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Welcome to the USA Science and Engineering Festival Blog!

The 2010 USA Science and Engineering Festival is the first of its kind: multi-cultural, multi-generational and multi-disciplinary celebration of science in the United States that will take place in Washington, D.C. from 10/10/10 through 10/24/10 culminating in a two day hands-on expo with over 300+ booths dedicated to exciting the public about science in interactive fun exhibits. Leading up to the Festival you will find on this blog, entries about what you can expect to find at USA Science and Engineering Festival, updates on our Nifty Fifty and Lunch with a Laureate programs, guest…

New Research Sheds Light on Zika

Scientists working to understand the implications of Zika's new prevalence in the Americas have found strong evidence that infection with the virus can cause fetal abnormalities and even miscarriage in pregnant women. On The Pump Handle, Liz Borkowski examines a series of studies conducted on Zika, including one which found the virus infected "most of the cortical neuron progenitors, which form the brain’s cortex" more quickly than other types of stem cell. This may be how the virus causes microcephaly, a birth defect resulting from abnormal brain development in the womb. On Discovering…

Freeing Institutions from the Kochtopus

In the wake of the Willie Soon scandal, scientists are taking a hard look at the Smithsonian and other institutions at the forefront of research and public outreach. Should these organizations really be supported by industrialists who deny that carbon emissions continue to warm the planet, disrupt the climate, amplify extreme weather, and threaten to swallow us in a deluge of melted ice and presumably locusts? For that matter, should exhibits on evolution be subject to the whims of donors who insist the Earth is only six thousand years old? If not, where will less ideologically tainted money…

Not surprising at all

Ted Haggard is in the news again — it seems he has been involved in long term homosexual relationships, and has been abusing his power for sexual favors. Raise your hands if you would never have expected it! Hey, how come none of you lifted your fingers from your keyboard? Here's his latest excuse, and it's actually a good one. In an AP interview this month before an appearance in front of TV critics in California, Haggard described his sexuality as complex and something that can't be put into "stereotypical boxes." Yes! Now if only he could understand that everyone's sexuality is…

The real cost of J. C. Venter's genome

A few weeks ago, I did some "back-of-the-envelope" calculations to explain to a reader why genome sequencing costs so much. I estimated that, if JCV's genome were sequenced at the cost advertised by university core laboratories, his genome would cost about $128 million. That was an estimate, of course. But what did it really cost? Genome Technology asked J. Craig himself. In the October 2007 issue of GT, JCV estimates that the cost from the first Celera human genome project (guess who?) was about $100 million and that the cost of his most recent genome project was at least $70 million.…

SciVee: more beta than YouTube?

or maybe seminars on parade? They're calling them PubCasts, but I don't think I'll be watching them in a pub. Seriously, SciVee is kind of cute, and has lots of potential down the road, and even has a few unintentional moments of humor right now, but.... It's a bit distracting. I can't watch these without imagining that the speakers are standing on tiptoe, desperately trying to peak their heads above the large bits of text that appear mysteriously on the screen and can't be removed. Considering the technical glitch, it's just a bit ironic that many of the movies are from the PLoS journal…

Obligatory Reading of the Day - Academic Blogging

Fred Stuzman: Blogging: Academia's Digital Divide?: Considering the value my blog has added to my academic experience, I tend to believe that academic blogs will eventually mainstream. Their acceptance will take some time, but the value provided by blogging - in terms of connecting with others, the public debate, the real dialogue that emerges - will be self-evident. Of course, some things will never change - being a good blogger will always take effort, and not all of us need to blog. However, as we see models develop for academic blogging, it stands that more and more of us will want to…

Elizabeth Edwards in the news

Today's Raleigh News and Observer has a nice article about Elizabeth Edwards (the smartest of the 2004 Democratic candidate quartet), her battle with cancer and her new book (including a couple of short excerpts): Edwards emerges from cancer with grace: Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. John Edwards, says in a new book that she survived a harrowing battle with advanced breast cancer last year that left her too depleted for public appearances. Largely out of the public eye since her husband's loss to the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004,…

Obligatory Readings of the Day - Tetrapod Zoology

Do you read Darren Naish's blog Tetrapod Zoology? If not, you should start now. Just check out some of the most recent posts, for example this two-parter on sea snakes: 'A miniature plesiosaur without flippers': surreal morphologies and surprising behaviours in sea snakes and Sea kraits: radical intraspecific diversity, reproductive isolation, and site fidelity. Or, this two-part post about the importance of the shape of the birds' bills: The war on parasites: a pigeon's eye view and The war on parasites: an oviraptorosaur's eye view. Or an amazing four-part story about Angloposeidon, a…

It's Conservatism, Stupid!

