Search Content

Displaying results 70551 - 70600 of 87947

Getting ethics to catch on with scientists.

I've been flailing lately (most recently in this post) with the question of how to reconcile how science ought to be done with what actually happens. Amidst my flailing, regular commenter DrugMonkey has been doing what some might characterize as getting up in my grill. I'm inclined to view DrugMonkey's comments as pushing me to be clearer and more focused in setting out and attacking the problem. For instance, in this post on the pros and cons of an ethics class aimed at science majors but taught by a philosopher (me), DrugMonkey comments: The messenger is irrelevant. This is not the…

What's the point of a college education?

I started out thinking I was writing this as an open letter to my students, but it turns out I'm talking to you all, too. * * * * * I have very strong feelings about what the point of a college education should be. Maybe you do, too. It's entirely possible that we would disagree about this issue, or that you are so happy with your own picture of the point of a college education that you really have no interests in anyone else's. That's fine. But if you're my student, certain things I get worked up about may strike you as mysterious if you don't know what I think this whole thing is aiming…

Friday Sprog Blogging: grading.

The Free-Ride offspring are pretty sure what I do for a living is grade papers. But seeing as how they're both students, I thought I'd ask what the view of things is like on the other side of the red pen. Dr. Free-Ride: When you come in and find me working on the weekend, what am I usually working on? Younger offspring: Grading? Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah. I know that you do a lot of homework and assignments. Younger offspring: Mmm-hmm. Dr. Free-Ride: And your teacher grades them. Younger offspring: No! We correct them together. Dr. Free-Ride: You correct it all together? Younger offspring: Yeah…

Market forces, tough times, and the question of raises for postdocs.

Over at the DrugMonkey blog, PhysioProf noted that a push to increase NIH postdoctoral fellowship stipend levels by 6% may have the effect of reducing the number of postdoctoral positions available. To this, the postdoctoral masses responded with something along the lines of, "Hey, it's possible that there are too damn many postdocs already (and fighting for those rare tenure-track positions in a slightly less crowded field might be better)," and "Being able to pay my damn bills might significantly improve my quality of postdoctoral life." There were also the expected mentions of the fact…

How does salt melt snails?

In light of our recent snail eradication project: Why does salt "melt" snails and slugs? (And how do people manage to prepare escargot without ending up with a big pot of goo?) To answer this question, let us consider the snail as seen by the chemist: The snail is an animal whose sliding-along-the-plants part (the foot) is made up of cells. Animal cells are, roughly, bags of aqueous solution and organelles wrapped in phospholipid bilayers (the cell membranes). For what we're looking at here, the important thing to know is that cell membranes are semipermeable membranes: some stuff travels…

Weak tea in defense of Mary Midgley

Nick Matzke has taken exception to my criticism of Mary Midgley, and has posted a rebuttal. Well, maybe. Probably not. Eh, I've read most of Midgley's books and articles, I don't think you [The Unpublishable Philosopher] or PZ getting her at all. The short version of what she's saying is that there is a lot more to life than simply scientifically assessing everything as if it was a hypothesis. The primary reason many people like their religion, despite its obvious problems from a scientific point of view, have to do with things like: providing a sense of community instilling values in…

To engage (or not) with the seemingly shady scientist.

Yesterday, I shared a conundrum with you and asked you what you would do as a member of the tribe of science if you got a gut feeling that another member of the tribe with whom you had limited engagement was shady, either disengage ASAP or engage more closely. Today, as promised, I share my thinking on the conundrum. You'll recall from my description of the situation that: you are presented with a vibe or a gut feeling about this other person -- you are not witnessing obvious misconduct, nor are you privy to evidence of same. Since this is a situation unfolding within the tribe of science…

Framing and ethics (part 3).

In a pair of earlier posts, I looked at the ethical principles Matthew C. Nisbet says should be guiding the framing of science and at examples Nisbet discusses of ethical and unethical framing. Here, consider some lessons we might learn from the framing wars. I'm hopeful that we can gain insight about the folks interested in communicating science, about the various people with whom they're trying to communicate, and perhaps even about the approaches that might be useful (or counterproductive) in trying to sell scientists on the utility of the framing strategy. This post is not so much a…

