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Desiree Jennings – The Plot Thickens
As promised, I watched the Inside Edition segment last night following up on the Desiree Jennings case. If you remember, she is the 25 year old woman who claimed to have a neurological disorder called dystonia following a seasonal flu vaccine. Her story never added up, and the video of...
I was recently interviewed by Inside Edition for a follow up story on Desiree Jennings – the young woman who alleged to have dystonia as a reaction to the flu vaccine. (See here for my original post, and there are a few follow ups shortly after.) Inside Edition initially broke the...
More on fMRIs and the Comatose
Dealing with patients in a coma is challenging in multiple levels. We are challenged to evaluate the degree of damage, or conversely the degree of neurological function that remains. We are challenged to give the family or caregiver an accurate prognosis. And we are challenged with dealing with the ethical...
Biophysical250 – Neurotics-R-Us
I was recently asked my opinion about the Biophysical250 – a series of 250 blood tests offered by a commercial lab for the out-of-pocket cost of $3,400. My skeptical alarms immediately began ringing – I am familiar with the commercial labs promising diagnostic tests directly to the public – generally...
6.022137 × 10^23 – that’s Avogadro’s number. It’s the number of atoms or molecules of a substance in a number of grams of that substance equal to its atomic mass. So 1 gram of elemental hydrogen or 12 grams of carbon12 will have Avogadro’s number of atoms. This amount is...
On a regular basis I am sent links to YouTube to review the latest UFO video footage. Most often it is by a fellow skeptic who just wants to share the latest crappy evidence being offered by the UFO community. Sometimes the links are sent by readers who are perplexed...
Skepticblog
More on Ancient Jews, Pyramids, Pharaohs, and the Exodus
Don’t think for a minute that I didn’t know it would be controversial. When I recorded this week’s Skeptoid episode Did Jewish Slaves Build the Pyramids, I knew it was going to upset Christians who hold that belief dear. I wasn’t disappointed, as you can tell from the comments. As you...
And now the antivaxxers’ humiliation is complete
Oh, this is wonderful to hear: The Lancet — a leading UK professional medical research journal — is retracting the paper published by Andrew Wakefield back in 1998 that linked vaccines with autism. The paper has been found to be multiply and fatally flawed, with Wakefield and his work being...
Mainstream Skepticism Win! Score one for New Media
I am an avid listener to podcasts. I can attribute my enlightenment that I was a Skeptic from the early days of listening to Penn Jillette’s radio show rebroadcast on my iPod. Now, as I spend my day making videos, working on pitch materials for The Skeptologists and also making...
An Argument That Should Never Be Made Again
Cryptozoology is my first love. As a child, I spent endless hours planning the cryptozoological expeditions I thought I would one day lead. Even today, as a “professional skeptic,” I carry a torch for monsters and hidden beasts. Which is how I came to frequent the popular cryptozoology blog site Cryptomundo....
On a regular basis I am sent links to YouTube to review the latest UFO video footage. Most often it is by a fellow skeptic who just wants to share the latest crappy evidence being offered by the UFO community. Sometimes the links are sent by readers who are perplexed...
A Vent on Fire So it seems Bonnie Vent is more than a little bent out of shape about her claim to be able to talk to the deceased Michael Jackson. The real question is not one of legality of freedom of speech as far as I’m concerned. (See Steve Novella’s...
RichardDawkins.net : The Latest Updates
Houston, we are go for live streaming from space
We live in the future. Donât believe me? Then why not sit back, relax, and watch this live video stream from frakking space....
Action Alert: Tell Obama to Reform the Faith Based Initiative Program
On July 1, 2008 Barack Obama promised to abide by "a few basic principles" that would protect the constitutional separation of church and state in his plan for an expanded faith based initiative program....
Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
Do read this book. If youâve had any acquaintance with cell biology, youâve heard of HeLa cells—cells derived from a cervical tumor and now widely used to study all manner of things....
After much heated debate, the Eureka team have picked 30 of their favourite science, environment, health and technology blogs....
Teenage girl buried alive in Turkey for talking to boys
But it's part of their culture, so it's OK...
