General Science

PEER have added some clarification over their pre-Christmas release about creationist literature at the NPS bookshops at the Grand Canyon. I interpreted it this way, but their loose wording caused a furor about NPS staff not being able to give the age of the GC. It turns out this was not true.
Darren Naish has announced, sort of, forthcoming evolutionary changes to his blog. Stay tuned for more information...
Coincidentally, with my discussion of Peter van Inwagen's chapter on philosophical failure just past, comes a piece in Philosophy Now by Toni Carey, which asks if philosophy is progressive, which is another way of asking whether there is such a thing as philosophical success. Usually, and here also, philosophy is contrasted with science in this respect. It's nice to see the author has read and understood Hull's point that most science is not progressive, and that we have only got the basis for believing science progresses if we ignore the bulk of science which dies stillborn and is never…
Not to be too self-promoting, but I have an essay in the Science Blog Anthology, which you can purchase here. There's one or two other essays worth reading as well. Go check it out.
PEER, a website devoted to promoting environmental responsibility by public institutions, notes that three years after promising to review the literature on display at the Grand Canyon National Park after creationist literature was on offer, nothing has happened. In fact, the National Park Service has refused to say anything about the age or formation of the canyon, due to pressure from Bush appointees. It seems geology cannot be allowed to interfere with the religious supporters of the Bush gang. Hattip to John Pieret. Update: The Sacrameto Bee gives some of the background and developments…
I stumbled on this amazingly useful website just now, when trying to work out who our nearest extragalactic neighbours were (and what they were getting up to - it seems we are the cause of a lot of domestic disputes). Called "Atlas of the Universe" it has a "powers of ten" (except for our local supercluster, which is 20) zoom out from our local star to the entire visible universe. Very cool.