Philosophy

On verification

Most recently, I came across of another euphoric hygiene hypothesis review and wonder how this could ever happen. The evidence here is mixed and largely ambiguous.
Probably it would be best to follow some basic journalistic rules as summarized in the online “Verification Handbook for investigative reporting”

As with the verification of user-generated content in breaking news situations, some fundamentals of verification apply in an investigative context. Some of those fundamentals, which were detailed in the original Handbook, are:

– Develop human sources.
– Contact people, and talk to them.
! Be skeptical when something looks, sounds or seems too good to be true.
! Consult multiple, credible sources.
– Familiarize yourself with search and research methods, and new tools.
– Communicate and work together with other professionals — verification is a team sport.

Journalist Steve Buttry, who wrote the Verification Fundamentals chapter in the original Handbook, said that verification is a mix of three elements:

– A person’s resourcefulness, persistence, skepticism and skill
– Sources’ knowledge, reliability and honesty, and the number, variety and reliability of sources you can find and persuade to talk
– Documentation

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Vitamins

No wonder pill

“In the case of religion, we put our faith in gods. And in nutrition, we have vitamins,” writes journalist Catherine Price in Vitamania, in which she traces vitamin crazes from the 1920s to the present.

Harvard Magazine reports about a new cancer vitamin D study. It includes more than 1,000 patients with metastatic colorectal cancer but going into the details it is a phase 3 clinical trial of chemotherapy and NOT a clinical trial of vitamin D. Vitamin D serum levels are used for posthoc stratification only although we know that these kind of studies are always misleading.  At least HM quotes VITAL research Manson with

Clinical enthusiasm for supplemental vitamin D has outpaced available evidence on its effectiveness

I wish the VDAART chairs at  Brigham and Women’s Hospital would have a similar realistic assessment. Their results are overdue with June 2014 ending of data collection for the primary outcome. Is it just the simple fact that vitamin D is not a wonder pill?

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Philosophy

How religious is the world today

I received an interesting mail today that will be under embargo until next Monday. It is an Gallup International press release from a poll of 63,898 persons who were interviewed globally. In each country a representative sample of around 1000 men and women was interviewed either face to face or online with poll being conducted during September 2014 – December 2014. And voila, here are the results:

ResultsUnweighted Totals :A religious personNot a religious personA convinced atheist
Total638980,630,220,11
AFGHANISTAN21000,870,090
ALGERIA10000,90,080
ARGENTINA10000,720,160,04
ARMENIA10670,930,030,02
AUSTRALIA10060,340,440,14
AUSTRIA10000,390,440,1
AZERBAIJAN10520,340,540
BANGLADESH10000,930,050
BELGIUM10000,440,30,18
BOSNIA10000,650,290,03
BRAZIL20020,790,160,02
BULGARIA10080,520,360,03
CANADA10110,40,410,12
CHINA11500,070,290,61
COLOMBIA10020,820,140,03
CZECH REPUBLIC10000,230,450,3
DENMARK5050,420,40,12
ECUADOR9730,680,270,01
FIJI10020,920,060,01
FINLAND9930,560,320,1
FRANCE10000,40,350,18
GEORGIA10000,930,060,01
GERMANY10000,340,420,17
GREECE10000,710,150,06
HONG KONG5000,260,360,34
ICELAND10570,510,30,14
INDIA5560,760,210,02
INDONESIA5300,820,150
IRAQ0000
IRELAND10050,450,410,1
ISRAEL5750,30,570,08
ITALY10230,740,180,06
JAPAN12000,130,310,31
KAZAKHSTAN5000,640,190,08
KENYA10150,890,070,02
KOREA15000,440,490,06
KOSOVO11040,830,070,01
LATVIA10050,40,410,09
LEBANON10000,80,160,02
MACEDONIA12040,880,080,02
MALAYSIA5000,720,20,03
MEXICO10010,680,240,04
MOROCCO10000,930,040,01
NETHERLANDS10500,260,510,15
NIGERIA8000,830,140,02
PAKISTAN20000,880,10,01
PALESTINIAN TERR.7530,750,180,01
PANAMA12000,810,120,02
PAPUA NEW GUINEA4860,830,040
PERU12000,820,110,02
PHILIPPINES10000,860,120,01
POLAND10040,860,10,02
PORTUGAL10010,60,280,09
ROMANIA10550,770,160,01
RUSSIA10000,70,180,05
SAUDI ARABIA0000
SERBIA10150,720,180,03
SOUTH AFRICA5000,910,080
SPAIN10440,370,350,2
SWEDEN10030,190,590,17
SWITZERLAND10030,380,460,12
THAILAND6140,940,010,01
TURKEY10080,790,130,02
UK10000,30,530,13
UKRAINE5000,730,170,07
USA10160,560,330,06
VIETNAM5000,340,410,13
ZIMBABWE0000