Secular Student Alliance Northern California Regional Leadership Summit: Stanford University
Reminder note that this event is Feb 12-14 at Stanford University....
Skeptic.com
IN THIS RIVETING STORY about his remarkable discoveries from the Gogo fossil site in the Kimberly district of Western Australia, the Australian paleontologist John Long, now Vice President of Research and Collections at the Natural History Museum of L.A. County, takes us beyond just reconstructing animal morphology and into the...
Adventures Among the Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions
INTREPID INTERNATIONAL EXPLORER, biologist, and National Geographic photographer Mark W. Moffett, “the Indiana Jones of entomology,” takes us around the globe on a strange and colorful journey in search of the hidden world of ants. In tales from Nigeria, Indonesia, the Amazon, Australia, California, and elsewhere, Moffett recounts his entomological...
How the Economy Works: Confidence, Crashes & Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
“OF ALL THE ECONOMIC BUBBLES that have been pricked,” the editors of The Economist recently observed, “few have burst more spectacularly than the reputation of economics itself.” Indeed, the financial crisis that crested in 2008 destroyed the credibility of the economic thinking that had guided policymakers for a generation. But...
On Fact & Fraud: Cautionary Tales from the Front Lines of Science
FRAUD IN SCIENCE is not as easy to identify as one might think. When accusations of scientific misconduct occur, truth can often be elusive, and the cause of a scientist’s ethical misstep isn’t always clear. In his lecture based on his new book, On Fact and Fraud, Caltech physicist David...
The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
A DRUNKARD’S WALK is a type of random statistical distribution with important applications in scientific studies ranging from biology to astronomy. Mlodinow, a visiting lecturer at Caltech and coauthor with Stephen Hawking of A Briefer History of Time, takes us on a walk through the hills and valleys of randomness...
Does God have a Future? A Great Debate Filmed by ABC’s Nightline
This debate will be filmed and appear in a 30-minute edited version on ABC Nightline approximately two weeks after the event. A complete version of the debate will also be available on the show’s website around the same time. NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Dr. Deepak Chopra is an MD and...
Respectful Insolence
"Building bridges" to the leaders of the anti-vaccine movement?
Thanks to Andrew Wakefield, it's been pretty much vaccine week for me. Well, mostly anyway, I did manage to have some fun with Mike Adams and the immune system, but otherwise it's been all vaccines all the time this week. As I mentioned yesterday, at the risk of dwelling on...
How not to report science and medical news, vaccine edition (addendum)
Here we go again (rest of the post below the fold because there is a video that autostarts): Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post......
How not to report science and medical news, vaccine edition
I realize I complain periodically about when I get into what seems to me to be a rut in which I'm writing pretty much only about anti-vaccine lunacy. This is just such a week, when the news on the vaccine front has been coming fast and furious, first with Andrew...
How can I resist such a request?
You know I'm a sucker for a heartfelt plea from an anti-vaccine activist. That's why, upon seeing Kim Stagliano write in Age of Autism: Hi, I'd appreciate your comments over at HuffPo on my post, The Censorship of Autism Treatment" HERE. I had to admit that I heartily agree. That's why I'm...
The martyrdom of St. Andy, part 2: David Kirby rides to the rescue (sort of)
If I am wrong I will be a bad person because I will have raised this spectre.Andrew Wakefield, March 3, 1998. Interview in The Independent. The martyrdom of brave maverick Saint Andy continues apace, it would appear. As you recall, last week, after an interminable proceeding that stretched out over two and a...
Sure, this is old, but I hadn't seen a video quite this cool before. Behold, a human polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN, or neutrophil) on a blood film, "chasing" Staphylococcus aureus. There are more videos of cells in action here. It never ceases to amaze me how cells can detect biochemical gradients over such...
Derren Brown Blog
Quantum Logic Clock – accurate to the nearest second for 3.7 Billion years
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have built an enhanced version of an experimental atomic clock based on a single aluminum atom that is now the world’s most precise clock, more than twice as precise as the previous pacesetter based on a mercury atom. The new aluminum clock would...
Schizophrenia Isn’t Just A Mental Illness, it’s a skin disorder too.
