Archives for November, 2012
Empowering the individual does not equal ensmartening the individual
Posted by Greg Laden on November 24, 2012 Imagine the following scenario. Two guys are walking down the street, in different cities. Guy A has two PhDs, one in quantum physics with a focus on dimensionality dynamics, the other in astrophysics with a focus on relativistic aspects of gravity and black holes. She has published dozens of peer reviewed papers on both topics…
Science denial: a guide for scientists
Posted by Greg Laden on November 24, 2012 Scientist could probably do a better job at understanding, and addressing, science denial. I know this is true. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a scientist say something like “All you have to do is, bla bla bla” or “What I do is bla bla bla” in relation to science denialists,…
Is Python The New Basic? (“Python For Kids”)
Posted by Greg Laden on November 24, 2012 My first computer language was PL/1, but soon after I learned, among other languages, Basic, and I really liked Basic and I still do. Basic is linear, and I think in linear constructs when I do any kind of computer program. This is probably, in part, because user interfaces are the last thing I want…
Once we all had gills (free book chapter)
Posted by Greg Laden on November 23, 2012 Have you heard of the book “Once We All Had Gills: Growing Up Evolutionist in an Evolving World“? Here’s a summary: In this book, Rudolf A. Raff reaches out to the scientifically queasy, using his life story and his growth as a scientist to illustrate why science matters, especially at a time when many Americans…
Strip Violating Religious Institutions of Tax Exempt Status
Posted by Greg Laden on November 23, 2012 
There is a petition making the rounds which is getting some real support, and that you should sign: Enforce the tax code, and strip violating Religious institutions of their tax exempt 501(c) status. Religious institutions across our great nation serve an important role in community building & out reach, helping the poor & disenfranchised, among…
A Few Good Science Toys
Posted by Greg Laden on November 23, 2012 Dinosaur Toys? Glendon Mellow was asking the other day where to get “realistic” or “scientifically accurate” dinosaurs for kids to play with. There are a LOT of “realistic” dinosaur sets out there, but they are for the most part realistic in that they really look like the imagined dinosaurs of the last century and a…
Can we please have a scientific cormorant policy in Minnesota?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 22, 2012 After hundreds of studies, it has been difficult to link fish predation by cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) to the reduction of fishing quality in Minnesota lakes. It appears that game fish such as walleye and northern pike make up from less than 1% to nearly 3% of the bird’s diet. They eat only small fish. Many…
“As god is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly…”
Posted by Greg Laden on November 22, 2012 A Thanksgiving Day Classic:
Climate Change from the Biotic to the Exotic
Posted by Greg Laden on November 22, 2012 How will climate change affect the flavor of wine? Are warming oceans responsible for the recent global jellyfish outbreak? Do we know how a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide will affect poison ivy, tobacco, or even sea anemones? NCSE climate change project director talks about what the research shows and future questions to be answered.…
Time might actually be Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey…Stuff
Posted by Greg Laden on November 22, 2012 BaBar data recently analyzed might confirm that time is wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. If you are a B meson, time may not run the same in both directions for you. This is based on a report in Physical Review Letters called “Observation of Time-Reversal Violation in the B0 Meson System” which has this abstract:…
The Feast (A Thanksgiving Day Story)
Posted by Greg Laden on November 22, 2012 Today is Thanksgiving in the US. Happy Thanksgiving. Let us being with a word of advice: TAKE THE TURKEY OUT OF THE FREEZER NAO!!! And now … a feast.
A Book about Taung and “the Hobbit”
Posted by Greg Laden on November 21, 2012 
The Fossil Chronicles: How Two Controversial Discoveries Changed Our View of Human Evolution is by a scientist Dean Falk, who has contributed significantly to the study of evolution of the human brain, and who has been directly involved in some of the more interesting controversies in human evolution. Back when I was a graduate student…
A probabilistic quantification of the anthropogenic component of twentieth century global warming
Posted by Greg Laden on November 21, 2012 A probabilistic quantification of the anthropogenic component of twentieth century global warming is a paper just out that examines an important conflict in the conversation about climate change and global warming. Before getting to the details, have a look at this graph from the paper: This is temperature increasing on the earth over a century…
Fukushima Update: Radioactive Fish, Conflicts of Interest, and Filtered Vents
Posted by Greg Laden on November 21, 2012 On March 11th, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex suffered damage from an earthquake and ensuing tsunami that caused multiple nuclear reactor core meltdowns and melt-throughs, explosions, and major releases of radioactive material into the air and the sea. In addition to the reactor meltdowns and melt-throughs spent fuel storage tanks were also…
Success of Climate Science Denialism
Posted by Greg Laden on November 21, 2012 One of the reasons that we have not, as a species, as a group of nations, dealt effectively with Anthropogenic Global Warming is the effectiveness of climate science denialism. There are denialists in Congress, on the Internet, and everywhere. They have not succeeded in making a valid scientific argument regarding Global Warming, but they have…
Godless Gift Idea!
