amoebic_vodka ([info]amoebic_vodka) wrote,
2005-07-28 09:55:00

Idiots

Isn't bad science great? Rather than having to put our collective nucleii together to come up with something to say, we will quote from bad science instead.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/story/0,12980,1536986,00.html

"[P]ity William O, a sensitive soul who answers customer queries for a supermarket chain to fund his science career, and so finds himself explaining to baffled angry customers why the quoted number of calories per 100g on the label of powdered soup should go down when you add water (dilution), that GM foods are not radioactive (they're just not), and why the amino acids in shampoo won't burn your scalp. "I feel arrogant and guilty when I get frustrated with these people ... but I just can't help it." This man is a saint."

And here's us thinking GM food was dangerous because it contained DNA that would turn us all into jellyfish.

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[info]mysterycult

July 28 2005, 21:53:49 UTC 6 years ago

Amusing as these remarks were, I can't help but feel that Ben Goldacre is being a bit lazy writing his column by getting his readers to send in stupid things that stupid people have said. He's a good writer, he can do better than this. Is he running out of proper targets?

Also, the article caused me to try and think about how one would actually calculate the pH of a solution of monomeric amino acids. If I remember my A-level chemistry, one would stare hard at complex titration curves, then say, "Pah, the amino groups and carboxyl groups cancel and it's all nice and neutral, no need for any maths."

[info]amoebic_vodka

July 29 2005, 09:35:54 UTC 6 years ago

The amino acids make nice buffers. We think they work best around pH6, but we can't remember. As anyone knows, the way to calculate the pH of an amino acid solution is to look on the side of the sigma bottle it came in for the answer... glycine buffers pH5.9-6.4 it says.
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