Another one bites the dust to quackademic medicine

One of the most depressing things I regularly write about is, of course, the antivaccine movement. However, nearly as depressing to me is to watch the steady march of what I view as medical pseudoscience or even outright quackery into what should be bastions of science-based medicine, namely academic medical centers. As I’ve discussed many times before, it’s gotten to the point where a medical school, in order to remain accredited, has to teach a certain amount of so-called “complementary and alternative medicine” (CAM), or, as it’s increasingly called, “integrative medicine” (or, as I like…

To troll or not to troll: The White House responds to a We The People petition from antivaccine activists

Antivaccine activists amuse me. Obviously, I think they are a major risk to public health. Their relentless demonization of vaccines as causing autism, autoimmune diseases, "shaken baby syndrome," and even sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) serves no purpose other than to frighten parents and discourage them from vaccinating. As despicable as some of their antics are—for instance, blaming vaccines for SIDS and shaken baby syndrome or comparing the vaccine program to the Holocaust because it's a "mass poisoning program" (I'm talking to you, Jake Crosby)—some are just as entertaining as others…

Reasons to believe, according to Collins

If I see Francis Collins' pious, simpering facade one more time, I'm going to get really pissed off. Can someone please give that man a Templeton Prize and let him retire to the Cascades, where he can stare at waterfalls to his heart's content? CNN has an article on "Why this scientist believes in God", and it's just more vapid crap distilled from his vapid book. But OK, let's take him at his word. He claims to be presenting reasons to believe … what are they? Do they meet any kind of scientific standard? I've thrown out most of his essay, and pulled out just those parts that actually address…

If you can't get justice one way, maybe justice will come another way

Actions have consequences, as do beliefs. For example, the widespread erroneous belief among many parents of autistic children that the mercury in the thimerosal preservative that was used in most childhood vaccines until 2002 somehow caused autism in their children have led some pseudoscientists and parents who have fallen under their sway to subject their children to all manners of "biomedical" interventions to "extract" the mercury and supposedly cure their children of autism. In extreme form, this belief has led to highly dubious "treatments" such as those served up by Mark and David…

Irony meter about to explode. Must. Escape.

I don't want to make this blog "all Egnor all the time." I know it's hard to believe, given my posting behavior recently, but really I don't. No matter how much the Discovery Institute's creationist neurosurgeon may embarrass the hell out of me as (I shudder to have to admit) a fellow surgeon, I've recently been trying to ration the rebuttals of his nonsense about evolution, and I note that I took one swipe at him yesterday. Even so, I hope you'll forgive me for this brief lapse. I had to do it because my irony meter is building up to a meltdown and explosion because of what Dr. Michael Egnor…

Darwin and the Voyage: 11 ~ Elephants and Horses

In 1833, Darwin spent a fair amount of time on the East Coast of South America, including in the Pampas, where he had access to abundant fossil material. Here I'd like to examine his writings about some of the megafauna, including Toxodon, Mastodon, and horses, and his further considerations of biogeography and evolution. In the vicinity of Rio Tercero... Hearing ... of the remains of one of the old giants, which a man told me he had seen on the banks of the Parana, I procured a canoe, and proceeded to the place. Two groups of immense bones projected in bold relief from the perpendicular…

Dr. Oz: Looking for parents afraid of autism?

If there's a single TV show out there that has the widest reach when it abuses science-based medicine, there is no doubt that it's Oprah Winfrey's show. If there's a show that has the second-widest reach when it abuses science-based medicine, arguably it's Dr. Mehmet Oz's show. Whether it be his recent show featuring quackmaster supreme, Joseph Mercola, or his upcoming show featuring a faith healer, I fear that Dr. Oz has given up whatever claim he once had to promoting science-based medicine. Yes, it's true that he has had a soft spot for reiki for a long time, but other than that he's…

Who are the Terminator cranks?

As a part of a longer post where I was, for the most part, serious albeit sarcastic, I asked one question that I considered a bit of a throwaway joke. Oddly enough, the more I think about it, the more I think that it wasn't such a joke. Here was my question: Perhaps we could have a contest: Which cranks are most persistent, tobacco/smoking denialists, AGW denialists, anti-vaccine loons, or anti-fluoridation activists? To which jre responded in the comments: Fairness requires that we try to round out Orac's list. At a minimum, this must include: Tobacky / 2nd-hand smoke denialists Climate…

Update: Daniel Hauser must continue chemotherapy

The other day, I came across an update on the Daniel Hauser saga. Specifically, I commented about how he is not only undergoing the chemotherapy ordered by his doctors. As you may recall, Hauser is a 13-year-old boy who, after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma and undergoing one round of chemotherapy, refused to undergo any more. His mother supported him, and ultimately a judge had to order Daniel's parents to make sure that he underwent standard therapy for his very curable form of cancer. Daniel's mother Colleen took off with him shortly afterward, rumored to be heading for Tijuana.…

