LIVE VIRUSES
When a vaccine must use live viruses, formaldehyde is usually used to knock them out, weakening them to the point where they no longer pose a threat, but still alive enough to provoke the desired response. This is not done haphazardly: Finding just the right balance for the vaccine to be effective but not dangerous is hard work.
You’ll hear antivaccine activists shout, “Green our vaccines!” What do they mean? Are vaccines environmentally unfriendly? What does “being green” have to do with it? Presumably this is a swipe at vaccine additives that they believe are unsafe or damaging to the environment. Sadly it’s too vague of a charge to answer directly. Specific claims can be tested; vague rallying cries cannot. This is where the antivaxxers’ movement has taken them: Whenever they’ve attempted to levy a specific, testable claim, it’s easily falsified. Don’t let a sound byte as meaningless as “Green our vaccines” carry any clout it has not earned.
Many antivaccine activists believe that a healthy diet is all that’s needed to guard against disease. Unfortunately, a healthy diet by itself does not present any immunological challenges. No antibodies are created as a result. Then when a pathogen enters the body, the pathogen wins, and the body becomes diseased. If you focus on your diet or your fitness, but ignore your immune system, expect to look slim and run marathons, but don’t expect your immune system to be well prepared should you be unlucky enough to run into polio.
REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
AAP. “Vaccine Ingredients.” Immunization. American Academy of Pediatrics, 20 Jan. 2011. Web. 25 May. 2011.
CDC. “Ingredients of Vaccines - Fact Sheet.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U. S. Federal Government, 19 May 2009. Web. 11 Feb. 2010.
Janeway, C., Travers, P., Walport, M., Shlomchik, M.J. Immunobiology. New York: Garland Publishing, 2001. 582-583.
Marshall, Gary. The Vaccine Handbook. West Islip: Professional Communications, Inc., 2008.
Ragupathi G., Yeung K., Leung P., Lee M., Lau C., Vickers A., Hood C., Deng G., Cheung N., Cassileth B., Livingston P. “Evaluation of widely consumed botanicals as immunological adjuvants.” Vaccine. 2 Sep. 2008, 26(37): 4860-4865.
Ribeiro C., Schijns V. “Immunology of vaccine adjuvants.” Methods in Molecular Biology. 1 Jan. 2010, 626: 1-14.
5. THE BAIGONG PIPES
Do modern metal pipes buried in ancient Chinese stone prove that aliens must have visited?
Should you happen to visit Tibet anytime soon, be sure to stop by the city of Delingha. It’s a town of most extraordinary beauty, nestled on the edge of the Qaidam Basin below a range of Himalayan hills. There you’ll find the local residents proudly displaying their most famous distinction. For a few Yuan you can probably get someone to take you to see it. Only a short journey outside of town is said to be a cave, and in this cave are a series of ancient metal pipes. These pipes predate all known history, and are embedded into the rock itself. They are said to lead through the very mountain, and connect to a nearby salt lake. The explanation? Ruins of a construction project 150,000 years ago, by alien visitors.
The Baigong Pipes are an example of what paranormal enthusiasts refer to as “out of place artifacts”, modern objects discovered in ancient surroundings. The Baigong Pipes are described as a sophisticated system of metal pipes, buried in geology in such a way that precludes the possibility of having been installed in modern times. They are located on Mt. Baigong in the Qinghai province of China, about 40 kilometers southwest of Delingha. Most accounts describe a pyramidshaped outcropping on the mountain, and the cave containing the pipes is on this pyramid. 80 meters from the mouth of this cave is a salt lake (the twin of an adjacent freshwater lake), and more pipes can be found poking up along the shore. Most of the information you can find online about the Baigong Pipes appears to be originally sourced from a 2002 article from the Xinhua News Agency, talking about preparations by a team of scientists about to embark to this remote area to study the pipes. “Nature is harsh here,” said one. “There are no residents let alone modern industry in the area, only a few migrant herdsmen to the north of the mountain.”
