Posted in In The News on Dec 13th, 2005
[Kuiper Belt, Linguistics, Malaria, Narwhal, Permian Extinction, Science News, Virgin Galactic]I am very sorry to say that tomorrow’s links RSS feed will have many more entries in it than usual, because today has just been an amazing day for science. Let me try and keep up. By the way, if you aren’t receiving […]
Posted in Opinion on Dec 13th, 2005
[Blogging, Daily Kos, Space, Space Advocacy]Normally I would not be writing a story about the Daily Kos, not because of any political leanings I have, but because it is not a mainstay of reasoned thinking that I would want to promote. But today, I found something that I think is absolutely wonderful. A […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Dec 12th, 2005
[Grand Theft Auto, Video Games, Violence]Concerned parents and reactive legislatures have for years decried the increase levels of casual violence in video games. Grand Theft Auto has become the lightning rod in this remarkably juvenile public discussion after the murder of three people was attributed to that game. In response to its critics, […]
Posted in Research Synopses on Dec 12th, 2005
[Cassini, ESA, Huygens, NASA, Peer Review, Planetary Science, Research Synopsis, Saturn, Titan]This week we will focus on a set of published findings from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Huygens probe. The Huygens probe descended into Titan’s atmosphere on 14 January 2005 after separating from its Cassini mothership on 25 December 2004. You may […]
Posted in Book Reviews on Dec 11th, 2005
[Aneuploidy, Book Review, Cancer, Extended Piece, Human Genome Project, Peter Deusberg, PIG Science]Chapters 10 and 11 of Tom Bethell’s The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science follow two nearly content-less chapters that I discussed in the Chapters 8 and 9 review. In 10 and 11, Bethell introduces his readers to the Human Genome Project (HGP) […]
Posted in Book Reviews on Dec 10th, 2005
[Book Review, Cloning, Extended Piece, PIG Science, Stem Cells]After a deeply troubled chapter, Chapters 8 and 9 of Tom Bethell’s “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science” return us at least to discussing science. Here Bethell updates us all on his version of the sciences of cloning and stem-cells. His main argument is that […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Dec 9th, 2005
[AGU, Aurora, Magnetic North Pole, Northern Lights, Radiation]There is a question that all scientists face with their work: “what is the societal relevance of your research?” We all answer it in different ways, but Joseph Stoner, a paleomagnetist (someone who studies the magnetic history of our planet as recorded in rocks and sediments) from […]
Posted in Book Reviews on Dec 8th, 2005
[Africa, AIDS, Book Review, Extended Piece, Pandemic, PIG Science, Sexuality]After several chapters with at least a modicum of interesting arguments, Tom Bethell, in Chapter 7 of his book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, has published something for which he should be ashamed. I cannot find any other way to put it; this chapter […]
Posted in Opinion on Dec 8th, 2005
[Election, Politics, Reform]What is it about our particular political and election system that we love so much? Here are a few ideas that have been floated for changes recently:
Posted in Opinion on Dec 8th, 2005
[Blogging]Chances are, if you are reading this you’ve heard a great deal about the transformative power of blogs. If not, here are a few examples I’ve run across. Tuesday, on NPR’s Diane Rehm show, Dan Burstein (co-author of Blog!: How the World of Blogs And Bloggers Is Changing Our Culture) referred to them […]
