With statistical findings you need to need to be careful. A royal flush is not impossible but it is improbable. Two RF is a row may even occur but that doesn't mean the odds have been changed. What is needed is just a larger sample size to see if the effect is persistant or disappears as a random fluke. Also remember the recent dustup we had with the faster than light neutrinos? Just by jiggling the wires a little bit and the whole effect just went away. The problem is with the news media. Print, electronic even the internet. Peter Parker the earnest and honest news photographer has to hand his material to the agenda driven editor J Jonah Jameson who writes the headline and totally spins the story into oblivion. JJJ wants to sell more papers and headlines like "Dog bites man" just won't do that. "Man bites Dog" sells a lot more papers so he selects for stories that will sell. This is why we had to endure the image of Einstein rolling in his grave. And the retractions had to fight hard to not be buried in the wantads. The news media did a much better job on the Higg's Boson but that doesn't change the fact that bad science and antiscience sells a lot of Super Prostate Formula on late night radio. Let's see how J Jonah Jameson spins this one. DT ________________________________ From: Mark Shelton <astroshelton@yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 8, 2012 3:28 PM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Sun and radioactivity Have you seen this? The Sun is changing the rate of radioactive decay, and breaking the rules of chemistry http://io9.com/5619954/the-sun-is-changing-the-rate-of-radioactive-decay-and... Mark Mark Shelton Indian Hill Middle School Tech Ed. Teacher Salt Lake Astronomical Society Board Member (School and Special Star Parties Coordinator) _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Send messages to the list to Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. To unsubscribe go to: http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".