Posted by Greg Laden on November 21, 2012 Atheist Voices of Minnesota (which comes in a print version and a Kindle version) is a collection of individual journeys to atheism. All the authors are Minnesotan (natural born, former, or immigrant to the North Star State). While some of the authors are professional writers or high profile bloggers, most are regular people with interesting…
Nature: Do the carbon tax, America!
Posted by Greg Laden on November 20, 2012 Nature, the journal, has come out in favor of the US congress acting on a Carbon Tax now. As looming tax increases and budget cuts threaten to plunge the US economy back into recession, Congress should take a hard look at introducing a carbon tax as an important part of the solution. This week, a…
Born in Africa
Posted by Greg Laden on November 20, 2012 Born in Africa: The Quest for the Origins of Human Life by Martin Meredith examines the history of human evolution studies, focusing on Africa, and provides a comprehensive overview of the conflict between different researchers, different points of view, and sometimes, different evidence. It is a good read.
Just In Time for The Hobbit: The Science of Middle Earth
Posted by Greg Laden on November 20, 2012 Just a quick note, review to come later. Henry Gee has produced a Second Edition of his book The Science of Middle-Earth: Explaining The Science Behind The Greatest Fantasy Epic Ever Told!, which will be released on December 14th as a Kindle eBook. There are two things to know about this. First, the Second Edition…
Are Children “Natural Scientists” or not?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 20, 2012 Neil deGrasse Tyson if famous for telling us that children are natural scientists, and cautioning us to be careful not to ruin that thing about them. He makes a good case. No one ever thought, I think, that he meant that children were born resistant to the sorts of biases that scientists actively eschew, or…
Greenhouse Gas Levels Reach New Record High
Posted by Greg Laden on November 20, 2012 You may have heard that the release of greenhouse gases has recently gone down, to match levels of several years ago. Why, then, do we have someone saying that greenhouse gasses have reached a new record high? There are two, maybe three, reasons. First, even though CO2 release from the US may be lower now…
The Domestic Turkey and the First Thanksgiving
Posted by Greg Laden on November 20, 2012 This is the time of year that we rightfully contemplate the noble Turkey. The very first thing we notice about this large member of the Galliformes is that there is a wild version and a domestic version, and although the two are rather different, they are both given the same species name, Meleagris gallopavo. This…
Dennis Markuze, aka Dave Mabus, Arrested in Montreal
Posted by Greg Laden on November 19, 2012 These are the tweets from the Montreal Police: For those who don’t know, Dennis Markuze is a perennial internet-only (so far) stalker who has been sending nasty emails and tweets to anyone he sees as a key Atheist figure or anyone thusly linked, and posting rambling often offensive sometimes threatening blog comments on our blog…
How old is the Earth?
Posted by Greg Laden on November 19, 2012 I can’t believe we still have to cover this. We know how old the Earth is. The science on this is pretty darn good. It is 4.54 billion years old plus or minus about 1%. Florida Senator Marco Rubio does not know how old the earth is. Here is what he says about it: I’m…
You come from Cannibals
Posted by Greg Laden on November 19, 2012 A man “lies crumpled on the sand … Behind him a dark trail leads back to the spot from which he has just been dragged. Looking closer, we notice something slightly odd about the figure crouching over the wounded man. His posture does not suggest a doctor attempting to staunch bleeding, or even to check…
Among Cannibals
Posted by Greg Laden on November 19, 2012 I have lived among Cannibals, according to a lot of people who claim to know. The number of times that the “tribal” people of the Congo have been called cannibals is too great to be counted, most notably in great literature like The Heart of Darkness but most commonly, I suspect, from the pulpit or…
A Remarkable Convergence of Species: The Deadliest Sea Snake
Posted by Greg Laden on November 18, 2012 
Sea snakes are true snakes that look a little like eels because of their horizontally flattened rudder-like tails, and they spend a lot of time…for most species, their entire lives…in the ocean. Only one species seems to be able to move on land at all. They seem to all be venomous, some extremely so. They…
How to make stock
Posted by Greg Laden on November 18, 2012 I previously posted on a way to make a turkey that would leave you with the bulk of the bird’s uncooked skeleton, and I promised some tips for how to make good stock.
How to make gravy
Posted by Greg Laden on November 18, 2012 You’ve got your turkey all planned out, and you’ve got some stock. Now, it’s time to explore the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Gravy. (And maybe something to put it on.) I will tell you how to make excellent gravy with no stress and guaranteed success. Without lumps.
How To Cook A Turkey
Posted by Greg Laden on November 18, 2012 First, consider cooking something other than a turkey Cooking turkey is actually kind of a dumb idea. Most people don’t ever cook turkey. Turkey is like chicken … it’s a domestic bird that is familiar to all Americans … but it is very difficult to cook in a way that does not ruin it. So…
, which is now available for the 