Again, an article echoing Lakoff's argument, with which I agree: Why Conservatives Can't Govern: If leaders consistently depart in disastrous ways from their underlying political ideology, there comes a point where one has to stop just blaming the leaders and start questioning the ideology. The collapse of the Bush presidency, in other words, is not just due to Bush's incompetence (although his administration has been incompetent beyond belief). Nor is it a response to the president's principled lack of intellectual curiosity and pitbull refusal to admit mistakes (although those character…

The Synapse

The Synapse, new carnival of neuroscience - from molecules to cognition and everything in-between - is the first carnival that originated here on SEED scienceblogs.com. Today, the first edition saw the light of day, so you should go over to Pure Pedantry to check it out. The homepage of the carnival, with archives, instructions for submission, etc., can be found here. In two weeks, on July 9th, 2006, the carnival will be held here, on A Blog Around The Clock. Please send your entries to me by July 8th at midnight (Eastern Time). You can send your entries to: the DOT synapse DOT carnival…

Another mind poisoned

Once upon a time, one of the more popular atheist sites on the web was The Raving Atheist. Then the blogger became the raving anti-abortionist, and most of his readership left — they even set up an independent forum where they could continue their discussions without the weirdo in charge of the blog butting in (uh-oh…I just gave you all an idea, didn't I?). Anyway, now the process of conversion is complete. Say goodbye to the Raving Atheist. There's an interesting analysis of the process of deconversion to be made here. I suspect he's been getting a lot of personal support and attention from…

Cialis. What's with the bath tubs, already?

I know I shouldn't, but I just have to ask. What's with the bath tubs on the Cialis ads? (in case you live in a bubble, Cialis is for "erectile dysfunction," what we used to call impotence). The original Cialis ads were faux tasteful things (at least compared to the really toe curling "Viva Viagra" ads) that always ended up with the couple holding hands in a natural setting. The impression you got was that when you take Cialis the time is usually right when you are outdoors. Inconvenient. Then at some point it morphed into the couple each in their own bath tubs, as in the pic from their…

Alternative energy sources and the US power grid

From Sigma Xi and SCONC: American Scientist Pizza Lunch convenes again at noon, Tuesday, Nov. 24 at Sigma Xi's headquarters in Research Triangle Park. The speaker will be Alex Huang, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State University. Prof. Huang is directly engaged with trying to reduce this country's dependence on carbon-emitting fossil fuels. He directs a national research center working on a redesign of the nation's power grid to better integrate alternative energy sources and new storage methods. American Scientist Pizza Lunch is free and open to science…

Tweetlinks, 11-07-09

Follow me on Twitter to get these, and more, in something closer to Real Time (all my tweets are also imported into FriendFeed where they are much more easy to search and comment on, as well as into my Facebook wall where they are seen by quite a different set of people): NYC subway system on Google Maps Did you know that 'Dance Me to the End of Love' was inspired by Holocaust? Deep thinkers: The more we study dolphins, the brighter they turn out to be 26 Scientific Products: From Scientific Cooking Kits to Experimental Lighting Seriously cool font created out of bacteria wins prize Best Hand…

Darwin Across the Disciplines

At Duke University John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute: Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 4:00 pm In collaboration with the Office of the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies and Duke's University Institutes, the FHI is pleased to present a 2-day symposium marking the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origins of Species. The core idea of the symposium is to mark these dual anniversaries by discussing Darwin's work (its impacts, legacies, etc) from a range of disciplinary perspectives crossing the sciences, humanities, arts…

4000

Of course the 4000th US combat death in Iraq is an artificial milestone. It's not different than the 10th or the 3999th or what will for certain be the 4010th, a human being in the prime of life who is alive now but won't be by the end of next week. But the number 4000 is a symbol that stands for the shredded lives, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, from a war started on purpose by a handful of American government officials. We choose not to celebrate the lives of the 4000 soldier victims, or the lives of their enemies, or the lives of the uncounted innocent civilians…

