Scientists or politicians, who should you trust most?

Physicist Paul Davies says the origins of life won't be unraveled in a chemistry lab. Jerry Coyne is critical.

The oldest rock in the world tells a fascinating story.

Astronomers confirm that the dust in the Crab Nebula is created in exploding stars.

Conservatives bang on about the "family unit". A new study shows that what's more important than any "family unit" for the well-being of children is having well-educated parents, particularly a well-educated mother. 

A Catholic group's solution to rising STD infection rates? Stop using condoms.

Debunking the denialism: 16 years with no global warming?

Scientific evidence that you probably don't have free will.

Do chimpanzees care about fairness? The jury is out.

The best chart on the rise of the "nones" you'll see all year.

Regulators in the UK say that homeopathic "vaccine pills" should be withdrawn.

Carl Zimmer offers the fascinating account of influenza as an incompetent enemy.

Salon published an excerpt of Jared Diamond's new book in which he explains that it's irrational to be religious.

This year's Edge.org question has been asked and responses are coming in: What should we be worried about? Hemant Mehta points to some of the more relevant responses.

Stephen Law investigates the question of whether religious freedom is threatened by gay rights.

Frequently criticized evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa explains why he's not an atheist.

More young people are moving away from religion. Why?

This page from New Scientist allows you to click anywhere on Earth and quickly see a graph of changing temperatures as the world has warmed. Or just see a video animation of changing global temps since 1880. This as 2012 is officially in the top 10 warmest years on record globally. More than 3,500 US weather records were smashed in 2012. And already this year the wake up call continues.

In a new tell-all book on Scientology Tom Cruise is quoted explaining his "special powers". Is Scientology self-destructing? The Atlantic pissed away a great deal of accumulated credibility when they ran an ad for Scientology cloaked in the clothing of an actual news piece. Boing Boing's spoof has to be enjoyed. Meanwhile, the FBI is apparently investigating the cult.

Creationists in Louisiana are using a bogus teacher survey to further their attempts to interject nonsense into public school science classrooms.

NASA and ESA aim for a crewed mission beyond Earth orbit.

This week saw just the latest bit of credulous reporting on placebo effects.

Does the internet spell doom for organized religion?

John Shook on atheism and the consolations of philosophy.

After tragedy nonbelievers find other ways to cope.

Organisms have NOT been found in a meteorite.

An EU court decides that religious beliefs don't trump anti-discrimination laws.

Alternative medicine puts kids at risk.

A woman explains why she's raising her child without god.

Former US President Jimmy Carter bails on the Southern Baptist Convention over their stance on equality for women.

Fairleigh Dickinson releases a poll on Americans' belief in conspiracy theories. I'm so depressed by the intellectual health of the country I live in.

Are we nearing the maximum capacity of the human brain?

Abortion as a blessing, grace, or gift. A renewed discussion on reproductive rights.