Andrew Patrick

Here is a good, investigative article from the Los Angeles Times about the accuracy of DNA matches in criminal cases. Searches of DNA databases have suggested that finding false matches between the DNA of two distinct people may not be as rare as has been claimed by DNA experts. More worrisome is the fact that the FBI has been suppressing the results and actively attacking anyone attempting to do such research.

This is all too similar to the state of fingerprint matching, where there has also been a lack of systematic, scientific research into the matching accuracy for criminal cases, and an active campaign to suppress any calls to do the proper research.

How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?

State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona’s DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles.

The men matched at nine of the 13 locations on chromosomes, or loci, commonly used to distinguish people.

The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. But the mug shots of the two felons suggested that they were not related: One was black, the other white.

In the years after her 2001 discovery, Troyer found dozens of similar matches — each seeming to defy impossible odds.

As word spread, these findings by a little-known lab worker raised questions about the accuracy of the FBI’s DNA statistics and ignited a legal fight over whether the nation’s genetic databases ought to be opened to wider scrutiny.

The FBI laboratory, which administers the national DNA database system, tried to stop distribution of Troyer’s results and began an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign to block similar searches elsewhere, even those ordered by courts, a Times investigation found.

Here is an interesting article on experimental bias during parapsychology research. The suggestion is that subtle remarks and prompts made by the experimenters could have influenced the responses made by the subjects while they tried to “receive” psychic information.

How experimenters influenced participants in the ganzfeld parapsychology experiment

An analysis of conversations that took place during ganzfeld parapsychology experiments has revealed researchers may have exerted an influence on their participants.

Ganzfeld experiments involve a ‘sender’ trying to project images from a video clip to a ‘receiver’ who is incubated, blindfolded, in a sound-proof room. The ‘receiver’ reports the images they believe they are receiving to a researcher who notes them down. Crucially, the next stage involves the researcher reviewing these images with the ‘receiver’, before the ‘receiver’ attempts to identify the video clip seen by the ‘sender’ from among three decoys.

The James Randi Educational Foundation have announced their annual Pigasus Awards to draw attention to the most outrageous claims involving the paranormal and supernatural.

JREF Pigasus Awards 2006

Category #1, to the scientist who said or did the silliest thing related to the supernatural, paranormal or occult: For 2006, it goes to UK biologist Rupert Sheldrake, for his “telephone telepathy” claims related to “morphic resonance. This man’s delusions increase as time goes by, and he comes up with sillier ideas every year.Category #2, to the funding organization that supported the most useless study of a supernatural, paranormal or occult claim: This year, it was earned by the Templeton Foundation, who spent $2.4 million and ten years on yet another ridiculous study, and no doubt will keep repeating this because they can’t get the message, that prayer doesn’t work.

Category #3, to the media outlet that reported as factual the most outrageous supernatural, paranormal or occult claims: U.S. TV host Montel Williams, for persisting in promoting “psychic” Sylvia Browne, in spite of knowing exactly what she’s doing. Williams has shown, over the years, that his ratings are far more important to him than his integrity and his trusting audience.

Category #4, to the “psychic” performer who fooled the greatest number of people using the least talent: Uri Geller – remember him? – who used the most tired old schoolboy trick in the book – moving-a-compass-using-a-magnet – on an Israeli TV series, thus garnering the most negative media reviews.

Technorati Tags: skeptic, paranormal, supernatural, James Randi, JREF, Pigasus

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) in the United States recently issued a report on polygraph testing (lie detectors). Until recently, polygraphs are routinely used to screen current and potential employees for certain government jobs, most notably jobs at nuclear laboratories run by the Department of Energy (DOE).

In 2002, the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) questioned the routine use of polygraphs at the DOE, finding that the tests were unscientific and inaccurate. There have also been many cases where security violators have passed polygraph testing, while innocent people had apparently “failed.” While the polygraph examination may have some utility for deterring security violations, and increasing admissions of guilt, there is little scientific evidence to support the claim that it can be used to detect deception and lies, especially when used for employee screening.