The two lakes are broad, shallow sinks at the low point of the vast Qaidam Basin. Searching for Mt. Baigong is likely to be fruitless: First, the area is largely flat and the nearest mountains are 20 or 30 kilometers away; second, baigong is a local word for hill and could mean anything in this context. The southernmost of the two lakes, Toson Hu or Lake Toson, has some low bluffs here and there along its southern and western sides. On its northeastern shore is a point, and it was in a bluff on this point that author Bai Yu once happened to find what he described as a small cave, according to his book Into the Qaidam.
Bai was traveling the area in 1996, and described a lifeless lake surrounded by cone-shaped hills. The cave appeared to have been artificially dug, and was triangular, about six meters deep. Nearby were two similar caves, but they had collapsed and could not be entered. But what struck Bai was the array of manufactured metal pipes protruding up through the floor of the cave and embedded within its walls, one 40 cm wide. Following their path outside, Bai discovered more pipes protruding from the surface of the conical hill, and even more of them 80 meters away from the cave along the shore of the lake. Excited, he removed a sample and sent it to the Ministry of Metallurgical Industry. The result was 92% common minerals and metals, and 8% of unknown composition.
Bai proceeded about 70 kilometers to the Delhi branch of China’s Purple Mountain Observatory, a high vantage point from where he knew he could get a birds-eye view of the whole region. He saw great expanses of flat, open terrain, and putting two and two together, he concluded that this would make for a fine alien landing site. Unknown minerals and plentiful landing space meant that the Baigong Pipes had to be of alien origin.
Scientists from the China Seismological Bureau visited the lake in 2001 to examine the pipes. Samples brought back to the Beijing Institute of Geology were examined by thermoluminescence dating, a technique that can determine how long it’s been since a crystalline mineral was either heated or exposed to sunlight. The result came back that if these were indeed iron pipes that had been smelted, they were made 140-150,000 years ago. Human history in the region only goes back some 30,000 years, and so the alien theory seemed to have been confirmed. The following year the Xinhua news story was published, and the Baigong Pipes entered pop culture as, supposedly, genuine, tangible evidence of alien visitation.
The cave on Lake Toson been
If you visit the area today, you’ll find a locally built monument to the aliens off the main highway, replete with a mockup metallic satellite dish. Internet forums buzz with the absence of follow-up articles by Xinhua; the natural conclusion is that it turned out the alien explanation was the true one and the Chinese government is suppressing any further reporting. Cracked.com touts the Baigong Pipes as one of “Six Insane Discoveries that Science Can’t Explain”.
And although that’s where most reporting of the Baigong Pipes stops, it’s also where responsible inquiry should begin. When you settle on a paranormal explanation, it means you’ve decided there is no natural explanation. In fact, when you don’t yet know the explanation, you don’t yet know the explanation; so you can’t reasonably decide that the time is right to stop investigating. But so many do.
Skeptical hypotheses have already been put forward, seeking a natural explanation for the Baigong Pipes that doesn’t require the introduction of a wild assumption like alien visitation. The first thing we turn to are geological processes that might explain them. The Chinese have put forth several such hypotheses, including one involving the seepage of iron-rich magma into existing fissures in the rock.
A 2003 article in Xinmin Weekly described how this might work. Fractures caused by the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau could have left the ground riddled with such fissures, into which the highly pressur
ized magma driving the uplift would have been forced. Assuming this magma was of the right composition that, when combined with the chemical effects of subsequent geological processes, we might very likely expect to see such rusty iron structures in the local rock. But evidence of this has never surfaced, and the Chinese dismissed this theory. They also noted that the Qaidam oil field would not be able to exist if there were active volcanism in the area as recently as 150,000 years ago.
It was their next theory that ultimately led to a satisfactory explanation, and this theory involved the same hypothesized fissures in the sandstone. But, instead of being filled with ironrich magma, the fissures could have been washed full of ironrich sediment during floods. Combined with water and the presence of hydrogen sulfide gas, the sediment could have eventually hardened into the rusty metallic pipe-like structures of iron pyrite found today. This theory was not fantastic, in part because there was no logical reason why the sandstone might happen to be laced with pipe shaped fissures. But the idea of flooding did make sense, given the geological history of the Qaidam Basin.
