Archives for August, 2006
The real Pluto controversy
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 28, 2006 Yeah, yeah, so a bunch of astronomers and stuff are arguing about whether Pluto is a planet or not. But Kevin over at Dr. Joan Bushwell’s Chimpanzee Refuge gives the low-down on the real Pluto controversy.
Using a bad virus to do something good
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 26, 2006 If you’re interested in biology and not reading Sandra Porter’s Discovering Biology in a Digital World, you should be. As she notes in her profile, her passion is “developing instructional materials for 21st century biology,” and it shows–she provides all kinds of little online experiments you can run yourself, even with minimal knowledge of molecular…
New PIG chapters up
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 26, 2006 Burt’s write-up of Wells’ first chapter of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design is up at The Panda’s Thumb. PZ’s also re-posted his review of Chapter 3 at PT; link here.
Hey, Tangled Bank has an epilogue
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 26, 2006 Those kooky folks over at Frink Tank, what with their delayed additional Tangled Bank goodness. (I will say, though, that’s certainly the only time anyone’s ever accused me of having “pop cult cred.”)
Seed AIDS video
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 25, 2006 Seed’s Jacob Klein has a video up from his time at the AIDS conference last week: link. It includes short interviews with Kay and Rick Warren, evangelical Christians and founders of Saddleback Church, the grandaddy of all mega-churches. (Warren is also the author of The Purpose-Driven Life, which I’ve admittedly not read). It’s interesting to…
Some good news about sex
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 25, 2006 Most of the stories I blog about here regarding sex (and sexually-transmitted infections) have bad news to offer. People are still poorly educated about STDs, or worse, actively misinform to try to scare people away from sex. Admittedly, good news about sexual issues are few and far between, but there actually have been a few…
Intro to Jon Wells’ “Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and ID” at Panda’s Thumb
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 25, 2006 Check it out here. I mentioned previously that I’ll be reviewing another chapter of the book in the future, and PZ has a write-up of the chapter on developmental biology here (that will be posted to Panda’s Thumb in the coming days), and he also has some suggestions here on how bloggers can help make…
Emphasis on science and the general public at IAS
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 25, 2006 The Iowa Academy of Science has released its summer newsletter online, and is available here (.pdf). There’s a lot going on for scientists and the science-interested at all levels (students, teachers, researchers), so for the Iowa folks (or, those of you in other states who are just looking for some good ideas), if you’ve not…
Addressing the issues
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 24, 2006 Jaime made a thoughtful comment here regarding yesterday’s “hater” post. I started responding in the thread but it’s become more of a treatise. Hope I don’t scare Jamie away (since it’s noted that s/he is unlurking to make it): i read the post, and the comments, and the stuff on here, so i will unlurk…
In my spare time as an actual scientist…
Posted by Tara C. Smith on August 24, 2006 If you ever wonder about some of the actual research we do here (and I know, it must keep you up at night with curiosity), our most recent center newsletter is up. (warning: .pdf)