Now on ScienceBlogs: Oxytocin: Starting with the basics
An irregular exploration of the struggle between the power of rational discourse and the scientific method on one hand, and the forces of superstition and dogma on the other. Mostly regarding climate change, though.
James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle
in the Dark,
by Carl Sagan
(A
review)
The Doubter's Companion:
by John Ralston Saul (Excerpts)
Skeptic Magazine: www.skeptic.com
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: www.csicop.org
A poem by Yehuda Amichai:
The
Place
Where We Are Right
The Meaning of the
Island of Doubt
By doubting we come to inquiry; and through inquiry we perceive truth.
--- Peter Abelard
Undisguised clarity is easily mistaken for arrogance.
-- Richard Dawkins
As for evolution, it happened. Deal with it.
-- Michael Shermer.
"There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those things
which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand.
Resolve, then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving, and
tiny blasts of tinny trumpets, we have met the enemy, and not only may
he be ours, he may be us."
--Walt Kelly
Category: climate
It looks like whatever Congress passes this year -- if anything -- will rely heavily on existing power generation portfolios and carbon offsets, neither of which represent real change.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:54 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: medicine
While most media commentators obsess over the "news" that Diane Sawyer will be replacing Charlie Gibson on ABC World News, there are at least some observers who remain more concerned with content. The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne weighs in this...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:04 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
While the U.S. Senate's sense of urgency on the climate change front wanes, a new campaign originating on the other side of rapidly warming pond is urging us all to get with the program by cutting our emissions sooner rather...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:40 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
Trying to keep existing reactors going as long as possible is the least-bad option.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:48 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
It's hard for me to ignore a headline like this: "Climate deal uncertainty clouds carbon market -- survey." According to a Reuters story, a poll of companies around the world with an interest in trading permits to emit greenhouse gases...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:32 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
Climate change is a global phenomenon that threatens the very habitability of the planet. Waiting until we've passed one or more thresholds beyond which mitigation is no longer an option is not a sane decision.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:40 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: medicine
The news that embryologists can get back to the business of finding cures of debilitating diseases, and that science will no longer be held hostage to fundamentalist fervor should be welcomed.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:57 AM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
Read this, weep, dry your tears and get on the phone. From the still reliable news pages of the WaPo: The nominations of two of President Obama's top science advisers have stalled in the Senate, according to several sources, posing...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:22 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: politics
Well, sort of. It went live a minute past noon ET. But there's no comment function, so it's not what most of us would call a blog. Still, it's nice to know Obama's hip to the blogosphere's significance. Also nice...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:19 PM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: politics
Canadians have been living under many illusions about their environmental record for decades now, but this is the first time I can recall that the future looked brighter south of the 49th parallel.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:10 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
PZ Myers 11.08.2009
PZ Myers 11.08.2009
Tim Lambert 11.08.2009
Orac 11.08.2009
Orac 11.06.2009
