Search Content

Displaying results 81251 - 81300 of 87950

Links for 2010-01-20

james_nicoll: In the spirit of Christopher Wren "How much would it cost to rebuild Port-au-Prince with the infrastructure a modern, first-world city should have? Large sections of it will have to be rebuilt so it might as well be done right." (tags: economics politics world blogs james-nicoll) Hester Prynne, Schmester Prynne, or Sarah Palin's Ressentiment Clubhouse « Easily Distracted "I think many people, even Sarah Palin's devotees, might concede under pressure that having a President who has a strong baseline knowledge about the world, about American history, about economics, and so…

Links for 2010-01-13

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China "These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to…

Links for 2009-12-11

Blu-ray Review: "Living Fireplace Volume 2" | Popdose "Yes, I've written a review of a Blu-ray disc that features little more than a burning fireplace. I know it's a little weird. Here's something even weirder: Everyone has their favorite television holiday special, right? Mine is the Yule Log." (tags: review television video holiday silly popdose blogs) Why was Snape such a Bad Teacher?! "Snape, as a student, apparently used the same textbook that he is teaching with now. When he was a student, he figured out all sorts of small improvements to make better potions more easily. He KNOWS…

Links for 2009-10-23

An Inside Look at the Physics GRE | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine "I am sworn to secrecy about a lot of the details, for good reason, but let me try to tell you from my perspective as an exam writer how to study for this dreaded event in your physics education." (tags: science physics academia education blogs cosmic-variance) Living Like Fitzgerald « Whatever "To flag my own genre here, "Six cents a word," should sound vaguely familiar to science fiction and fantasy writers, as that's the current going rate at the "Big Three" science fiction magazines here in the US: Analog (which…

Links for 2009-10-06

Career Advice: I'm Sorry I Published - Inside Higher Ed "Given that it seems to be common wisdom that publications are helpful, two anecdotes I heard in the past week or so scare me a little bit. Both anecdotes are about departments that were searching or are planning a search. Both departments see their department as mainly a teaching department, but they do have research requirements (I think 3/3 or 3/2 loads). Also, according to both anecdotes, these departments consider publications in top journals as counting against a candidate!" (tags: academia jobs philosophy humanities stupid)…

links for 2009-04-22

Pop Quiz - Advanced Placement - Education Life - Interactive Quiz - A.P. Economics - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com I got 14/18, which isn't all that bad if you consider that I never took economics at any level. (tags: economics business quiz) Think Progress » TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress To Hold Impeachment Hearings Against Judge Jay Bybee "ThinkProgress is sending a petition to the members of the House Judiciary Committee â where impeachment articles are drawn â imploring them to act now to remove Bybee from public office. Please join our efforts! Jay Bybee has neither the legal nor…

Global Warming at Boskone: Not That Awful

Sunday morning at Boskone, I moderated a panel on "Global Warming: Facts and Myths, (and all that jazz)", featuring James Morrow, Mark Olson, and Vince Docherty. As noted previously, I was a little worried that this would turn out to be absolutely awful in one of a couple of obvious ways, but it wound up being pretty good, all things considered. The panelists were all pretty much on board with my request to try to keep from being soul-crushingly depressing, and a lot of the discussion focused on things that can be done to mitigate the worst effects of global warming. The whole thing was…

Closed Notebook Science

Over at Biocurious, Philip is thinking about digital notebooks, and has found a system that works for him: My computer algebra system of choice is Mathematica, and because of Mathematica's notebook system, it became extremely straightforward to include sufficient commentary among the analysis and calculations. The important "working" details of my day are recorded on paper that is heavy on scribbles, numbers, and comments on the minutiae of a particular instrument or measurement, followed by references to specific data files collected that day. The Mathematica notebooks where I visualize and…

links for 2008-12-18

Barack Obama Defeats Barack Hussein Obama | The Onion - America's Finest News Source "Though few had heard of the freedom-hating extremist before, Barack Hussein Obama quickly garnered attention in several key regions of the country, and saw his popularity buoyed by conservative talk-radio hosts, mass e-mail forwards, and thousands of Americans riding on the backs of flatbed trucks." (tags: politics US silly onion) PhDinHistory: Social Darwinism or Meritocracy in the History Profession? "Would you like to know where you will end up in the history profession? I have discovered a formula…

