August 20, 2010
This is the most challenging time of year for duck watching. But it may be easier than one thinks to bump into a wolf in the forest.
We've been exploring the western side of the north-central part of the state, in and around Itasca as far west at Tamarack Wildlife Refuge, where we saw several fine…
August 20, 2010
.... Particularly disturbing is the adoption of the PowerPoint cognitive style in our schools. Rather than learning to write a report using sentences, children are being taught how to formulate client pitches and infomercials. Elementary school PowerPoint exercises (as seen in teacher guides and in…
August 19, 2010
I was thinking something like "Imma let you finish being stupid and all, but first I want to review the preponderance of evidence for evolution. But you may also like to see Genie Scott's take on it:
August 19, 2010
This bird was spotted eating a small bird in the Hyde Park area of Chicago. What is it?
August 19, 2010
The heretofore unknown events that led to an investigation of Dr. Marc Hauser of Harvard University, which led to a recently completed investigation of Hauser's scientific conduct.
You cann read the article here. I hope you can access that document (it may be fully or partly behind a firewall…
August 18, 2010
Emerging infectious diseases do not only affect humans. Wildlife is threatened as well, and an alarming report from Britain documents an avian tragedy of great proportions.
Emerging protozoan caused diseases are seriously affecting British populations of Carduelis chloris, the greenfinch, and and…
August 17, 2010
But Conservapedia is going to fix that.
... apparently Conservapedia is unhappy that after Terence Tao got the Fields Medal four years ago he then endorsed Barack Obama for President, ... To deal with this apparent liberal bias and affirmative action in the Fields Medal, Conservapedia is starting…
August 17, 2010
Don't be a dick.
Phil Plait - Don't Be A Dick from JREF on Vimeo.
Cribbed from here where you will presumably eventually find Part II.
August 17, 2010
There is a swath across the map of Minnesota that runs northwest to southeast across the state, separating the major biomes of the eastern two thirds of the country, and for complicated reasons. North, it is colder, south warmer. Much of the moister in the region, especially in the summer, comes…
August 17, 2010
Well, not yet, but wait for it. This story and this story describe "tracking" of the Democratic Candidate by the Teabagging Republican, which is also discussed by Jim in this story from the point of view of an insider.
August 16, 2010
Do check out this series of guest posts at Quiche Moraine, written by by Jim Emery, which detail the events associated with a recent campaign for the US Congress in a hotly contested district in Minnesota.
Inside the Political Process: Jim Emery and the Madia Campaign
Inside the Political…
August 16, 2010
Therefore, we should teach that as fact in schools, right?
I think this might be old. But still relevant.
August 16, 2010
Elvis In 1977 I drove from Nashville down to Memphis with no particular plans regarding Memphis. It was just a place to stop on the way to Hot Springs, Arkansas. I had the name of a cheap motel and a vague idea of where it was. But I kept getting lost. Every time I came to about where this…
August 15, 2010
Genie Scott at Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence, Kansas, delving into the creationism/evolution controversy, how evolution is misunderstood, what evolution really is, and more. Event date: 9/8/1999
August 15, 2010
Amanda next to the tallest white pine tree in Minnesota
They say Lake Itasca is the source of the Mississippi. This is why there is a big state park surrounding the lake, a park that preserves some beautiful old forest despite the best efforts of 19th century lumberjacks to cut it down.
I've…
August 15, 2010
A typical adult human recognizes that the image one sees in a mirror is oneself. We do not know how much training a mirror-naive adult requires to do this, but we think very little.
When a typical adult macaque (a species of monkey) looks in the mirror, it sees another monkey. Typical adult male…
August 15, 2010
Genie Scott's recent talk at an Atheist Alliance International conference. The title: "Who Pulled the Stake Out? The resurgence of young-earth creationism". Event date: 9-28-2007
August 15, 2010
Stephen Jay Gould and David Pilbeam wrote a paper in 1974 that was shown ten years later to be so totally wrong in its conclusions that it has fallen into an obscurity not usually linked to either Gould or Pilbeam. However, they were actually right in ways that they could not have anticipated.…
August 14, 2010
Lucy, Ardi, Frodo, and us: what old bones and new genetics are revealing today.
Who are these people and can we call them family? Listen to Greg Laden and Lynn Fellman discuss how recent fossil and tool discoveries are changing the shape of our family tree.
A report earlier this week showed…
August 14, 2010
A fairly accurate and well done, and more up to date, account of what has gone on with the Marc Hauser investigation is here, in a piece punished in the New York Times by Nicholas Wade: In Harvard Lab Inquiry, a Raid and a 3-Year Wait.
It is very clear that the Fourth Estate is on the verge of a…
August 13, 2010
Wanted: A shortcut key to zip backwards to the last mispelleded word in a text document. (And, forward too would be nice, but backwards is most important.) Next time you are writing stuff, think about how cool this would be.
See the whole "WANTED" list here.
August 13, 2010
Money Harper is a musician who has put to song several actual research projects of University of Oklahoma scientists. He's raising money to finish the project. Maybe you can help him out. Either way, it is an interesting story, and I'm sure you are going to want a copy of the CD.
My old friend…
August 13, 2010
I will be interviewed on Sunday Morning by Lynn Fellman on Minnesota Atheist Radio. We'll be covering the recent and almost recent news in several areas of human evolution, and discussing "Lucy, Ardi, Frodo, and us: what old bones and new genetics are revealing today"
... but since news from the…
August 13, 2010
An episode from KTEH's Uncommon Knowledge series: "Darwin under the Microscope: Questioning Darwinism". Dr. Genie Scott goes toe to toe with creationist Dr. William Dembski. Air date: 12/7/2001
August 13, 2010
There was an election in November of 2008, but you probably knew that already. You cast a vote for a presidential candidate, and if you were especially interested, put a bumper sticker on your car and a sign in your yard. If you're a typical Minnesotan, somewhat more engaged in the process than is…
August 13, 2010
After I reported this recent and interesting research paper about urinary tract inflictions, a number of conversations broke out on that post, on my facebook page, and via email, and some of these conversations raised the question of cranberry juice and whether the idea that it prevents, reduces,…
August 12, 2010
Chronic infection is, in a way, the new emerging infectious disease. Many pathogens are relatively tenacious when they infect elderly individuals or individuals who are otherwise not fully immunocompetent, and such individuals are, thanks to modern medical technology and practice, more common in…
