Sunday School NOV 28, 2010
is sewage water bacteria the "missing link" in the early evolution of life on Earth?
Christopher Hitchens debated Tony Blair on the value of religion. the BBC is going to air the debate in full on January 1st but you can already watch video of the debate online or read a full transcript. reaction from New Humanist and The Guardian.
GQ magazine recently printed a series of photos featuring musician celebrities with scientists in the background as a way to popularize science. PZ Myers, Ophelia Benson, Jerry Coyne, and Martin Robbins all comment on how lame an attempt at popularizing science the photos are. erv commented specifically on Chris Mooney's support for the campaign. there's a bigger problem than just that the photos are lame, there's the fact that the typical GQ reader isn't going to benefit from the campaign even if it wasn't stupid.
Newsweek introduces us to the Republicans who are science skeptics and who are likely to hold top House science and energy posts.
Adam Lee (Ebonmuse) at Daylight Atheism has written an incredibly informative essay on the formation of Christian orthodoxy and of the New Testament canon.
the Smithsonian magazine has this interesting piece on the top ten daily consequences of our having evolved.
Cassini finds oxygen-carbon dioxide atmosphere on Saturn's moon Rhea.
15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics.
last week i linked to news about the anti-vaccine propaganda organization Age of Autism's attempt to show a "PSA" in movie theaters around the country with the message that vaccines are dangerous. well, reasonable people won out when they flooded AMC Theaters' website urging them to refuse to run the ads and AMC listened.
'Out of Africa' or 'Multiregionalism'- did we evolve into modern humans in Africa and then leave or did our hominin ancestors leave first, settle, and then we evolved? relatedly, how, and how fast, did the human brain evolve?
scientists were asked what their favorite example of a wrong scientific belief that was held for a long period of time. 62 scientists have responded as i write this.
cell phones don't cause brain cancer!
thinking skeptically about atheist explanations.
the Queen of England says that religious believers do not have a monopoly on virtue and that non-believers contribute just as much to England's prosperity.
scientists glimpse the universe before the big bang. possibly.
two fish families evolved electric powers by tweaking the same gene.
Luke Muehlhauser posted this fantastic "map" of the Kalam Cosmological Argument, showing the argument, rebuttal points, and possible rejoinders to the rebuttals, an incredible resource.
last week i linked to news that the pope had allowed that condom use might be acceptable in certain circumstances but that those circumstances seemed only to be limited to male prostitutes. now it seems that with clarification comes news that his comments applied to women as well.
news out last week had it that scientists have for the first time captured and held antimatter particles. but why is that such a big deal?
Christopher Hitchens debated Tony Blair on the value of religion. the BBC is going to air the debate in full on January 1st but you can already watch video of the debate online or read a full transcript. reaction from New Humanist and The Guardian.
GQ magazine recently printed a series of photos featuring musician celebrities with scientists in the background as a way to popularize science. PZ Myers, Ophelia Benson, Jerry Coyne, and Martin Robbins all comment on how lame an attempt at popularizing science the photos are. erv commented specifically on Chris Mooney's support for the campaign. there's a bigger problem than just that the photos are lame, there's the fact that the typical GQ reader isn't going to benefit from the campaign even if it wasn't stupid.
Newsweek introduces us to the Republicans who are science skeptics and who are likely to hold top House science and energy posts.
Adam Lee (Ebonmuse) at Daylight Atheism has written an incredibly informative essay on the formation of Christian orthodoxy and of the New Testament canon.
the Smithsonian magazine has this interesting piece on the top ten daily consequences of our having evolved.
Cassini finds oxygen-carbon dioxide atmosphere on Saturn's moon Rhea.
15-minute writing exercise closes the gender gap in university-level physics.
last week i linked to news about the anti-vaccine propaganda organization Age of Autism's attempt to show a "PSA" in movie theaters around the country with the message that vaccines are dangerous. well, reasonable people won out when they flooded AMC Theaters' website urging them to refuse to run the ads and AMC listened.
'Out of Africa' or 'Multiregionalism'- did we evolve into modern humans in Africa and then leave or did our hominin ancestors leave first, settle, and then we evolved? relatedly, how, and how fast, did the human brain evolve?
scientists were asked what their favorite example of a wrong scientific belief that was held for a long period of time. 62 scientists have responded as i write this.
cell phones don't cause brain cancer!
thinking skeptically about atheist explanations.
the Queen of England says that religious believers do not have a monopoly on virtue and that non-believers contribute just as much to England's prosperity.
scientists glimpse the universe before the big bang. possibly.
two fish families evolved electric powers by tweaking the same gene.
Luke Muehlhauser posted this fantastic "map" of the Kalam Cosmological Argument, showing the argument, rebuttal points, and possible rejoinders to the rebuttals, an incredible resource.
last week i linked to news that the pope had allowed that condom use might be acceptable in certain circumstances but that those circumstances seemed only to be limited to male prostitutes. now it seems that with clarification comes news that his comments applied to women as well.
news out last week had it that scientists have for the first time captured and held antimatter particles. but why is that such a big deal?
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Comment by Nelson on November 28, 2010 at 10:19am
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Comment by Nelson on November 28, 2010 at 10:51am
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it's always my pleasure to be able to lead off with sewage bacteria! ;)
but, you're right, very interesting stuff.
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Comment by Victoria on November 28, 2010 at 11:34am -
Great blog! Much better reading over breakfast than the back of the cereal box. Makes me glad I joined this site. :) And another thumbs up for sewage bacteria!
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Comment by Nelson on November 28, 2010 at 11:41am
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thanks for commenting Victoria! i'm glad if you can find some interesting things to read over breakfast or at any other time for that matter. :)
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Comment by Gary Bergeron on November 28, 2010 at 11:55am -
Hi, Nelson! I have to agree that the celebrity photos with scientists are a waste of time. I think we need more people like Carl Sagan to boost the popularity. Also, schools need to funnel more money for science classrooms and equipment and less money for athletics. Here in Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal is pushing for science books with a creation slant and when I discuss this with others, they're apathetic about it. Religion creates apathy. Science creates knowledge and understanding of the world and universe. The question is, how can we teach people to forgo the former and embrace the latter.
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Comment by Gary Bergeron on November 28, 2010 at 11:57am
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Thanks for your efforts, Nelson. It's fun to go to school again! :)
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Comment by Nelson on November 28, 2010 at 12:23pm
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thanks for commenting Gary! i agree with you, that is the question.
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Comment by James on November 28, 2010 at 2:56pm -
Very interesting links!
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Comment by Nelson on November 28, 2010 at 3:00pm
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thanks James, glad you thought so!
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Comment by Nelson on November 28, 2010 at 9:21pm
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lol. i had the same "god save the queen" thought as well! :)
thanks for stopping by Adriana!
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