Last night

Sorry for scarce posting Monday - I hope you liked that long re-post from 11am, long enough to be sufficient reading for one day. Anton has posted the summary of the Blogger MeetUp. I really like to have this kind of semi-structured meetup once a month. I was impressed by wiki.com - it is simple enough for a compidiot like me to set up and use. And Lyceum, whle still being developed, looks like a promising platform for a classroom multi-blogging use. Then, I went to Top Of The Hill and had a couple of beers with my fellow ScienceBloggers Orac and Abel. That was fun - I have not met Orac…

Triangle Bloggers Barbecue

So, you must know by now, that last night I went to the Triangle Bloggers BBQ, hosted by Anton and his wonderful wife Erin. Needless to say, it was great fun, though I had perhaps a beer too many....(but the food....don't let me get started on food - it was great) Who was there? Local activists Will and his wonderful family (thank you for driving to the party), Brian and Ruby (thank you for driving from the party), my SciBling Abel, another fellow science blogger Reed Cartwright, the link to blook-publishing Jackson Fox, fellow Edwards supporter Jim Buie, meetup regulars Steve Cory, Josh…

Alert Edward Tufte!

How strange: The Economist is running this graph, of people's acceptance of evolutionary theory by country. Look familiar? It should. It seems to be some of the same data used in this well known figure (not from New Scientist, by the way, but Science): Miller JD, Scott EC, Okamoto S (2006) Public acceptance of evolution. Science 313:765-766. So, The Economist has taken a chart, stripped out half the data, put it into new colors that make my eyes hurt, and put it on a background with chimpanzees having a snack — said chimpanzees occupying almost half the space allotted. Shock horror! I am…

My picks from ScienceDaily

To Elude Bats, A Moth Keeps Its Hearing In Tune: Current understanding of the co-evolution of bats and moths has been thrown into question following new research reported in the journal Current Biology. Dr James Windmill from the University of Bristol, UK, has shown how the Yellow Underwing moth changes its sensitivity to a bat's calls when the moth is being chased. And in case there is another attack, the moth's ear remain tuned in for several minutes after the calls stop. Adults Living With Children Eat More Fat Than Do Other Adults: Adults living with children eat more saturated fat -- the…

Tripoli 6 Update

Revere reports that there is a new article in Nature (pdf) demonstrating even stronger scientific support for the innocence of the Tripoli 6, the one doctor and five nurses facing a possible death penalty in Libya. The final verdict will be read on December 19th. The international pressure from the medical world as well as the blogosphere has been enormous, but there is no sign that the Libyan government is listening to it. Certainly now, in the last stretch, we need to renew our efforts and broadcast about this and ask our readers to write letters to people in power. Janet provides…

Hubble Plateaus

In times past we have lovingly tracked the proposal frenzy as the near annual Hubble Space Telescope proposal deadline approaches. As was noted by Julianne several years ago, and confirmed over the last half dozen cycles, the shape of the curve of number of submitted proposals as a function of time until the deadline is nearly invariant. Interestingly, the total number of proposals also does not change much, some dips and spikes with the loss and availability of instruments, but the total is near stationary and some measure of the statistical saturation of the ability of astronomers to put…

Happy Car-Free Day!

September 22nd is World Car-Free Day, when people everywhere are encouraged to get out of their cars and try different modes of getting around. The Metro DC Car-Free Day is also encouraging people to try "Car-Lite" options like carpooling, or to eliminate the need for a trip to the office by working from home. They're asking people to pledge to "eliminate or reduce" their driving today - and the form does ask whether people normally drive or not, so I hope they'll report both numbers. I thought the bus was a little more crowded than usual this morning (though I also got to the stop a few…

Friday Kooky Komment

My poor, neglected blog. These last few weeks have been killer workwise; I still have another post in the wings in pandemic influenza that might have to wait until next week (unofficially extending pandemic flu awareness week), and I have another one I'm working on regarding some recent Iowa events, but in the meantime, I can't let this go un-commented upon. I asked resident germ theory denier jspreen this question: ...if germs don't cause disease, what's the function of our immune system? Why is it evolutionarily conserved? His response: The immune system is just a theoretical…

