first off, congrats to newly featured members (top of the page) Angie the Anti-Theist and Carolanne Fernandez!

now, how 'bout some links?!

Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy has posted on this cool little tool that gives you an idea of the scales involved all the way from quantum foam to the size of the entire universe! incredible. you have to check it out.

Andrew Moseman at 80beats talks about recent advances on the road to fusion power.

Jerry Coyne at Whyevolutionistrue comments on the new book What Darwin Got Wrong. the verdict: creationists will love it; an epic facepalm for anyone informed on evolution.

Frank Drake of the Drake Equation has pointed out that our move to digital communications has implications for the likelihood both of our finding intelligent life and intelligent life finding us.
on the other hand, is calling E.T. a smart move? all the same, at least one scientist is predicting that living generations will see extra-terrestrial life detected.

an article in UK's The Guardian: Academics fight rise of creationism at universities. (via Ian at Irreligion.org)

CNN's reporting that The Pentagon is finally going ahead with a repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

lots of coverage around teh innernets about how a UK medical ethics panel may take away the medical license of Andrew Wakefield, the guy who started the whole MMR vaccine/autism nonsense. the findings include "dishonesty and misleading conduct." read about it at Bad Astronomy, Bad Science, and Nature News

cool evolution: how have rotifers survived attacks by parasites and their own asexual reproduction for so long? the answer is blowing in the wind. also at Physorg

mice skin cells have been transformed directly into brain cells for the first time. so cool! the new neurons even produced synapse connections between neighboring cells!

answered: why did mammals survive the K/T extinction that killed the dinosaurs?

conservatives often trot out against gay marriage and gay adoption the idea that children require both a mother and a father. unfortunately for conservatives, children don't require any such thing.

this is interesting... the Moon may have formed in a naturally occurring nuclear explosion in the Earth's mantle instead of in an impact with a Mars-sized object as currently thought.

cool evolution part 2: almond trees have evolved to use amygdalin to poison those that would like to eat its nectar and its nuts and to attract its pollinators.

maybe the Higgs particle isn't a particle at all but an "unparticle"?

lots of coverage too on new results providing insight into the color of dinosaur feathers! check it out at 80beats, WEIT, and Not Exactly Rocket Science

in the first edition of Sunday School i linked to Richard Carrier's announcement that he would be debating Michael Horner in Calgary on January 27. Carrier's updated that to include a talk on the 28th on the historicity of Jesus.

the next part in Vinod Wadhawan's Complexity Explained series is out. it's on the Evolution of Biological Complexity.

cool evolution part 3: monarch butterflies navigate using the Earth's magnetic field.

finally, some evidence that prayer works... sort of.

another great article from The Onion: Science Channel Refuses To Dumb Down Science Any Further.

two of Jupiter's moons, Ganymede and Calisto, are similar in many respects yet so starkly different. why?- comets and gravity.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Infidel and activist against female genital mutilation, will be visiting The University of Wisconsin-Madison to give a talk on February 2nd. details here.

new research has found that monkeys keep their conversations short just like we do, may provide insight into the beginnings of language.

"about a third of women reporting partner violence experienced reproductive coercion, as did 15 percent of women who had never reported violence."

black hole hunters set new distance record for solar mass black holes.

the House of Lords voted against a government amendment to the Equality Bill which would have clarified the circumstances under which religious organzations are able to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of their sexual orientation.

a Christian mom blogger turns atheist and apologizes "for being such a huge shit for all those years."

Rush Limbaugh's opinion piece at The Onion: "i don't even want to be alive anymore."

ever wonder what happens to 16yo girls who get raped in Bangladesh and conceive a child as a result of the attack? they get 101 lashes! (girl's father has to pay a fine too!)

NPR- The Plight of Women Soldiers

the smallest object yet found in the Kuiper Belt is a third of a mile.

Physorg has this good piece on the cutting edge of molecular biology.

NASA admits defeat: the Spirit rover is stuck for good, still continues gathering data and performing experiments. coverage here and here

looks like the last Neanderthals in Europe died out 37,000 years ago.

cool evolution part 4: in a awesome little bit of convergence, bats and dolphins have evolved echolocation in the same way right down to the molecular level. more at Not Exactly Rocket Science.

answered: why, since we're so similar genetically, do humans live so much longer than our closest ape cousins? check it out.

medical students may soon be tested on evolution on medical licensing and entrance exams. 'bout time!

does alien life already exist- even flourish- on earth already, right under our noses? could be.

Indiana Christians oppose legislation that would help children.

Boing Boing has an interesting graphic comparison between dollars spent on healthcare and life expectancy at birth. USA: FAIL.

numbers of new scientists and engineers: US- increasing; China- increasing at an incredible rate.
most foreign born students who get PhD's in the US stay in the US instead of returning home. Russia is "stumbling badly" when it comes to scientific research.

you simply have to see this incredible picture of the solar corona taken during a full eclipse last July.

Deepak Chopra writes to refute evolution. does he succeed? take a guess.

Time Magazine: David Ho- The Man Who Could Beat AIDS.

and finally, a Large Hadron Collider update!

there ya go! have a great week everyone. see ya next Sunday. don't forget to check out Johnny's Sunday Morning Service.