more reaction/discussion on last week's announcement that Craig Venter and company have created the first synthetic bacterium. Venter himself speaks out at The Wall Street Journal. Richard Dawkins comments. PZ has some reaction to the reactions. of course the question has come up, are these scientists playing god? NewsBiscuit points out how absurd the question is with their article "Synthetic Life Form Accuses God of 'Playing Science'"- classic.

a math teacher was recently fired for not being Catholic enough.

via Luke at CommonSenseAtheism: the Arizona Atheist attempts a one-post refutation of Bill Craig's arguments for god.

PZ Myers posted to decry this week's vapid defenses of religion. Coyne won't be left out; not for a minute.

Time Magazine has an article on the difficulty the pope faces in atoning for the sex abuse scandal. meanwhile, the Obama administration has backed the Vatican's claim of immunity regarding sexual abuse claims.

Japan plans to have a base on the moon by 2020, built by robots, for robots.

remember how Ardi was hailed as huge news, the "missing link"? yeah, not so much. science is doing what it's best at: correcting itself. 80Beats. John Hawks. PhysOrg.

Jerry Coyne has an interesting article on whether or not depression is an adaptation; the verdict: no.

Alonzo Fyfe responds to Greg Epstein's absurd comments on the Draw Muhammad Day event. meanwhile, one Muslim has responded to the event by urging Muslims to put on their own event- Everybody Draw The Holocaust Day- where Muslims challenge the fact of the Holocaust's occurrence. PZ comments. on a sort of related note, whatever happened to Paul Kurtz?

why morality doesn't need god.

racial bias weakens our ability to feel other's pain.

are one person's iconoclastic views another person's denialism?

"theology ... is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there"

the anti-gay Christians are losing.

historical-minded Christians and the double standards they maintain.

'nature's batteries' may have helped power early lifeforms.

ice spirals on Mars. new data reveals the nature of Mars' polar gorges.

exoplanet discoveries are necessitating a rethinking of the notion of a "habitable zone" with implications for the discovery of life elsewhere in the galaxy.

physicists achieve quantum teleportation across a distance of 10 miles.

creatures of the Cambrian may have lived on.

how rejecting evolution leads to rejecting science altogether. on that subject, when science clashes with belief just make science impotent.

disproved: the vaccination schedule is too many, too soon. Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who started all this anti-vaccination nonsense in the first place, has been stripped of his ability to practice medicine in Britain for "serious professional misconduct". Phil Plait. PhysOrg. Nature. BBC News. Orac.

religious certainty is a dangerous weapon.

why atheism will replace religion.

more and more, mirroring the larger US trend, are African Americans coming out as atheists.

last week i linked to Coyne's calling out of Karl Giberson over Giberson's claim that atheists create creationists. Giberson responded to say that it's unAmerican to criticize faith.

Ken Pulliam investigates whether or not Yahweh condones rape. (part 2)

these are the facts of evolution.