Three years before Bai Yu took his first peek into the cave at Lake Toson, researchers Mossa and Schumacher wrote in the Journal of Sedimentary Research about fossil tree casts in Louisiana. They found cylindrical structures in the soil, thermoluminescence dated from 75-95,000 years ago. The chemical composition of the cylinders varied depending on where and when they formed and in what type of soil. The authors found that these were the fossilized casts of tree roots, formed by pedogenesis (the process by which soil is created) and diagenesis (the lithification of soil into rock through compaction and cementation). The result of this process was to create metallic pipe-like structures, which by comparing the descriptions offered by researchers, appear to be a perfect match for the Baigong Pipes.
The Chinese scientists eventually did come to the same conclusion, according to the Xinmin Weekly article. They used atomic emission spectroscopy to conduct a detailed chemical analysis of the rusty pipe fragments, and found them to contain organic plant matter. Under the microscope they found tree rings, consistently throughout the samples. Once they established that the Baigong Pipes were simply fossilized tree casts, they set about to discover how they got there.
The Qaidam basin was once a vast lake, which has disappeared as the Qinghai-Tibet plateau uplifted the basin to its current elevation of about 2800 meters. Over the millennia, various floods filled the sink with runoff, alluvium, and debris including such fossils. They can now be found wherever such ancient flows deposited them, and it seems that Bai Yu was lucky enough to discover just such a pocket.
And so we end up with a complete story of how rusty iron pipes, tens of thousands of years older than any people who might have forged them, can end up embedded in solid sandstone in such a way as to baffle the average observer. Like many amateur researchers, Bai Yu stumbled upon an extraordinary discovery, but through his lack of applicable knowledge, misinterpreted what he saw. Those who underestimate the Earth’s ability to produce fascinating effects are often left to grope for goofy explanations like alien construction projects. I find that the Baigong Pipes are one of the better examples of the folly of stopping at the paranormal explanation, compared to the rich rewards offered by following the scientific method to uncover what’s really going on.
REFERENCES & FURTHER READING
Beitler, B., Parry, W., Chan, M. “Fingerprints of Fluid Flow: Chemical Diagenetic History of the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone, Southern Utah, U.S.A.” Journal of Sedimentary Research. 1 Jul. 2005, Volume 75, Number 4: 547-561.
Mossa, J., Schumacher, B. “Fossil tree casts in South Louisiana soils.” Journal of Sedimentary Research. 1 Jul. 1993, Volume 63, Number 4: 707-713.
Owen, L., Finkel, R., Ma H., Barnard, P. “Late Quaternary landscape evolution in the Kunlun Mountains and Qaidam Basin, Northern Tibet: A framework for examining the links between glaciation, lake level changes and alluvial fan formation.” Quaternary International. 13 Mar. 2006, Volume 154-155: 73-86.
Xinhuanet. “Chinese Scientists to Head for Suspected ET Relics.” Xinhua News Agency. 19 Jun. 2002, Newspaper.
Xinmin Weekly. “Alien Ruins Show.” Xinmin Weekly. 13 Oct. 2003, Newspaper.
Zheng, M. An introduction to saline lakes on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Boston: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997.
6. THE NAGA FIREBALLS
What is the source of the glowing balls that rise from the Mekong river each October?
During the full moon every October along the Mekong river between Thailand and Laos, an extraordinary spectacle takes place. A great river serpent winds its way through the darkness, spitting glowing fireballs hundreds of feet into the air. The display is greeted with loud cheers from tens of thousands of spectators cramming the riverbanks. This is the Phayanak festival: The welcoming of Lord Buddha as he returns to Earth at the end of the Buddhist Lent, by the great river serpent, the Naga.
