physicists use underground lab to detect rare particles and peek into the earth's center.

lots of discussion around the internet on The National Academy of Science hosting the Templeton Foundation's award ceremony. commentary too on the award recipient Francisco Ayala. check it out here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

religious beliefs are the basis of the origins of paleolithic art.

lots more discussion too on the most recent Catholic Church abuse scandal. check it out- here, here, here, here, here, and here.
meanwhile the Catholic Church penalized a charity for the homeless because the charity's leader supports gay marriage. PZ Meyers is urging people to sign a petition telling the UK government not to welcome the pope into Britain for his upcoming visit. Christopher Hitchens writes to demand that the wall of silence within the church come down. Time Magazine says the pope's response to the Irish abuse scandal isn't enough.

in the UK the General Pharmaceutical Council has reaffirmed the ability of pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions for contraception on the basis of reli....

more negative commentary on What Darwin Got Wrong.

James Cameron: atheist.

more commentary on Michael De Dora Jr.'s odd article at The Center for Inquiry. check it out here. De Dora Jr. responds to all the criticism.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates eases the ban on gays in the military.

worst science article of the week: Facebook causes syphilis.

Einstein's Theory of Relativity confirmed.... again.

Cracks in the icy shell of Jupiter’s moon Europa contain sulfur-rich material. An expedition to a sulfur spring in the Arctic
could help solve some mysteries about Europa - including its potential
for life.

hostility towards scientific consensus: a sign of a crank.

the problem with religious education in Australia's schools.

Luke at Common Sense Atheism has recently been critical of the "who made god?" objection. Chris Hallquist responds explaining why he disagrees with Luke.

why are atheists so disliked?

the Christian Science church is slowly beginning to reform.

bending gravity, researchers capture star-birthing region 10 billion light years away.

more analysis of new infrared images of Jupiter's great red spot. meanwhile, a blazing hot helium rain falls on Jupiter.

when making decisions, great apes know they could be wrong.

the Chicxulub Event killed off the dinosaurs but what allowed them to become so successful over such a large area?

found: 90% of the distant universe.

is the mysterious Siberian "X-woman" a new hominid species? more here, here, here, here.

experiment at CERN could rewrite the laws of physics. the LHC is set to begin trying to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang.

big balls may best braun in beetle battles. (how could i not post a science item with a title like this???)

why "life has to have been designed" is a terrible argument for god.

this is a great tool if you like following science blogs: a periodic table of science blogs. each element directs to a different blog on a certain topic.

there's a new human evolution hall at the National Museum of Natural History.

William Lane Craig on the teleological argument.

how Christianity represses reason.

the origins of morality really do matter.

new proof of unknown "structures" that tug at our universe from outside of the universe itself.

first amphibious insects found.

evolution is more rapid than Darwin thought.

UK government is being slammed for making cuts to science.

creationism, climate change, and scientific denialism.