Sunday School DEC 5, 2010
after child abuse accusations, Catholic priests often simply vanish.
past research into the happiness of religious versus non-religious people has tended to show that religious people are happier. but a new look at the question says it's not as simple as that.
so, the whole NASA "arsenic-based life" thing....
first NASA announced that they were going to hold a press conference about something with far-reaching astrobiology implications. this touched off a storm of speculation, principally led by the blogger Kottke, that NASA had discovered life on either Titan or Rhea, two of Saturn's moons. the night before the press conference level heads were already saying how silly all the fuss was. turns out NASA announced that there had been found bacteria in a lake in California that can use arsenic in place of phosphorous in its basic biological chemistry. it's interesting, to be sure, but it's not alien life and it's not arsenic-based life. in the aftermath some commentators think NASA should never have set up the kind of hype they did.
Ed Yong posted on the find as well as including a round up of links on the subject in his weekly link wrap up. Greg Fish commented. In Vivo posted to explain what the find is and what it isn't. Razib Khan compared the hype to the hype surrounding the launch of the segway scooter. Carl Zimmer posted a good analysis. Phil Plait too. PZ Myers posted to explain that this is not arsenic-based life.
Jeff Randall linked to this fantastic resource, a list of posts on basic concepts in science.
Ethan Siegel posted about a new, very dense star cluster in our own galaxy. very interesting. beautiful pictures. not content, Siegel also posted this piece about a "shooting galaxy." and capping a week of great stuff from him, he also answered the question, "how does the universe make the building blocks of life?"
the Kentucky state government is looking to give 37 million dollars in tax incentives to Ken Ham so he can build a bible-centered theme park complete with a full size ark replica.
the Illinois state legislature has passed a bill legalizing same sex unions. the bill now heads to the governor for his signature, something he says he'll do early in the new year with the law going into effect in June.
Americans stretch the truth when it comes to church attendance.
recently discovered super-Earth exo-planet may have an atmosphere of steam.
Adriana tipped us off to this great resource when it comes to intelligent design and irreducible complexity.
Richard Dawkins wrote an article for the Guardian highlighting Christopher Hitchens as his hero of 2010.
John Loftus reposted a piece he originally posted back in 2006 wherein he explains why he doesn't believe the bible is god's word.
an entire ecosystem follows the march of the army ants.
the LHC creates cosmic primordial soup and probes strange particle jets.
what seems silly at first may eventually need to be a matter of international (intergalactic?) law- a woman in Spain has laid legal claim to the Sun.
your top science questions answered... the Royal Society has produced 12 essays, each answering a science question.
Hemant Mehta linked to another fantastic video from QualiaSoup, this time tackling irreducible complexity.
the gallery of anti-skepticism and anti-science, short descriptions of the most commonly encountered offenders.
a new discovery appears to triple estimates of the number of stars in the universe.
past research into the happiness of religious versus non-religious people has tended to show that religious people are happier. but a new look at the question says it's not as simple as that.
so, the whole NASA "arsenic-based life" thing....
first NASA announced that they were going to hold a press conference about something with far-reaching astrobiology implications. this touched off a storm of speculation, principally led by the blogger Kottke, that NASA had discovered life on either Titan or Rhea, two of Saturn's moons. the night before the press conference level heads were already saying how silly all the fuss was. turns out NASA announced that there had been found bacteria in a lake in California that can use arsenic in place of phosphorous in its basic biological chemistry. it's interesting, to be sure, but it's not alien life and it's not arsenic-based life. in the aftermath some commentators think NASA should never have set up the kind of hype they did.
Ed Yong posted on the find as well as including a round up of links on the subject in his weekly link wrap up. Greg Fish commented. In Vivo posted to explain what the find is and what it isn't. Razib Khan compared the hype to the hype surrounding the launch of the segway scooter. Carl Zimmer posted a good analysis. Phil Plait too. PZ Myers posted to explain that this is not arsenic-based life.
Jeff Randall linked to this fantastic resource, a list of posts on basic concepts in science.
Ethan Siegel posted about a new, very dense star cluster in our own galaxy. very interesting. beautiful pictures. not content, Siegel also posted this piece about a "shooting galaxy." and capping a week of great stuff from him, he also answered the question, "how does the universe make the building blocks of life?"
the Kentucky state government is looking to give 37 million dollars in tax incentives to Ken Ham so he can build a bible-centered theme park complete with a full size ark replica.
the Illinois state legislature has passed a bill legalizing same sex unions. the bill now heads to the governor for his signature, something he says he'll do early in the new year with the law going into effect in June.
Americans stretch the truth when it comes to church attendance.
recently discovered super-Earth exo-planet may have an atmosphere of steam.
Adriana tipped us off to this great resource when it comes to intelligent design and irreducible complexity.
Richard Dawkins wrote an article for the Guardian highlighting Christopher Hitchens as his hero of 2010.
John Loftus reposted a piece he originally posted back in 2006 wherein he explains why he doesn't believe the bible is god's word.
an entire ecosystem follows the march of the army ants.
the LHC creates cosmic primordial soup and probes strange particle jets.
what seems silly at first may eventually need to be a matter of international (intergalactic?) law- a woman in Spain has laid legal claim to the Sun.
your top science questions answered... the Royal Society has produced 12 essays, each answering a science question.
Hemant Mehta linked to another fantastic video from QualiaSoup, this time tackling irreducible complexity.
the gallery of anti-skepticism and anti-science, short descriptions of the most commonly encountered offenders.
a new discovery appears to triple estimates of the number of stars in the universe.
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Comment by Nelson on December 5, 2010 at 9:03am
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Comment by Nelson on December 5, 2010 at 9:18am
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thanks doone, glad to be of service :)
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Comment by Gary Bergeron on December 5, 2010 at 10:37am -
I loved the Anti-Skepticism and Anti-Science article. It was very informative! Thanks, Nelson!
Also, I want to thank the lady in Spain for allowing her star to provide light, heat and beautiful reflections on the lake for us all! :)
Have a Happy Sunday everybody!
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Comment by Nelson on December 5, 2010 at 10:45am
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lol. thanks Gary. and i echo your thanks to the lady in Spain! :D
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Comment by Nelson on December 5, 2010 at 11:21am
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thanks for pointing me to that ID irreducible complexity resource! and, of course, thanks for commenting. :)
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Comment by Victoria on December 5, 2010 at 11:35am -
Another informative Sunday School! *raises mostly empty coffee mug in salute* Thank you Nelson! And yay to my home state of Illinois for legalizing same sex unions!
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Comment by Gaytor on December 5, 2010 at 11:53am -
Qualia's video is great as always. On the Aresenic "based life" I totally got caught by the early sensationalist articles a couple of hours before the announcement. It is arsenic, it feeds on arsenic, it uses arsenic. Mental note: Give science a week to sort it out and the hype to settle.
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Comment by Nelson on December 5, 2010 at 12:30pm
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@Victoria: have another cup on me! [-]D
thanks for commenting!
@Gaytor: on Qualia's videos, agreed. regarding the "arsenic-based life" thing, it was easy to get caught up given the way NASA so mysteriously characterized the announcement and the blogger Kottke speculated. thanks for taking the time to comment!
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Comment by James on December 5, 2010 at 5:13pm -
Great as always! I may have to share a few of these.
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Comment by Nelson on December 5, 2010 at 5:15pm
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James, please do! thanks for dropping in on another Sunday. :)
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