Sunday School DEC 12, 2010

-lots of anthropologists and scientists in general are upset over the American Anthropological Association's decision to drop all mention of "science" from their mission statement. The New York Times has the story.

-scientists have figured out how to make it so that two male mice can have babies together.

-the latest batch of cables released by Wikileaks shows that the Irish government caved in to demands from the Vatican that those responsible for the abuse scandal in that country be given immunity from prosecution. further, the cables show Vatican's preoccupation with protecting itself over the abuse victims.

-two weeks ago i linked to news that Roger Penrose was claiming to have seen ripples in the CMBR data which pointed to a cyclical universe. skeptical cosmologists have now responded and Penrose has responded in turn. Greg Fish discusses and expresses his skepticism and that of others. Sean Carroll is among the skeptics at his blog too.

-Greg has a good post up at his blog on the recent use of witchcraft in comparison with theistic truth claims to point up the special pleading and double standard resorted to by theists.

-Jerry Coyne critiques a piece appearing in the most recent New Yorker magazine about what the author calls the "decline effect" in science, the notion that we can't say we know anything because science is always revising itself.

-arsenic bacteria redux: the whole thing has blown up on NASA's face at this point. last week while covering the whole arsenic bacteria story i linked to several sources that were upset with NASA for creating undue hype over the discovery. now people are even more upset at the authors of the paper, and NASA too, because the discovery doesn't appear to be a discovery at all now. lots of commentary: Ed Yong, The Skeptical Teacher, Carl Zimmer at Slate and at his own Discover blog (and an update), Greg Fish, Larry Moran, Jerry Coyne, and Rosie Redfield (a must read).

-Ethan Siegel has this great post about the evidence for the existence of a black hole at the center of our galaxy. that post prompted questions from his readers which prompted him to answer those questions in another post.

-blue whales can eat a half a million calories in a single gulp!

-Jerry Coyne on the apparent similarities between cat and human embryos and the genes that are responsible.

-i've seen everything now: albino vampire redwood trees.

-frogs debug themselves by absorbing tracking devices into their bladders.

-this helpful infographic tells you all you need to know about the Holy Bible's rape laws.

-common arguments made by religious people- refuted.

-the size of your brain's visual center effects how you see the world.

Comment by Nelson on December 12, 2010 at 10:35am: previous editions of Sunday School can be found here:

Comment by Nelson on December 12, 2010 at 10:38am: thanks Neal and doone for your comments. Neal, i hope the list catches you back up some! doone, i agree.

Comment by Greg Gorey on December 12, 2010 at 11:17am: good stuff as always my friend

Comment by Nelson on December 12, 2010 at 11:22am: glad you thought so!

Comment by Gary Bergeron on December 12, 2010 at 12:21pm: Thanks for your efforts, Nelson. Great job! :)

Comment by Nelson on December 12, 2010 at 2:12pm: thank you Gary for always stopping in!

Comment by James on December 12, 2010 at 5:22pm: Some more good links here. :)

Comment by Nelson on December 12, 2010 at 6:09pm: glad you could find something you enjoyed reading James!

Comment by Becca on December 12, 2010 at 10:23pm: I never thought I'd say that I love Sunday school! Thanks!

Comment by Wesley on December 12, 2010 at 10:56pm: Hey Nelson.. Great stuff... Love the cyclic model debate.. I'm a fan of steinhardt by the way.. It will be interesting to see if the theory holds up. If it does it will add MORE questions than it answers. But it will also be another nail in the coffin for young earth creationists and religious literalists. The hindu's would use it to support their cosmology (which would rile up the christian and muslem fundies)

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