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered that the effects of schizophrenia appear to extend beyond the brain. And now there’s talk of a blood test to diagnose schizophrenia being rolled out within a year. Because schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder, it was previously believed that the signs of the...
Super-Hard Diamonds Found In Meteorite
“Researchers using a diamond paste to polish a slice of meteorite stumbled onto something remarkable: crystals in the rock that are harder than diamonds. A closer look with an array of instruments revealed two totally new kinds of naturally occurring carbon, which are harder than the diamonds formed inside the Earth. “The...
Man Says Police Destroyed Mystical Powers
“An Oregon man claims in a lawsuit Idaho police destroyed the mystical powers of a medicine bag when they opened it during his drunken driving arrest in August. Craig Clark Show, 49, of Portland said the bag provided protection, had been blessed by a medicine woman and had remained closed since...
Illinois Politician Claims Atheist Sign Is ‘Hate Speech’
“William J. Kelly, a Chicago Republican, is suing the Illinois Secretary of State for allowing an atheist sign to be placed next to a nativity scene in the state capitol. The sign read: “At the time of the winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels,...
“Identity: Eight rooms, nine lives 26 November 2009 – 06 April 2010 What influences or determines our sense of who we are? What makes one person distinct from another? How does science inform human identity? This major new exhibition explores the tension between the way we view ourselves and how others see...
Bad Science
I thought you might be interested in this job advert from the Independent. It’s from the nice people at Maperton Trust. You can go and see them for a diagnosis with their magical machines, although the best product is their Head Lice Repelling Unit or HELRU (right) which various people have emailed...
Here’s a very brief piece I bashed out for the Guardian newsdesk today on the Wakefield finding, the further reading below will be more helpful if you’re interested in the story. Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Thursday 28 January 2009 In medicine, “untoward incident inquiries” tend to look for systems failures, rather...
12 Monkeys. No… 8. Wait, sorry, I meant 14.
Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 23 January 2010 Like many people, you’re possibly afraid to share your views on animal experiments, because you don’t want anyone digging up your grandmother’s grave, or setting fire to your house, or stuff like that. Animal experiments are necessary, they need to be properly regulated,...
Brief note to say I’m a guest on LlewTube this week with Robert Llewellyn (or Kryten off of Red Dwarf if you prefer). The show’s great generally, and a galaxy of nerds, recent guests include Patrick Stewart, Graham Linehan, Martha Lane Fox, Adrian Edmondson, Brian Cox, and the rest. It’s...
Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 16 January 2010 Every now and then you have to salute a genius. Both the Daily Mail and the Metro report new research analysing the positions of Britain’s ancient sites, and the results are startling: primitive man had his own form of “sat nav”. Researcher Tom...
If you want to be trusted more: claim less
Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 8 January 2009 “Public sector pay races ahead in a recession” shouted the front page of this week’s Sunday Times. “Public sector workers earn 7% more on average than their peers in the private sector — a pay gulf that has more than doubled since the...
skeptic cat
Today's Roundup (February 5, 2010)
This Week in the Future, February 1-5, 2010Ghostbusters: Authors of a new study propose a strict ban on medical ghostwritingLarge Hadron Collider Reports Record-breaking collisionsLHC to Operate Again, Though at Half PowerAn answer to another of life's big questionsWhich Organs Can I Live Without, and How Much Cash Can I...
Star Trek – The Sex Generation
Hattip: Giagantor on BuzzFeedStar Trek – The Sex GenerationThis is an expansion of a short set of clips that Gene Roddenberry had put together after the second season, that set was just about 2 minutes and mostly bloopers....
Monty Python: Upperclass Twit of the Year
Monty Python: Upperclass Twit of the Year -- 7 min 7 sechttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSqkdcT25ssThe Upperclass Twit of the Year race (full version with all events) from Monty Python's Flying Circus....
Brian Williams, Jon Stewart, et al: "Who does Neil Tyson think he is?"
The Pluto Files with Neil deGrasse Tyson: Who does Neil think he is?On Tuesday, March 2nd NOVA joins Neil de Grasse Tyson as he follows the amazing story of Pluto's discovery and the captivating science that surrounds this former planet, including the possibility of finding more Pluto-like planets in the...