New Weekly Toll Posted

In continuation of the tradition begun at Jordan Barab's Confined Space blog, Tammy has posted another edition of the Weekly Toll: Death in the American Workplace at her Weekly Toll blog. It gives short writeups on 64 workplace deaths, including the following: Janez Case, a 51-year-old EMT who died when the ambulance she was riding in crashed on an icy road in Clayton, Oklahoma. Raymond Fenoff, a 38-year-old construction worker from Douglas, Massachusetts, who died when scaffolding collapsed and he fell at least 10 feet. Ron Emerick, a 29-year-old bouncer at a Hollywood club, was fatally…

Prevention, beyond the condom

If one thing has been hammered home this week (and, indeed, over the past 25 years) regarding HIV/AIDS, it's that prevention is key. Treatments, while improving, are still a distant second place to preventing primary infection as far as the fight against AIDS goes, and a large portion of the world's HIV-infected population still has no access to these treatments. Prevention, therefore, is critical. And while the condom has become the symbol for HIV prevention, strategies go far beyond that tool. Over at WebMD, they have a nice summary of many of the key points from this week's…

My musical taste might differ from yours

The Folk Era was a special time in America, a time of innocence, when people sang Kumbaya and really meant it. When banjo music got airplay and Burl Ives had groupies. No one knows what caused the folk era, and scientists are studying what can be done to prevent it from ever happening again. The nice people at royzimmerman.com have sent me another CD, The Best of the Foremen. They tell me this group was especially popular with biologists (I can see it—songs about wallowing in whale guts and what we euphemistically call "firing the Surgeon General" are always well received by us), and that SJ…

Big Cats in Britain, the 2007 conference

Well, holy crap. Want to have your enthusiasm for a certain subject invigorated? Then attend a conference; preferably one that features amazing new data, unbelievably cool new video clips, valuable discussion of new ideas and sharing of concepts, is attended by the great majority of active people in the field, and - best of all - includes several scoops that are so stunning that it's difficult to imagine how far-reaching they might be. I've just returned from the 1st Annual Big Cats in Britain conference, held at the Dorchester Hotel in Hull (East Yorkshire). And I'm really, really excited.…

Navier Stokes: False Alarm

There's bad news on the math front. Penny Smith has *withdrawn* her Navier Stokes paper, because of the discovery of a serious error. But to be optimistic for a moment, this doesn't mean that there's nothing there. Remember that when Andrew Wiles first showed his proof of Fermat's last theorem, he discovered a very serious error. After that, it took him a couple of years, and some help from a colleague, but he *did* eventually fix the problem and complete the proof. Whatever develops, it remains true that Professor Smith has made *huge* strides in her work on Navier-Stokes, and if she hasn'…

Mystery Bird: Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana

tags: Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz [Mystery bird] Western Tanager, Piranga ludoviciana, photographed in Wilsall, Montana. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Image: Ron Shimek [larger view]. Olympus OM-10 in an Ikelite Housing, Kodachrome 64 film. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification. This stunning mystery bird is more than "eye candy"; there is something special about this bird's breeding habits that set it apart from all its congeners, can you tell me what that is? The Western Tanager breeds…

Zeitgeist: The Greatest Story Ever Sold

tags: Zeitgeist: The Greatest Story Ever Sold, documentary, television, religion, cults, mind control, offbeat, beliefs, history, mythology, streaming video These multi-part videos are from a television exploration into the story of religion: the greatest story ever sold to the public by the power elites, who shamelessly use religion as a way to control the masses (includes Spanish subtitles). Part 2 (the relationship between ancient myths and christianity and judaism; the relationship between astrology and christianity, etc.): Part 3 (origin of the symbol of the cross, the meaning of the…

The Curious Case of Balloon Animals!

On the way back from the Mainau island to Lindau island, we were entertained on the ship by a balloon magician. He started out with balloon molecules. Kind of a nifty way to demonstrate why you can write with graphite and not with a diamond. I am not sure the magician was aware that Dr.Kroto was sitting in the front row when he produced the bucky-ball (for which Kroto got his Nobel) but it worked out great in the end. But it got suspicious when the guy switched to making balloon plants and animals. Could it be? Is that a balloon magician or Stuart Pivar disguised as a balloon magician?…

Is your pilot too sleepy to land you safely?