In response, the DOE is now using polygraph testing only for specific cases, such as where there may be intelligence concerns or a specific security incident. However, the new rules do include “random” selection as a specific cause. This new report from the CRS says that this is a step in the right direction, but there is still a need for more research on the accuracy and validity of polygraphs, and for alternative methods. The report also questions whether, in light of the validity concerns and the risk of creating a false sense of security after a passed test, the government really should consider eliminating polygraphs as a screening tool.

Here is a classic YouTube video where James “The Amazing” Randi exposes fraud and trickery performed by Uri Geller and Peter Popoff. Must viewing if you have not seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9w7jHYriFo

Skeptic Revamps $1M Psychic Prize

Ten years after stage magician and avowed skeptic James Randi first offered a seven-figure payday to anyone capable of demonstrating paranormal phenomenon under scientific scrutiny, the 79-year-old clear-eyed curmudgeon is revising the rules of his nonprofit foundation’s Million Dollar Challenge to better target high-profile charlatans, and spend less time on unknown psychics, who too often turn out to be delusional instead of deceptive.

Technorati Tags: skeptic, psychic, Randi, paranormal

Did NASA really spend $1 million for a space pen, while the soviet’s used a simple pencil? This is a common story that, it turns out, is not quite true…

Fact or Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil

During the height of the space race in the 1960s, legend has it, NASA scientists realized that pens could not function in space. They needed to figure out another way for the astronauts to write things down. So they spent years and millions of taxpayer dollars to develop a pen that could put ink to paper without gravity. But their crafty Soviet counterparts, so the story goes, simply handed their cosmonauts pencils. This tale with its message of simplicity and thrift–not to mention a failure of common sense in a bureaucracy–floats around the Internet, hopping from in-box to in-box, and even surfaced during a 2002 episode of the West Wing. But, alas, it is just a myth.

Technorati Tags: myth, NASA, space, legend

Here is an interesting article on complementary/alternative medicine. Have a look at the comments as well, since they present the usual collection of justifications, reactions, and anecdotes.

Complementary medicines are useless and dangerous, says Britain’s foremost expert

Useless. Dangerous. Even crooked. The brutal verdict on our most popular complementary cures – by Britain’s foremost expert:

A lot of interest groups were very puzzled because, surely, complementary medicine was, by and large, very safe, and mainstream medicine was where you had side-effects,’ says Ernst, who is professor of complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School at the universities of Exeter and Plymouth.

‘But when we did our research we found a lot of surprises – and since we started our work 13 years ago, various things have been banned from the market because they are so unsafe.’

…

his department has published well over 1,000 research papers and tested a hugely diverse number of therapies, making it the most productive research unit in the world in this field.

This probably is one of the best shows on television!

Is Mythbusters the Best Science Show on Television?

The show, which has been on the air since October 2003, may be wacky, but Mr. Hyneman and Mr. Savage employ thinking and processes that are grounded in scientific method. They come up with a hypothesis and test it methodically. After research and experimentation, they might determine that they have “busted” a myth or confirmed it, or they might simply deem it “plausible” but not proved.

It is the kind of logical system of evidence-based conclusions that scientists understand but that others can sometimes find difficult to grasp. And so “Mythbusters” fans say the show has hit on a great way of teaching the process of scientific discovery.

From an interesting article on the CSICOP web site:

Scientists have long lamented the public’s persistent belief in the paranormal. In this area, recent Gallup polling shows both good news and bad news. Every few years since 1990 the survey organization has asked Americans whether they believe, don’t believe, or are not sure about a range of paranormal phenomena. The good news is that compared to 2001, fewer Americans say they believe in extra-sensory perception, fewer Americans say they believe in the ability to communicate with the dead, and fewer Americans say they believe that extra-terrestrials have visited the Earth. …

The bad news is that public belief in other forms of paranormal phenomena shows little or no significant change. Specifically, there remains relatively strong belief in psychic/spiritual healing (55% say they believe, 17% say they are unsure, and only 26% say they don’t believe), in devil possession (42%, 13%, and 44% across response categories), and in haunted houses (37%, 16%, and 46% respectively)…

Belief in ESP

http://www.csicop.org/scienceandmedia/indicators/