Scientists can now literally squeeze blood from a stone.
Using fine-grained oil shale, researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of Johannesburg, South Africa have discovered a method of pressurizing the sedimentary rock into a superfluid. Kerogen shale, a solid mixture of organic-rich chemical compounds, is introduced into a micro-hydraulic chamber developed by Siemens International.
Employing state of the art nanotechnology, the molecules of the resulting slurry are injected with atoms of Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Potassium (K), Sodium (Na), Sulphur (S), Phosphorus (P), Iron (Fe), and Zinc (Zn), the basic components of blood. This compound and a saline solution are then emulsified in a microhematocrit centrifuge, producing a plasma like substance that can be used for transfusions and surgical procedures.
Project Director, Dr. Myles Vanderboer, said, "This breakthrough will aid greatly in catastrophic situations, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, when blood banks simply cannot provide vital blood plasma in sufficient quantities. This research will save lives."
Every word you just read is one hundred percent made up. There is not a stitch of truth in it. It is purely a product of my imagination. Sure, I looked up a few facts on Wikipedia, but there is no scientific basis whatsoever for these claims. There is no Polytechnic Institute of Johannesburg, South Africa, no Dr. Myles Vanderboer, and sorry to say, no breakthrough in artificial blood plasma.
I posted the preceding status on my Facebook page and sat back to watch what would happen. The post received over a dozen "Likes," two "shares," and several comments praising the scientists and calling it a boon for modern medicine.
You may ask, "Why would anyone do this?"
And my answer is, "Why not?"
During the twenty minutes it took to write the false news story, I was having a ball.
In a Motherboard article titled "How Conspiracy Theories Go Viral," Meghan Neal writes, "Since the advent of the web and explosion of social media, unsubstantiated claims, false reports, and conspiracies both reasonable and ridiculous, tend to spread like wildfire, reverberating through the internet echo chamber and picking up steam along the way until truth and nonsense are indistinguishable."
She then points out that "a World Economic Forum report listed "massive digital misinformation" as one of the main risks for modern-day society."
"Misinformation" needs to be differentiated from "disinformation," which is the intentional manipulation of thought for political, monetary or other personal gain.
A team of researchers at Northeastern University (a real one this time), "studied some 2 million Facebook users to see how they interacted with various pieces of content about the 2013 political election in Italy — stories from traditional news sites, alternative publications, and niche political sites. They then interjected 2,788 untrue or satirical "troll" posts to compare."
To their astonishment, the troll posts received more feedback than the original, accurate reports, and in their words, "wound up triggering several viral stories, bursting the diffusion of false beliefs when truthful and untruthful rumors coexist.”
Neal postulates that when misinformation originates on an alternative news site or subreddit, comments from sympathetic readers add weight to the validity of the ideas and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If the misinformation happens to be picked up by a more mainstream outlet such as the Huff Post, or a web community leader like George Takei, "the information snowballs, more and more people start believing it’s true, or at least a possible truth."
At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
[The complete article can be found at: http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-conspiracy-theories-go-viral?utm_source=motherboardfb]
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