links for 2008-12-09

Hope in a box: The A.V. Club's guide to holiday gifts for the new era of good feelings | The A.V. Club "Words like "need" or "necessary" lose all meaning around Christmas, even when the economy is collapsing. For example, does anyone actually need a flexible plastic case to prevent their bananas from getting bruised? Of course not. " (tags: silly onion gadgets) Fafblog! the whole world's only source for Fafblog. So I'm headin out to the store to get some popcorn when a snowstorm hits town an freezes me in a block a ice. A coupla thousand years later I get thawed out by some friendly…

When You're Up for Tenure, You're Never Paranoid Enough

It's weird how blogs go in cycles-- I'll blog nothing but science for a while, and then flip into Academic Mode, as I have this week, and blog about nothing but tenure issues and academic politics. But, that just seems to be how things work, and the stories catching my eye recently are all about academia. Such as this disturbing tale from Baylor. It seems that they're trying to boost their status in academia, but the latest attempt has caused a little controversy: That’s because, several university officials said, senior administrators have come to believe that departmental standards were not…

I am not defending creationism, I'm defending academic freedom

Moi? Mentioned in the Waco Tribune? Defending a creationist? I knew that remark would come back to bite me. At least the author misspelled my name, so my shame won't spread too far (except, unfortunately, that I seem to be more widely cited as "Meyers" than "Myers"). Anyway, it's a letter by Robert Marks' lawyer, complaining about Baylor's decision to shut down Marks' "evolutionary informatics" web page, and I'm mentioned as supporting him. In Minnesota, where I live, a well-known biologist and faithful believer in evolution, Professor P.Z. Meyers, has followed what Baylor has done and called…

Theory of Blogging Faculty

Over at evolgen, RPM is wondering about the disciplinary distribution of bloggers: I have an intuition, backed up by absolutely no evidence, that my particular area of interest (evolutionary genetics) has more faculty blogging about stuff related to their research than other fields. This is most likely the result of my interest in those blogs, and, hence, my increased awareness of them compared to blogs of faculty in other research areas. [... list of half-a-dozen blogs...] That's not a lot of blogs, but it's also not a huge field. How does that compare with faculty who blog in your research…

The Difference Between Observations and Conclusions

The tagline on my old blog was "Observation are gold; hypotheses, silver; and conclusions, bronze."  This reflects my philosophy, that observation is the fundamental source of all knowledge.  The father you go from your raw observations, the more likely you are to make a mistake. To illustrate: When I was about 14, one day my sister came to me and asked me if I could take some links out of her bicycle chain.   For some perverse reason, I had this habit of trying to make a lesson out of everything for my little sisters.   I knew that it was possible to remove links, but I also knew that it…

Biodefense Controversies

This is another upsetting bit of news about our government.  The href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/29/AR2006072900592_pf.html">Washington Post is reporting laboratory being built in Ft. Detrick, Maryland.  Known as the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC), the new facility will conduct title="Wikipedia link" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_warfare" rel="tag">biological warfare research "within what many arms-control experts say is a legal gray zone, skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the…

First, Do No Harm, Part II

I haven't done much frank political blogging since moving to ScienceBlogs.  But this is just too provocative to pass up. href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1826479,00.html"> href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1826479,00.html">Afghanistan close to anarchy, warns general · Nato commander's view in stark contrast to ministers' · Forces short of equipment and 'running out of time' Richard Norton-Taylor Saturday July 22, 2006 The Guardian The most senior British military commander in Afghanistan yesterday described the situation in…

Depression and Political Campaigns Don't Mix

The Washington Post has a mildly interesting href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201952.html">article about Douglas M. Duncan, who just dropped out of the gubernatorial race in Maryland. Reportedly, he was diagnosed as having depression earlier in the week, then decided to withdraw. "It's time for me to focus on my health" The decision was taken as an opportunity to discuss the problem posed by the illness, the stigma, and the difficulties posed by the decision to go public with the disclosure.   "There is an enormous amount of stress to…

DNA Barcoding is intellectually bankrupt. But it works.

