correlation vs. causation

Correlation does not imply causation. I believe that this statement means that just because events are related does not necessarily mean they are one causes the other. Correlation, by definition, is a statistic representing how closely two variables co-vary. For example, a woman who has not smoked her whole life develops lung cancer. Most people would say that smoking is the only way you can develop lung cancer, but people who do not smoke CAN develop lung cancer due to their genetic makeup. Lung cancer and genetic makeup must be correlated, while smoking throughout one's life will ultimately lead to the development of this disease (a cause and effect relationship).

Another example of correlation:
As rate of ice cream sales increase, the rate of drowning increases.
Ice cream sales increase during the summer months, as well as the popularity of the ocean, pool, or lake. Therefore, more people drown during the summer months, and more people eat ice cream during the summer. These two ideas are correlated, but in no way have a cause-and-effect relationship.
An example of causation:
If I don't study for a test, I will fail it. Not studying for a test will most likely cause me to fail a test.

BREAKING NEWS: Rachel Carson kills millions!

300 million cases of malaria occur GLOBALLY each year. 90% of these cases (resulting in death) occur in Africa, mostly in children. DDT, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, was used as an insecticide to control malaria and other insect-causing diseases during WWII and beyond. Eventually, DDT was banned due to numerous side effects on humans and animals, and mostly the disastrous effects it had on our beautiful earth. DDT, along with many other insecticides were banned because of an environmental movement that was started by Rachel Carson and her book, Silent Spring. Since DDT was banned, malaria has been a leading disease burden throughout Africa. No longer can malaria be ceased, but it continues on it's killing rampage in a country lacking infrastructure and other vital resources to put this disease to an end, permanently.

Animal Cruelty

I believe that animal testing is inhumane. I have pets and they are a part of my family, I would never want anything bad to happen to them. When such testing is done on poor animals, the lasting effects are unknown and could kill them. I don't think this is the answer.

What are the odds....

...that you'll be struck by lightening? 1/750,000

...that you will give birth to quintuplets (without any medicine)? 1/55,000,000

...that you'll win the mega millions? 1/135,145,920

...the world will end by a gamma ray burst? 1/14,000,000

...that you will become the next U.S president?10,000,000 to 1

...that you will win an Olympic gold medal? 655,000 to 1

Tribes of Man

Masai Tribe:

Asian Descendants:

European:

Hispanic:

Fulbe Tribe:

Native American:

Mitochondrial Eve

I believe that we have descended from a common maternal mitochondrial DNA line. Her name is Mitochondrial Eve. I am not a genius but I feel that it is possible that mitochondrial DNA could have mutated enough to cause slight changes over time.

Life.

Two important things to survive:
1. Replication
2. Nourishment

Importance of Amphioxus

Amphioxus is a key organism for understanding evolution of the vertebrate genome. Scientists have discovered that each amphioxus gene correlates to either two or three vertebrate counterparts. Since amphioxus are in Phylum Cephalochordata and vertebrates, Phylum Chordata, I believe scientists are trying to link a connection between the two phlya. It seems that vertebrates could have evolved from cephalochordates by two successive rounds of whole-genome replication.




Source:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1461312/

Polywater

Polywater was once thought to be a new form of water consisting of long chains or rings. Russian scientist Nikolai Fedyakin believed that he had created this because one of his experiments yielded a thick, syrup like substance made of only water. Later, Boris Deryagin came along and was able to produce the same results, but only in small quantities, the same as Fedyakin. He claimed that it was so stable that it's boiling temperature was around 1000 degrees  Fahrenheit and it's freezing point around -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Rumors eventually spread that this new water, if released into the outside world, could turn other water into polywater and ruin the planet. 

Polywater was eventually disproved because it turns out that the capillaries in which the water had "polymerized" had been contaminated. The polywater was just tiny particles.

http://itotd.com/articles/588/polywater/

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,944149,00.html

fake websites

Fake Websites. There are an infinite number of sites on the world wide web that are fake. Some are less obvious than others and fool many people. I found quite a few while browsing the web the other day, but I have two favorites. The first is http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html and second is http://www.genochoice.com. How do I know these are fake? Well the first one explains how dihydrogen monoxide (aka WATER) is a toxic substance and merely inhaling it will kill you. Clearly they are mistaken and are only trying to freak people out. On the second website, you are able to create a baby with certain genes by scanning your thumb and your partners thumb on the computer at the same time. That is a little bit ridiculous.