Moonstruck Flock to Arizona light Collector
A couple in Arizona spent over 2 mil on a device they call an "Interstellar Light Collector." Basically it's 5 stories worth of mirrors that focus the light of the moon with "the precision of a Swiss watch." Kind of cool? Yeah, sure. But there's always gotta be that guy that turns a kind of cool thing into a dumb thing.
According to the Reuters article, "Some visitors to the site believe that exposure to the moonlight has helped alleviate some medical conditions. After bathing in the moonbeams, [one visitor] said he noticed an improvement in a long-standing asthma condition."
"The Chapins [the guys who put up the 2 million] are eager for researchers to use the site to determine if moonlight does have any demonstrable applications in areas including medicine, plant biology and certain industrial processes. They also welcome visits by skeptics to the site." (field trip?)
As far as i know a photon is a photon is a photon, and, unless you're a plant, the only thing their really good for is an assortment of skin cancers. But i bet if you could convince some guy you didn't like to walk in front of this thing at noon on a sunny day.... Well i guess it's could have some benefits after all.
unrelatedly, this is pretty cool too
Thursday, December 6, 2007
"Medicinal Moonlight" or "A Photon is a Photon is a Photon"
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4 comments:
Doesn't sunlight (UV light to be specific) help the body produce Vitamin D? I think this is the vitamin responsible for maintaining the proper calcium and phosphorous levels in the body. What a nice load of quackery though.
Ben: As far as i know a photon is a photon is a photon, and, unless you're a plant, the only thing their really good for is an assortment of skin cancers.
Now that's just not true. Seasonal affective disorder is caused by lack of exposure to light, and treated with the reverse. And from Wikipedia's Vitamin D: "Vitamin D deficiency can result from inadequate intake coupled with inadequate sunlight exposure..." So light has both medical effects and treatment applications.
However, moonlight = sunlight - absorbed light. So there's nothing in moonlight that isn't in sunlight. If moonlight can "cure your asthma," sunlight should be able to as well.
When I quoted Ben, there, I meant Adam. No offense to either of you.
Orac at just talked about this as part of his Your Friday Dose of Woo series. Letting you know.
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