One of the most vociferous debates in taxonomy is over a catchy-sounding concept called DNA barcoding.  Since nearly all organisms carry a version of the COI gene in the mitochondrion, the idea is that the DNA sequence of the gene can serve as a standard identification marker.  A barcode, of sorts.  Of course, the practice only works if species have unique COI sequences.  Which they do, much of the time, and the barcoders consequently have been successful in garnering research money and churning out publications. So what's the problem? There are two major objections.  The first is…

Premeditated Nature Photography: Gliding Ants

As I've gotten more serious about photography, the single biggest change I've made is to premeditate my photo sessions. Instead of haphazardly shooting whichever subjects happen across my lens- my habit during my first few years with a camera- I tend now to have a particular image in mind well in advance of a shoot.  The timing and location of a session, the equipment, and the lighting are all planned accordingly. Cephalotes atratus, the gliding ant. Panama, 2007. This gliding ant in mid-air is a good example.  A small insect in free fall is not the sort of thing one happens to point-and…

Stephen Jay Gould

I completely missed this, because I was distracted: Jerry Coyne celebrated the life of Stephen Jay Gould this past weekend — Gould's birthday was 10 September. I did not know that. It's the same as my wife's! I knew there was something in the stars that attracted me to her. Of course, it's going to be awkward now when every year on 10 September I wake up, turn to my wife, give her a kiss, and announce "Happy Stephen Jay Gould's birthday, dear! Let's celebrate by reading some of his essays!" In the spirit of Coyne's essay, I will say that I greatly appreciated the man. I didn't know him well…

Unhurried summer mornings

Abel, host of the next edition of Scientiae, has asked us how we balance our summer "musts" and "needs" (work and play). I think I've come up with a personally satisfactory answer to that question: lazy summer mornings. During the academic year, mornings are a blur of getting everyone breakfast, dressed, and out the door. Sometimes Minnow would rather stay at home and play, but those 9 am classes and meetings won't wait for a toddler. In the summer that time pressure is off. Rather than leaping out of bed with alarm clock, we let the dogs whining and our body's inclinations do the trick. We…

A whole new world of quacks

My wife and I have three kids, and while that pregnancy and childbirth thing is way, way back in the past, we did have some strong opinions after our experience. Midwives were wonderful, we had only the best and most positive experiences with them, and they were the indispensable supporters we were glad to have there. The doctors…meh. They didn't seem to be involved much, and it was rather strange when they'd come by after all the work was done and sign the birth certificate, as if they were taking credit. But my wife had relatively uneventful, uncomplicated deliveries (the second was a bit…

What Steve Jobs did really well

Jobs is stepping down from his leadership role at Apple, as has been all over the news for the last several days, and I had to say that he's someone I've really admired. Not just as a fully committed member of the Cult of Mac, but because I've really liked his style. Here's a video of Jobs addressing a rather insulting question…and answering it amazingly well. He doesn't get defensive, he doesn't defend the details, he just steps back and explains what it means to have the whole picture in his head. And then his management style was legendarily combative and critical. Jonah Lehrer has an…

Today's side effects are tomorrow's therapy*

This whole "cosmeceutical" thing probably shouldn't be in "Medicine & Health" but we did call your attention to today's news item back on 27 July 2007: Drug maker Allergan announced at a stock analyst's meeting this afternoon that it is filing a New Drug Application (NDA) for a cosmetic form of its anti-glaucoma drug bimatoprost (Lumigan®) as a result of it side effect in increasing the number and thickness of eyelashes. Allergan (nyse: AGN) has completed its clinical trial program demonstrating that its patented formulation of bimatoprost, when applied directly to the base of the…

Natural carcinogen and kidney toxin found in 12 dietary supplements

Apologies in advance for just this quick link, but the topic is very timely given our highly-read post last week suggesting the repeal/modification of DSHEA, the primary US legislation directing the weak oversight of the dietary supplement industry. Herbal Science International, Inc. and FDA informed consumers and healthcare professionals of a nationwide recall of twelve dietary supplements that contain ephedra, aristolochic acid or human placenta because they may present a serious health hazard to consumers [press release]. FDA has long regarded dietary supplements containing ephedra, a…

