gregladen | September 22, 2010NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott was invited to debate Ray Comfort, a creationist in the news recently for his plans to distribute copies of the Origin of Species with his own introduction, on the God & Country blog of U.S. News & World Report. Comfort began the debate on October 29, 2009; Scott replied on October 30, 2009; Comfort responded on November 2, 2009; and Scott replied on November 3, 2009. The debate, according to Dan Gilgoff, who maintains the blog, elicited "more feedback than any other issue on this blog has received over any similar stretch in its not-quite-…
gregladen | September 22, 2010Christien Meindertsma, author of "Pig 05049" looks at the astonishing afterlife of the ordinary pig, parts of which make their way into at least 187 non-pork products, from bullets to artificial hearts.
We seep pigs all the time on the highways. Of course, we live near Iowa.
gregladen | September 22, 2010That's me!
The article opens by acknowledging that 66 percent of Americans believe creationism is definitely or probably true from a recent poll. Yet the article turns to biological anthropologist Greg Laden for how to squelch the opposing viewpoint to evolutionism.
And so on and so forth.
That's on the Answers in Genesis web site as part of their newsletter.
gregladen | September 22, 2010You will recall my post: A genetic cause of rapid degeneration in some Alzheimer's patients. Well, now it (the topic) is a Ted Video. But before you watch it, I need to take down Nicholas Christakis for saying the dumbest thing I've heard all week.
No, Nicholas, it is not true in any way whatsoever that humans did not have complex social networks prior to "emerging" from the "African Savanna" ... nor would the implication that you make that those still living in Africa, or the savanna therein, fail in this way. That's just you being an ignorant racist westerner. Otherwise your talk is…
gregladen | September 22, 2010In today's world, balancing school, work, kids and more, most of us can only hope for the recommended eight hours of sleep. Examining the science behind our body's internal clock, Jessa Gamble reveals the surprising and substantial program of rest we should be observing.
Quiz: Name all the two-celled organisms!
gregladen | September 22, 2010On this day in 1862, the following proclamation was issued by President Abraham Lincoln:
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then…
gregladen | September 21, 2010In which I explore the interface between the Jungian Subconscious and my own primordial anguish.
The blocked end tube pipe is a touchstone to the shamanistic world of the people we call the Hopewell. Similar artifacts are found elsewhere in the world, but the Adena-Hopewell cultural complex (dating to approximately a thousand year plus long period centering on "Zero" AD/BC/b.c.e.) has more of them than your average archaeological culture. The blocked end tube is made of soapstone, and is a cylinder almost hollowed out but with a wall of stone left intact so nothing physical can actually…
gregladen | September 21, 2010Bill Thompson's The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of North America is a book that I highly recommend for kids around seven to 14 years of age. (The publishers suggest a narrower age range but I respectfully disagree.)
This is a new offering written by Bill Thompson III and published by the same people who give us the Peterson Field Guide to the Birds and many other fine titles. The book includes excellent illustrations by Julie Zickefoose.
A birder since childhood, Thompson says he would have loved a book like this one when he was just getting interested in birds. Now a father of two,…
gregladen | September 21, 2010After 15 years in the British diplomatic corps, Carne Ross became a "freelance diplomat," running a bold nonprofit that gives small, developing and yet-unrecognized nations a voice in international relations. At the BIF-5 conference, he calls for a new kind of diplomacy that gives voice to small countries, that works with changing boundaries and that welcomes innovation.
gregladen | September 21, 2010Skeptically Speaking with Desiree Schell.
The podcast for last week's show is available here.
David Dobbs talks about Marc Hauser, which is rather interesting.
Then, Barbara Drescher talks about common mistakes made by scientists (sort of an extension of the theme).
The Podcast is here.
The show also seems to have a new theme song!
gregladen | September 21, 2010Igor is on the cusp of being a hurricane and not being a hurricane. The storm has hurricane force winds but its energy is being rapidly redistributed from a cyclonic pattern (a hurricane is a cyclone) to a frontal pattern (a hurricane is not a front). Either way, somebody's gonna lose themselves' a trailer. In Newfoundland. Maybe.
Lisa, still in the eastern Atlantic, is now a tropical storm, as predicted. But, the next several days have a great deal of uncertainty regarding Lisa's direction of movement and intensity. I'm thinking Lisa will not be a any time over the next four days, but…
gregladen | September 21, 2010It is very common, across the U.S., for science teachers to dread the "evolution" unit that they teach during life science class.
As they approach the day, and start to prepare the students for what is coming, they begin to hear the sarcastic remarks from the creationist students. When the day to engage the evolution unit arrives, students may show up in the classroom with handouts from anti-science sites like Answers in Genesis, to give to their friends. They may carry a bible to the lab station and read it instead of doing the work. If there is a parent conference night around that…
gregladen | September 20, 2010The latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach -- the new journal aspiring to promote accurate understanding and comprehensive teaching of evolutionary theory for a wide audience -- is now published. Devoted to human evolution and edited by William E. H. Harcourt Smith, the issue (volume 3, number 3) features Tom Gundling on "Human Origins Studies: A Historical Perspective"; Kieran P. McNulty on "Apes and Tricksters: The Evolution of Diversification of Humans' Closest Relatives"; Harcourt-Smith on "The First Hominins and the Origins of Bipedalism"; David S. Strait on "The Evolutionary…
gregladen | September 20, 2010The National Research Council first met on this day in 1916, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, or "Triple-A S") first met on this day in 1848.
gregladen | September 20, 2010The winners of the Stick Science cartoon contest, sponsored by Florida Citizens for Science, were announced on September 19, 2010. "The basic concept here," as FCFS's Brandon Haught explained in announcing the contest, "is to draw a cartoon that educates the public about misconceptions the average person has about science." And lack of artistic ability was no barrier: "all entries must be drawn using stick figures. This is about creative ideas, not artistic ability."
Story here
gregladen | September 20, 2010There is a reasonably high probability that tropical storm force winds from what is now Hurricane Igor will affect the Maritime provinces in Canada. Look for that to start happening Tuesday and later. Igor could actually be weaker than a hurricane is supposed to be (or close to it) over the next few hours, technically, but is still organized like a hurricane and is expected to restrengthen one more time before being absorbed into the extrapolar system.
Meanwhile, say hi to Lisa.
Lisa does not exist yet, but at present a zone of low pressure and storminess 400 miles west of Cape Verde…