You are obviously not a teacher although you may well be a scientist. Teachers either tell the kids what to do or encourage them to explore and THEN discuss results/flaws/improvements. After 33 years as an educator I can assure you that the latter is the most effective method and is a better preparation for pre-tertiary science. In addition I'll bet that the first "scientists" did not think about controls, they just collected evidence. This experiment is just that, a collection of evidence.

This is exactly what we should be encouraging kids to do. Regardless of lack of control or other "missing" experimental methods, this is a significant scientific result for a bunch of 9th graders. Good on them and good on their teacher for encouraging them to do the experiment and having the balls to publish it.

should genes be patentable, but it seems that we maybe have lost that one (sadly)

Quite. To quote Monty Python ( and show my age) " ...... as long as you realise that "up to" clearly includes the number zero"

I couldn't have said it better - thank you!

Endangered species ... BAH! what have they ever done for us? You never see the painted snipe holding a placard "save the humans" now do you? [obligatory monty python non-quote] Sadly your post is indicative of money vs environment and all too frequently money wins because not enough people give a flying fuck about the painted snipe ( or whatever )

Actually whilst the biggest deposits in Oz are brown ( if I remember correctly that is) the biggest exports are in black coal - more energy for you buck

WTF What gives you the right to complain about China if you live in USA or EU . Christ you've been fucking up the planet for decades - no centuries, and now you have the gall to complain about China. Where was all the work you did to avoid it? Oh yes that's right into the pockets of "Global Corporations" global rapists more like......... Geez I though I'd heard it all!

Yes, as my uncle said to me once ( He's an MD, PhD and DSc) " a doctorate is part of the process of learning more and more about less and less until you know everything about nothing"

As a ham operator VK4YEH, I appreciate this solution, but sadly, realistically it is not and will not be available to most people. OH well back to my ham shack .......

Thanks Apple, please tell your users how to remove the batteries!

This may well be the case for some phones but I'm not convinced that it it is for all phones. Mind you I'm more than happy with my "dumb" phone and have no interest or use for a "smart" phone - who the fuck knows what they are sending out, off or on.

Turn your phone off when you aren't using it. Do you really have to be contactable 24/7? I suspect not for most people and if your phone is off then you cannot be tracked.

Agreed, there are places in the US that I'd like to visit, but frankly I'd prefer to wait for hours in Nairobi (yes I've done that) than have some officious asshole abuse me or my family. Thanks TSA you have really enhanced the world view of your cuntry oops ..... country.

Just as stupid and with the same potential casualties as the fucking morons who think it's a good idea to shine a laser into the cockpit of an aircraft. As previously noted by another poster, most real RC'rs are well aware of their responsibilities, so I can only imagine that this is the work of a complete wanker.