Jeff Tweedy joins New York Times migraine blog

[Note: Mr. Tweedy's first post, Shaking It Off, went up on 5 March 2008] Yesterday, London-based blogger Mo at Neurophilosophy alerted us to a new blog at the New York Times website entitled, Migraine: Perspectives on a Headache. A notable cadre of prominent migraine sufferers have started blogging about their experiences and answering reader questions. Bloggers include author Siri Hustvedt, author-journalist Paula Kamen, German neurologist and psychiatrist Dr Klaus Podoll, and noted Columbia professor and author Dr Oliver Sacks. The blog description is as follows: More than 28 million…

Great science, great literature

The weekend version of the Wall Street Journal (sorry, sub reqd) included John Gribbins' list of influential science books that also make for good literature. Gribbin trained originally as an astrophysicist and recently finished writing his 100th book. The list: 1. On the Loadstone And Magnetic Bodies - By William Gilbert - 1600 William Gilbert of Colchester was the first person to set out clearly in print the essence of the scientific method of testing hypotheses by experiment. He also made discoveries in the field of magnetism that were not improved on for two centuries. 2. Micrographia -…

Last call: JAMA medical education issue

As if everyone doesn't have enough deadlines right now, 1 March is the deadline for submission of medical education manuscripts to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The call for papers was issued in December and accepted manuscripts will appear in the 5 September 2007 issue: Practicing physicians aspire to be good, whether this attribute is defined with respect to intellectual skills, manual skills, or professional standards. In medicine, it may indeed be nobler to teach others to be good (in any of these senses). However, doing so is arguably far more difficult. Those…

Bring it on, Al

Albert Mohler, that deluded Baptist zealot, has written an analysis of the New Atheism that puts evolution front and center. I actually sort of agree with him — these New/Gnu Atheists are predominantly scientific atheists who consider scientific explanations to be far better and more satisfying and most importantly, more true than religious explanations. Mohler lards his summary with gloppy accusations of "worldview" and "dogma" and other such buzzwords that religious apologists use as insults when applied to atheists but virtues when applied to theologians, but otherwise, it's a fair cop.…

Sir John Crofton, TB combination therapy pioneer - a long and admirable life

Denise Gellene in the New York Times is reporting this morning that Scottish physician, Sir John Crofton, passed away on 3 November at age 97. Crofton is best known for implementing a combination drug regimen to treat tuberculosis, the insidious lung infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis which decimated the US early last century and still kills 2 million a year worldwide. The concept of using drug combinations to increase individual drug potency and slow the emergence of resistance is now a mainstay of therapeutic approaches for cancer, HIV, and other infectious diseases. Gellene…

By what name do you refer to this blog?

Before my colleague DrugMonkey gives me more grief about not yet having a CafePress shop (theirs here) to sell and give away paraphernalia related to this blog, I have a question for you, the always erudite and good-looking reader of this humble blog. You see, I don't know exactly what text to put on T-shirts, coffee mugs, and thongs, that properly reflect the name recognition - dare I say, "brand" - of this blog. When I first started the blog on 15 December 2005, I thought that Terra Sigillata was a great name and a great metaphor for the natural product medicines I try to write about…

What should Gore do at the Democratic convention?

Word is Al Gore is getting a prime speaking slot on the final night of the Democratic Convention. Those of us concerned about climate change, or even the role of science in presidential politics and governance in general, should welcome this news, right? Maybe not, if you pay attention to the polls. At least, that's Matt "Framing Science" Nisbet's contention. I would like to disagree with him, but want to spend a few minutes examining the issues, because I think it's an important one. Matt's point is that, no matter how much good Gore has done in his campaign to enlighten the world about the…

Obama caves in to big oil

It is easy to be disappointed with Barack Obama's recent reversal on the acceptability of new offshore drilling. But unless this is your first presidential election, then you shouldn't be too surprised. Fans of any candidate have to be prepared for a long list of compromises as the November vote approaches and the two sides do what they think they have to do to win over those who don't share their core principles. But I am disappointed nevertheless. Especially as Obama seems to have given his energy policies a fair bit of thought. The fact remains that no new offshore oil will be available…

Few hurricanes for the United States?

