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Atheist Doctors Might Kill You

August 30, 2010

Your doctor’s religious beliefs – or lack of them – might have a lot to do with how soon you exit this world when elderly or infirm. Science Daily reported, “Atheist or agnostic doctors are almost twice as willing to take decisions that they think will hasten the end of a very sick patient’s life […]

Intelligent Design

Intelligent Design as Entertainment

August 26, 2010

It’s been around a few months now, but OK Go’s music video of their song “This Too Shall Pass” featured an elaborate Rube Goldberg set. What many viewers may not know about the backstory of the production is that several JPL rocket scientists helped design and operate the contraptions that filled a good-size warehouse. […]

Bible and Theology

Who Invited the Scientist in Here?

August 25, 2010

If you envision science in terms of white-coated lab chemists holding flasks, field biologists gathering bird eggs, astronomers peering through a telescope or geologists chipping rocks with hand picks, think again. Today’s science sweeps everything into its domain, including the human mind, intellect, emotions, will, creativity, and our most sincere beliefs and actions. When not […]

Dinosaurs

Dinosaur Graveyards and Arctic Tortoises: Whos Got the Context?

August 24, 2010

Science articles often go beyond the data. A jumble of bones found on an island is boring; people want a story of what they were, and how they got that way. Many scientists and reporters are only happy to fulfill that curiosity. But are the stories they tell, usually presented as fact, the only way […]

Solar System

Moon May Be Active Today

August 23, 2010

The old story of our moon was that it was geologically dead. Except for the occasional meteor impact, not much happens there; the interior had cooled down long ago, leaving it an inert, battered sphere. That was before the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter showed scientists evidence that it has continued to shrink and form new surface […]

Bible and Theology

Universe Is Doomed

August 22, 2010

Astronomers have decided the universe will expand forever, growing colder and darker, till it ends in a heat death. According to the BBC News, a study of gravitational lensing by a huge galactic cluster named Abell 1689 determined that dark energy will push galaxies apart till they burn out. One researcher remarked that the study […]

Uncategorized

Inserting Evolution into Data

August 13, 2010

Evolution takes credit for a lot of things other scientists might think say nothing about evolution. Are the statements in these articles about evolution warranted by the observations? Do the RNA: Scientists at Yale University found an RNA complex that helps proteins to infect cells. That’s interesting as far as it goes, but Science Daily […]

SETI

Taking the Sci-Fi Out of SETI

August 12, 2010

SETI might well stand for “Sci-Fi of Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence” with its ROI (return on investment) of zero in 50 years of searching (12/31/2009). In his latest piece for Space.com Seth Shostak did the best he could to distinguish SETI as science, not science fiction, though plenty of the latter will be evident at a conference […]

Cosmology

Conjuring Up Evolutionary Implications from Current Data

August 11, 2010

What does observable reality imply about unobservable reality? Some scientists say, a lot. But is unobservable reality really real? Or is it an oxymoron? A couple of recent articles in the science media show scientists observing things in the present, then saying they have “huge implications” for things no scientist ever observed. In […]

Geology

Ancient Earth Smackdown at Santa Fe Tells Global Story

August 10, 2010

Secular geologists tell a “a compelling story about the distant past” that emerges from a look at rocks near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Amazing Facts

Specialized Molecules Make Cells Work

August 9, 2010

Reports continue to show that vital cell processes depend on finely-tuned proteins and RNA molecules. Most of the papers that discuss these specialized molecules fail to mention how they might have evolved, as shown in three papers in the recent issue of Science. Walker with muscle: A paper by Kaya and Higuchi from the University […]

Dumb Ideas

Down with Human Evolution Just-So Stories

August 8, 2010

Stories of human ancestors around campfires evolving larger brains by eating meat or caring for animals often sound themselves life campfire stories. For example, Jeremy Hsu in Live Science speculated that “Caring for Animals May Have Shaped Human Evolution.” A cute girl with a puppy adorns the article. “Our love of all things furry has […]

Dumb Ideas

Grandma Gets Sexy Idea for Origin of Life

August 7, 2010

Helen Hansma likes being a grandmother and studying the origin of life, according to a video on PhysOrg. To show she’s not over the hill, though, she came up with a sexy new hypothesis for how we got here: life emerged “between the sheets” – of mica. Her video clip explains three parts […]

Darwin and Evolution

God Forbid: Public School Field Trips to a Creation Zoo?

August 6, 2010

Is it legal? Can a public school take kids to a creation zoo? Environment reporter Michael Marshall at New Scientist just about had a fit when he heard that “A UK zoo that pushes a creationist message has been approved as a destination for school trips by the government.” That could never happen in America, […]

Cell Biology

Stem Cell News: Adults Still Lead