THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017 HEALTH & SCIENCE Gecko does ‘striptease’ to avoid becoming dinner

PARIS: A newly-discovered gecko uses a geckos, known for their large, sheddable species can be told apart is by their scale piece of pink, raw chicken. But alive. Apart the Greek megas for “very large”, and lepis weird but ingenious tactic to evade cap- scales. But closer scientific scrutiny patterns, but these geckos lose their scales from noting the exceptionally large scales, for “scale.” It is the first new gecko species ture: it strips down to its pink, naked skin revealed it is a species quite apart-boast- with such ease that the patterns are often the team used micro-CT scanning to to be described in 75 years. Reptiles, and flees, leaving its attacker with a ing the largest scales of any gecko. And it lost,” added study co-author Mark Scherz. examine skeletons for other distinguish- including geckos, are known for the ability mouthful of scales, scientists have is more skilled than any other at shedding Methods have included trying to catch ing characteristics, such as skull width and to shed a body part, often all or part of the revealed. The hard, dense flakes come off them at even the slightest touch. them with bundles of cotton wool or lur- length. Among G megalepis’ unique traits tail, to escape predator attack. Few geckos with “exceptional ease” and grow back in a G megalepis is resident in Madagascar. ing them untouched into plastic bags. is a smaller “attachment area”-where the survive to adulthood with their original matter of weeks, a team of researchers “This remarkable ability has made these “You have to think outside the box with scales meet the skin-than other fish-scale tails intact, the study authors said. reported in the journal PeerJ this week. geckos a serious challenge to scientists Geckolepis,” said Scherz. geckos. This is what allows the flakes to Scientists are interested in the regenera- Dubbed Geckolepis megalepis, the lit- who want to study them,” said a statement “They are a nightmare to identify.” tear from the skin so easily, without leav- tion ability of lizards for restorative medi- tle lizard was previously confused with from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Without its scales, the matchbox-sized crit- ing a scar. cine, possibly re-growing lost limbs for another member of the family of fish-scale Munich. “One of the main ways reptile ter is not much to look at-resembling a The creature’s name was derived from accident survivors one day. — AFP Clinic falsely told dozens they had Alzheimer’s: Suit

TOLEDO, Ohio: Shawn Blazsek knew a cate the Ohio Medical Board has talked string of concussions from high school with some of the patients. football and boxing was catching up with The lawsuits say that Jenkins, who has a him. He would go days without sleeping doctorate degree in physiological science, and was forgetting how to tie his shoes. wasn’t authorized to order medical tests Still, at age 33, he was stunned after being and that her husband, a licensed doctor told he had Alzheimer’s disease. who is a partner in the Toledo Clinic, signed He started planning out who would take off on the tests and was sometimes listed care of his four kids if something happened as the referring physician on billing even to his wife, and thought about how hard it though he did not see any of the patients. would be for them when he could no An attorney for the couple would not longer recognize his family. So he stuffed answer questions about the cognitive clin- fistfuls of sleeping pills into a bottle and ic, which abruptly shut down after about a wrote himself a note, vowing to swallow all year in early 2016. Jenkins and her husband of them when he wasn’t able to remember did not respond to messages seeking com- the names of his children. That day never ment. In court filings responding to the came. Nine months later, he learned that lawsuits, each of which seeks more than $1 the memory-loss center director who diag- million in damages, their attorney did not nosed him didn’t have a medical or psy- dispute that Jenkins was unlicensed but chology license needed to do so. Then denied most of the other allegations. another test confirmed he did not have The former patients have sued the Alzheimer’s. Toledo Clinic, as well, saying it should have known Jenkins lacked the training and cre- dentials to treat and diagnose patients. Michael D’Eramo, chief administrative offi- cer of the Toledo Clinic, said he could not comment. Some describe her as compas- sionate and easy to talk with, saying she In this image provided by Karin van der Wiel/ NOAA/ Princeton University, shows climate change effects on patterns of mild weather. — AP ended therapy sessions by telling them to give her a hug. At her suggestion, a few patients appeared in articles touting the Major global warming study benefits of her holistic treatments, which included memory games and daily doses of coconut oil. But they also say she fought hard against medication and getting a sec- questioned, again defended ond opinion. TOLEDO: In this Thursday, Jan. 26, 2017, Worsening issue photo, Kay Taynor holds a photo of her Nearly all of those diagnosed by Jenkins Claims there has been a pause in global warming late husband, Gary. — AP began seeing her after suffering traumatic He is one of more than 50 people suing brain injuries or worsening cognitive issue. WASHINGTON: Another round of bickering is boil- stantly had his ‘thumb on the scale’ - in the docu- man, said the charges don’t support a retraction the now-closed clinic’s former director and Some, like Blazsek, are continuing treat- ing over about temperature readings used in a mentation, scientific choices and release of because the issue is more about data procedures its owner, saying they, too, were told they ment with other doctors. Attorney David 2015 study to show how the planet is warming. The datasets - in an effort to discredit the notion of a than science, Smith, an attorney, interrupted him had Alzheimer’s or another form of demen- Zoll, who is representing those suing issue is about how readings gathered decades ago