According to mythology, the Naga is a gigantic hooded snake. It’s prominent throughout Indian and southeastern Asian cultures. It’s often believed to be an actual physical animal, but with a supernatural spirit, and many people in the region honestly believe that the animal does live in the local waters. One Naga stands out: The Phayanak, or King of the Nagas. Its role varies somewhat among the different cultures, but generally, the Nagas are benevolent servants of Buddha. On the 15th day of the 11th Lunar month, which is a full moon that usually falls in October, the Phayanak festival is held. Its center is the Nong Khai province of Thailand, and ground zero, where the fireballs ascend from the river, is the district of Phon Phisai, a small village on the bank of the Mekong river.
Evidence for the existence of the Naga is frequently put forward. There’s a photograph widely sold throughout Nong Khai purporting to show a group of about 30 American soldiers holding what appears to be some sort of giant sea serpent. The photograph is titled Nang Phayanak, and the caption reads:
The Queen of the Nagas seized by American Army at Mekong River, Laos Military Base on June 27, 1973, with the length of 7.30 meters.
In addition, a Buddhist temple in Nong Khai city, Wat Pho Luang Phra Sai, exhibits some objects that it says are fossilized bones from a Naga, such as a tooth and an egg.
But it is the fireballs themselves that have attracted all the attention, both skeptical and believing. You can see YouTube videos of the fireballs taken during the festival. They are orange specks that streak skyward from way out over the water, rising to a height that’s hard to judge but appears to be at least several hundred feet over the course of about three seconds before fading out. As each appears, the crowd reacts like crowds everywhere watching a fireworks show, with appropriate “oohs” and “aahs”.
There is both good news and bad news for those who wish to attend the Phayanak festival to witness the fireballs. The good news is you are absolutely guaranteed to actually see them with your own eyes. The bad news is that what you’ll see are simple fireworks, shot skyward as a tourist attraction. But even though today’s fireballs are a harmless festival show, there is no basis for establishing that this is the source of all such fireballs throughout history. Anecdotes persist that the fireballs are still visible at other times of the year and at other locations along the river, and many people say that reports of sightings date back centuries. However this belief that the Naga Fireballs are ancient seems to be merely a locally held understanding; it does not appear to be reliably documented prior to the middle of the 20th century.
In 2002, a television network called iTV sent a crew of investigative journalists to find the source of the fireballs during the festival. On the program titled Code Cracking, the team took a boat and snuck quietly up the Laotian side of the river, directly across from Phon Phisai, during the festival. They filmed Laotian soldiers firing tracer rounds into the air, and every time they did, the crowds on the Thailand side of the river reacted with their “oohs” and “aahs”. The broadcast was widely perceived as an attack on a sacred bel
ief. Lawsuits and boycotts were threatened against iTV. But, as the saying goes, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
In 2001, an estimated 150,000 people attended the festival. Following the iTV report, and a movie from that same year called Mekong Full Moon Party, attendance rose to 400,000 the following year. This brought in 50 to 100 million baht, or as much as 2.5 million dollars, a huge boost for the tiny local economy. The festival has expanded from one day to four days, and the generous Nagas have thoughtfully expanded their fireball performance, now welcoming Buddha on two consecutive nights instead of just one. The wooden seating was replaced with concrete grandstands all up and down Phon Phisai’s riverfront in 2003, and the local provincial authorities and the Tourism Authority of Thailand now promote the festival relentlessly. There’s even a sign, in English, on the main highway:
Welcome to Nong Khai Province on the Bank of the Mekong River - Home of the Naga Dancing Fire Balls.
The theory that a few palms might be greased to get a few Laotian soldiers to fire off a few rounds should surprise no one.
However, not many people in the west watch Thai television or movies. Virtually any article you read about the Naga Fireballs offers the same “scientific” explanation, which in fact is not very scientific at all. It’s just the only one any of these authors have heard, so they go ahead and repeat it. This explanation is familiar to UFO researchers: Swamp gas. It’s usually given a scientific-sounding description, having to do with the decomposition of organic matter in the riverbed. This decomposition produces methane gas, which bubbles to the surface. It’s a fact that methane can spontaneously ignite when it comes into contact with oxygen (given certain conditions), and the story goes that such bubbles appear, burst into flame, and go shooting up into the sky.
Skeptoid 4: Astronauts, Aliens, and Ape-Men Page 4