Today in the News (3 Jun 09)

Evolution:
I just found this article about the "Future Evolution of Man" that was interesting. All too often in the debate, people totally forget that we ourselves are animals of a type, and that we are also responding to our environment. The article does a good job with a historical perspective, but I am always weary of anything that attempts to predict too much.

And while evolution is generally a slow gradual change, sometimes something really big happens, and if you don't evolve quickly, you become extinct. Just goes to show that again, there are so many facets to evolution, that it's sometimes no wonder folks just don't seem capable of understanding it.

Vaccines:
Today Dr. Plait had a couple vaccine related blogs. One asked if vaccines should be compulsory. While I fully support vaccines, and I think that everyone should strive to get vaccinated, I am not fond of the idea of making it compulsory. It is a hard question to contemplate though.

And Dr. Plait also reported on Newsweek slamming Oprah. While I appreciate that Oprah is a self made woman, and she has a great deal of empathy, she does embrace a lot of woo. And a lot of that woo can hurt you. Good reporting there Newsweek!

Also, if your child doesn't have vaccines, it may also impact their education as well as their health. So while the vaccines themselves aren't mandatory, they are a condition for entrance to school.

Autism:
And yet again, the case can't even be made in a court that vaccines cause autism (where the standards of proof are much less than in the arena of science). One has to wonder how often unfounded myths need debunking before they are wholly refuted? Apparently even a few more times.

I would also like to present this well written article where the reporter speaks to a top autism researcher.