uncircumcised compared with circumcised men.
[…]
According to Dr. Nielson, the findings they reported present compelling arguments to promote male circumcision in developing countries where circumcision is not widely used and the HIV epidemic is severe. Additionally, she said, it is “the first clear demonstration of the indirect but substantial beneficial effect of male circumcision for women.”  The authors of both studies and the editorialist agreed that more studies will be needed to confirm the efficacy of male circumcision in HPV prevention.

Neonatal circumcisions have been declining in the United States, probably because Medicaid doesn’t pay for them.

Writing in the December issue of BJU International, Dr Joe Philip and his colleagues at Leighton Hospital, Crewe, report on four boys under the age of four, who were admitted with injuries serious enough to require an overnight stay.
[…]
“A recent market research report has suggested that there has been a worldwide increase in the number of wooden and ceramic toilet seats sold. We would not be surprised to hear that other colleagues have noticed an increase in penis crush injuries as a result of this.”

The doctors make several recommendations, including:

Households with male infants should consider leaving the toilet seat up after use, even though it contradicts the social norm of putting it down.

That’s a social norm?

A detailed analysis of black carbon — the residue of burned organic matter — in computer climate models suggests that those models may be overestimating global warming predictions.
[…]
As a result of global warming, soils are expected to release more carbon dioxide, the major greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, which, in turn, creates more warming. Climate models try to incorporate these increases of carbon dioxide from soils as the planet warms, but results vary greatly when realistic estimates of black carbon in soils are included in the predictions, the study found.

Using “realistic estimates” often causes problems for computer models of global warming.

Sleep helps people learn complex tasks — Booster Shots (L.A. Times Health Blog), 18 November

Researchers led by Nishant Kumar, MBBS, of the University Hospital, Liverpool, UK, studied patient compliance in relation to fasting by analyzing 350 surveys completed by members of the worlds’ major faiths: Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, Judaism, Bahai, and Buddhism (50 surveys per religion)—the first study of its kind, the researchers believe. Population reports show that approximately 20 percent of the world’s people are Muslim and about 15 percent are Hindu; fasting is important to both religions. It is mandatory during the daylight hours of the month of Ramadan for Muslims; for Hindus fasting is generally voluntary.
[…]
In the new survey, the majority of patients self-identified as Hindus, Muslims and Jains stated that the use of eye drops during their fasting hours would break their fast, and therefore they would not use drops while fasting. However, these patient groups said they would be more likely to use drops while fasting for painful eye conditions or if vision was affected. The majority of Christian, Buddhist, Bahai and Jewish survey respondents did not believe that using drops would break their fasts, and stated that they would use eye drops during their fasting periods.

Obviously, glaucoma patients who diminish or stop use of eye drops for extended periods risk permanent damage to their eyesight.

Dr Kumar’s study, while suggestive, is based on a relatively small sample of 50 patients per religion, so caution in interpreting the results would be advisable until it is corroborated by larger studies.

Another recent study found that fasting by pregnant women during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan is associated with increased likelihood of low birthweight babies.