The Amazing Aliens RapMusic truly is the universal language....
Today's Roundup (February 4, 2010)
"Secret" Author and frequent Oprah guest, James Ray, arrested and charged with three counts of manslaughter in Sedona sweat lodge debacle -- Read More @ HuffPo -- Abel Pharmboy's Commentary on Science BlogsAnother Blow to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster: 20 Vintage LOLcats -- See Also: A "Bitter...
New Urban Legends
Did actress Catherine Bell correctly predict the results of the 2002 Super Bowl prior to the start of the NFL season?...
About franchised postal center outlets charging more than official postal service rates for mailing items....
E-rumors claim that states are installing cameras along interstate highways that automatically track and ticket speeders....
Facebook 'Automation Labs' Warning
Alert warns that entering "Automation Labs" into Facebook's "Block List" option will display a list of twenty people who have access to your Facebook account....
'Triangle of Life' article provides advice about earthquake safety....
Hoax messages warn that communication with strangers will provide bad people with access they will use to harm you....
Unreasonable Faith
Missionaries Charged With Kidnapping
The missionaries who were caught trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country have been charged with kidnapping and denied bail....
This is a hilarious satirical counter-protest of those bastards at Westboro Baptist Church: Fight the Lunar Homosexual Agenda!...
1,000 Rabbis Warn Homosexuality in the Military May Cause Further Natural Disasters
We often hear how intolerant and crazy the fundies of Christianity and Islam are… but we don’t talk too much about Jews. However, they have their fundies too, and if you replace a few words here and there, they sound exactly like the others. Recently 1,000 rabbis warned that homosexuality in the...
Missionaries Kidnapping Children?
US missionaries are being held in Haiti for attempting to take 33 Haitian children out of the country: Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said some of the children have parents who are alive. The government is attempting to locate them. He says a judicial system needs to determine whether the Americans were acting in...
by VorJack In my lifetime I’ve seen churches try just about everything to stay relevant with the teenage set. It started when churches got their own house bands and pastors posed with Starbucks cups in their hands. Then it was Christian eXtreme sports and Christian professional wrestling. So...
Mr. Deity and the Promised Land
...
Science-Based Pharmacy
Pharmacies Targeted in Mass Homeopathy Overdose
Hundreds of protesters will gather outside Boots pharmacies on January 30 to swallow entire bottles of homeopathic remedies and embarrass a profession that sells them in the absence of any evidence of efficacy. A few weeks ago, I blogged about the 10:23 protest which was gathering momentum in the United Kingdom....
As we meander through life, there are inflection points – decisions and events that dramatically affect our future. It may take years to recognize them. In 1993, I found out I’d been selected for a hospital pharmacy residency at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario. I didn’t realize it until years...
Unapproved Natural Health Products Banned from Ontario Pharmacies
In a stunning move, the Ontario College of Pharmacists has prohibited Ontario pharmacies from selling health products that are not approved for safety and efficacy by Health Canada. This directive, which takes effect immediately, banishes some of the most questionable “alternative” health products from pharmacy shelves. This message was sent...
New UK Campaign: “Homeopathy: There’s nothing in it”
A few weeks ago I blogged about some very public criticism of pharmacy practice in the United Kingdom. I noted that pharmacies were being publicly criticized for selling homeopathy, and this was causing a public relations disaster for Boots, one of the UK’s leading pharmacy chains, and a proud vendor...
Forget to take your Ginkgo biloba? Turns out, it doesn’t matter
Among the natural products on pharmacy shelves, I was rooting for Ginkgo biloba for the prevention of dementia. For one, dementia is a horrible illness. Secondly, currently available drugs for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have little meaningful effect. Thirdly, preliminary data with ginkgo for AD looked encouraging. I recall reading this...
Top Science-Based Pharmacy Events of the Decade
There have been a few “best of the decade” lists circulating, with both KevinMD and Medpage Today giving their perspective on the biggest medical events of the past ten years. Here’s my own list of what I think influenced or impacted the drive to make pharmacy a more science-based profession....
