THE authors of a recently published scientific paper have attempted to distance themselves from allegations that they claimed jade amulets could help protect people from coronavirus infection.
Moses Bility from the University of Pittsburgh was probably thrilled when his paper on Traditional Chinese Medicine was published in the Elsevier peer-reviewed journal Science of the Total Environment last month.
However he changed his tune after its suggestions that "nephrite-jade amulets, a calcium ferromagnesian silicate, may prevent COVID-19" attracted widespread attention on social media.
The now-withdrawn paper also argues that "severe COVID-19 outbreaks are coupled to serpentinization-associated water dynamics" as well as "magnetic anomalies in Proterozoic cratons".
Bility, who is African American, initially accused those who ridiculed his conclusions of "racism and intellectual intolerance," and has since confirmed plans to re-issue the paper after removing the names of his co-authors who have been mocked for their participation.
"The conceptual understanding and far-reaching implications of such an unconventional approach and complex idea that employed concepts/frameworks from geology, geophysics and Condensed Matter Physics may not have been fully clear to them all," he said.
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