Not having purchased a full subscription to New England Journal of Medicine I haven’t access to the article “Amebiasis from the ‘Miraculous Water of Tlacote” [which you mentioned]. Nonetheless I’ve taken tlacote tablets for three years and have suffered no ill effects. In fact I’ve found it most helpful. Millions of people have availed themselves of the water, either in liquid or homeopathic form. Where is the evidence of a health issue precipitated by ingesting this water? I submit the case of Amebiasis cited above was from another water source. Thus I find the Improbable Research article [on the web site, written in 2001] fits well under the heading of “hot air.” A New Light is entering the World. Find out more at:http://www.share-international.org.

(That’s an excerpt from the article “Air Vents,” published in AIR 11:1)

Short book titles that start with “The End of …” began to appear long ago. George Waring’s The End of Time, published in 1790, set a good, clean standard for title pithiness. In 1795, Thomas Spence followed suit with The End of Oppression. The trend was set.

Here are some, but by no means all, of the other non-fiction Ends to which authors and publishers have gone. (Some added a colon and subtitles to their basic four or five words, but only purists need hold that against them.) Together they almost tell a story:

The End of Nature, by Bill McKibben; The End of Science, by John Horgan; The End of Medicine, by Andy Kessler; The End of Medicine, by Rick Carlson; The End of Medicine, by Kaare Bursell; The End of History, by Francis Fukuyama; The End of History, by Philip N Moore; The End of Food, by Thomas F Pawlick; The End of Oil, by Paul Roberts…

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.

In reference to your Bozo item:

A few years ago at the Australian National University in Canberra, the School of Biological Sciences was created, or reorganised (or something!). Several departments were brought together and then split up in a slightly different way. When it came to naming each new Division, there emerged 1) Botany & Zoology, 2) Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and 3) Psychology. Yep — BoZo, BaMBi and Psycho. To be fair, I don’t think Psychology was ever widely referred to as Psycho, but BoZo and BaMBi are still around and still go by those names).

Yet more recently they have again reorganised (who would have guessed?) and now in the College of Science is School of BoZo, School of BaMBi and School of Psychology. Apparently School of BoZo is not a clown school. Here is a clown school: http://www.artmedia.com.au/Clown.htm

So writes investigator Wendy Cooper (graduate of BaMBi, married to staff member of BoZo)

He’s offering a position called “PhD Studentship - Divinity and Abstraction: A Theory of Software Engineering 
for Systems-of-Systems .” Closing date for applications: 15 May 2008. The project has five key phases. The first four are:

1. Study of debates on the nature of the holy trinity and the divinity of Jesus (e.g., between early church fathers, such as Irenaeus and Tertullian, and the authors of texts, such as those discovered at Nag Hammadi, that did not form part of the Nicene Creed) as well as the treatises on transubstantiation during the Reformation (e.g., the writings of John Wyclif) to understand how monotheistic theology has treated varying natures of divinity.

2. Contrasting the study in (1) with eastern religious philosophies, such as Hinduism, which are inherently founded on the multi-faceted nature of divinity.

3. Analysing the factors that bind the followers of a religion in a loosely coupled fashion across geographical and cultural boundaries and how the interpretations of divinity differ across these boundaries in both types of theologies.

4. Formulating a theory of abstraction for systems-of-systems by reconciling results of (1)-(3) with the existing classical technical notions of abstraction for software systems, especially roles, views and aspects all of which facilitate multi-faceted abstraction that goes beyond traditional module boundaries.

(Thanks to investigator Rémi Bastide for bringing this to our attention.)

Perverse incentives in drug development, research, marketing and clinical usage can be illustrated by considering the example of the so- called ‘atypical’ neuroleptics which have grown to become a standard – indeed expanding - part of psychiatric practice despite their probable inferiority to older sedative agents. There is now ample evidence to suggest that neuroleptics (aka. anti-psychotics and major tranquillizers) are dangerous drugs, and patients’ exposure to them should be minimized wherever possible.

so says the study “If ‘atypical’ neuroleptics did not exist, it wouldn’t be necessary to invent them: perverse incentives in drug development, research, marketing and clinical practice,” Bruce G. Charlton, Medical Hypotheses, vol. 6, 2005, pp. 1005-9. The author is at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Many scientists point out that severe dangers arise when you have both: (1) an ever-increasing number of humans living on a planet of fixed size; and (2) an ever-increasing average consumption of food, fuel, metals and other resources.

Many non-scientists like to point out that (3) bigger is better, and smaller is scary.

An editorial in the May 4, 2008 Boston Globe makes the case for point #3:

THE United Nations Population Fund projected last week that Russia’s population will drop from 142 million today to 100 million in the next 40 to 50 years. The agency’s report praised recent government efforts to increase birth rates and extend lives. But not enough is being done to counter stark demographic forces: an impending decrease in the number of women of child-bearing age, poor healthcare, rampant vehicular and industrial accidents, widespread alcoholism, and social conditions that discourage family formation

These trends have disturbing implications, not just for Russia and its political leadership, but for the United States. No amount of windfall profits from oil and natural gas in the hands of Kremlin plutocrats can save Russia from a many-faceted decline.

Discuss.

“Hyperstotic Polyarthropathy in a Rabbit: Suspected Case of Chronic Hypervitaminosis A From a Diet of Carrots,” J.L. Frater, Australian Veterinary Journal, vol. 79, no. 9, 2001, pp. 608–11.

(Thanks to Wendy Cooper for bringing this to our attention.)

(That’s an excerpt from the article “May We Recommend“)

Did early Christians smell inspiration? Susan Ashbrook Harvey’s book Scenting Salvation: Ancient Christianity and the Olfactory Imagination assures us that yes, they did. The book might, metaphorically, help other academics to wake up and smell the coffee: here is a pungent research topic that researchers have, until now, hardly bothered to sniff at.

Harvey is professor of religious studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Her 442-page tome explores (1) the most compelling odours, and (2) what and how early Christians thought about those odours.

The table of contents offers topics to tempt even a casual bookstore browser. Read these items aloud to a friend or loved one, and you’ll see…

So begins this week’s Improbable Research column in The Guardian.

We’ve been working behind the scenes to improve the underlying machinery that runs the AIR web site, to make the site peppier and more stable, and pave the way for future exciting expansions (which I can assure you are both exciting and in the future).

As with any construction project (perhaps especially virtual ones), there may be minor issues that pop up over the next few days. If you notice anything out of place, please drop me a note.

I now return you to your regularly researched improbability.

—Julia Lunetta, Improbable webmaster

“Dolphin-Assisted Therapy: More Flawed Data and More Flawed Conclusions,” Anthrozoös, L. Marino and S. Lilienfeld, vol. 20, no. 3, 2007, pp. 239–49 (http://dx.doi.org/10.2752/089279307X224782).

(That’s an excerpt from the article “Improbable Research Review,” published in AIR 14:2.)

In May 2007 I obtained my Masters of Science in Conservation Biology and Environmental Sciences from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. I currently work for the USDA-ARS, doing agricultural insect research primarily with fruit flies. I have attached a picture of myself in Costa Rica where I took a field studies class

Evann Souza, MS, LFHCfS
Tropical Plant Pests Research
Biological Science Technician (Insects)
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Hilo, Hawaii, USA, USA

Can anyone help me identify the metal used in the nails used to make the ladder used by the bearded gentleman in the middle of this photograph? I have been puzzling at this for a long time now, and decided it’s time to ask for help.

(That’s an excerpt from the article “Exhalations from our readers,” published in AIR 14:2.)

(That’s an excerpt from the article “How to Write 85,000 Books,” by Chris McManus, published in AIR 14:2.)