Links for 2012-01-31

Science is complex. There's no getting around that. But it's essential that everyone engage constructively with it. That's particularly true of the political and business leaders in Davos, whose decisions on science-based subjects can influence everything from the well being of our children to the future of the planet. It's vital that those decisions are taken from an informed position and on rational grounds. The challenge that science faces is that we live in a world where it's de rigueur to know your Shakespeare, Molière or Goethe, but quite all right to be proudly ignorant of Faraday, Pasteur or Einstein. It hasn't always been that way, and it doesn't have to be that way. But right now, there's a trend in society towards scientific apathy, and even antagonism. This is dangerous for us all and it's incumbent on the scientific community to address the issue.

I ask the question anyway to highlight this point for the benefit of young-earth creationists and others who claim that the Bible contains scientific knowledge more advanced than human beings had achieved in the time these texts were composed. If that were so, we should expect them to include other sorts of more advanced knowledge, such as in the realms of medicine, health, and hygiene. Yet you will look in vain in the pages of the Bible for a recommendation that people cover their mouth and nose when they sneeze and cough. You will find mentions of strong drink, but nothing about distilling the alcohol and using it to clean wounds or disinfect anything at all. Nor will you find the Bible's authors recommending that drinking water be boiled to kill dangerous bacteria.

What is a goon? In 2005 John Cheney, then the coach of the Temple University basketball team, sent in "seldom used" forward Nehemiah Ingram in order to give hard fouls and send a message. While Ingram is long gone, are there still players like him? What players pick up quick fouls in bunches, and what if they actually played starter minutes? To investigate, I took all players in the "Big 6" basketball conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac 12, and SEC), and found a small group of players that may qualify as "goons".