Science After Sunclipse
The Best Thing About This Season is the Music
Little-known "fact": the reason physicists are trying to create a black hole at the LHC is because it's the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Cthulhu. Read the comments on this post......
. . . And I Grew Up Just Fine!
The Intertubes are filling up with arguments just not worth having. Sigh. You know what I need? Yeah: (Reliving one's childhood can be a scary business. And on a related note: if my generation was raised by television, and everything on TV then is available on the Internet...
In Which I Am Less Than Courteous
Deepak Chopra is, basically, a parasite. He takes scientific discoveries made through hard work and sacrifice, strips them of all context and meaning until only jargon is left, and uses the fruits of his petty thievery to add spurious credibility to the mystical snake oil he peddles. Like certain others...
In no particular order: The LHC is now the world's highest-energy particle collider. The Copenhagen Diagnosis. Abbie Smith discusses Cryptococcus neoformans and rheumatoid arthritis. Ben Allen reviews "a graphic novel biography of mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell". Jeffrey Shallit has recently written three interesting posts exposing cdesign proponentsist nonsense. Dr. SkySkull explores the topic of "video...
Scariest Opening for a Scientific Paper, Ever
Fowler et al. (2009): Despite the ubiquity of raptors in terrestrial ecosystems, many aspects of their predatory behaviour remain poorly understood. Raptors are ubiquitous?! Ack! Hide! . . . but where? (Via Coturnix.) Read the comments on this post......
Storytelling, Levels of Meaning and Diffusion-Limited Reaction Kinetics
I was looking through my archive of old class notes for something or other (I started doing them all in LaTeX around my senior year, so I've lots of 'em stashed about various virtual corners), and I found a bit of advice from my third-semester quantum mechanics professor, regarding the...
The Rogues Gallery
The Rogues Gallery is now back up and at a new home. The new URL is http://www.theroguesgallery.org/. Please make sure you update your bookmarks and RSS feeds to get the new content. Thanks The Rogues, The Roguette and The Roguie....
We recently received the following email question: I have been studying quantum physics for a bit now and was hoping that Bob could give his explanation of The Uncertainty Principle and Wave/Particle duality. My first question is… Is the drawing of a wave (on paper) just a 2D representation of a more abstract...
People’s Choice Awards For Podcasting
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe has been nominated by our listeners as the people’s choice for best podacst in education. From the website PodCastAwards.com This is the Fifth annual event that will recognize the best podcasters in the world by allowing the people (Listeners and Podcasters) to nominate, and then vote...
Don’t you love sleeping and dreaming? I’ve loved it since I was a kid. Not just the act itself though but the whole ritual; the moment you say to yourself “Yup, today is essentially over and I’m going to bed”, the ablutions, slipping under the covers (I like lots of covers),...
Rotten Eggs, Flatulence, and Suspended Animation
We recently received the following email about suspended animation: A Big hello to SGU from Darwin Australia, I am writing in to seek your opinion on something I came across on a paranormal and believers pod cast…As painful as it is to listen to them, in the interest of being a...
Fantasies Are Good For Your Math Skills
Who says skeptics should not indulge themselves in fantasies? Stoic, rational, logical, critical, evidence-based, scientific are just a few of the adjectives that help define us. But in the context of skepticism, you seldom hear a skeptic embracing fantasy as a practical tool on our skeptical utility-belts. It’s time to...
James Randi Educational Foundation
RECEIVED FROM A THAI CORRESPONDENT
We received this from a reader who is concerned about the use of the so-called electronic dowsing rods in his country, Thailand… My name is Tuang Cheevatadavirut. I'm a freshly graduated student in MBA/MSIS (Master of Science in Information Systems) at Iowa State University. I saw your blog comment on the...
To The Followers of Christ, Oregon City
Oregon City teenager Neil Beagley died in June 2008 following complications from an untreated congenital urinary tract blockage that flooded his system with urea, causing renal failure, heart attack, and death. Neil Beagley didn't die in a hospital. He didn't die surrounded by doctors who were stumped regarding his next stage...
