Skeptically Speaking has this: This week. we’re looking at what science has to say about the origins of selfless – and even self-sacrificing – behavior. We’ll speak to biology professor Lee Alan Dugatkin, about his book The Altruism Equation: Seven Scientists Search for the Origins of Goodness. And we’ll discuss altruism from a neurological perspective,…

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Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World’s Greatest Wildlife Rescue is a new book by William Stolzenburg. I’ve not seen it, but Desiree Schell interviewed the author on Skeptically Speaking: This week, we’re looking at invasive predators, changing ecosystems, and the ethical questions raised by killing one species to save another. We’ll speak to…

Don’t miss this excellent Skeptically Speaking: This week, we’re looking one orbit outward, at the little red planet that’s inspired so much science and science fiction. Guest host Marie-Claire Shanahan talks to University of Tennessee geologist Linda Kah, about her work as part of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission, analyzing the images sent back by…

Apollo 11 In 100 Seconds from Spacecraft Films on Vimeo.

Rhett Allain at Dot Physics has proposed that we stop using the terms “Hypothesis”, “Theory”, and “Law” because people so abysmally misunderstand them. He proposes replacing them all with the term “model”. Take out all three of these “science” words from introductory texts. They do more harm than good. The problem is that people have…

Look at all the amazing things Twitter has done: Twitter did revolutions. Twitter won gold medals. Twitter went into outer space. Twitter was elected President of the United States of America. Twice! …. or was it just the music that made me think twitter did all those things?

‘In 1645, the twenty-seventh year of the Thirty Years War, Swedish armies inflicted a devastating blow to the Imperial forces in Bohemia and swept into Austria with the aim of capturing of Vienna. The Imperial capitol, was not prepared to give up easily. The Swedes soon found themselves digging in for a long seige, negotiating…

This just in from Jason at 350.org: Friends, The moment is here: about an hour ago, some of big oil’s best paid Senators filed an amendment supporting construction of Keystone XL to the Senate’s budget bill. Our goal today is to keep the Senate from forcing Obama to approve the pipeline. The oil industry is…

National Center for Science Education climate change policy director Mark McCaffrey talks about the history of climate change–and of climate change denial, doubt, and dismay at the Climate and Energy Literacy Forum, Washington, DC.

…there is a new study that has significant advantages of the Bumpus study, though the latter will still be useful in teaching about evolution because of its limitations and the questions it raises. The new study is about Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) in southwestern Nebraska. As you know, a lot of birds are killed in…

I’m not sure if it is really called “embalmed” when done to a tortoise, but it is the same idea. Lonesome George was a Galapagos Tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, who was known for some time a the last living individual of his subspecies. He lived on Pinta Island in the Galapagos. He died on my…

I put together a page of resources, just a few items but with a plan to grow it, HERE. This is for teachers and their allies, focusing on life science, an organized list of selected posts on this blog that should be of interest. Let me know if there is anything you’d like to see…

Fracking, or Hydraulic Fracturing, is a method of extracting hard-to-get oil and gas from shale. For the most part, fossil fuels originally formed in shale, which was in turn laid down by near surface life in anoxic seas. Sunlight powered a high turnover of near surface plankton, algae, and bacteria, but oxygen-poor conditions just a…

As you know, I write now and then for the Minnesota Progressive Project. I should do more there, I know, and I try. But anyway, the MPP has a new blog layout which preserves the Kos-esque diary thingie but loads faster and is easier to navigate, with a few cool “discoverability” features that link readers…

In response to a comment on my blog, I issued a snarky tweet (and repeated it on Facebook) to the effect that if your argument involves the phrase “World View” you might be wrong. This led to a number of light hearted but snarky, and often helpful, responses on Facebook and Twitter indicating that the…

This is an event some of you in the Twin Cities may be interested in attending Viewing of American Meat at the Bell Museum “A fabulous panel of dedicated agri-food issue talkers have agreed to walk us through this conversation with the film’s director after the film, all with tremendous credentials relating to supportive critique…