Skeptical reporter @ 2013-08-09

Skeptical Reporter for August 9th, 2013 In Australia, chiropractors will be forced to stop making anti-vaccination and other misleading claims in a crackdown on operators from the profession's governing board. Earlier this year some chiropractors were revealed to have received government-mandated training by anti-vaccination clinicians who believe diet and ''keeping the spine in line'' will prevent deadly diseases such as polio. The chairman of the Chiropractic Board of Australia said it had removed some courses from its approved training schedule and would be randomly auditing practitioners to ensure they were not making unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of chiropractic. It also announced all registered chiropractors would be required to remove anti-vaccination claims from their websites. A new study has examined the relationship between belief in precognition and sense of control. They found that belief in psychics, clairvoyance, fortune telling, is one way people may compensate for feeling a lack of control in life. And, that this actually works to provide a greater sense of control. In an abstract from the paper the issue is explained: ”We argue that believing the future is predictable increases one’s own perceived ability to exert control over future events. As a result, belief in precognition should be particularly strong when people most desire control–that is, when they lack it. Prediction therefore acts as a compensatory mechanism in times of low control. The present research provides new insights into the psychological functions of seemingly irrational beliefs, like belief in psychic abilities”. Plants of the Aristolochia genus have for centuries been used in Chinese herbal remedies, but they contain a naturally carcinogenic compound that causes mutations in the cells of people who consume them, according to two studies recently published. The papers reveal that the compound, called aristolochic acid, causes more mutations than two of the best-known environmental carcinogens: tobacco smoke and UV light. “A lot of people in the lay public assume that if something is herbal or natural that it is necessarily healthy, But this work very clearly shows that this natural plant product is extremely genotoxic and carcinogenic,” said Marc Ladanyi, an investigator in the human oncology and pathogenesis program at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York who was not involved in the studies. Despite the long history of Aristolochia use in herbal remedies, evidence of the plants’ inherent danger emerged only recently. Aristolochic acid has been banned in most countries since 2003. But there are a lot of countries in Asia, like India, that still use it as part of their traditional herbal medicines. And even though it is banned in places like China, it is still readily available. Demons can be sexually transmitted, say three young exorcists, and when it happens, it can be a real menace. The girls, who hail from Phoenix, Arizona, are featured in a new documentary by film Vice.com. They travel all over the world, meeting with people who have been afflicted with what they say are sexually transmitted demons, and commanding those demons to leave the person alone. The ringleader is Brynn Larson who was raised by televangelist Bob Larson, who claims he recently cured a man of a homosexual curse and the demon inside him. The elder Larson believes that about 50% of the entire world’s population is possessed by demons. And now let’s look at some news in science. Several vaccines for malaria have been developed over the past few decades, but none offer complete protection. Now, for the first time, US researchers have developed a vaccine that protects 100 percent of those given five doses of the vaccine, albeit in a very small trial. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites. It affects more than 200 million people annually and, according to the World Health Organisation, it killed 660,