Texas SBOE passed those idiotic standards and five million schoolkids get screwed. California has acted to protect its schoolkids from the stupidity of the Texas SBOE.

reactions to Everybody Draw Muhammad Day. Greg Epstein gets it all wrong, provides evidence he may be an idiot.

Craig Venter created a synthetic bacteria (but whether he created synthetic life or not may be an open question)! PZ Meyers comments. 8 experts give their take. The Times reports. or read about it on NPR if that's your thing. the first round of ill-informed objections are in. one of the researchers involved answered questions on Reddit. Coyne on whether or not these scientists "played god".

toothy tree-swinger may be the earliest human ancestor.

the fishy origins of humans revealed.

the latin cross at the center of that Supreme Court case that was recently decided was first stolen, then replaced, and then taken down again.

keeping up with the Joneses- chimps prefer to copy others with prestige.

another absolutely astounding image from Cassini, this one of two of Saturn's moons with Saturn and her rings as a backdrop.

in the universe's decisive battle between matter and antimatter pairs, why did matter prevail over antimatter?

Mars rover Opportunity sets record for endurance. check out this series of incredible photos from Opportunity's 6 years on Mars.

people have recently been pointing to Elaine Howard Ecklund's new book featuring numbers she says indicate that scientists aren't as irreligious as they're generally accepted to be. Jason Rosenhouse examines the numbers and finds that claim absurd; scientists are just as irreligious as we think they are.

astronomers see a star eating a planet.

if you think you have food allergies, turns out you probably don't.

the next frontier in astrophysics and cosmology is a focus on gravitational waves.

science verses Norse mythology: the debate continues.

Sam Harris joins efforts by Christopher Hitchens and others to have the pope arrested.

Karl Giberson blames scientists and atheists for creationism. Jerry Coyne calls him out. PZ joins in.

hey Einstein can't always have been right! physicists observe Brownian motion.

John D on what a successful explanation must be and whether or not theism fits the bill. (part 1 of a series. see parts 2, and 3.)

the need for naturalism in a scientific age.

the keys to the evolution of human language: deciphering the chatter of monkeys and chimps.

new research into whether or not cell phones cause cancer.

young earth creationism- still false. archaeologists unearth the remains of a prehistoric structure dating to 2,000 years before the earth was created!

evangelical pastors are discouraged and depressed. interesting survey numbers.

check out this funny pie chart showing the percentage of people who have read the entire
bible... so true!

18 y/o Emirati woman is charged with having sex out of wedlock upon reporting that she was raped by six men.

the Church of England has warned the BBC not to cut more religion programming.

check out this great list of 105 types of cognitive biases.

a popular autism diet does not demonstrate a behavioral improvement.

neuroscience goes to court: can brain scans be used as lie detectors?

examining the complex evolution of human morality.

strong evidence on climate change underscores the need for actions to reduce emissions and begin adapting to impacts.

Mt. St. Helens erupted 30 years ago. check out these incredible pics.

how important is group selection to the evolutionary process?

intelligent design: scientifically and religiously bankrupt.

why is anyone still a Catholic?

against claims that churches are entirely charity organizations and that they aren't out for profit- how churches invest their money.

using the Neanderthal genome to uncover human evolutionary history.

first large scale formal quantitative test confirms Darwin's theory of universal common ancestry.

the British Medical Association: homeopathy is witchcraft.

who are the creationists- examining the demographics.

evolution is false, the bible tells me so.