If you think anti-vaccine loons are just crunchy left-wing New Agers, think again

One of the stereotypes of anti-vaccine loons is that they are predominantly left wing New Agey ex-hippie types, usually well-educated and affluent. Certainly recent stories out of California indicating that Marin and Sonoma counties are ground zero for declining vaccine rates would seem to back up that stereotype. However, there is a right wing religious variety of antivaccinationist, and it's hard not to point out that Representative Dan Burton (R-IN) is arguably the best friend the mercury militia has in Washington. But if you want to get a true flavor of right wing paranoid whackaloon,…

I really wish this were an April Fools' Day joke...

...but sadly, it's not. Jenny McCarthy has struck again. Yesterday, given the release of Jenny McCarthy's new book espousing antivaccinationism and autism quackery and the attendant media blitz the antivaccine movement has organized to promote it, I predicted that a wave of stupid is about to fall upon our great nation. Well, the stupid has landed. And how. An interview with Jenny has just been published on the TIME Magazine website in which she "surpasses" herself. In fact, so dense is the stupid emanating from what passes for a "brain" in that empty head of hers that words fail me.…

Anti-vaccine activism, not autism activism, part 2

You know, when Age of Autism starts announcing its yearly "people of the year" awards, there's always a lot of blog fodder there to be had. Given that this is the time of year when I ramp the blog down a bit and, trying to relax a little, don't spend as much time doing detailed deconstructions or analyzing peer-reviewed papers, it's perfect for some quick observations about the anti-vaccine movement, of which Generation Rescue promotes through its propaganda blog, Age of Autism. This time around, I'm noting how these year end awards reinforce the point that "autism advocacy" of the type that…

Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi sympathizer David Irving slithers his way through the western U.S.

He's baaaack. Lovely. I'm referring to everybody's favorite anti-Semite, Hitler apologist, and Holocaust-denying "historian," David Irving, who has reinfected our fair nation. Indeed, and unfortunately, he is busily slithering his way across the western U.S., hitting the mighty white power ranger circuit in the back of cheap hotels and greasy spoon restaurants in order to meet with his fellow Holocaust deniers and, of course, pathetically try to hawk some of his books. Worse, he promises that in the fall he will hit the eastern U.S. In the meantime, he's been to Kansas City, Oklahoma City,…

The real "evidence of harm"

I haven't written before about the tragic case of Katie McCarron, the three year old autistic girl whose mother killed her in May 2006. It's an incredibly sad tale, and others have covered it better. However, the trial started last week, and on Friday there was some testimony that suggests an effect of all the antivaccination fear-mongering that blames autism on either mercury in thimerosal-containing vaccines (a contention against which strong evidence was published just last week, to add to all the other studies that show no link between thimerosal and autism) or vaccines in general. Indeed…

Justify my existence?

Our Seed overlords demand a response: Since they're funded by taxpayer dollars (through the NIH, NSF, and so on), should scientists have to justify their research agendas to the public, rather than just grant-making bodies? Ooh, boy. That's a loaded question that depends a lot on how you interpret it. My first reaction was similar to that of Razib, PZ, Dave, John, and GrrlScientist; i.e., no way, because the public doesn't have a clue what constitutes good scientific research. Ah, heck, my second reaction was the same, too, and it led me to ramble on way longer than the 300 words that our…

When faith in "alternative medicine" endangers children...

When confronted with skeptics who refuse to stay silent in the face of quackery--I'm sorry, "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM), a large proportion of which is unproven if not outright quackery--shruggies frequently ask, "What's the harm?" I can reply that so many of these modalities are no more than elaborate placebos reinforced with magical thinking. I can explain why science- and evidence-based medicine is superior. I can even point out that the blandishments of quacks all too frequently convince people to forego or delay effective medical therapy, allowing them to become sicker…

The Art of Time III: Symbolism on the Solstice

Today, the sun is rising to its highest point over the northern hemisphere. It is the longest day of the year--the summer solstice. But do we notice? Outside of a glance at the calendar, marking the official start of summer, it's just another day. Did the residents of Rochester Creek notice the solstice 2000 years ago? When they carved these elaborate images into the face of the rock, were they considering the passage of time and the rotation of seasons? Were they librarians, recording useful information, such as astronomical or biological details? Or were they shamans, performing religious…