Skeptics have known for years that Dr. Andrew Wakefield — erstwhile anti-vax hero of the UK, who in 1998 published a tremendously influential paper in The Lancet linking autism to vaccination — was wrong; and we’ve long suspected that his motivations were less than pure. Yet all of a sudden,...
Last Week In Science-Based Medicine
Here is a recap of the stories that appeared last week at Science-Based Medicine, a multi-author skeptical blog that separates the science from the woo in medicine. On the “individualization” of treatments in “alternative medicine” (David Gorski) Alternative medicine providers claim to provide treatments individualized for each patient, but they have no...
For Good Reason with D.J. Grothe Premiers
D.J. Grothe, host of the weekly radio show and podcast Point of Inquiry for the last four years, has launched a new podcast in association with the James Randi Educational Foundation. Each episode of the new show will feature long-form interviews with leading thinkers on issues at the intersection of skepticism and belief. For...
CSI Elects JREF Associates as Fellows
The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP), has announced sixteen new Fellows, including James Randi and Phil Plait. Phil Plait, who recently received a "Skeptic of the Year" award from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe listeners, had this to say: "They are a prestigious and venerable organization, and to be...
Skepfeeds-The Best Skeptical blogs of the day
Filed under: Skepdude ...
16-year-old girl buried alive by her own family for “befriending boys”. ANKARA – A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeast Turkey in a gruesome honour killing just because she reportedly befriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday. It doesn’t even say that she was sexually active or anything;...
1,000 rabbis start thinking about “the gays”…
Sounds like the beginning of a tasteless, bad joke, but in fact it is the beginning of a tasteless, bad real story. 1,000 rabbis speak out against the Obama administration’s liberal views on homosexuals in the army. And they don’t like it one bit. When Americans are suffering economically and millions...
To The Followers of Christ, Oregon City
READ THE FULL ENTRY AT RANDI.ORG Oregon City teenager Neil Beagley died in June 2008 following complications from an untreated congenital urinary tract blockage that flooded his system with urea, causing renal failure, heart attack, and death. Neil Beagley didn’t die in a hospital. He didn’t die surrounded by doctors who were...
READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE GLOBE AND MAIL In 1998, The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, published a research study that triggered one of the biggest health scares of modern times. It claimed that autism was linked to children’s vaccines. The evidence was sketchy – it was based on...
Who you say? You know that guy that used to play somebody on Beverly Hills way back then, when….well he’s a bigger celebrity than Jenny McCarthy anyway so there! Anyway here’s a portion of an interview he just gave to the New York Post. PW: What appealed to you about this...
Bad Astronomy
Today would have been Dana McCaffery’s first birthday. It is in her memory that we must all stand up to unreason. It is in her memory that we must never tire, and never fail. [Updated to add: By coincidence, there is an outbreak of pertussis in British Columbia right now; 19 confirmed...
Hubble catches Pluto red-faced
Pity poor Pluto. The debate over its planethood has caused much consternation over the years. Part of the problem is that it’s so dinky and so far away! If it were closer, or bigger, we almost certainly wouldn’t be having this debate. But whether or not you think Pluto should be...
Just so’s you know, the NYC Skeptics and NESS are throwing a big skeptic meeting in New Yawk called the Northeast Conference on Science & Skepticism, and registration just opened. This will be a really fun event with lots of cool people like George Hrab, Jamy Ian Swiss, the Skeptic’s...
This has already made the rounds of the blogoverse, but it’s so cool: video of a leukocyte chasing down and eating a bacterium. I know it’s just biochemicals in action, a billion years of evolution writ small. But it’s still creepy and amazing. And I learned a new word: this type...
"Tennessee high schools will be getting guidelines from the state next fall on teaching the Bible as part of a secular curriculum". Yes, it’s a comparative literature class. Yes, it’s legal. Yes, I would even approve of this… in theory. In practice? Right. Read the title of this post again. Still, in...
Apropos of my recent post showing a Hubble image of two asteroids colliding, the website Word Spy just happened to have a funny choice for their word of the day: cosmophobia, "the strong and irrational fear that in the near future the earth will be destroyed by some cosmic event." Personally,...
