Links for 2010-05-15

"From local school board races to Congressional campaigns, an effort is under way to push scientists out of the lab and onto the stump.

Through a series of Web-based seminars and organizing efforts on university campuses, Scientists & Engineers for America (SEA) has been luring professors and others with advanced degrees into political life. The nonprofit group's underlying premise is that public policy debates often lack the direct input of scientists and engineers, who would bring knowledge and problem-solving skills to topics as diverse as school curriculum development, transportation and energy. "

"Ophelia Benson continues to tangle with the silly and unjustifiable argument by Sam Harris that science can produce morality. Harris has shown himself to be beyond the realm of reason on this matter (and perhaps others), but if it brings her joy, I say mazel tov. At long last, someone is deploying against Harris what may be the most powerful argument against using theism to justify morality: Euthyphro's dilemma."

"Coaches seem to roughly use the rule of thumb that a player with n fouls should sit until n/6 of the game has passed. Allowing a player to play with 3 fouls in the first half is a particular taboo. On rare occasions when this taboo is broken, the announcers will invariably say something like, "They're taking a big risk here; you really don't want him to get his 4th."

Is the rule of thumb reasonable? No! "

"Yesterday I considered how long it would take a human to freeze in space. However, I considered only what would happen if you were not absorbing any radiation from nearby sources. Today we consider what happens if you do have hot objects nearby. Namely, the sun. The sun provides a lot of energy, even as far away from it as we are. It keeps the earth at a comfortable ~20 C, good for us humans, and provides the energy for life on earth, also good for us humans. That's a lot of energy. So maybe the sun can keep you alive when you're adrift in space. Or at least keep you warm. I still think you'll asphyxiate."

"Hero worship at the expense of historical accuracy? Surely not. It has been portrayed as the story of the lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his day despite the hindering efforts of those ranged against him, saving thousands of lives.

On the one side was John Harrison, the self-taught clockmaker from a humble Yorkshire background. On the other, the 18th Century's wealthy elite charged with the task of presiding over the problem of longitude - the knotty task of working out how far west or east a ship has sailed.

Harrison's story has been the subject of a best-selling book and an award-winning film but science historians believe that the true account of how the problem of longitude was solved has yet to be told. "