Will a warmer world mean fewer hurricanes hitting American soil? Nobody really knows. But a study just published in Geophysical Research Letters is bound to provide fodder for those who enjoy heralding every little morsel of evidence to support their contention that climate change is a communist plot. "Global warming and United States landfalling hurricanes," by Chunzai Wang of NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, connects the dots between wind shear patterns (the difference between high- and low-altitude wind speeds) and long-term trends in storms that hit the U.S. (…

Women presidents: the real story

I had a little fun yesterday -- at my own expense -- by writing what a few commenters correctly identified as an attempt to generate traffic on this blog. The subject was the use of the term "woman president," which I actually do think is poor English, but my motivation wasn't convincing anyone stop using it. It all began over the weekend, when I heard the term on a BBC news broadcast and a day later on NPR. As a former copy editor who had come across the use of "woman" as an adjective before, it continues to grate on my nerves, and I'm not the only one. Not because it's wrong, but just…

Gore takes "swipe" at dithering climatologists.. or does he?

London's often trigger-happy Independent reports today that Al Gore is criticizing climatologists for not reaching a strong consensus on global warming soon enough. That's a switch. The quotes that reporter Jonathan Owen provided, lifted apparently from a forward to a new edition of Gore's Earth in the Balance, may have lost some of their context, however... Here's what the Independent says warrants the headline "Too little, too late: Gore blames scientists for climate crisis" In an extraordinary outburst aimed at America's failure to tackle global warming, Al Gore says that if scientific…

I want to believe

On the wall behind Fox Mulder's desk in the basement of the X-File's version of the FBI headquarters in DC was a poster of a UFO photograph atop the phrase "I Want To Believe." Which pretty much sums up how a lot a people, scientists included, feel about the possibility of life on Mars. So it was no surprise that among the first pieces of news to slip out of the recent American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle was a theory that we have already, in fact, discovered evidence of just that. Now, I'm no organic chemist. I even struggled a little bit in the second half of organic chem back…

The Sky Above the Port

William Gibson revolutionized the world of science fiction with his dark and gritty but somehow impossibly cool cyberpunk novel Neuromancer. Dystopias have always been a staple of science fiction, but in this case the dystopia didn't seem too horribly dystopic. Sure some computer might try to take over the world or some vat-grown ninja might shiv you in a space station, but it would sure be an interesting life even if it was short and weird. Gibson's skill with language helped. The first line of the novel resonates in fiction circles to this day: The sky above the port was the color of…

Cliff's Notes on NCIS.

You know what irritates me? NCIS. Not the Navy's law enforcement agency, the TV show about that organization. I'm generally a fan of Law and Order style police procedurals, but that one just rubs me the wrong way. Why? The fetishize law breaking. Not the law breaking of the criminals they investigate, they themselves go out of their way to break the law. Need a DMV record? Hack their computers, don't bother to actually call and ask them or get a warrant. Suspect not talking? Give the Mossad officer on loan to NCIS fifteen minutes alone with the suspect. A relative accused of murder…

The Begats of Physics

Several places in the Bible, there's long lists of genealogies. The first chapter of Matthew, for instance, looks pretty much like this: ...and Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; and Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias... and so on. There's a point to it. Ancestry and tribal lineage were a big deal to ancient peoples, and lists of genealogy were how people kept track of ancestry. Extreme talent in the sciences is rarely hereditary. Great physicists tend to be extreme outliers and regression to the mean tends to reduce…

Shoot the Moon

There's a comic strip called Non Sequitur. Not one of my favorites, but occasionally there's a pretty good one. Here's an example. We have a kid speculating about firing a gun on the moon. He asks: If you were on the moon, which is a vacuum, and tried to shoot a gun, would it fire? After all combustion needs an atmosphere with oxygen... or does the casing of the bullet create its own atmosphere? If so, the bullet would travel farther in the reduced gravity, but would it travel faster than it does on the earth? Let's take 'em one at a time. First, the bullet would fire. Explosives…

Two Happenings in Physics

Physics is a continuous thing, progressing steadily forward with only rare dramatic leaps. This is not the kind of style that makes for flashy news stories in the popular press. When there are interesting things being reported, they're usually wrong. "Faster than light" laser pulses, quantum teleportation, invisibility cloaks... if it's in the popular press it's probably not anything remotely resembling what they tell you it is. It's like asking me to report on avant-garde fashion. But every once in a while some interesting things pop up. Today two things did. The first is the sun. The…

The TERRY writing challenge -four days left...

