Sunday again! First off, as always, I want to say thanks to everyone for your FB LIKE's, your +1's and shares on Google+, your thumbs up on StumbleUpon, and your tweets on Twitter. So glad you all find Sunday School valuable enough that you would want to share it with others. It makes the time spent on putting each edition together absolutely worth it! Thank you! Last week's edition was viewed more than 900 times thanks to all your help. Let's see if we can reach a thousand! Spread the word. The information is out there. Let's get it into people's hands, and into their minds.
Now, if you haven't already you must get entered into our drawing for a copy of 2008 Humanist of the Year Dr. Christopher DiCarlo's new book How to Become a Really Good Pain in the Ass: A Critical Thinker's Guide to Asking the Right Questions. Seriously. MUST. The book is excellent. He shows you how to make sure your answers to The Big Five questions are defensible and gives you the tools with which to keep other people honest when it comes to their answers. It's a critical thinking handbook!
And make sure you catch our interview with Dr. DiCarlo airing for the first time tonight at 5PM Pacific/8PM Eastern but available immediately thereafter from the archive or on our iTunes page. Hear him talk about these tools in his own words!
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Aaaaaaaand! LINKS!
Lots more commentary on the whole superluminal neutrinos story. Let's get that out of the way first:
So what's next? How do they clear up the uncertainty?
Physics professor Jon Butterworth in The Guardian with 4 things to think about.
Victor Stenger has an interesting take, pointing out what the discovery, if it's true, does to our notion of cause and effect while bringing it back to the question of god's existence. Jerry Coyne comments.
Ethan Seigel gets deeper into things after his initial post from last week.
That scientists are even willing to accept that none other than Einstein was wrong highlights the difference between science and religion.
Let's make sure we get acquainted with neutrinos before we get into the question of whether they violate a bedrock principle of physics!
Scientists install microchip inside a rat's cerebellum and reclaim lost brain function.
Herb Silverman, president of the Secular Coalition of American is quoted in The Guardian as saying that he's aware of 28 members of the US Congress that are atheists.
Humans and sharks share a key feature of their immune systems meaning that feature evolved at least as far back as the last common ancestor we share with sharks 400 million years ago.
Deep thinkers are more likely to lose their faith.
False equivalence on the subject of Right vs Left science denialism. The Right is way more denialist.
An illustrated guide to the science of climate change impacts.
Evidence vs Religion. This image is perfect!
New study says that as many as a third of sun-like stars may have terrestrial planets in the habitable zone.
Lots of talk this past week about a new HIV vaccine as a cure. It's not though. But it is a small breakthrough.
That same old story... Girl gets raped... Community rallies around her and her family... Community is outraged because her parents won't murder her per trad....
Should skepticism be divorced from values?
Prehistoric colors preserved in near-perfect beetle fossils
This video is so cool. Someone created a side by side step by step comparison of the Apollo moon landing footage with Google Moon images. Check out the perfection of the sync up with the features on the surface in the images.
Last week I linked to John Shook's piece on Humanism and the death penalty. This week Alonzo Fyfe took issue with Shook's post.
Recently I had linked to how the American Cancer Society had seemingly shafted the Foundation Beyond Belief, refusing to accept their money. This week Todd Steifel wrote an open letter to the American Cancer Society.
A few prominent skeptics have openly advocated for a Bayesian epistemology, but is Bayes as strong as they think?
Take a tour through the evolution of the brain.
We've all heard it before. You challenge someone about the evidence for some nonsense and they respond with "But I just know it works!" or, just as frequently, "But it works for me!"
What's behind the great American "allergy" to climate change?
John Danaher began a new series on free will and determinism. Keep an eye on this one. Good stuff.
How pig guts could be the key to regenerating human limbs.
Utilitarianism– “the greatest happiness of the greatest number is the foundation of morals and legislation.” Sounds good right? Well, new research into just what kind of person follows this particular ethical theory has some uncomfortable results.
If you're not following any of these female science bloggers consider doing so. They're producing great content and deserve your attention.
Views: 770
Tags: Bayes, astronomy, climate-change, denial, denialism, determinism, ethics, free-will, light, lightspeed, More…morality, neutrinos, physics, show, skepticism, sunday, sunday-school, thinking, weekly-recap
Comment by Stephen Charles on October 2, 2011 at 6:51am Thanks again for a wonderful set of links, The rat cyborg and the evolution of the brain were very interesting, but other links were as alarming as they were interesting, like the one about the Palestinian girl who was raped, or the anti-science movement of the right. All in all, I'd just like to thank you Nelson for making me look forward to Sunday
Comment by Albert Bakker on October 2, 2011 at 7:17am I didn't read it was a Palestinian girl, but much more alarmingly so that of one of the closest of US allies, Pakistan. The girl was from Mehar in Sindh and they fled even more south to Karachi. If it was even done once in recorded history in the name of Islam, that should be enough to be an inexhaustible source of unbearable shame to every Pakistani Muslim, instead this murderous, self-degrading and horrifying beastliness toward women or in this case young girls is the norm.
Comment by Wonderist on October 2, 2011 at 10:03am Hi Nelson, I really enjoy your links, but I do wish you would keep your commentary more neutral. For instance, the trolley research does not show "what kind of person follows this particular ethical theory". That interpretation was added by the Economist. The study does not reveal what 'ethical theory' these people 'follow'. It only shows how they answer the trolley questions. There is no investigation into their understanding or acceptance of utilitarianism as an ethical theory. You may call their choices 'utilitarian', from your perspective, but that does not make them followers of utilitarianism, which is an ethical philosophy.
Comment by Gary Bergeron on October 2, 2011 at 10:43am Hot coffee and Sunday School, a wonderful combination!
What a great video on the moon landing! I wonder what the moon landing deniers will say about this ; along with the recent pics of the lunar landing sites showing the rover tracks?
The list of women science bloggers is dutifully bookmarked! I think Pakistan could use this information also, yes?
Looking forward to tonight's podcast...I always wanted to be a pain in the ass! LOL!!
Thanks for the links, Nelson! Happy Sunday everybody!
i
Comment by Chris London on October 2, 2011 at 11:05am Minor, but I wish Dr. Christopher DiCarlo's book was available in Kindle format.
Comment by Ed on October 2, 2011 at 11:37am Fyfe's rebuttal to Shook's "pro-death camp" diatribe was a refreshing breathe of air. The debate will certainly continue.
Comment by Jerry on October 2, 2011 at 6:16pm The whole "pigs's guts" thing. I am a hipster in this regard. I had watched a nat geo show about amputees, and one guy had his finger chopped off years ago. He was given an extract of a pig's bladder to place on his finger (which had been demonstrated in labs to have regenerative powers), and low and behold! HIS FINGER. I have been wondering why this hasn't been more out in the open, but I suppose there was still research going on.
Comment by Jerry on October 2, 2011 at 6:19pm I was reading more into the text... Apparently it was the discovery channel, not nat geo...
And yah, that sounds like the episode.
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