Science headlines of the week

LINK




NatGeo report here.
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From Improbable research:

The Bohr-Einstein Debates, With Puppets
 by Chad Orzel



The Bohr-Einstein Debates, With Puppets from Chad Orzel on Vimeo.

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Long video here about the problem of all those screening tests.

Yeah, we docs know this, but screening tests have been sold to the public as a way of not getting sick, whereas what they do is cut your risk down a bit (but not to zero). But if we docs didn't do the tests even on low risk patients, and someone developed a rare cancer etc. we got sued. So voila, defensive medicine.

Now that the gov't is paying for the tests, voila, we are told not to do them if the risk is low---without, of course, stopping the lawyers from suing us if we don't do a test on a low risk person and miss a rare cancer.

Sigh...makes me glad I'm retired.

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Factoid of the day: 
In 1851, John Gorrie, a physician from Florida, received a patent for Mechanical refrigeration

Mechanical refrigeration. In an effort to cool sick rooms, he invented an ice-making machine that received the first U.S. patent for mechanical refrigeration. His system of using the rapid expansion of gases to produce a cooling effect is still the primary method used today.