This is my submission for the Pay it forward Curation contest run by @thedarkhorse and @pifc.

Today as I was writing up a post on how to make a Violin sound like a Frog I managed to come across some pretty interesting performances... however, as I was about to make this entry a complete organ feature, I stumbled across something that I found resonated very strongly with me (it may not to other people....)...

Vaccinations

The study of medicine is a pretty tricky field, it is hampered by the fact that people are quite unhelpfully unlike subatomic in particle physics, and thus have a complexity that defies the more elegant ideas that come from the study of the more abstract (read...more beautiful...) sciences. Add in the fact that the internet has democratised access to information, without a corresponding increase to the access to the critical skills that allow complex scientific ideas and statistical analysis' to be understood, and you have a recipe for the trumping of scientific data and statistical analysis by emotional rhetoric and anecdotal evidence.

@vaccinusveritas (REP 29) who has taken on the thankless job of trying to increase access to the current scientific literature on vaccines.. and this latest post brings to light the ongoing cohort studies (published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine) which found no overall increase in autism amongst children who were vaccinated with the MMR vaccine.

Of course, this is no guarantee that MMR does NOT cause autism... that's not the way science works. However, it does add to the literature which strongly supports the conclusion that it is highly unlikely that MMR causes autism.

Sigh... medicine and people are too complicated... that's why I was attracted to different fields! Anyway, I've long past the point where I have the will to engage strongly with alternative ideas about science, but I'm happy that someone else has the will to do it!

Featured Post

Organ Playing

Anyway, for a blogger who is a touch less controversial... I am featuring a musician! @andyradtrad (REP 46) is an organist who presents a nice prelude by Barr on the Plainchant, Conditor Alme Siderum. Just listen, and be transported by the king of instruments... THE VIOLIN!

Haha... just kidding, the organ... those organists think that size is everything... we all know that the violin is king... controversy that!

Featured Post

My past entries

I'm going to keep a record of my past entries mostly for my own ease of finding them again!

Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5
Week 6	Week 7	Week 8	Week 9	Week 10
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Week 16	Week 17	Week 18	Week 19	Week 20
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Week 41	Week 42	Week 43	Week 44	Week 45
Week 46	Week 47