pharyngula

John Timmer of Ars Technica gets a prominent write-up in Nature. It's good stuff wrapped around a slightly silly question — can blogging replace science journalism? The answer, of course, is no, but the two media can play complementary roles, I think.

Not all of my email consists of metaphorical daggers hurled my way. I actually get a fair amount of praise and comments about how I've won people over to the cause of atheism — I just tend not to post those, because of my awesome modesty and because you all know this stuff, anyway. This one is…

Even though my wife does think it makes our car a billboard for godless liberal scientism, I may have to add this one to the collection.

Well, gang, the voting is closed on our first Survivor event. I would never have expected such a dramatic turn-around. From out of nowhere, John Kwok surged out of fifth place in the field — I had written him off as a bad bet — to rally astonishingly by doing one simple thing: commenting. He…

Several new and spectacular cephalopod fossils from 95 million years ago have been found in Lebanon. "Spectacular" is not hyperbole — these specimens have wonderfully well-preserved soft parts, mineralized in fine-grained calcium phosphate, and you can see…well, take a look. (Click for larger…

You've all heard the news by now, I'm sure: the pope was traveling to Africa, a continent plagued with widespread sexually transmitted diseases adn also, coincidentally, one of the few places where Catholicism is growing, and he dispensed a little medical advice: Speaking to reporters on his way to…

I find the results of this study to be simply sad, but entirely unsurprising. An examination of dying cancer patients showed that the most religious were also the most likely to ask for very aggressive medical care. The patients who leaned the most heavily on their faith were nearly three times…

The Australian government is trying to censor the internet. They have a blacklist of over 1300 sites — to be expanded to 10,000 — to which it is illegal to link, with violations costing you as much as $11,000 a day. This doesn't work, except as part of a package of tools for oppressing citizens. I…

So true.

He's going to be St Catherine's in St Paul on 8 April. I may have to make the trip out there myself, even though these mid-week round-trip drives are killers. Anyway, if you want to go, you need to reserve tickets (which are free) ahead of time — follow the link for more information.

Seed Media has just announced the formation of Scienceblogs Brazil, to meet all of your needs for science in Portuguese. It looks good, and some of the posts have been translated into English, so even those of us with limited language skills can browse part of it. There is no word yet if the "Most…

Today, we have to assess whether any of our contestants have met the immunity challenge. Very few have tried; I'm afraid this is very much like Monty Python's Upper Class Twit of the Year contest, in which the competitors are lucky to stumble onto the field at all. Here are all the attempts to…

Hovind's followers, however, are still treading the long and candy-sprinkled road of self-delusion. I've been sent a letter pleading for help in his case — they want to take it to the Supreme Court. I will be very surprised if this gets anywhere. Greetings from Adrienne Gilbert in Kentucky... An…

*/ The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c Stem Sell Daily Show Full EpisodesImportant Things w/ Demetri Martin Political HumorJim Cramer

The Globe and Mail has a pointless poll, no doubt inspired by l'affaire Goodyear. Do you believe in evolution? Yes 48% 4199 votes No 50% 4360 votes I won't answer a question about my religion 2% 170 votes Spank that puppy, won't you? It's a stupid question, anyway.

We other Americans, the ones down south in the United States, have been wrestling with this problem for a long time. Sometimes, you just get flaming idiots in charge of important bureaucracies. Sometimes they even get handed the keys to the administration of important scientific institutions. And…

A while back, I got a letter from a student at the University of Texas named Mark, who had been confronted by a group of those typically hysterical anti-choice people on campus. They made an assertion I've heard many times, and he asked me to counter it. So there I was, walking along the University…

And with that hypocritical announcement, the Intelligent Design creationist blog bans DaveScot, for writing a comment that points out that anti-evolutionists have a history of using Christian ideas to advocate racism. I am greatly amused.

I mentioned before that we're a bit full up on commenting kooks, and it's time to purge a few. Here's a short list of our contestants this week, a few of the obnoxious people who are lurking about in the comments right now. We're going to get rid of some of them, one at a time. Barb Alan Clarke…

Pat Boone had a dream. He dreamed that he was president. It would be our nightmare; after going on and on about the usual far right anti-tax tripe and militaristic fantasies, he gets to education. As a man who intended to be a teacher myself, I issued an ultimatum to the teachers' unions: They…

In yet another instance in the chronicles of religious pareidolia, people are flocking to gaze in awe at the wrinkles and bumps in a seat cushion They say it looks like Jesus. Does that make Jesus a butthead? Antoinette, an 82-year-old parishioner, said the face was a "divine phenomenon" as tears…

Feel in need of a purgative? Watch this video of Michael Shermer interviewing a creation "scientist" at the Creation Museum. I could only make it halfway through before closing it in disgust. Ugh. Georgia Purdom is a blind weasel: for example, she berates Christian evolutionists for "interpreting…

In this new tradition, my wife picks out some image that isn't a squid and has me post it — I think it's maybe to broaden my interests, and occasionally to send me a message. Oh, right! It's our wedding anniversary! It's been 29 years of fidelity for a pair of infidels so far.

Hey, gang — help me out with this list of states with statewide grassroots organizations working to maintain and improve science education. I've found lists at Citizens for Science groups and NCSE, and here's the roster so far (all the states in blue above have something in place): Alabama…

Those creationists sure do love their hypocrisy: on one day, they whine about their version of "academic freedom", which means demanding that creationism be given equal time with legitimate science in the classroom, and the next they throw a hissy fit because someone they disagree with is speaking…

The freethinkers of Montgomery, Alabama are looking to grow. There are lots of you out there, I'm sure — get in touch, link up, build!

This is ridiculous. New Scientist abruptly yanked an article from their web site because they "received a complaint about the contents of the story." Hmmm. Makes a fellow really want to see what horror was wreaked in the censored item: Pornography? Personal defamation? Embarrassing revelation? Alas…

I just got home at this absurdly late hour, after an exceptionally miserable long day of screwed-up air travel, but I'm still going to try to get up by 9a to listen to Atheists Talk radio.