Ask the pilot: Ask yourself this: Whom would you prefer at the controls of your plane on a stormy night, a pilot who smoked a joint three days ago, or one who had six hours of sleep prior to a 13-hour workday in which he's performed half a dozen takeoffs and landings? The first pilot has indulged in a career-ending toke; the second is in full compliance with the rules. I have to assume that the FAA realizes the foolery of such enforcement policies, but it nonetheless chooses to put its resources into drug testing and other politically expedient issues. Meanwhile it procrastinates, performing…

Texas might do something right

I'm stuck in an airport in Cleveland waiting for some flight delays to clear up, but I am feeling cheerful. Don McLeroy is in trouble, and the Texas legislature is considering some revamping of their peculiar system. The legislative session so far has not been kind to the State Board of Education. Senate confirmation of Board Chairman Don McLeroy, R-College Station, is dead in the water, the Nominations Committee chairman said Thursday. The House of Representatives approved a constitutional amendment Monday that would move the investment decisions about the $17.5 billion Permanent School…

Double reminder

I know it hurts, it hurts so bad, but I have to ask you again to keep clicking to help me win that iPod Touch from Eric Hovind. It's only a little pain, after a few clicks you'll be numb. But that reminder also reminds me that I'll be judging a video contest after 1 June — you only have one more month to put together an entry to explain evolution in two minutes or less. Eric Hovind is welcome to enter — a little comedy relief is always nice — but I think his videos are more of an anti-inspiration. Put him to shame with some substance! Look at his shoddy work and resolve to show the world how…

Dinosaurs under the microscope: New ways to look at old bones

From SCONC: The next Sigma Xi Pizza Lunch is noon, THURSDAY. Jan. 22. The title: "Dinosaurs under the microscope: New ways to look at old bones." Come hear NC State University paleontologist Mary Schweitzer explain why she rocked science not long ago with evidence that soft tissue survived in a 68-million-year-old dinosaur fossil. Not all fossil experts accept it, but many do. If Schweitzer is correct, she's found a whole new route to explore the biology and evolutionary lineage of extinct life. Pizza Lunch is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes.…

World's Biggest Scientific Fraud?

Wow! This is massive! From Anesthesiology News: Scott S. Reuben, MD, of Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., a pioneer in the area of multimodal analgesia, is said to have fabricated his results in at least 21, and perhaps many more, articles dating back to 1996. The confirmed articles were published in Anesthesiology, Anesthesia and Analgesia, the Journal of Clinical Anesthesia and other titles, which have retracted the papers or will soon do so, according to people familiar with the scandal (see list). The journals stressed that Dr. Reuben's co-authors on those papers have not…

A glimpse at the future of journalism

Five tips for citizen journalism from ProPublica's new "crowdsorcerer": On Thursday, the non-profit investigative journalism outfit ProPublica named Amanda Michel its first "editor of distributed reporting." Her title alone suggests the future of news gathering, and so does her background: Michel was director of The Huffington Post's citizen-journalism effort, Off the Bus, which enlisted 12,000 volunteers to cover the 2008 presidential campaign. Michel wrote a must-read account of the project for Columbia Journalism Review, and she expounded on the experience in an hour-long interview with me…

The Big Bang Theory - a new nerdy CBS show

From PopSci: Return of the (Televised) Nerds: The show not only delivers a healthy dose of nerd-culture references, it also offers up some legitimate scientific content, something that's pretty rare in mainstream television. How many TV nerds do you see engaging in real scientific banter? It's more than the big words and convoluted sentence structure; the dialogue actually contains scientifically sound ideas. UCLA Professor of Physics and Astronomy David Saltzberg is the science man behind the curtain, and many of the punchlines. He also writes equations on the set's white boards. "Physicists…

Obligatory Reading of the Day: Cameron Neylon on Open Science

Policy for Open Science - reflections on the workshop: One thing that was very clear to me was that the attendees of the meeting were largely disconnected from the more technical community that reads this and related blogs. We need to get the communication flowing in both directions - there are things the blogosphere knows, that we are far ahead on, and we need to get the information across. There are things we don't know much about, like the legal frameworks, the high level policy discussions that are going on. We need to understand that context. It strikes me though that if we can combine…

Butterfly Mirror

Yesterday was Mrs.Coturnix' birthday. Over the weeks I led her on various goose chases regarding what kind of present she was going to get. In the end she had no idea, could not even guess. So, this was quite a surprise - I commissioned the mirror from Tanja (you have met her before here, here and here). Tanja has made a number of similar mirrors with owls and horses and cats, but for Mrs.Coturnix, we decided on butterflies - not just any vague butterfly shapes, but actual species, some quite endangered. So, the mirror came with a Key to species with Latin names, geographical information…