Like it or not, it’s one of the main driving forces of the world.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Software

Von vertikaler und horizontaler Wissenschaft

Zur Krise der Wissenschaften kann man vieles sagen. Dabei wird das eher selten gemacht, denn eigenartigerweise ist Wissenschaft nur wenig selbst reflexiv. Warum mit immer mehr Wissen und immer mehr Bildung, die eigentliche Wissenschaft – Aufstellen von Hypothesen, Überprüfen von Sachverhalt und logischen Folgerungen – in den letzten Jahren immer weiter abgetreten ist? Continue reading Von vertikaler und horizontaler Wissenschaft →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Allergy

Is this a retraction of the hygiene hypothesis?

There are news about the hygiene hypothesis.

Home cleanliness resulted only in quantitative reduction of floor dust, which mainly indicates removal of superficial dirt with a rather cosmetic effect. Conventional cleaning does not eradicate microorganisms sustainably, because emptied microbial niches are instantly recolonized by ventilation and living carrier.

Sure. Continue reading Is this a retraction of the hygiene hypothesis? →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Allergy, Vitamins

U shape is good and bad

I did not expect that serum vitamin D levels are associated with mortality at both ends of the distribution as now shown by Dorup et al.

Out of 247,574 a total of 16.645 subjects died in the ensuing 0 -7 years. … 25-hydroxyvitamin D level of 70 nmol/L was associated with the lowest cardiovascular disease mortality risk … At the higher extreme (125 nmol/L), the hazard ratio of cardiovascular disease mortality was 1.3 (95% CI 1.2-1.4), with similar risk among men and women.

Following our first paper on U shaped vitamin D effects there are now many more papers show that effect. Vitamin D is not just good or bad, it is both depending on timing, dose, application, whatever.

 

U

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Genetics

The optimal cycling position

There are different strategies to improve the aerodynamics of road cycling. At 50 km/h about 90% is being spend to overcome aerodynamic drag of the riders silhouette. Barry et al. now sent a rider into a wind tunnel and discriminated basically 9 different positions that I am summarizing here in a cartoon including front area and estimated Watt count. Continue reading The optimal cycling position →

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Software

Faxenbuch

Byung-Chul Han

Mag sein, aber von der Struktur unterscheidet sich diese Gesellschaft nicht vom Feudalismus des Mittelalters. Wir befinden uns in einer Leibeigenschaft. Die digitalen Feudalherren wie Facebook geben uns Land, sagen: Beackert es, ihr bekommt es kostenlos. Und wir beackern es wie verrückt, dieses Land. Am Ende kommen die Lehnsherren und holen die Ernte.

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026
Allergy, Vitamins

A jubilee – today we have 1000 papers on allergy and vitamin D

It is a long time period from our first paper in July 1999 in Allergy, but more than 15 years later there is now a huge list of papers.

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When looking for potential paradigm shift in research, however, vitamin D is still largely ignored.

    • Professional organizations that give legitimacy to the paradigm: NONE
    • Dynamic leaders who introduce and purport the paradigm: FEW
    • Journals and editors who write about the system of thought: FEW
    • Government agencies who give credence to the paradigm: NONE
    • Educators who propagate the paradigm’s ideas by teaching it to students: NONE
    • Conferences conducted that are devoted to discussing ideas central to the paradigm: YES
    • Media coverage: MINOR
    • Lay groups, or groups based around the concerns of lay persons, that embrace the beliefs central to the paradigm: FEW
    • Sources of funding to further research on the paradigm: NONE

 

 

CC-BY-NC Science Surf , accessed 14.04.2026