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Physics

Sun as a Star: How Does It Compare?
March 7, 2007
Not too many years ago, our sun was described as a common, ordinary star.  More recently, the Type G2 Dwarf Main-Sequence class, of which Ol Sol is a member, is believed to comprise only 5% of all stars.  An important paper in Astrophysical Journal is now revealing that the sun is special within its class: […]
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Amazing Facts

Turtles Hurtle Through the Sea Magnetically
March 6, 2007
Experiments on sea turtles have shown that they follow the earth’s magnetic field to the exact beach where they were born to lay their eggs.  “It is almost as if they were equipped with a compass pointing towards the beach in question,” says an article on EurekAlert.  “So they can correct any deflection they are […]
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Dinosaurs

Dino Horns: Is Smaller More Evolved?
March 5, 2007
One can never tell which way the evolutionary path will take to determine fitness.  Could be bigger, could be smaller.  Could be faster, could be slower.  Could be better camouflaged, could be flashy.  Michael Ryan (Cleveland Museum) decided that shorter horns on his dinosaur constituted better fitness.  CNN says his discovery, a 20-foot dinosaur in […]
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Education

Punc Eq Pioneer Founds Father & Son Evo-Journal
March 3, 2007
Who made Newsmakers in Science March 2,1 but Niles Eldredge and his son Greg.  Eldredge the dad (you can distinguish the two in the photo by beard color) started the “punctuated equilibrium” evolution revolution in 1972 with Stephen Jay Gould.  The two paleontologists angered many other evolutionists by making it public that the fossil record […]
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Human Body

Evolutionary Theory Not Even Skin Deep
March 2, 2007
A book on skin just was published – no, not one of those books, but a book on the physiology of human skin.  Nina Jablonski wrote Skin: A Natural History (UC Berkeley, 2006) and Qais Al-Awqati (Columbia U) reviewed it in Science.1  The reviewer noticed that “In its discussion of the human skin, the book’s […]
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Solar System

Dynamic Solar System Illuminated in Stunning New Images
March 1, 2007
Images both striking and beautiful continue to arrive on Earth from remote corners of the solar system.  Arriving as streams of binary digits with energies mere quadrillionths of a watt, received by giant radio dishes then amplified and processed, the results are nothing short of amazing.  Here’s a glimpse of what turned up this week: […]
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Amazing Facts

The Moth in Spider’s Clothing
February 28, 2007
National Geographic News has a picture story about a moth that mimics a jumping spider.  It appears to work.  Scientists staged a battle royale between contestants of mimics and non-mimics in the ring with their jumping spider enemies, and the mimics won hands down.  The spiders went for the normal moths 62% of the time, […]
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Health

3 Out of 5 Doctors – Leaves 2
February 28, 2007
Every once in awhile it’s good to be reminded that yesterday’s nutritional advice can be wrong.  We need to beware of simplistic approaches to health.  For instance, the cliches “If a little is good, more is better” or “it worked for me” can be deadly.  TV commercials are filled with glowing promises for this or […]
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Education

The Evolution of School Boards
February 27, 2007
A press release from Michigan State University encourages scientists to run for school boards on a pro-evolution platform.  Alarmed that 40% of students are doubting evolution, Jon Miller encourages his fellow evolutionists to get involved in improving “science literacy.”  He sees this as a necessary counter to “other special interest groups, often conservative or religiously […]
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Uncategorized

Orchid Deception: Is It Evolution?
February 26, 2007
Orchids comprise the most exotic and diverse group of flowering plants.  Some 30,000 species strong, this group contains members with unusual sex organs.  Some have organs that look and smell like the female of the insect species that pollinate them.  They seduce the males without giving them a reward of nectar for their stopover.  How […]
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Media

History Highlight: The Two Wilberforces
February 25, 2007
Those seeing the new movie Amazing Grace (opened Feb 2, 2007) about England’s long political battle to end slavery may not realize the family connection of the film’s hero with the controversy over Darwinism. William Wilberforce, the champion of abolition who brought an end to the slave trade as depicted in the film, had a […]
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Origin of Life

Extrasolar Gas Giants Turn Up Dry
February 22, 2007
A “dramatic step” led to a “big surprise”, said a press release from Jet Propulsion Laboratory.  NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was able to capture the first spectral information from two planets orbiting other stars.  HD 209458b and HD 189733b are so-called “hot Jupiters” – similar in size to our gas giants, they orbit much closer […]
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Amazing Facts

Watch a Ribosome in Action
February 21, 2007
A remarkable article about a remarkable machine: that’s what Chemical and Engineering News has published about the ribosome, a molecular machine vital to everything alive in the world.  Stu Borman’s article lavishes praise on the details of this assembly-line factory that translates RNA into proteins.  He surveys the history of investigation into the ribosome’s secrets.  […]
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Amazing Facts

Submarine, Make Like a Fish
February 21, 2007
Submarine designers are learning a thing or two from fish.  The latest fish trick to imitate is the lateral line: a row of specialized sensors fish have along their flanks.  Fish use these for synchronized swimming and predator avoidance.  EurekAlert reported on work by scientists at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne to build artificial lateral […]
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Physics

Theories of the Moon: Looney Tunes?
February 19, 2007
The TV science channels tell it like a matter of fact: our Moon originated from the coalescing debris of a glancing impact with Earth from a Mars-sized object, sometime long ago.  They even have computer animations to show how it all happened.  How reliable is this theory, though?  This month’s Planetary Report from The Planetary […]
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