Kleck's DGU numbers

Ray wrote: They promise confidentiality, and back it up with a law that's at the top of every survey: "NOTICE: Your report to the Census Bureau is confidential by law (US Code 42, Sections 3789g and 3735). All identifiable information will be used only by persons engaged in and for the purposes of the survey, and may not be disclosed or released to others for any purpose." John Briggs writes: No doubt these data will be as secure as your FBI files and will be closely held by the BOC and DOJ and the White House security office... (Well, there are people who don't particularly trust the…

Let's talk about sex (at dawn)

Anthony Weiner is an idiot. I think we can at least all agree that if you're going to use a social networking site to spread illicit photos of yourself, you damn well better learn the difference between direct messaging and displaying your crotch to all of your followers. That said, all of us are idiots sometimes. And if I had to put money on it, I'd wager dollars to donuts that the thing we are the most stupid about is sex. But why? What's the point of sex? You may think I'm the idiot for asking the question - the answer is obvious, right? Well... The answer to why humans have sex turns out…

Telegraph completely mangles debate over value of genetic research

I wrote a few days ago about a debate in the New England Journal of Medicine over the value of data emerging from recent genome-wide studies of the role of genetic variation in common human diseases and other traits. David Goldstein argued that genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have generated disappointing results, and should be scaled back in favour of whole-genome sequencing; Joel Hirschhorn responded with an upbeat piece emphasising the insights generated by GWAS into the molecular basis of common diseases. Now geneticist Steve Jones has an opinion piece in the Telegraph that…

Will newborn whole-genome sequencing be valuable by 2019?

In a comment on my previous post, Tera Eerkes is skeptical about the utility of routinely performing whole-genome sequencing on newborns: I found this comment absolutely fascinating, given the recent reports on translational analysis, that indicate an actual lack of clinical utility of KRAS testing and other drug-gene interactions. I believe these reports are indicative of a trend, not an exception. I think it is remarkable that anyone feels, even optimistically, that we're going to need a genome-wide scan for clinically useful indicators by 2019. I predict that there will be a…

The market for designer babies

Edited 2/2/09: The cited study discusses pre-natal genetic screening, not only embryo screening; I've updated some wording to reflect this, but it doesn't have any major impact on the overall message. Razib points to an article suggesting that Australian couples are "flocking" to a US fertility clinic that allows them to screen their potential IVF embryos for sex and even cosmetic traits like skin and eye colour, in addition to variants that predispose to severe disease risk. ("Flocking", in this context, means about 14 couples a month.) This follows on the heels of a fairly widely-publicised…

The FDA doesn't plan to regulate access to raw genetic data; and context for Gutierrez scare-mongering about ovary removal

In my previous post I quoted from Mary Carmichael's excellent interview with two officials from the FDA, Alberto Gutierrez and Elizabeth Mansfield (part of her fantastic week-long DNA dilemma series, which you should read in full if you haven't already). There are numerous nuggets of gold tucked away in this interview that warrant further analysis, and I wanted to highlight a few in more detail. For a more complete dissection I'd recommend Keith Grimaldi's post commenting on the whole interview. I wanted to focus on two crucial tidbits unearthed by Carmichael: the attitude of the FDA towards…

How kinesin actually moves

Recently, Carl Zimmer made a criticism of the computer animations of molecular events (it's the same criticism I made 8 years ago): they're beautiful and they're informative, but they leave out the critical aspect of stochastic behavior that is important in understanding the biochemistry. He's talking specifically about kinesin, a transport protein which the animators are particularly fond of illustrating. Every now and then, a tiny molecule loaded with fuel binds to one of the kinesin "feet." It delivers a jolt of energy, causing that foot to leap off the molecular cable and flail wildly,…

Need A Date? Take A Cue From The Birds

What's the best way for a lonely guy to get a date? If you're a Splendid Fairy-Wren (Malurus splendens, native to Australia), your best bet might be to frighten the object of your affection. You've learned all about the birds and the bees; now it's time to learn from them. Lots of research has shown that animals reduce their sexual behaviors when predators are around. After all, it isn't just potential mates who would see or hear an elaborate mating display, but also potential predators. The male splendid fairy-wren does something a little bit unusual, though. Gray Butcherbirds (Cracticus…

Does Interspecific Competition Mean Anything in an Evolutionary Context?

