Radio Freethinker Episode 213 – Drone Strike Edition

This week:
– Micheal Douglas blames oral sex for his cancer…was he right?,
– Humanist report – In praise of Morgentaler,
– Super-computers discover HIV’s protein secrets, and
– A skeptical look at drones

Download the episode here!

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Michael Douglas blames oral sex for his cancer…was he right?

Michael Douglas made headlines this week when he claimed that oral sex caused his throat cancer. Well, as it turns out he may be right. One cause of cancer is HPV or Human papillomavirus. It is widely know to cause cervical cancer. What is less well known is that is 90% of Anal cancers are HPV caused and 2-2 % of oral cancers can be traced back to HPV.

Douglas praised oral sex and vows to continue the practice. This has a secondary important because many religious conservatives are attempting to block the use of a vaccine that could wipe out HPV because they are worried such a vaccine could promote promiscuity…and TEENS HAVE SEX!!!! Risking your child’s life over a religious conviction…if there was a vaccine for such lunacy!

Find out more:

• Michael Douglas pleased that oral sex story raised public awareness
• HPV
• Human papillomavirus

HPV causes of cancer

Humanist report – In praise of Morgentaler

Ian Bushfield joins us again for another Humanist Report.

In the wake of the death of Henry Morgentaler last week, we discuss his role in improving the health and safety of women in Canada, his fight against the legal and political systems of Canada and how Morgentaler is at the heart of the Humanist movement in Canada.

Find out more:

• Henry Morgentaler
• BC – Humanist Association – Henry Morgentaler has died
• The Morgentaler Effect
• Abortion rights crusader Henry Morgentaler, revered and hated, dead at 90
• Abortion rights activist Dr. Henry Morgentaler dies at 90
• Dr. Henry Morgentaler’s death highlights abortion divide

Super-computers discover HIV’s protein secrets

Scientists are focusing on attacking HIV via targeting its viral casing or capsid. The capsid is critically important for HIV replication, so knowing its structure in detail could lead us to new drugs that can treat or prevent the infection. The precise structure—how the thousands of copies of a protein (p24) actually meshed together to form the capsid—remained a mystery

Enter, Blue Waters…a $108 million supercomputer at the University of Illinois. The computer has 49,000 AMD CPUs and can handle one quadrillion floating point operations every second.

Blue Waters solved the problem and the results were publish this week in Nature.

This discovery could lead to an entirely new suite of treatment alternatives and could finally outpace HIV’s ability to rapidly evolve resistance to current enzyme-based medications.

Find out more:

• How a Supercomputer May Have Finally Unlocked a Way to Beat HIV
• Mature HIV-1 capsid structure by cryo-electron microscopy and all-atom molecular dynamics

A skeptical look at drones

Ethan takes a look at drones and the ethical, technical and philosophic arguments why we should be afraid…very afraid. Turns out, its not the drones that are the worry but the governments that use them.

Find out more:

• PW Singer on military robots and the future of war
• Obama Defends Drone Strikes But Says No Cure-All
• The debate over drones
• America’s Eternal War
• Why President Obama’s War on Terror Speech Was Full of Half-Truths and Deception
• UN expert demands freeze on robot weapons
• ‘Campaign to Stop Killer Robots’ calling for ban on ‘fully autonomous weapons’

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Skeptic Highlights

Celebrate World Oceans Day

Join the Vancouver Aquarium and WWF-Canada on June 8 for fun activities and to learn how you can make a difference for the health of our oceans. Rumors are there will be cake!

Full scheduled of the days events here.

When: Saturday, June 8, 10am – 5pm

Where: Vancouver Aquarium

Cost: Included with purchase of Aquarium entry