Rocky, that's precisely what we find happens. Hence life of all forms is constantly evolving under the pressure of other biotic and abiotic changes in the environment. Some animals will get longer necks, the trees they feed on grow taller still or find other forms of defence...and life evolves.

It is odd how much controversy surrounds such a neat, well supported theory. You don't find so many people arguing germ theory with the same passion, or pointing out vehemently that the standard model is 'just a theory'. Evolution ranks on the same scale as far as theories go, yet to support it brings on accusations of dogma and zealotry.

Athon

Unfortunately human behaviour focuses too readily on a sense of fairness rather than pragmatism. Consider jail systems and education - the evidence is fairly solidly in favour of educating criminals towards a college-equivalent level to reduce the probability of them repeating offences. It makes perfect sense, in fact. Yet to fund such measures upsets people who otherwise can't afford further education, creating a bias or sense of unfairness. In other words 'who cares if I'm safer because of it - I can't get a degree, so why should a criminal?'.

Same with this situation. 'I can't get cheap housing, so why should an alcoholic bum?'.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/lint/

Been done already. :)

@ David,

I'm finding it hard to take you seriously - are you honestly suggesting you don't know the difference between water diluted with a bit of bleach, and bleach straight from the bottle?

If your child did destroy their esophagus by drinking straight bleach, you have my sympathies. However I can tell you that this process merely forms the same thing as heavily diluted bleach. Water supplies are treated with chlorine - do you think drinking tap water is the same as drinking straight liquid chlorine?

Athon

@ David

You've missed the point - nobody's saying it's not alkaline. The point is, it's effectively water with bleach in it. Stating it is 10 times more effective than water with bleach when that's essentially what is being produced is what makes it snake oil.

It's not a case of believing 'what you read on the internet' as much as having a bit of science literacy.

Athon

Having taught chemistry, I'm often asked the question 'where will we ever use this stuff?'. Here is a perfect example.

Essentially, this is just chemistry at work. You've taken some salt water, zapped it with electricity, and created a couple of new chemicals. The same outcome could be achieved by mixing some bleach with vinegar in a bucket and diluting it down massively with a heap of water. But that doesn't sound as magic as using electricity on plain old salt water, now does it?

This stuff is popular in places like Japan and Korea, and occasionally raises its head in the west, sadly. It will die off again before bobbing back up once more in five years time.

Athon

On 'cut the mustard': http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/cut-the-mustard.html

Nothing to do with the phrase 'to pass muster' it seems.

And ditto on the homework. I'm surprised it got enough thumbs up to make it through.

Alan, that's my understanding as well.

'Apple of my eye' comes from a time when apple was the word for 'fruit' (the apple in the garden of Eden was the same. There's a lot of old English references using the word apple as a general for fruit, in fact).

Rodriguez, how many countries have you lived in? Australia has its elements of red necks like most places, but for the most part is incredibly multicultural and its citizens are quite well educated. I don't see this article indicating any xenophobia, and for the most part think most of the responses to it were either well justified (the law has nothing to do with blood relations in the face of legal relationships) or critical of the process. I could count only about a dozen out of 114 that were fairly obvious trolls.

Athon

I don't see the issue. The government requires that two people be legally related for immigration purposes. I can understand the lady's distress, but for her to try to ignore the word 'legal' and say 'hey, but we are related' is just dishonest. Imagine the opposite - some kid who is adopted can't come with their family because they're not blood related.

The term 'relationhship' in this context is clearly spelt out. I don't think this is 'nuts' or bureaucratic, it's more a matter of semantics that's getting people confused.

Athon

I think people are missing a major point here. No matter how the parents feel about the name, or whether Hitler really was an ok kind of guy, these kids are going to cop it as they grow older. What offends me most is the absolute ignorance of the parents in how society works - does the father really think his kids will grow up to think so independently? By his very name, there is going to be an effect. The father formed his opinion because some people of other races have been 'rude to him'! FFS!! What are people of other races going to say to a kid named Adolf Hitler?

I'm undecided about what child services should do in this situation, but I do see this as a form of child abuse. If the father wanted to raise his kids to be racists, that's one thing. But to make his kids have to deal with society's prejudices (whether he feels those prejudices are right or wrong) in such a tragic way is insane.

Great. Lobster returns to the sea where it has a chance of being eaten by a turtle, catching a lobster disease, dying of malnutrition... But the restaurant is doing the wrong thing by keeping it in a tank?

People amaze me sometimes.

Ok. I'll 'be nice'.

I'd like to praise the doctors for their work in saving this girl's life. And the past doctors whose work contributed to the pool of medical knowledge we have now. I'd like to thank those who didn't settle for 'will of god' as an answer, and believe they could save another's life. I praise all of those scientists who stood defiantly and dedicated their work to understanding biology when all else said they were 'playing god'. I thank those whose work led to the creation of hospitals. I honour the nurses whose tireless work made the girl feel better.

An interventionalist deity intervenes at the 11th hour, after a little girl has fallen ill and has suffered. And an angel is thanked instead of those who truly contributed?

This woman's lack of gratitude is insulting.

Merry Xmas to all of those who in this case deserved it.

Athon

I love studies which have results blown out of context.

What was studied? What were the controls for comparison? How was it blinded? The paper seems to indicate self-selection for starters, with a massive bias towards women responding over the boys.

There's some great science going on out there...and yet this is what newspapers latch onto? *sigh*

Athon

Having been a teacher (in Queensland!), I find this a ridiculous concept. Red, green, purple...it's the teacher's attitude that makes all the difference. If the comments are helpful and the criticism constructive, kids appreciate it whatever the colour. If they are negative and lend little idea on how to improve next time, kids will be anxious about it.

Red is useful because it stands out distinct from the rest of the writing. It's easy to see where errors have been made. If the kid is upset by the criticism, they need to learn a way of dealing with it. School is about learning to cope in the real world.

Athon