Sorting Out Science
Casual Friday — Robonaut 2: this *is* the droid you’re looking for…
Well, so the future of the U.S. manned space program is up in the air right now -- one thing's for sure, though. The future's going to need a lot more robots......
It's early in the month, so there's a bounty crop of (mostly) science-related blog carnivals for you to choose from this week......
The scientific tourist #110 — the track to 34
These are interesting times for NASA's crewed spaceflight program......
Casual Friday — Fly me to the m… to Mars!
OK, so at this point we have no idea where astronauts will go next, if anywhere. But in the meantime, armchair astronauts can (to some degree) content themselves with a couple of cool videos put together by Doug Ellison of UnmannedSpaceflight.com from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) data......
The past week's selection of science-related blog carnivals......
The scientific tourist #109 — Fairy Caves
This week's image comes to you from the Fairy Caves, now part of the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, just outside of Glenwood Springs, Colorado...
The Blog for WhyWontGodHealAmputees.com
The Republican Party and Religion
There is an excellent thread in the forums on a recent poll of Republicans: Poll Suggests Republicans are Becoming a Fundie Religious Movement QUESTION: Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world? YES 77%; NO 15%; NOT SURE 8%. QUESTION: Do...
When the media panders to religion
A perfect example of the media pandering to religion: NPR: Searching for Spirituality in Prison “Spiritual Autobiography” - autobiographies “rooted in lessons of faith”. One of the professors who speaks is Lauren Winter, assistant professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School and author of the book “Girl meets God”. The show could...
You will want to avoid St. Anthony hospital in Oklahoma City
Visit their Web site: St. Anthony. The opening screen right now says, “Do you believe in the power of prayer?” Clicking on that page takes you to sharetheprayer.tv where it says, “We believe in the power of prayer”, and that is a registered trademark. Also: “See how the Power of...
Christians have turned America into a laughingstock in other parts of the world
Watch this video to see how ridiculous American Christians look to foreigners: The problem is that there are so many Christians in America that they taint the entire country’s reputation....
The age of sexual consent at the Vatican is 12
The Vatican is its own tiny nation. Check out the age of consent for sex in this nation: Worldwide ages of consent You read that right - it is 12 years old for male-female sex. Completely in line with the insanity described here....
Breathe deeply of the insanity, as reported by Reuters: Leader slaughters goats to ward off evil? Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has a black goat slaughtered at his house almost every day to ward off “evil eyes” and protect him from “black magic,” a newspaper reported Wednesday. A spokesman for the president told...
Skeptico
Since I posted my second annual Golden Woo Awards winners, it seems to me as though every woo in the world has been making their best efforts to get nominated for an award in 2010. Case in point – David......
Andrew Wakefield Unethical so Age of Autism Stands By Him
The British General Medical Council (GMC) has just announced its verdict in their investigation into Andrew Wakefield, ruling that he had acted dishonestly and irresponsibly: The verdict, read out by panel chairman Dr Surendra Kumar, criticised Dr Wakefield for the......
Mike Adams Pyromaniac in a Strawman Factory
(Unfortunately I didn’t invent that phrase. I wish I had, but I didn’t. It seems to fit Adams so well though.) Mike Adams is going nuts. (Possibly the word “going” is superfluous there – I’ll let you, gentle reader, decide.)......
For once we have some news of rationality winning – although it took a while. Jim McCormick (pictured right), maker of the useless ADE-651 “bomb detection” device, was arrested yesterday in the UK on suspicion of “fraud by misrepresentation.” An......
You’ll remember that Barbara Loe Fisher is suing Amy Wallace et al for (as I understand it, mostly) the following piece that Wallace wrote about Fisher: Fisher, who has long been the media's go-to interview for what some in the......
Casey Luskin Wrong on Tiktaalik
Casey Luskin over at the Disco-Tute’s blog is getting all excited about the recent discovery of fossilized tetrapod (four footed vertebrate) footprints in Poland, dated 395 million years ago. What? The Disco-Tute is excited about new scientific discoveries? Well, yes,......