The first thing I think when I read the title to this post is, "Man, that's a long friggen title, and it's not at all catchy." The next thing I think is, "I thought I said I wasn't going to write about ecology." Well, I actually wrote: "I am in no way, shape, or form an organismal biologist nor am I an ecologist, and if you catch me out of my element, by all means, please set me straight." So, I invite you to put me in place if I'm talking out of my ass. But why would I write about an ecological concept like interspecific competition? This actually stems from a course that I am TAing…

From the Archives: Are All Animals Equal?

I see that Janet Stemwedel of Adventures in Ethics and Science recently republished an interesting series of posts on animal rights and scientific ethics that originally came out around the same time I was writing about my experience at an animal rights protest. In light of that, we'll keep this discussion going with the following post, which I wrote back in January as a follow-up to some of the comments on my post about the animal rights protest.(16 January 2006) This post began as a response to a comment a friend left on my last post, "Caught in the Line of Fire", but once I started I got…

Evo-Devo Revisited

I thought I had come to grips with evo-devo. Then along come Hopi Hoekstra and Jerry Coyne to call shenanigans on Sean Carroll's model of evo-devo. This is nothing new for Coyne, but I can't recall Hoekstra ever getting involved in the debate before now. Before we get to Hoekstra and Coyne, let's allow Carroll to describe evo-devo in his own words. His most recent summary of the evolution of transcriptional regulatory regions can be found in this paper from a recent National Academies Sackler Colloquium. Here's how he and his colleagues explain the importance of cis regulatory regions (CREs)…

Another ignorant pastor brings shame to Christianity

The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a very foolish editorial in their Faith and Values section, carping about that Dawkins fella and his atheistic Darwinism. It's typical creationist dreck, I'm afraid. If you want just one good argument against religion, it's that it seems to promote idiots to positions of leadership. Richard Dawkins, author of the book "The God Delusion," intends that religious readers of his book will be atheists when they finish it. Let's put some of the statements he made in his Nov. 4 Star Tribune interview to the test. Dawkins claims that evolutionary science "offers…

Quoth Richard Dawkins: "I am proud to have presented the [AAI] award to Bill Maher"

It just so happens that I was up quite late last night doing--what else?--writing yet another grant application (well, two actually). Even though the grants aren't due until Wednesday, Tuesday happens to be my operating room day, meaning I need to get this done and buried by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. In any case, I had been planning on just posting a rerun or two, as is my wont when real life gets so crazy that even my rapid-fire blogorrhea is curtailed, and then someone had to go and send me something that merits at least a brief bit of Insolence. Try as I might not to get sucked…

Romney Has a Big Tent

But there is only room in it for Christians. "There are some who may feel that religion is not a matter to be seriously considered in the context of the weighty threats that face us. If so, they are at odds with the nation's founders.... In John Adams' words: 'We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our constitution was made for a moral and religious people.' Notice that Adams at least said "Moral and Religious" ... Romney, on the other hand, clearly implies that true morality comes only from religion. Don't…

Homeopathy for hemorrhoids? What a pain in the...well, you know

In a past life, before I became so specialized, I was a general surgeon. Like all surgical oncologists and even breast surgeons, before I became a specialist, I had to do a general surgery residency. In addition to the usual cancer problems a general surgeon faces, the two most common being breast and colon cancer, I learned to deal with the most common non-cancer problems that general surgeons deal with, such as gallbladder problems, hernias, bowel obstructions, and the like. Unfortunately, those problems include anorectal problems (not my favorite!) including hemorrhoids. Basically,…

The time to buy flood insurance is now ...

... if you live in the Red River or Minnesota River basins near anything that looks like water. This morning, I heard a TV weather forecaster, speaking of the potential flooding in the Red River Valley in Minnesota/North Dakota. He said of this possibility, "Flooding is not a certainty." But he's wrong. It is a certainty. This raises issues related to your flood insurance if you live in the vicinity, to questions of long term human land use planning in the region and generally, and of the skeptic's approach to life. And, this discussion applies not just to the Red River but to its…

Tears as a human female adaptation to limit rape

This came up a while ago and I assumed the idea would die the usual quick and painless death, but the idea seems to be either so fascinating or so irritating to people (mainly in various blog comment sections) that it still twitches and still has a heartbeat, but only as a result of the repeated flogging it is getting. The research was reported in Science and quickly popularized in a post by Brian Alexander. Please read this review of the tear research and a critique of Alexander's post by Christie Wilcox. The idea that tears are a mechanism to avoid rape is mainly proffered in comments in…