Meeting schedule

Well, I cannot afford to go to Netroots Nation, I cannot fit NEW COMMUNICATION CHANNELS FOR BIOLOGY into my calendar, I do not have money for Science Blogging 2008: London, did not get an invitation to SciFoo 2008 and am unlikely to make it to National Conference on Science & Technology in Out-of-School Time. But after the romp through Europe back in April, and a powerful time at SRBR in May, I need some time at home, catching up with work and family. And I will be at the SciBling meetup in NYC, and at the Science in the 21st Century meeting in September, and at 2008 ConvergeSouth in…

'Working with the Facebook generation: Engaging students views on access to scholarship'

Here is a video of SPARC-ACRL Forum '08 on 12 January, 2008 at the Pennyslvania Convention Center in Philadelphia: The SPARC-ACRL Forum at ALA '08 entitled "Working with the Facebook generation: Engaging students views on access to scholarship." Panelists discuss the merits of student activism, patent reform, blogs as a communication medium for scientists, and students as active members of a discussion about the right to access information for scholarly work. Features Andre Brown, Nelson Pavlosky, Stephanie Wang, and Kimberly Douglas as panelists. Pay particular attention to Andre Brown and…

New and Exciting in PLoS Medicine

From Theory to Practice: Translating Research into Health Outcomes: A research article by Kay-Tee Khaw and colleagues in this issue of PLoS Medicine [1] quantifies the benefits of adopting not just one but four healthy forms of behavior. Compared with people who do not engage in any of these behaviors, people in this United Kingdom study who drank in moderation, did not smoke, took exercise, and ate an adequate amount of fruit and vegetables were calculated to live an additional 14 years. Clearly, these striking findings are of relevance, not only for health researchers and public policy…

Triangle Bloggers

The August blogger BBQ traditionally kicks-off the new blogging season (see the pictures from the BBQ on Flickr). So, we now have a new schedule for the 07/08 meetups. Instead of having all the meetups in Carrboro, we will rotate between two venues each month: the second Wednesday of the month in Durham, the fourth Wednesday of the month in Chapel Hill/Carrboro. Anton has all the details on places, dates and times. So, if you live in the area, or are just visiting, please come by. It is informal and fun. You don't have to write a blog of your own - you can just be a reader or a fan. If…

New York City Blogger Meetup - breakfast pictures

Under the fold, Saturday morning pictures from New York City Sciblings meetup, at Union Square Inn and a pastry/coffee place where we had breakfast Suzanne Franks Dave and Greta Munger Dave Munger, Rob Knop and Mo Costandi Evil Monkey and Tara Smith Janet Stemwedel Janet Stemwedel and Karmen Franklin Karmen Franklin and Sheril Kirshenbaum Kevin Beck Me again.... Me and Mo Costandi Mo Costandi Mo Costandi and Rob Knop Mo Costandi, Rob Knop and Dave Munger Rob Knop Rob Knop, Dave Munger and Janet Stemwedel RPM Sheril Kirshenbaum Steve Higgins Related: Housekeeping…

Shermer at the Creation Museum

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" the bible instead of reading it literally, and then says, "We know from scripture that the earth is no more than 6000 years old:. The bible says nothing of the kind. That is a product of peculiar interpretations of the book. Then when Shermer presses her on what kinds of experiments she would do…

Another option for Obama to do good

As part of his deplorable legacy, one of the last things George W. Bush rushed through in his last days of power was a set of changes in environmental policy that basically gutted protections for endangered organisms. Our new president has been given the power to undo those changes in a recent spending bill. Obama may now, with the stroke of a pen, rescind the Bush Administration's last-minute rules that: forcibly removed global warming from the list of extinction threats to the polar bear (despite scientific opinion that global warming is the bear's chief extinction threat) allowed oil…

White Giraffe Found

Charles Foley, a biologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), has been searching for a legendary white giraffe in Tarangire National Park, Africa, since 1993. "By 1994 the sightings stopped coming in, so I assumed it had died, either at the hand of man or beast," Foley said in a WCS press release. "I never stopped looking though." Foley's diligence paid off when he was conducting an aerial survey of the elephants earlier this month and saw a glimmer of white amid the trees. His photo, taken from a plane flying some 62 miles an hour (100 kilometers an hour), shows a pale giraffe…