Rinderpest, an epizootic, is second disease to be declared eradicated.

Rinderpest, a Centuries-Old Animal Disease, Is Eradicated - NYTimes.com: 

"No rinderpest here." Image via NYT

On Tuesday in a ceremony in Rome, the United Nations is officially declaring that for only the second time in history, a disease has been wiped off the face of the earth.

We do amazing things, we humans. (Great picture of Endeavour docked with the ISS, first - and last? - of its kind.)

BBC News - Majestic shuttle in unique station image

We've got one, two, three, four, five senses working overtime ...

Oscillatory Thoughts: We are all inattentive superheroes: 

(Frank Miller. Daredevil(c) Marvel Comics via Drawing Files)

We're used to thinking of our senses as being pretty shite: we can't see as well as eagles, we can't hear as well as bats, and we can't smell as well as dogs. 

Or so we're used to thinking. 

It turns out that humans can, in fact, detect as few as 2 photons entering the retina. Two. As in, one-plus-one, 

It is often said that, under ideal conditions, a young, healthy person can see a candle flame from 30 miles away. That's like being able to see a candle in Times Square from Stamford, Connecticut. Or seeing a candle in Candlestick Park from Napa Valley. 

Similarly, it appears that the limits to our threshold of hearing may actually be Brownian motion. That means that we can almost hear the random movements of atoms. 

We can also smell as few as 30 molecules of certain substances. 

I mean, we're talking serious Daredevil-level detection here!

Peruvian president cites ObL killing as papal miracle

Peruvian president calls bin Laden killing miracle from Pope John Paul II – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs:

Peruvian president and religious mushbrain, Alan Garcia.

(CNN) – While many world leaders praised the U.S. killing of Osama bin Laden, the president of Peru went a step further on Monday, calling the development the first miracle of Pope John Paul II since he was beatified last weekend.

“I have said that his first miracle has been to remove from the Earth this demonic incarnation of crime, evil and hatred,” Peruvian president Alan Garcia said, according to CNN affiliate America TV in Peru.

Well, if that's the game, then I'm blaming the dead Pope for the Alabama tornadoes. Or, how about we not play the silly miracle game and assess his legacy in terms of the number of sexual assaults committed by his elite army of child molesters and the degree to which his policy on contraception contributed to the spread of AIDS in Africa?

The trouble with Dr. Oz (Another reminder of the importance of skepticism for Hume's birthday.)

Science-Based Medicine » The trouble with Dr. Oz: 

Most disturbingly, though, of late Dr. Oz has been also promoting pseudoscience and what can only be described, in my opinion, as quackery. The snake oil that Dr. Oz has promoted over the last several months includes Dr. Joe Mercola, one of the biggest promoters of “alternative” health, whom Dr. Oz first had on his show about a year ago and then defiantly defended in a return appearance in early 2011. Then, in a rapid one-two punch, Dr. Oz had an ayurvedic yogi named Cameron Alborzian, who promoted highly dubious medicine, including “tongue diagnosis,” to be followed a few days later by something I would never, even in my most cynical assessment of Dr. Oz, expected, namely the appearance of faith healer Issam Nemeh on his show. Worse, Dr. Oz showed zero signs of skepticism. Unfortunately, Dr. Oz wasn’t done. In rapid succession next Dr. Oz endorsed a diet that he once eschewed as quackery and then, to top it all off, invited psychic John Edward onto his show, asking Is talking to the dead a new kind of therapy?

Cary workers recover yearbook for Sanford tornado victim

Cary workers recover yearbook for Sanford tornado victim :: WRAL.com:

Image via WRAL

The tornado carried her 1978 Lee County High School yearbook about 30 miles to Cary, where SAS employees clearing storm debris found it on the software developer's campus on Monday.

Miracle Koran baby in hiding.

Village Miracle’s Glow Dims Under an Ex-Spy’s Glare - NYTimes.com:

KRASNOOKTYABRSK, Russia — A year ago, a family living in this village in the middle of a marsh in the south of Russia revealed what they called a miracle: On the skin of their newborn boy, entire verses from the Koran were appearing, lingering for a few days, and then vanishing.

When somebody, anybody, says: “I cannot even read or write ... I just pray five times a day,” that's just depressing. And, sadly, we can't take any claims they make about anything, except relating to the abject misery of their existence, seriously.

Don't let 'miracles' trump science - Michael Kinsley

Opinion: Don't let 'miracles' trump science - Michael Kinsley - POLITICO.com:

You thought Parkinson’s was incurable? So did I. And I have it, as did John Paul II in his last years. But apparently not — if you know whom to pray to. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards prayed to John Paul II. Then she woke up one morning, two months after the pope had died, and all of her symptoms were gone. According to the AP story, from all appearances, she remains symptom-free.

Of course, there is another possibility: Maybe she didn’t have Parkinson’s in the first place. There is no way to diagnose Parkinson’s for sure. You just eliminate other possibilities that are generally far worse, such as brain tumors, until Parkinson’s is the last malady standing and, often, a welcome one, considering the alternatives. But, according to the AP, “Vatican-appointed doctors” determined that “her cure had no scientific explanation.”

I don't care what posthumous titles Catholics bestow upon John Paul. Whatever. It's the unmitigated gall of their rubbing the rest of our faces in the fact they are the leading opponents of stem cell research, which might lead to a real cure for real Parkinson's, that annoys me.

Charlotte to exhibit 'Miracle on Hudson' plane :: WRAL.com

Charlotte to exhibit 'Miracle on Hudson' plane :: WRAL.com:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The waterlogged US Airways jet that made a near-miraculous landing on the Hudson River nearly two years ago appears headed to a home in Charlotte.

 It was a great story and I've never heard anything but well-deserved praised for Capt. Sullenberg, but is the plane really an exhibit people want or need to see?

Oprah chastised for over-the-top woo shilling.

Science-Based Medicine » How low can Oprah Winfrey go? Promoting faith healing to the masses:

Sleight of hand. John of God at work.

Still, my dislike for how Oprah promotes New Age mysticism and pseudoscience on a distressingly regular basis aside, I actually did think there were limits to how low she would go. I actually thought there were limits to how egregiously vile a quackery Oprah would endorse. The operative word, of course, is “did,” which now needs to be struck off after last Wednesday, which is when Oprah did an entire show entitled Do You Believe in Miracles? (Guess what answer was implicitly, if not explicitly, endorsed.) Featured prominently in that episode were several segments on the faith healer John of God.

Silky smooth semiconducting.

From Silk Cocoon to Medical Miracle: Scientific American:

Today bioengineers are infusing the natural protein fibers spun by silkworms with enzymes and semiconductors. They are processing the modified strands under varying temperature, shear and acidic conditions to create novel materials with remarkable properties.

Read Red Butterfly to my daughter the other night (her choice from the library), so the silk story caught my eye. The story turned out not to be a favorite of ours; however, it looks like new chapters in the history of silk are being written.

One Down, One To Go

Beatification accomplished, Mother Theresa only needs to perform one more posthumous miracle to qualify for sainthood.