gregladen | January 4, 2008Pope Evicts Astronomers Science is to make way for diplomacy at the Pope's summer residence, with the dismantling of the astronomical observatory that has been part of Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, for more than 75 years. The Pope needs more room to receive diplomats so the telescopes have to go.
The eviction of the astronomers and their instruments, reported by the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, and their removal to a disused convent a mile away, marks the end of a period of intimacy between popes and priest-astronomers that has lasted well over a century.
[source]
gregladen | January 4, 2008The recent release of the NAS tome on evolution, and how evolution is good and creationist is bad, has been picked up by the religious community. It was only a matter of time before they noticed.
From the Ecumenical News International:
The US scientific community has begun 2008 with a strong offensive on evolution in the educational system, which often evokes the ire of advocates of creationism, a belief that humanity, life and the universe were created in their original form by a deity.
[source]
There isn't much else. They don't seem to have much to say yet, other than the idea that…
gregladen | January 4, 2008The National Academy of Sciences has issued the third version of its book "Science, Evolution and Creationism," in which it makes an effort to reconcile belief in god with acceptance of evolution.
The book, available to purchace from the National Academies Press, in very short form in this brochure from the NAS, or free in its entirety as a PDF file (if you sign in to the web site), makes the following points:
The Theory of Evolution Has Been Repeatedly Tested and Confirmed
Creationism Does Not Belong in the Science Classroom
Science and Religion Offer Different Ways of Understanding the…
gregladen | January 4, 2008An update on the hearings.
Florida Citizens for Science intones You made an impression. Congratulations! The hearings seem to have gone well, and the violation of the constitutional rights by christian fundamentalists of public school children of Florida may have been averted.
From tampabay.com:
A committee of teachers, scientists and others worked for months to update the current standards, which were written in 1996 and do not mention the word "evolution." Its revamp has won solid reviews from teachers and scientists. But some conservative Christians object, saying the standards should…
gregladen | January 4, 2008Every year around this time, Pat Robertson has a meeting with god, at which god tells Pat stuff about what is going to happen in the future. After several years of this, we now know for certain that god has no idea of, or no control over, what the future brings.
This is because Pat, who is certainly not lying to us about speaking with god because he himself is a christian and thus of presumed high moral standing, usually conveys information that turns out to be untrue. The nuclear terror attack of 2007 did not materialize. The major hit on major US cities by terrorists did not occur (…
gregladen | January 4, 2008Indeed, in science. The current issue of Science reviews the positions of each of the major presidential candidates in the area of science.
Writing the overview to this collection of views, Jeffrey Mervis states:
Many factors can make or break a U.S. presidential candidate in the 2008 race for his or her party's nomination. The ability to raise millions of dollars is key, as are positions on megaissues such as the Iraq war, immigration, and taxes. Voters also want to know if a candidate can be trusted to do the right thing in a crunch. Science and scientific issues? So far, with the…
gregladen | January 3, 2008Thoughtful analysis on a recent poll regarding Evolution vs. Creationism.
gregladen | January 3, 2008This teaching simulation of the Sodium Potassium pump just showed up in my inbox. Have a look.
gregladen | January 3, 2008Piles of research on alcohol; a little research on obesity.
Having just written Alcohol, Sexual Attraction, Sexual Behavior, and Sexual Performance, about excessive alcohol consumption by male fruit flies and its effects on sexual behavior, I am amused to find this in my newsy inbox:
Gene therapy can reduce long-term drinking among rodents from PhysOrg.com
"An 'experiment of nature' is observed in some individuals of East Asian origin, who are 66 to 99 percent protected against alcoholism," explained Yedy Israel, professor of pharmacological and toxicological chemistry at the Universidad…
gregladen | January 3, 2008
New research published in Science on the origins of multicellular life reveals an interesting pattern. The Cambrian Explosion may have been samosamo.
