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Sociology of Science: the IPCC Case

February 6, 2010

Climate change is off-topic for evolution news, but what is taking place in this internationally-potent paradigm is instructive. Its troubles provide fodder for several extra-scientific disciplines: the philosophy of science, the history of science, the rhetoric of science, and the sociology of science. Lessons from the IPCC case can inform citizens about current scientific practices […]

Education

Old Primordial Soup Is Spoiled

February 5, 2010

Don’t open it; that can of primordial soup sitting on the shelf for decades is rotten. PhysOrg announced, “New research rejects 80-year theory of ‘primordial soup’ as the origin of life.” In its place come new theories about tiny chemical cooking pots in the pores of deep-sea vents. Pioneered by Michael Russell (02/15/2008) and others, […]

Amazing Facts

Spider Webs Are Precision Dew Collectors

February 4, 2010

Photographs of dew drops on spider webs are favorite targets for nature photographers, because they resemble strings of pearls on fine jewelry (example 1, example 2). But did you know the reason dewdrops bead up so well on webs is due to the fine microstructure of the spider silk? A team of Chinese scientists studied […]

Cosmology

Universe Has a Run-Down Feeling

February 3, 2010

There’s 30 times more entropy in the universe than thought, according to Dr. Charley Lineweaver at the Australian National University. PhysOrg said that Lineweaver and a PhD student Charles Egan measured the entropy of the universe. It looks like it is feeling pretty run down. “We considered all contributions to the entropy of the observable […]

Amazing Facts

Building a Cell: Staggering Complexity

February 2, 2010

“The living cell is a self-organizing, self-replicating, environmentally responsive machine of staggering complexity.” Thus began a special section on “Building a Cell” in Nature last week.1 The section with five papers explores what is known about gene regulation, cell organization and signalling. It’s an opportunity, as well, to see what scientists think about what they […]

Bible and Theology

SETI, Miracles, and Comfort

February 1, 2010

Would knowledge that the universe is filled with aliens bring you comfort? Or are you more comfortable thinking humans are alone in the universe? Seth Shostak, director of the SETI Institute, was interviewed briefly by Bill Hemmer on Fox News this morning, where only one answer to this idea was assumed. Shostak came […]

Cosmology

Who in the Universe Makes Music?

February 1, 2010

A cosmologist and some musicians want to “sonify the universe” by making music out of stellar events like supernova explosions. In an unusual article for a science media outlet, “Reaching for the Stars to Create Music of the Universe,” Science Daily reported that Nobel laureate George Smoot was inspired by the wishes of a Grateful […]

Darwin and Evolution

Scientists Divine Deep Time in Dead Fish

January 30, 2010

Scientific experiments can certainly take on a wide variety of methods, from recreating the atmosphere of Titan to testing a drug on a genetic disease. But if educators want to encourage students to become scientists, they had best keep silent about “some very unpleasant experiments” at the University of Leicester reported by the BBC News. […]

Birds

Incredible Creatures that Support Evolution?

January 29, 2010

Paleontologists and biologists continue to uncover animals past and present that exhibit amazing diversity. Some of them are so weird and unexpected, they are almost unbelievable. Usually, the news media are quick to tally up points for Darwin by explaining to lay people how they shed light on evolution. But in the “discovery” stage of […]

Darwin and Evolution

Woese Slays Darwin

January 28, 2010

The king is dead! Long live the king! Such were the oxymoronic cries of olden times when royal succession took place. Has Charles Darwin been dethroned? One would think so, after reading Mark Buchanan’s article, “Horizontal and vertical: the evolution of evolution” in New Scientist. Buchanan sets the stage: Just suppose that Darwin’s ideas were […]

Amazing Facts

Barefoot Is Better

January 27, 2010

Who do we wear shoes? It seems obvious; we expect that they help us avoid injuries and provide comfort. Maybe we should think of the injuries we are getting by wearing them. The image of the barefoot person is usually of someone poor, deprived, lower-class, hick, unclean, redneck or something else unattractive. Shoes […]

Darwin and Evolution

Convergence: Explanation or Rescue Device?

January 26, 2010

The news media are telling us that bats and dolphins both hit on the same genetic pathway to evolve echolocation – even though they are on vastly different evolutionary lineages and use echolocation differently (one in air, one in water). Since it is inconceivable that a putative shrew-like common ancestor of these very different animals […]

Dumb Ideas

Chimps Produce Movie

January 25, 2010

The BBC is going to air a movie made by chimpanzees. (Note: This is not a Planet of the Apes remake.) A primatologist working on her PhD gave some chimps at the Edinburgh zoo a “Chimpcam,” a camcorder in a “chimp-proof” box, to see what they would come up with. “Despite the fact that the […]

Darwin and Evolution

Aliens Invade Science News

January 25, 2010

What are aliens doing in science news reports? There is no evidence they even exist. That has not hindered some scientists from speculating. BBC News reporters Pallab Ghosh headlined an entry “Astronomers hopeful of detecting extra-terrestrial life,” and adorned it with a Hollywood-style alien corpse. The article highlighted the optimism of Lord Rees, the president […]

Intelligent Design

Fermi Paradox Reasserts Itself

January 23, 2010

Paul Davies, no stranger to facing difficult questions and proposing imaginative solutions, is coming out with a new book in April about SETI. In it, he tackles the Fermi Paradox: if aliens are out there, why haven’t they dropped by yet? Amazon.com lists some of the ideas to be presented in The Eerie Silence: Renewing […]

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