Issues – Page 220

VIEW HEADLINES ONLY

Neanderthals Win Toolmaking Olympics

August 26, 2008

Scientists have taken another step toward debunking the myth of the “stupid Neanderthals” who went extinct when competing with their supposedly advanced neighbors, the “modern humans.” Science Daily is one of several news sites reporting a study on toolmaking by the two groups of humans, that concluded that “stone tool technologies developed by our species, […]

Genetics

Admissions of Ignorance in Evolutionary Theory

August 11, 2008

For a scientific idea some have proclaimed as a fact no longer in need of proof, and as well-established as gravity, Darwin’s theory of evolution still reveals surprising weaknesses when its defenders speak about the details. Detecting these weaknesses requires tuning out the media hype, and tuning into scientific papers and pro-evolution journals where evolutionary […]

Bible and Theology

Life in Space: Follow the Hot Water, not the Hot Air

August 8, 2008

Planetary scientists have their eyes and instruments on regions of hot water, but speculating too dogmatically about life in space could get you in hot water yourself. Simon Klatterhorn (geologist, U of Idaho) is mesmerized by the possibility of life at Europa, Jupiter’s ice-crusted oceanic moon. In an interview by Science Daily, he […]

Cell Biology

Adult Stem Cells Race Ahead; Embryonics Falter

August 7, 2008

Major advances are being made with induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), stem cells reconstituted from adult tissues, while interest in embryonic stem cells (ES) seems to be drying up. Both Nature and Science reported advances in iPS technology last week. Nature reported that the number of factors needed to reconstitute pluripotent stem cells […]

Media

Phoenix Did NOT Find Mars Life

August 4, 2008

A media snafu has NASA spokespersons rushing to deny that life has been found on Mars, reported Space.com. For example, Live Science reporter Leonard David said that the White House has been alerted to the potential for new information about life on Mars based on findings from the Phoenix Lander. The apparent secrecy has teased […]

Bible and Theology

Scientists Bemoan Research Fraud

August 2, 2008

A commentary entitled “Repairing research integrity” published in Nature June 181 struck a nerve. Three letters to the editor in the July 31 issue said the problem is worse than Titus, Wells and Rhoades indicated when they said many issues of research fraud go unreported, and suggested principles to fix the problem. The […]

Fossils

How Much Is Known About Climate History?

August 1, 2008

Scientific papers on earth history can seem very erudite and confident, filled with jargon and named periods that appear carved in stone. Every once in awhile, though, a surprise discovery raises questions about how sound their timelines and models really are. Get a load of this opening to a review by Jacqueline Flückiger,1 an environmental […]

Intelligent Design

History Channel Airs Evolve

July 29, 2008

A new 13-part series on the History Channel, called Evolve, begins with an episode on the evolution of the eye. To sell the story, the blurb needed to cast Evolution as an inventor: They are one of evolution’s most useful and prevalent inventions. Ninety five percent of living species are equipped with eyes and they […]

Education

What Can Science Really Know?

July 24, 2008

Two book reviews on philosophy of science appeared in the leading general-science journals Nature and Science last week. Both of them downplayed the oft-told triumphalist portrayal of science as a progressive path toward infallible knowledge – the picture most students get in school. In Nature,1 N. David Mermin (Cornell) gave a surprising reprimand […]

Health

Adult Stem Cells May Cure Muscular Dystrophy

July 19, 2008

Muscular dystrophy leaves children and adults in a nearly helpless state. Parents watch in agony as their children suffer rapid and progressive weakness. Attempts to support research, like the annual Labor Day events Jerry Lewis has held for over 40 years, have betrayed their inability to find a cure by the very fact of their […]

Education

Why Academic Freedom Is Dangerous

July 10, 2008

Barbara Forrest has a tough case on her hands. The veteran creationist-fighter has to convince the people of Louisiana that they did a bad thing by passing the Academic Freedom Bill, because academic freedom when it comes to discussing intelligent design and evolution is dangerous (cf. 05/12/2008, bullet 3). The bill passed by 94-3 in […]

Bible and Theology

Darwinist Reporter Calls Everyone a Hypocrite

July 6, 2008

In a surprising show of journalistic hubris, reporter Robin Nixon of Live Science accused every human being in the world of being a moral hypocrite. “Why We’re All Moral Hypocrites” reported results of a study by Piercarlo Valdesolo at Northeastern University that indicated people tend to judge themselves more leniently than others. […]

Media

Yellow Journalism Invades Science

June 28, 2008

James Kerian, a mechanical engineer, has a colorful term for science reporting these days: “yellow science.” Writing for the Wall Street Journal June 25, he accused scientists of the same kind of sensationalism that disgraced journalism in the days of William Randolph Hearst. The occasion for Kerian’s criticism was reporting about man-made global […]

Bible and Theology

Public Views on Darwin Not Evolving

June 27, 2008

A new Gallup Poll shows that American views on evolution have changed little for 26 years. Since 1982, the Gallup organization has periodically polled a random sample of adults to see if they believe humans evolved millions of years ago (with or without God’s help) or were created by God in their present form within […]

Health

Love Your Heart: Look at Nature

June 22, 2008

Heart patients can get instant relief from stress by simply looking out at nature through a window, reported Science Daily. It worked better if the patient looked at the real thing, not just a picture on TV. In a study funded by the National Science Foundation, scientists tested the heart rates of patients […]

All Posts by Date

[archives type="yearly" cat_id="11"]