atheists are generous, they just don't give to charity.

Greg Fish has some criticisms for a new arXiv post that purports to do away with apparent fine-tuning.

a couple of outlets have pointed to a new Information Is Beautiful infographic that depicts a wordcloud created from 22,000 individual horoscopes with some interesting results.

psychologist Jesse Bering provoked a bit of a firestorm, scientifically speaking, when he posted this Slate piece arguing that women have evolved defenses to prevent rape while they're ovulating. numerous commentators lined up to criticize Bering's essay and evolutionary psychology in general. John Rennie, twice. Mike The Mad Biologist. Larry Moran. Jerry Coyne. PZ Myers.
Bering posted back to Slate to defend his initial post. PZ Myers responded to Bering's attempt at a defense.
evolutionary psychologist Robert Kurzban posted to address Coyne's and Myers' critical comments.

ex-apologist pointed to two recent essays by philosopher Stephen Maitzen- On God And Our Ultimate Purpose ([PDF]a response to William Lane Craig's assertions that life is without ultimate purpose without faith) and Does God Destroy Our Duty Of Compassion? ([PDF] a non-technical version of his moral argument for atheism put forth in his paper Ordinary Morality Implies Atheism). also check out Luke Muehlhauser's interview with Maitzen (audio or transcript) where they talk about morality and atheism. finally, you should also check out John Danaher's index of posts discussing Maitzen's papers.

not done yet, ex-apologist also pointed to a recent paper by Bradley Monton Physics-Based Intelligent Design Arguments Are Based On False Physics.

Betelgeuse is going to go supernova, yes. is it going to be next year? no.

America isn't as politically conservative as it's made out to be.

gravity, distance, expansion, and the universe- Ethan Siegel has another interesting post for us.

a new document has surfaced dating from 1997 that has the Vatican telling Irish bishops not to turn over abusive priests to secular authorities providing firm proof of the Vatican engaging in obstruction of justice. lots of commentary of course. Christopher at The Teapot Atheist. Ophelia Benson. Jerry Coyne (including a copy of the document itself). The Guardian carried the story. The New York Times too.

Russell Blackford reviewed Sam Harris' The Moral Landscape and found it wanting on several fronts. Coyne covered the high points of Blackford's review, finding himself largely in agreement. Harris responded to Blackford. Blackford then responded to Harris' response. Sean Carroll commented on Blackford's review and on Harris' defense.

the new governor of Alabama said this week that only Christians are his brothers and then offered a lame non-apology.

Science has produced a list of the top scientists of the last 200 years- a Science Hall of Fame.

an amoeba is the newest organism in a short list of organisms to practice agriculture.

Matt McCormick on atheism, certainty, and the burden of proof.

why the resurrection is unbelievable.

are science blogs stuck in an echo chamber?

Ken Perrott of Open Parachute posted on Richard Carrier's Sense and Goodness Without God's discussion of different ways of knowing something, reliable paths to reality.

for more on Carrier's great book check out Luke Muehlhauser's series of posts going through the book.

there's no such thing as a gene for religion.