no soylents were surprised
Paper blaming COVID-19 on 5G technology withdrawn:
A paper which argued that 5G cellphone technology could lead to infection with the novel coronavirus has been retracted, but not before scientific sleuth Elisabeth Bik wondered whether it was the "worst paper of 2020."
The article, "5G Technology and induction of coronavirus in skin cells," came from a group from Italy, the United States and Russia, and appeared in theJournal of Biological Regulators and Homeostatic Agents. The journal is published by Biolife, which asserts that it's peer reviewed but has not responded to a request for comment.
The abstract is now marked "WITHDRAWN" on PubMed and the paper has disappeared from the journal's website. The abstract has been preserved here.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by driverless on Tuesday July 28 2020, @01:06AM (5 children)
It was awesome. I skimmed through it and assumed it was a randomly-generated hoax like the Sokal hoax, but a quick bit of googling revealed that the first two authors are well-known cranks with a pile of crazy publications behind them. The Russian author doesn't seem to exist, and the final author is a legit research whose name seems to have been borrowed to attach to the paper.
So it's sort of like the Sokal hoax but the two cranks who wrote it were serious.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by FatPhil on Tuesday July 28 2020, @12:21PM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by driverless on Tuesday July 28 2020, @12:29PM
Ah, OK. Thanks for the update.
(Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Tuesday July 28 2020, @06:07PM (2 children)
My favorite part is when they go from parts of DNA produced through apparently platonic holes to the creation of viruses. Including Cornaviruses. It's automagical assembly of dangerous viruses from parts.
They didn't even take the time to explain their "Heisenberg compensator". At the very least, they could of implied that modulation of the 5G carrier waves induces automatic assembly of microogranism, up to, and including Ebola, and the Peruvian Zombie Disease. Who controls such modulations? The Committee of 300, run by the Rothschilds, the Queen, and the Colonel before he went tits up!
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 28 2020, @11:58PM
OMG! Zombie Roasted Guinea Pigs? Or is this the virus that took out Che Guervara?
(Note: Nothing says "science" like Zombie guinea pigs!)
(Score: 2) by driverless on Wednesday July 29 2020, @01:29AM
Do you think it could be used for Bitcoin mining? Maybe the impinging 5G death rays could be manipulated to cause endless BTC to sprout from people's DNA. That's probably the real reason why the paper was widthdrawn, once people realise this it'll crash the price of Bitcoin so the Illuminati arranged to have it pulled to prevent this.