I while ago I talked about an interesting book I had read called “Them And Us” by an Australian author who has a theory that modern humans were formed by Neanderthal predation over a period of 100,000 +/- years. I think the guy made a lot of good points and I enjoyed the book. I just came across a you tube clip the author released where he condenses his concept, I thought it might be a good platform from which to discuss the premise. I understand a documentary is also underway. FOCUS: Criticise or comment. ALT FOCUS: Discuss fringe science theory’s that have caught you’re attention. Try not to be overtly retarded or you won’t get a cookie.
Jesus Christ, you know I usually just ninja edit this shit because I can't stand looking at it, but twice in a row and then an admonition to not be overtly retarded. THE IRONY IS STABBING ME IN THE EYE. IN THE FUCKING EYE. FOCUS: This is an interesting-enough idea. It's always good to challenge assumptions if those assumptions were made without a substantive basis. For example, it bothers me that most dinosaurs probably had feathers because I think they looked cooler without them, but if they had feathers, then they had feathers. On a similar note, I found this talk pretty interesting, although knowing nothing about anthropology or prehistoric biology I can't say anything about the credibility of her assertions. Wikipedia says she's probably full of shit.
I love cryptozoology. That is the science of studying Animals and Species that aren't supposed to exist, like bigfoot. And I enjoy the hell out of TV Shows that go hunting for these animals. I know it's fringe science, and I know that these animals don't exist. But if I had the money and time I'd be out looking for them in a heart beat. One of these TV Shows drives me mad, Destination: Truth. They hear stories about an animal that is supposed to exist somewhere in the world. So they travel to find them. These rare and elusive creatures are sighted maybe once a year, often less, and the Destination: Truth team only spends about 6-10 hours looking for them. Then they fly back to LA, make either an inconclusive statement or declare that the monster doesn't exist.
ALT FOCUS: Discuss fringe science theories that have caught your attention. Cold Fusion. In the late 80's, I think this even made the cover of Time Magazine. (Yes, I know some of you weren't alive. Shut up.) It was supposed to revolutionize everything. (I think its "discovery" was even on the cover of Time Magazine.) I can remember having excited discussions with my dad about the possibilities with this new thing. If I remember correctly, one idea would be how "they" were to use it somehow to create components for mag-lev trains that basically required the tiniest of energy sources to move, and would make mass transit cost pennies. I think further testing revealed that is was all not possible and/or not useful.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but cold fusion isn't dead in the water yet. It's still being tested. Focus- The MMR and Autism link <a class="postlink" href="http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-02/health/lancet.retraction.autism_1_andrew-wakefield-mmr-vaccine-and-autism-general-medical-council?_s=PM:HEALTH" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://articles.cnn.com/2010-02-02/heal ... =PM:HEALTH</a> Jenny McCarthy can go back to taking her clothes off and making tv shows that get cancelled in the first season.
One interesting one I heard of not far back was about a genetically altered mouse that can now grow back its limbs.
Jenny McCarthy and her MMR witch hunt gets my panties in a bunch because many kids got sick or were unprotected against serious diseases because of the propaganda she spewed because she couldn't accept the fact that her kid has autism because of shitty luck. Back on focus, I had an old roommate who tried to evangelize me to the truths of the Law of Attraction. What a bunch of crap. If I want a million dollars cash in my mailbox all I have to do is think about it enough and magically it will manifest itself. Or the counter, if you don't get something you didn't want it enough. Call me crazy but I'm pretty sure if this were true then no one would die of starvation.
HER KID NEVER HAD AUTISM. And she fucking claimed to have cured him. Jesus tittyfucking Christ why would anyone listen to her?
This isn't exactly a fringe study, but they did it at my school and I think it's neat. The upshot is that people who are keyed up already are more likely to experience stronger sexual attraction. I've also heard that low doses of psilocybin increase your visual acuity; specifically a part of it called "edge detection". It sounds to me like that would make you better able to spot camouflaged objects. I plan to test this by playing CoD on various amounts of mushrooms at the next opportunity. After all: Spoiler http://www.threepanelsoul.com/ science is not for pussies
While a 15 minute summation isn't a lot to go on, a lot of the video makes sense. From an evolutionary stand point, it's ridiculous to assume that Neanderthals didn't adapt to ice age conditions and look so similar to modern day humans. Think you could survive there in a loin cloth? It's rather silly to think that this was the best such a complex genome could do in such a harsh environment when it comes to adaptation. Also, I agree that our typical human arrogance is probably a large factor in why our portrayals of Neanderthals are so humanized. As for the inter-species mating, I can't argue clear genetic evidence. The hunting I question though. We are freaked out in dark forests and the like because we were hunted by Neanderthals? Sure, perhaps they contributed, but remove them from the picture and we still have a damn good reason for having acquired that particular adaptation. We were hunted by everything. Now I want to read further and see if he has more compelling evidence, so thanks for the new subject matter Stabby.
I'm of the opinion that the coolest science is plain, old, regular science. Here, Ben Goldacre discusses the crazy, profound weirdness that is the placebo effect and its evil twin the nocebo effect. And something about how a proper understanding of it is way cooler than any bullshit some charlatan or quack will spout about energies and quantum so-forth.
This is part of Terrance McKenna's Stoned Ape Theory. Interesting to think about but seems kind of like wistful thinking by a life long psychonaut. He also championed self transforming machine elves. When I was a teen I saw the Unsolved Mysteries on Red Mercury and then read the thriller book of the same name. I was convinced there was a nuclear substance that could be as powerful as a regular abomb thats the size of a tennis ball. Turns out it was just a scam that russian Mafioso's used on dumb asses in the 80s.
Any "Science" pointing towards the end of the world in Dec of 2012 that coincides with the end of the Mayan calendar. Solar Max , Sunspots , Solar flares , Pole shift , Sudden changes in the Earth's tilt , Planetary alignments , rogue planets entering out Solar system , ....... blah blah blah.