pharyngula

The plot: Imagine that people have invented a "cure" for mutants, which is housed in an isolated building, guarded by swarms of soldiers armed with guns that fire hypodermic needles loaded with the cure and bombs that send clouds of cure-shrapnel flying through the air. Now imagine that you are the…

A new Planned Parenthood clinic is opening in Woodbury, a Minneapolis St Paul suburb. It's a small place without a doctor on staff (a PA or nurse practitioner will be available), and it's primarily there to dispense contraceptives and information. No big deal, right? It's a useful service to have…

It's been a while, but here's the noise I've been listening to for the last half hour: Lord Death's Counting Song Shoko Asahara Wanna get next to you Rose Royce Stranger Inside Boondogs James Bond Theme Moby Drunken Lullabies Flogging Molly Laenge siden (Long Ago) Sorten Muld Macary…

Gary Farber has a round-up of the reviews of X-Men: The Last Stand. My two boys and I are going to go see it tonight (yes, it's true—we have a first-run movie on opening day here in the little town of Morris). Skatje is going to be working the refreshment stand at the theater, so it's going to be a…

One of the most evocative creatures of the Cambrian is Anomalocaris, an arthropod with a pair of prominent, articulated appendages at the front of its head. Those things are called great appendages, and they were thought to be unique to certain groups of arthropods that are now extinct. A while…

I'm going to introduce you to either a fascinating question or a throbbing headache in evolution, depending on how interested you are in peculiar details of arthropod anatomy (Mrs Tilton may have just perked up, but the rest of you may resume napping). The issue is tagmosis. The evolutionary…

This is an X-ray of a sick duck with something unusual in its gut. Aaaaah! It's an alien! Or a demon! Or a run-of-the-mill instance of apophenia. The bird rescue center that discovered it is playing it up as an alien for PR purposes (hey, it's California), but we know better, right?

The new "Ask a Science Blogger" question of the week is… "Since they're funded by taxpayer dollars (through the NIH, NSF, and so on), should scientists have to justify their research agendas to the public, rather than just grant-making bodies? NO. No way. The public has no context in which to…

Octopus kaurna Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

Great stuff from Majikthise, Pandagon, and Shakespeare's Sister on this fairly obvious paper (pdf) that argues that the rhythm method kills more embryos than contraceptives. It's straightforward: by avoiding sex during the prime time for ovulation and fertilization, there's a greater likelihood of…

OK, Canadians, 'fess up. I know you guys are so danged nice and polite…this is just an attempt to make your Southern neighbor feel less uniquely stupid, isn't it? You put up some obliging Québécois Inuit Pentecostals to pretend to be as dumb as a Kansas preacher, didn't you? "If the town complains…

Read and discuss: I and the Bird #24 (illustrated!) Skeptics' Circle #35 (hosted by a pseudo-Skeptico…or is it a pseudo-pseudo-Skeptico?) Carnival of the Liberals #13 Or talk about anything you want. The pope's presence annihilates ice cream and tampons. Bill Frist really needs to take a shower…

Some guy has been nattering on for three years without delivering either the promised puppies or stories, and he thinks he deserves a roast? Notice how I am pointedly ignoring him.

…the complete Calvin and Hobbes online. Hell is the fact that this looks like a violation of copyright and probably won't be up for long. (via unfogged)

Well? Has the world ended yet?

This Casciola case in Italy is still going on? I mentioned it a while back, with an ennui-laden tone, I'm afraid—suing the Catholic church to demand they provide evidence for the existence of Jesus is a futile endeavor, I think, and isn't going to change anyone's mind. He also seems to be a bit of…

This story bugs me. It's a heartwarming tale of an inspiring teacher in an inner city school, who gets young kids motivated to learn science. Or does he? These are elementary school kids, so they're young and maybe the most important thing is that some enthusiasm for the subject is instilled…but I…

I have another short piece commissioned by Forbes magazine in one of their special reports. The section is called "Work Is…", and there are some provocative ideas in there. My own article is answering the question, "Do Animals Work?" and as you might guess, the answer is yes. I think I got one of…

Zeno mentions a children's book series that had some impact on him: Danny Dunn! Oh, man, I remember reading through every Danny Dunn book my library had when I was in first and second grade—but the excerpt Zeno includes tells me I shouldn't try revisiting them, ever, lest my disappointment in their…

I saw it first at Virge's place, but Mike Snider is also on the blogroll and I would have gotten to it eventually…but hey, if you're a fan of fossil tetrapods and poetry, here's a treat: a Tiktaalik sonnet. You can also view some drafts of its construction, which is developmentally interesting, I…

Bazell wrote an irritatingly obtuse commentary on Intelligent Design creationism, and I dawdled about expressing my dislike for it…but Tara and Orac and John Pieret and even non-scientific humorists (and I'm sure there are others I've missed) have all chimed in now, so you'd think I could just let…

A reader who has been stymied by TypeKey (I wish I could fix that bug) informs me that mturner, one of the creationists at the ARN message board, thinks he has rebutted my post on whale limb evolution, claiming that Thewissen et al. have actually found evidence for Intelligent Design creationism.…

The newest edition of the Tangled Bank is now up at Science and Politics .

I almost feel sorry for Nancy Pearcey. Almost. Nick Matzke shreds the poor woman, and I felt a faint twinge of sympathy…but such ignorance and mendacity deserves the treatment she gets.

My smarty-pants daughter got accepted to UMM…she's going to be starting at the university at the way too young age of 16 15*. *She insists she'll only be 15, which is technically true…but her sixteenth birthday will fall in the first week of classes.

Forget the Sermon on the Mount. Forget the Golden Rule. Turning the other cheek? That's for sissies. Real Christians are militaristic thugs. This is what happens when you build your beliefs on a foundation of nonsense, and refuse to examine it critically—you end up as willing prey to the next evil…

Hang on, close your eyes, don't click on the "Read on…" link at the bottom of this post; I've put an obscene picture of explicit prurience below the fold. It might arouse you to engage in wild monkey-sex in your workplace, or worse, inspire horrific violence. Don't view it if you are a sensitive…

I just learned (via John Lynch) about a paper on cetacean limbs that combines developmental biology and paleontology, and makes a lovely argument about the mechanisms behind the evolution of whale morphology. It is an analysis of the molecular determinants of limb formation in modern dolphins,…

My metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology is all discombobulated now—Dave has found an artificial enhancement of the spectacle perch that implies that perhaps this is not the best of all possible worlds.

It seems that Skeptico has a copy cat—a guy who goes around posting under the name Skeptico, and who has started a blog of his own at skeptico.blogspot.com—but I don't think anyone will confuse the two. This new Skeptico is an evolution denier and global warming denier, and is your typical run-of-…