What is evolution about? Why are there different species, rather than just one (or a few) highly variable species? Is there a close correspondence between the ecological "spaces" that organisms can fit and the adaptations ... represented by morphology, for instance ... of the species that do exist? Can you imagine a different world where instead of having 10,000 species of birds there is only one bird that is highly adaptable in its…
gregladen | January 3, 2008Analyze Everything keeps an eye on energy policy in Kansas, and is happily reporting the following:
Not only did the Kansas Department of Health and the Environment make Kansas the first state to deny the construction of a new power plant based solely on greenhouse emissions, it turns out Kansans are totally on-board.
This is based on a poll showing that 62% of Kansans agree with this policy decision.
In contrast, Republican State Senate President Ste Morris's reaction was "I just can't imagine that would be an accurate poll ... Virtually everyone I've talked to has been concerned about the…
gregladen | January 3, 2008Daily alcohol use by males has been shown to increase sexual arousal and decrease sexual inhibition.
In Fruit Flies.
The current (Jan 2) issue of PLoS ONE includes a paper by Lee et al exploring thye physiological side of changes in sexual behavior under the influence of alcohol, with an eye towards understanding this process in humans, using an animal model.
Alcohol has a strong causal relationship with sexual arousal and disinhibited sexual behavior in humans; however, the physiological support for this notion is largely lacking and thus a suitable animal model to address this issue is…
gregladen | January 3, 2008Is below the fold...
Jan 03
Apple Computer founded, 1977
Jan 03
New Year's Holiday in Scotland
Jan 03
Revolution Day in Upper Volta
Jan 03
Steven Stills is born in Dallas, 1945
Jan 04
George Washington Carver born in Missouri, 1864
Jan 04
Jakob Grimm born, 1785
Jan 04
Wilhelm Beer born, 1797, first astronomer to map Mars
Jan 04
Quadrantid meteor shower (look north)
Jan 04
Independence Day in Burma
Jan 04
Martyrs Day in Zaire
Jan 04
Jazz great Charlie Mingus dies at 57 in Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1979
Jan 04
Joey Hess releases the first issue of DWN, 1999
Jan 04
Jakob…
gregladen | January 3, 2008It is common knowledge that most Americans are creationists, and prefer creationist stories of human origins and evolution in general over the findings of evolutionary biology. But this is only true if you ask the questions a certain way, and a new study shows very different results.
This is a new survey of 1,000 likely voters across the U.S. reported in an editorial in the journal of The Federation of the American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). The survey, reported here, found that most respondents "accepted that life evolved, many accepted that it evolved through natural…
gregladen | January 3, 2008A good way to make Microsoft Office software not interact with other software, thus forcing users to either shun the alternatives or to use only the alternatives would be to start blocking the use of all older file formats. Let's hope Microsoft does not think of this nasty little trick.
"In Service Pack 3 for Office 2003, Microsoft disabled support for many older file formats. If you have old Word, Excel, 1-2-3, Quattro, or Corel Draw documents, watch out! They did this because the old formats are 'less secure', which actually makes some sense, but only if you got the files from some…
gregladen | January 3, 2008Hearings will be held today in Jacksonville and early next week in Miramar Florida to determine if the word "evolution" will be integrated into the school science curriculum.
Information on the Jacksonville Hearing is here:
A public meeting about the new draft of the state science standards is tomorrow. If you are in the area, please take the time to attend in support of sound science education. Those opposed to evolution are sure to be there in force. If you wish to speak at the meeting, you may want to show up early in order to get on the list. If you do go, please report back to us what…
gregladen | January 3, 2008Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will launch the OpenSource search engine on January 7th, according to the Washington Post.
You must know that at at any given moment at Google, there are countless technical experts working on tweaking and refining the Google search engine, to the extent that it is a very good search engine, and it is much more than a search engine.
It makes sense that if you enter the phrase "hypnotic clam sauce" you will get some kind of result that has to to with clams, perhaps in a hypnotic state, with sauce. That is what a search engine does.
With Google, you can also…