Physics bans cloning: long known results from quantum mechanics ruling out the copying of a quantum particle have been extended to classical systems composed of many of these particles, because doing so disturbs the original system. But what that does that mean for biological cloning? Not a whole lot. Even if a genetically identical clone is made, once that clone starts growing, breathing, and living, it is subjected to different environmental pressures than the parent causing the clone to diverge from the original almost immediately. [via The Daily Grail]
Bad Science Never Dies: on the continued citation of scientific papers after they have been retracted.
At a certain level, these studies have become urban myths. Despite no longer possessing scientific authority, their repeated publication has let them take on a life of their own -- regardless of any grounding in truth. Such scientific myths are worse than simple scare stories about kidney stealing or the influence of the full moon, because future researchers unwittingly depend upon their (invalidated) analyses.
[via The Daily Grail]