Pandemonium Looms in Minneapolis

The Minnesota Vikings will not be in the playoffs this year, but the team has nonetheless become interesting, possibly more interesting than if they were still in the running. For one thing, Ziggy fired the coach and one of the under-coaches has taken over, and it is interesting to see how he handles his new job. Very well, it would seem. Also, Brett Favre closed out his "Ironman" streak of never missing a game in ... several decades? Whatever, a very long time, owing to an actual life threatening injury. The injury will be managed, but both surgery and getting beat up on the field…

Global Warming Basics ~ 01 ~ Introduction

Every now and then I get out my old Blog Epic on Global Warming and dust it off. I'm thinking it is time to do it again. This is a seven part series of Global Warming that covers much of the basics. Enjoy. Or get mad at me. Whatever. About two years ago, a sea change occurred in the way that climate change news is reported, much to the annoyance of the Right Wing. It is an axiom that in reporting science, there are two (not one, not three or four, just two) sides to every issue, and one side is the plank nailed to the Democratic Party Platform, and the other side is the plank nailed to…

A True Ghost Story, Part 6: But first, since we're talking geology ...

Since we are talking about geology, I do not want to give up the opportunity to bring up one of the coolest stories of geology ever, given the present day discussion of science and religion. You will be asking for a source for this story. Look it up in Wikipedia, where all knowledge resides, and you will not find it there. There are things, it turns out, that The Great Knowing Web Site does not know. My source is a combination of primary and secondary documents, written histories, and a documentary that is not generally available. Barney Barneto nee Barnet Isaacs was a key player in the…

How effective is the flu shot?

There are several answers to this question. One was overheard the other day among a bunch of well educated people oriented towards science who were taking a break from their job. Person 1: "So, how effective is the seasonal flu shot?" Person 2: "I heard about 1%. If you get the flu shot, you'll have a 1% difference in if you get the flu." Person 3: "That's crazy. I don't know where you are getting your data from. It can't be 1%, but I admit I don't know what the actual answer is, but it can't be that." Persons 4 through 6: "Well, if YOU don't know, and HE says 1%, I'm going with the 1%.…

A teenager doesn't believe global warming science? I'm supposed to be impressed by this?

A certain truly badly done story is making its way through the skeptical blogosphere. It's a story that NPR did about a certain teenager who has decided that she doesn't believe the science behind global warming and has published a website to "debunk" it. What's bad about the story is not that a teenager decided she doesn't believe something. What's bad about the story is that it utterly fails to distinguish between a teenager showing actual skepticism (as in challenging an accepted contention based on sound reasoning and good science) as opposed to showing pseudoskepticism (as in looking for…

Vox Day: Mindlessly parroting antivaccination myths again

I tell ya, I get sick for a few days, and the antivaccination cranks come out of the woodwork. This time around, it's über-crank Vox Day entering the fray (or, as I like to call him Vox "hey, it worked for Hitler" Day). We've seen him in action before. Be it using the example of Nazi Germany as a reason why we could, if we so desired, round up all the illegal immigrants in the country and eject them, labeling women as "fascists" who shouldn't have the right to vote, or falling hook, line, and sinker for an evidence-free antivaccination claim, when it comes to an inflated opinion of his own…

"Finding signal from noise": Dr. Bancel responds

The other day I commented on an article by Peter Bancel and Roger Nelson that reported evidence that "the coherent attention or emotional response of large populations" can affect the output of quantum-mechanical random number generators. I was pretty dismissive of the article; in fact elsewhere I gave my post the title, "Some ESP-bashing red meat for you ScienceBlogs readers out there." Dr. Bancel was pointed to my blog and felt I wasn't giving the full story. I'll give his comments and then at the end add some thoughts of my own. Bancel wrote: I find it disappointing that a Columbia…

The Art of Scientific and Technological Innovations

Most people are at a loss to be able to identify any useful connections between arts and sciences. This ignorance is appalling. Arts provide innovations through analogies, models, skills, structures, techniques, methods, and knowledge. Arts don't just prettify science or make technology more aesthetic; they often make both possible. That cell phone or PDA you're carrying? It uses a form of encryption called frequency hopping to ensure your messages can't easily be intercepted. Frequency hopping was invented by the composer George Antheil in collaboration with the actress Hedy Lamarr. Yeah,…