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This week on Think Atheist Radio we have our chat with Dr. Jeremy Koons. Dr. Koons received his BA in the philosophy of religion from Virigina's Hampden-Sydney College, graduating Summa Cum Laude, before receiving a PhD in philosophy, with distinction, from Georgetown University. He has held positions at Auburn University, the American University of Beirut, Hong Kong University, and Massachusetts' Stonehill College. Dr. Koons is now an associate professor of philosophy at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Affairs in Qatar. With a particular focus on ethics and epistemology, his areas of interest include the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, and logic. The author of Pragmatic Reasons: A Defense of Morality and Epistemology, he has also published numerous papers and presented at several conferences, while being recognized repeatedly with awards and fellowships. We asked Dr. Koons to join us to discuss a recently published paper (pdf) of his that asks the question, "Can God's Goodness Save The Divine Command Theory from Euthyphro?" We discussed whether Christian ethics can be rescued from a dilemma for the theist where choosing one side results in meaninglessness, while choosing the other side results in an arbitrary morality that says that something is or isn't moral– including, for instance, the torture of infants– only insofar God says it is. Theist philosophers of religion recognize the risks here and have tried to come up with some ways to get around the dilemma. Can one solution in particular succeed?

Is the theory in physics known as supersymmetry too good not to be true?

Sir Patrick Moore, the sometimes controversial figure who was absolutely key to the promotion of science in Britain, has passed away.

Scientists pioneer a method for turning urine samples into brain cells.

A new report says that atheists are persecuted, discriminated; they're treated "like lesser Americans." Yet the world remains silent.

Alonzo Fyfe, atheist and ethicist, has been posting some excellent stuff on the relationship between morality and God. Must read stuff as far as I'm concerned. 

Recently philosopher Paul Thagard offered a list of dogmas in analytic philosophy and their alternatives he felt would be better. Now Massimo Pigliucci responds.

Are mirror neurons the most hyped concept in neuroscience?

The Doha climate summit ushers in damage aid from countries unduly impacted by the biggest contributors to rising carbon levels. This, even though the summit did nothing to reduce emissions. Meanwhile, 2012 is already guaranteed to be the hottest year in the US on record. A new report taking a look at the first IPCC predictions of future warming from back in 1990 finds that those predictions match the warming we observe today.

The Huffington Post explains homeopathy without, you know, explaining that it doesn't work.

Scientists investigate the transition of fins to hands by actually producing a fish that has hands instead of fins.

Infant male circumcision is genital mutilation.

The percentage of those identifying as Christian in England and Wales has fallen to 59 with a quarter of residents identifying as "nones". Why are Brits leaving the church?

Conservatives insist religion is being kicked out of the public sphere. In reality...

The British government announced plans to bring same-sex marriage before Parliament in January. That law would forbid the Church of England and Wales from being able to perform marriages for same-sex couples, something church leaders expressed surprise at despite saying they're against same-sex marriage.

Are there planets better at supporting life than Earth?

A report finds that a decade of progress in science education in England's schools has been lost.

There is no gay gene, says new research.

Creationsts told us that the "science" of Intelligent Design was going to open up new avenues for research and discovery. They lied.

In the context of reviewing a book that hoped to reconcile a desire for social justice and libertarianism, two philosophers explain why such attempts fail.

New research finds that female fish are attracted to male same-sex flirts.

Donald Prothero examines creationist attempts to squeeze the planet's huge number of species on to the ark.

5 signs that the the UFO community can't take a joke.

A teenage girl demonstrates the value of speaking out about sexual assault.

Egyptian atheist Alber Saber sentenced to 3 years in prison for insulting religion.

A new-found asteroid buzzes Earth inside the Moon's orbit.

Philosopher John Shook asks on what grounds Humanism stands on.

Research suggests that attempts to discover the process by which simple chemicals gave rise to life may need a rethink. Meanwhile, a new paper puts together metabolism's beginnings and asks, was life inevitable?

Controversial claim puts life on land 65 million years earlier.

How the brain creates out-of-body experiences and religious epiphanies.

Hubble spies a group of galaxies at the dawn of the universe.

An analysis suggests that newspapers don't care when notable women die.

Is "statistical significance" the standard error of science?

This video of the largest glacier breakup ever filmed is on the scale of a row of city-sized buildings crashing to the ground. Unbelievable.

Made for TV science experiments can make for really bad science.

A river of liquid methane has been imaged on Saturn's moon Titan.

Some non-religious people have taken to celebrating the holidays with something called "HumanLight". Tom Flynn of the Center for Inquiry objects on several grounds. Hemant Mehta agrees.

Scientists are looking to game theory to inform the search for extraterrestrial life.

The Moon landings were faked. (And other science confessions.)

Does the mass of the Higgs vary depending on how it's measured? Or are there two Higgs particles?

Is education the main reason why some countries are less religious?

Was the Permian mass extinction where 90% of Earth's species went extinct caused by... a microbe?

More than a third of Americans see a sign of the coming end-times in extreme weather events.

In an interesting shift, people who identify as skeptical of science and scientists now largely accept that the planet is warming.

When you fall into a black hole, how long have you got?

The Pope blesses a Ugandan legislator pushing the kill-the-gays bill being discussed in that country.