Another writing contest I'm affiliated with. And to reiterate, pretty much anything goes as long as it fits (even remotely) in the global issues genre. Plus (plus), there's a category for non-UBC folk, and the insider info is that we don't have an awful lot of those kind of submissions (full details below) * * * Note that the contest deadline has been extended to March 31st, 2007 PDF | JPG There once was a website named Terry1 That wanted to make people wary Of things going on In the world that are wrong Without making it all seem too scary. So this is a call for submissions To write or…

CHAIR bracket: Here We Go, Science Studies Games On

PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS It's on in the, what, Western region? The Science and Technology Studies Region, the Science in Society region, the 'whatever, it's on' region. Almost unbearable tension to start it off. A lot of people asking how Popper got by Wittgenstein in that play-in game to even set up against Kuhn. All we can say is that there was too much early Wittgenstein, not enough late.* And Popper used his poker masterfully down in the paint.* Exciting game. I think that's a lot of folks are keyed up about the play-in games in the last few years. But like Dave, I won'…

50 Coal-Fired Plants Replaced by Wind

The recent AAAS meeting, as has been well-blogged about, was on the theme of sustainability. In parallel, there were a series of sustainability related articles in the accompanying issue of Science that week (9 February 2007). One that caught my eye was about the growth increase in wind power in Europe over the past ten years. (sources [top to bottom]: European Union; P. Runci, PNL; Gallagher et al., Ann. Rwv. Environ. Resour. 3 193 [2006]) Germany had negligible amounts in 1995; they now have close to 50,000 MW from wind "installed." Daniel Clery writes: Concern about carbon emissions…

Puzzle Fantastica #2 Solved!! (sort of): Now to Phase Two

What we have here is an escalation in the nature of the PF. Phase Two of PF#2 is now upon us. Because PF#2 has been solved. But which solution is it? (Ever looking for "D") The first Puzzle was a game, a set of clues to see how people think through evidence, and to see which directions thoughts and inclinations lead people. It shouldn't be confused with science, we should note. We're not imitating "science." We're more interested in knowledge production and reasoning and argument and uses of evidence. Science, as I think most of us know it, provides the best way to deal with those…

Hamster Science, etc.

I've been conferring with the Uncyclopedia recently. Legitimate knowledge, all, it being on the web. What is it? "The Uncyclopedia is the greatest achievement of mankind at the height of his splendor." Here's what I found, a propos to Scienceblogs: The Uncyclopedia on Science: Science (pronouced "throat-warbler-mangrove") is a word used by Professor L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 at a public lecture in Kansas. He spent most of the lecture defining the term but began with: "Science would be a study of knowledge". It is a new religious movement based on knowledge about spiritual matters and was…

It's gonna be open season on abortion doctors in South Dakota!

I'm only a few miles away from the Dakotas — if HB1171 passes, I could put on some hospital scrubs (camouflage, you know), lurk quietly in a hospital, and when some ob-gyn pokes his or her head out, BAM, justifiable homicide. FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to expand the definition of justifiable homicide to provide for the protection of certain unborn children. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA: Section 1. That § 22-16-34 be amended to read as follows: 22-16-34. Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such…

A virtuous intolerance

John Beddington, Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK government, has had enough and isn't going to take it any more. He's urging a more vigorous response to the creeping woo. "We are grossly intolerant, and properly so, of racism. We are grossly intolerant, and properly so, of people who [are] anti-homosexuality... We are not—and I genuinely think we should think about how we do this—grossly intolerant of pseudo-science, the building up of what purports to be science by the cherry-picking of the facts and the failure to use scientific evidence and the failure to use scientific method." "One…

The Difficulty of Teaching Magnets

Rhett over at Dot Physics is not quite happy about the way magnets are being taught to his young niece: The other question came from my niece - who is an extremely bright girl (not sure exactly what grade - maybe 5th). She was at home and didn't have her science textbook, so she asked me the following: "What happens to the electrons in a metal when it becomes a magnet" I always worry about magnet questions because magnets are not that simple to understand at a fundamental level. Sure, there are some things you can do with magnets - especially if you want to do some experiments. However,…