pharyngula

Here's this week's "Ask a scienceblogger" question: How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically? I don't know if you can handle the truth, but here it is… Elves. And…

Here's this week's "Ask a scienceblogger" question: How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically? I don't know if you can handle the truth, but here it is… Connect the…

Here's this week's "Ask a scienceblogger" question: How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically? I don't know if you can handle the truth, but here it is… You know I'm a…

Here's this week's "Ask a scienceblogger" question: How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically? I don't know if you can handle the truth, but here it is… That…

Perhaps Lindsay doesn't realize it, but she has data that pinpoint the date of the Singularity. Or the Rapture. Whatevs.

My kids like these energy drinks that are so popular nowadays—so it's useful to learn what is in Red Bull. It looks like I won't have to slap that can out of their hands next time I catch the whippersnappers drinking it (although I may have to give them a lecture about being thrifty—we fogies have…

Via Coturnix, here's an extremely depressing resignation letter from a public school teacher. I've seen this kind of thing a few times now: our problem is that the public schools are being treated as little factories, where you push kindergarten kids in at one end, and a dozen years later an adult…

I'm a bit stunned, people. I set up my DonorsChoose challenge to raise money for teachers with a goal of $2000, and we gave ourselves two weeks to raise that much. It's the second day of the fundraiser, and my readers have contributed $3,967.80, and fully funded 7 of the 12 proposals. Seriously, I'…

I can't bear listening to myself, so someone else will have to tell me how big a fool I made of myself on the podcast interview. (You usual suspects don't even need to bother to listen to it to tell me how big a fool I am—just go ahead and get it out of your system.)

I've been listening to Bethell vs. Mooney on Science Friday, and I've come to one conclusion: I really need to slap Ira Flatow. Repeatedly. And maybe kick him a few times, too. He was playing right into Bethell's hands. Bethell was rambling and vague, and he went on and on, and Flatow fed into it.…

Do I have any readers in R'lyeh who can ship me a few gallons? (via Blue Glow)

He must be one of those very abstract types who never looks at data, doesn't understand statistics, and has never heard of the word "normalized." In a post that is a microcosmic analog of the whole Intelligent Design paradigm, Dembski completely bungles an analysis of Google searches to conclude…

The diagram above shows the early cleavages of the embryo of the scaphopod mollusc, Dentalium. You may notice a few peculiarities: the first cleavage is asymmetric, producing a cell called AB and a larger sister cell, CD. Before the second division, CD makes a large bulge, called a polar lobe,…

Maternal effect genes are a special class of genes that have their effect in the reproductive organs of the mutant; they are interesting because the mutant organism may appear phenotypically normal, and it is the progeny that express detectable differences, and they do so whether the progeny have…

We have received most excellent news from Seed: notice that challenge bar to the left, where I (and many other science bloggers) are asking you to donate to public education? We're doing great—my challenge has gathered over a thousand dollars so far, all to help out teachers and schoolkids—but now…

I'm sorry, BigDumbChimp, but you've been beaten to this discovery: God Hates Shrimp. It's old news. It's also wrong in its emphasis. I read Leviticus… Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you. …and what I see is that God hates cephalopods, the bastard.

Darksyde has a summary of the science panel in which he says nice things about us speakers…but I'm sure that what everyone will want to see is the link to a transcript of Wes Clark's speech.

Octopus and diver, Puget Sound Anderson RC (2006) Results of the giant Pacific octopus census in Puget Sound, 2000-2005. Tentacle 14:35-36. This photograph and more are available at Sky and Sea Photography.

Maybe I was too hard on Harun Yahya. As Wesley writes, plagiarism and theft are common practices among creationists—it's even encouraged. Authors such as George Macready Price and Henry M. Morris assembled many of the arguments together in various books. And, as I said, nobody cares if you steal it…

Here's a gorgeous educational site, The Virtual Fossil Museum. It has a nicely organized set of fossil galleries, all intended for use by the education community, and all appropriately credited. This is the way it is supposed to be done. Unfortunately, that's not the way creationists do it. Here's…

Browsing the funny pages this week, I see some hope that cephalopods will eventually displace talking cats from their preeminent spot in the comic pantheon. I think this one has to be for Chris…

The scienceblogs crew is pushing a new charity for the next few weeks: an outfit called DonorsChoose, which collects funding requests from teachers and tries to match them up with people willing to pass along a few dollars. They have a long, long list of teachers looking for help in their…

Lots of stuff about the intersection of science and politics in the US today—here are three things to read over breakfast. Bruce Sterling suggests that American science is experiencing creeping Lysenkoism, and reports that "the Bush administration has systematically manipulated scientific inquiry…

A reader (who will be nameless, unless he wants to confess in the comments) sent me a chunk of Coulter's book, Godless. It's worse than I feared. It contains the usual stock creationist crap presented at a rapid pace, full of the usual bald assertions of outright lies, intentional…

I guess that since it's Reed Cartwright, we'll accept him into the ranks.

Leading in to the Carlin-Coulter cage match on Leno tonight, we've also got Phil Plait on the SciFi Channel. It should be a cheerful evening, since he's discussing the end of the world. I'm watching it now, and I will say that Phil is adorable…but the show is awfully cheesy, sprinkled with clips…

Lots of people have been telling me to ignore Ann Coulter: that she says outrageous things to get attention, that addressing her antics is exactly what she wants, that the best thing to do is to starve her of the publicity. I sympathize, I really do. It's giving her and her kind far too much credit…

No, I don't have Ann Coulter's book yet (it is so annoying to want something cheap and easily accessible, yet have to refuse to actually pay for it on general principles), but since she's hammering the talk show circuit heavily, we're getting dribs and drabs of her amazing knowledge of biology.…

That Stephen Hawking guy is saying that we need to get colonies out there in space to preserve the human race. I'm a space opera fan, I think space exploration is a worthy endeavor, but I have to admit that watching Chris Clarke whomp on Hawking is very entertaining, and I agree. Hawking has it all…

Friday, at 3:15 ET, on NPR's Science Friday…it's Mooney vs. Bethell. Bethell doesn't stand a chance.