global warming hiatus” and rushed a study pub- and insisted: “They falsified global warming data.” tia. Most now know it’s not true, while a Jenkins, said that it’s not clear how many were adjusted to try to get a clearer picture of how lished in the journal Science before international few are awaiting confirmation. Some say patients she saw and that others might not the Earth’s temperature is changing now. Those climate negotiations. Modern monitoring devices they spent months undergoing treatment know they were misdiagnosed with adjustments have been questioned by some who Bates said in an interview Monday with The The Karl study looked mostly at ocean tempera- while planning out their final years. Some Alzheimer’s. More than 30 people added reject mainstream climate science and have tried Associated Press that he was most concerned ture records several decades old and determined quit their jobs, sold possessions or took their names to the lawsuits late last month. to claim there has been a pause in global warming. about the way data was handled, documented and that those older readings skewed too warm when one last special trip. One killed himself. He said he believes she was motivated by A January study in a scientific journal used stored, raising issues of transparency and availabili- compared to modern monitoring from buoys and greed, saying several patients were over- another set of measurements to confirm the read- ty. He said Karl didn’t follow the more than 20 cru- other devices because they were taken in ships’ Preparing for the worse billed. The cognitive clinic grew rapidly, he ings and prove again that the earth’s temperature cial data storage and handling steps that Bates cre- engine rooms. He adjusted those old readings Blazsek crammed years of fatherly advice noted. “Many times she would see the first is rising quickly and that the warming has not ated for NOAA. He said it looked like the June 2015 down, which makes it clearer that the earth’s tem- into a matter of months, showing his son person and have them bring in their whole paused. But a congressional committee on Tuesday study was pushed out to influence the December perature is rising now. Since then, a new independ- how to check the oil on a car and teaching family,” Zoll said. “And many times she would seized on complaints from a retired scientist from 2015 climate treaty negotiations in Paris. ent study from the University of California, Berkeley his wife about the household finances. “I was diagnose the whole family.” Kay Taynor was the National Oceanic and Atmospheric However Bates, who acknowledges that Earth is looked at the same issue in a different way, and preparing her to be a single mom,” he said. diagnosed with Alzheimer’s on her second Administration about how the original data were warming from man-made carbon dioxide emis- confirmed the Karl calculations. The couple figured he had no more than 10 visit to Jenkins and then referred five or six handled to claim the data were falsified - even sions, said in the interview that there was “no data “Not using their data we get the exact same years to live and even less time before his friends and family members to her office, though the retired NOAA scientist they cite does tampering, no data changing, nothing malicious.” results, both for the ocean record and for the land,” memory was gone. “Here I am, thinking I’m including her husband of 48 years. All were not argue that it was. “It’s really a story of not disclosing what you did,” said Zeke Hausfather, lead author of the Berkeley going to be a widow at 43. What am I going told they had the disease, she said, but her What is being touted as a scientific scandal is Bates said in the interview. “It’s not trumped up study. He called Bates’ claims “all about procedural to do?” said his wife, Jennifer. “Who’s going husband, Gary, took it hardest. more about data handling than what rising tem- data in any way shape or form.” Still, after Bates’ disagreements within NOAA that have very little to teach my boys how to shave? Who’s going “He’s got a smile that just lights up the peratures show, according to phone and email blog post, the House Science Committee , a British bearing about our understanding about what’s to play ball with them?” room, and I never saw it again,” she said. interviews with more than two dozen experts on tabloid newspaper and others who reject main- happening to Earth’s climate.” So far, the case has yet to result in any “He just sunk in his chair. To me, he never the issue, including the former government scien- stream climate science accused NOAA of playing Marcia McNutt, who was editor of Science at the charges against Sherry-Ann Jenkins, who stood up again. He was never tall again. He tist, whose blogging Saturday reignited a debate. “fast and loose” with land and water temperature time the paper was published and is now president opened the Toledo Clinic Cognitive Center gave up.” Gary fell into depression, spend- in early 2015 through the Toledo Clinic, a ing his final weeks sitting in a chair with his data. House Science Committee Chairman Lamar of the National Academy of Sciences, praised Bates multi-specialty medical center with more hands in his lap until he went into their ‘Thumb on the scale’ Smith, R-Texas, speaking at a hearing Tuesday, for wanting to highlight the importance of data than 150 doctors. Attorneys on both sides garage and shot himself in the head, she The hubbub was sparked when retired NOAA called on Science to retract the 2015 study and archiving, but said his criticisms have little to do would not say whether there is a criminal said. An autopsy did not show any signs of data scientist John Bates claimed in a blog post blasted NOAA for not being cooperative with his with the main part of the paper and chastised the investigation, although court records indi- Alzheimer’s, she said. — AP that his boss, then-director of the National Centers subpoenas. When the journal’s publisher Rush House for using issues of data archiving to try to for Environmental Information Thomas Karl, “con- Holt, a physicist and former Democratic congress- discredit the 2015 study. — AP