Thursday, November 29, 2012

Mark Johnson - Wrong on climate change AND Sasquatch

As a former denizen of Northeast Ohio, I can say with certitude that the state has several unappealing features, including John Kasich, meth labs, unconstitutional school funding, the Cuyahoga River, and Mark Johnson.

Mark Johnson is WEWS-TV ABC News Channel 5's Chief Meteorologist, which means for better or for worse, he is heard and trusted by a good portion of the population. His science background is not extensive: his education includes a bachelor's degree in telecommunications and a 'meteorology certification'.

Of course, he nevertheless weighs in on science issues to a broad audience (Northeast Ohio boasts ca. 4.5 million people). Unfortunately, he's a climate change denialist. Earlier this year, Johnson voiced his dissenting view on climate change, writing a full piece about claiming the Earth hasn't warmed in 15 years:
"Last week, the UK Met released its latest global temperature data to the world. It shows that the Earth has not warmed in 15 years. The warming ceased after the great super El Nino of 1998."
It's little wonder denialism is prevalent when public figures who should be versed in the science make these statements.

But it turns out Johnson's scientific misinformation isn't limited to climate change. The recent Bigfoot likely-hoax has attracted a flurry of attention from the general public but has been treated with due caution by science bloggers, including Greg Laden, Steven Novella, and Eric Berger, who have pointed out issues with the claim.

Unfortunately, Johnson's at it again. Yesterday, he wrote an article titled "New DNA Study Proves Existence of Sasquatch." Proves? Proves???? Sigh. It's, as you might expect, a pretty one-sided article that paints Dr. Ketchum's story as an effort commensurate to the Human Genome Project. And given the CSI phenomenon on TV (side node: apparently CSI effect is a real term), the mere fact that 'DNA' is in the title will carry a lot of weight toward convincing the public of the story's truthfulness. From the article:
"Researchers’ extensive five-year DNA sequencing study suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species."
"The study was conducted by a team of experts in genetics, forensics, imaging and pathology, led by Dr. Melba S. Ketchum of Nacogdoches, Texas. In response to recent interest in the study, Dr. Ketchum can confirm that her team has sequenced three complete Sasquatch nuclear genomes and determined the species is a human hybrid."
The piece is all-hype, without a word of caution or a shred of doubt. Pretty bold, for a press release about a study that has no accompanying data and some dubious claims from a company, as Eric Berger points out, with the worst possible rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Researchers’ extensive five-year DNA sequencing study suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/water_cooler/new-dna-study-proves-existence-of-sasquatch#ixzz2Da7dZUjj
Researchers’ extensive five-year DNA sequencing study suggests that the legendary Sasquatch is a human relative that arose approximately 15,000 years ago as a hybrid cross of modern Homo sapiens with an unknown primate species.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/water_cooler/new-dna-study-proves-existence-of-sasquatch#ixzz2Da7dZUjj
Last week, the UK Met released its latest global temperature data to the world. It shows that the Earth has not warmed in 15 years. The warming ceased after the great super El Nino of 1998.

Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/weather/weather_news/United-Kingdom-Meteorology-Office-declares-Earth-hasnt-warmed-in-15-years#ixzz2Da3bx7oq

3 comments:

  1. Tôi tình cờ xem một chương trình tọa đàm về nguy cơ mắc ung thư thời hiện đại trên VTV2 . Qua đó tôi được biết, những người có thói quen ăn mặn cũng có khả năng mắc bệnh ung thư vòm họng. Vậy xin hỏi bác sĩ, đối tượng nào nằm trong nhóm có nguy cơ cao bị ung thư vòm họng xin bác sĩ cung cấp thêm một sốtriệu chứng ung thư vòm họng giai đoạn đầu
    Máu trong giấc mơ đại diện cho cuộc sống, tình yêu, niềm đam mê cũng như sự thất vọng. Nếu bạn thấy từ “máu” trong giấc mơ của bạn, thì nó có thể ám chỉ đến một số tình huống sắp tới trong cuộc sống của bạn mà không thể thay đổi.Vậymơ thấy máu là điềm gì
    Dầu dừa là phương pháp hiệu quả giúp bạn nhanh chóng có một mái tóc mềm mượt và óng ả. Dưới đây là một số hướng dẫn cáchủ tóc với dầu dừa
    Bạn vừa quan hệ với chồng và đang băn khoăn không biết mình đã thụ thai hay chưa? Và thử thai vào thời điểm này có chính xác hay không? Vậyquan hệ bao lâu mới biết có thai
    Kem dừa là món ăn vặt được nhiều người yêu thích với vị kem lạnh kết hợp với vị thơm, giòn và bùi bùi của dừa tạo nên một hương vị khó tả ở đầu lưỡi.cùng tìm hiểu cách làm kem dừa

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