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jrosenhouse | December 18, 2012Jerry Coyne has an interesting post up reporting on an e-mail he received from Paul Nelson. Nelson is a prominent young-Earth creationist, though he also circulates freely among the ID folks. Nelson, annoyed by Coyne's emphasis on the importance of natural selection in evolution, sent Coyne an e-mail, part of which I now reproduce:
Skepticism about the efficacy of natural selection is widespread within evolutionary biology (see below). Jim Shapiro is hardly alone in this regard. So when you tell your WEIT audience that natural selection is the only game in town for building complex…
jdupuis | December 18, 2012Another bunch of lists for your reading, gift-giving and collection development pleasure.
Every year for the last bunch of years I’ve been linking to and posting about all the “year’s best sciencey books” lists that appear in various media outlets and shining a bit of light on the best of the year.
All the previous 2012 lists are here.
This post includes the following:
The Scholarly Kitchen: Chefs’ Selections: The Best Books Read During 2012
The Signal and the Noise: Why Most Predictions Fail but Some Don'tby Nate Silver
Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using data to Change the Worldby…
denialism | December 18, 2012See here for why existing assault weapons bans are just pointless demagoguery. There is no functional difference between the assault version and non-assault version of the same rifle.
mspringer | December 18, 2012My last post was political, and to be quite honest I sort of hate it when my favorite non-political writers decide to break out the soapbox and flog their views in public. Since I have just done so, let's at least partially make up for it by another post talking about something near and dear to my heart - the propagation of light. In this case, let's talk about shadows. Here's a cool one from Wikipedia:
The basic idea of a shadow is simple. You have a light source, rays of light come out of it, some of the rays hit an obstacle, and the shadow is the region where the light has been blocked.…
gregladen | December 18, 2012I've got kids ranging from zero to 12 years of age to find gifts for this season. I've got most of them covered, and science books have figured in this effort in a bigger way than usual this year. I'm impressed with the number of climate change choices that have become available. Know a Republican with offspring? Ha. You know what to do...
But first some other sciencey books that are highly recommended or
award winning....
Animal Grossapedia ... from the publisher: "Think all animals are cute and cuddly? Read this book to discover just how disgusting they can really be!
Kids books about…
gregladen | December 18, 2012During this time of great tragedy, American Atheists along with the Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics (SOMA, a SSA affiliate and University of Kansas Student Organization) and We Are Atheism, have decided to come together to raise funds for the children and their families affected by the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The families that have been hurt did not plan for their child’s funeral, no parent does. None of us would have ever thought to have money saved for the great expense of a funeral for any of our children. The money you donate will go directly to the…
gregladen | December 18, 2012Back in the 1980s, it became popular for biologists to consider plant secondary compounds in understanding inter-species relationships and other ecological matters. I was doing my thesis research at the time, and it even affected what I was doing, as the wild world was being reconceptualized in terms of tannins and alkaloids, seed edators and dispersers, and so on. I remember taking an advanced seminar in plant-animal interaction, in preparation for my own study of human-plant interactions. The first thing I learned was that most animal-plant interaction did not involve mammals, or even birds…
carlyo | December 17, 2012In 218 B.C. the Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed the Alps with his elephants to settle a score with Rome. The perilous journey almost came to an end when his army approached what looked like an impenetrable rock fall. But Hannibal, an ingenious leader, had a trick up his sleeve. Or at least, some vinegar in his pot. As the Roman historian Livy recounts, the general had his men heat up the vinegar and pour it over the rocks, causing them to crumble. And here the story crumbles. Scale deposits in a kettle may certainly crumble when immersed in hot vinegar, but that is a long way from…
gregladen | December 16, 2012Watch as a master engages a hostile congressional committee and makes them melt into his hands.
Hat tip: Elizabeth
gregladen | December 16, 2012I hope you are on facebook and can click through to this list of names, addresses, phone numbers, and other personal data on one of your favorite groups of slime.
carlyo | December 14, 2012-- At age 25, he co-discovered the synthetic compound norethindrone, which formed the chemical basis of the first oral contraceptive, or birth control pill.
--The Pill is often called one of the most important inventions of the 20th century, and for his achievements, Luis’s honors include being recognized by the Institution of Chemical Engineers as “one of the chemical engineers who changed the world.”
Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas was just a 25-year-old undergraduate chemistry student when he began at Syntex Corporation, a fledgling biochemical company in Mexico City, where he joined…
gregladen | December 14, 2012When Atheists talk, people listen.
Then, they tell them to shut up.
David Phillip Norris of the Twin Cities recently wrote an article for MNPost called With talk of tolerance and equality, one group is still forgotten: atheists. This was written as a reflection on the just finished and rather dramatic fight against an anti same sex marriage constitutional amendment on the ballot in Minnesota. By today's electoral standards, the amendment was soundly defeated.
So while I’m thrilled that we can start talking about the possibility of voting “yes” instead of “no” for same-sex marriage in…
carlyo | December 13, 2012Wonderful story to share about this scientist from Thailand with a deep passion to help others- she truly is a role model in science & engineering!
For the full biography of Krisana Kraisintu and all of our role models click here
carlyo | December 12, 2012Exhibitor applications are now being accepted for the 3rd Festival! Don't miss out on our Early Bird Special!
We invite you to celebrate science at the 3rd USA Science & Engineering Festival, the largest celebration of science and engineering in the United States! The 3rd Science Festival will kick off with nationwide school programs, contests and events year-round, and culminate in a 2-day Grand Finale Expo on April 26-27, 2014 at the Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Sneak Peek Friday will take place on April 25.
Sign up to Exhibit by December 31st, 2012 to take advantage of all the…
mspringer | December 12, 2012Wow, lots of moon posts these days. This one is going to talk about a question left by commenter ppnl a couple posts back:
ppnl: So could you use a pair of one meter telescopes a kilometer apart to create a point of constructive interference on the moon as small as what would have been created by a kilometer size telescope?
Me: I don’t think so. The whole thing about interferometers having the resolution of a telescope the size of the baseline is sort of a hand-waving way of sweeping of lot of technical detail under the rug. You could make some pretty closely spaced interference fringes on…
gregladen | December 12, 2012Tea Party leader South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is stepping down from his position in the US Senate to take on leadership of the Conservative Heritage Foundation. That itself is kind of strange, since being a US Senator is a Big Huge Deal and being the head of some think tank is only a moderately big deal. But no matter. Since he is leaving office, he needs to be replaced, and that job, in South Carolina, goes to the Governor, Nikki Haley, one of those enigmatically female Republicans. One of the candidates she is apparently considering for the job is Jenny Sanford, the ex wife of Mark…