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Myths from Hell

November 1, 2007

Many speak of God’s green earth and rejoice in its beauty, but James Trefil tells us it was born from hell. In his article in Astronomy (Dec 2007), entitled, “Earth’s Fiery Start” he spoke with eyewitness confidence: Earth hasn’t always been a green and pleasant place. In fact, our planet’s infancy was a violent, chaotic […]

Cell Biology

Month-End Close-Out

October 31, 2007

Sometimes the creation-evolution news comes in too fast. Here’s a baker’s dozen from the October shelf, lest they go stale; time to start a new batch for November. Charity begins at worldview: David Cyranoski in Nature (450, 24-25, 10/31/2007) investigated why the level of charitable giving in prosperous Japan is a tenth of that in […]

Bible and Theology

Book: Intelligent Design Argument Turns Leading Atheist to God

October 29, 2007

“There is a God,” announces a former leading atheist on the cover of his new book. Antony Flew changed his mind a few years ago partly because of the design argument: the fine-tuning of the universe, according to the blurb on Amazon.com. New arguments by philosophical theists like Alvin Plantinga and Richard Swinburne also played […]

Solar System

Cassini Celebrates 10 Years in Space

October 16, 2007

The Cassini team is reveling in the outpouring of public praise for the mission. Launched on October 15, 1997, Cassini-Huygens has spent ten years in space and is over three fourths the way through its prime mission, to explore the Saturn system, its rings, moons, magnetic field and the large moon Titan (see ESA and […]

Solar System

New Horizons at Jupiter

October 15, 2007

New Horizons, a spaceship bound for Pluto, took a good look at the Jupiter system on Feb 28, 2007.

Education

Microsoft Billionaire Puts His Money Where His Darwinism Is

October 12, 2007

Paul Allen is spending millions on humanitarian causes: not the cure of disease or the end of poverty, but on helping humans recognize that they evolved from space dust (see next entry). This, presumably, brings enlightenment. Shortly after 9/11, the PBS series Evolution made its debut, thanks to a large endowment from Allen, […]

Astronomy

Dust Became Knowledge

October 11, 2007

The Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week award goes to an Associated Press article reporting on a finding from the Spitzer Space Telescope. It began in a very matter-of-fact manner, claiming that the one of the biggest questions of philosophy is being answered by dust. Astronomers have taken a baby step in trying to […]

Cosmology

One Special Universe: Take It or Leave It

October 2, 2007

If you think this universe is odd, to what would you compare it? Adrian Cho asked this and other basic questions in a whimsical review of cosmology since WMAP in Science.1 Closer analysis of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), as revealed in detail by WMAP (03/06/2003, 05/02/2003, 09/20/2004, 03/20/2006), has uncovered features so surprising (e.g., […]

Solar System

Comet Woes: News Reports Hide Backroom Exasperation

October 1, 2007

“Comets are made of the most primitive stuff in the solar system,” a press release from University of Michigan triumphantly claimed today. “As hunks of rock and ice that never coalesced into more planets, they give researchers clues to the evolution of solar systems.” Tell that to Toby Owen and two colleagues who […]

Cosmology

Astronomy Columnist Tackles Naturalism vs. Intelligence

September 29, 2007

Bob Berman is an unusual columnist for a science magazine. He’s independent-thinking, unafraid to tackle big questions and criticize powerful institutions, but all the while able to keep a sense of humor. In his monthly column “Bob Berman’s Strange Universe” in the November issue of Astronomy (p. 10), he took a moment from munching on […]

Physics

More Impacts on Crater Count Dating

September 25, 2007

Planetary scientists have relied on crater counts to estimate the surface age of a planet or moon. The more craters, the older the surface. This method has recently come under closer scrutiny (see 10/20/2005) because of the phenomenon of secondary cratering. A simplistic look at a crater-scarred planet or moon might lead one […]

Cell Biology

Upsets: Assumptions About Genes, Atmospheres Challenged

September 24, 2007

It’s not fun when a whole superstructure of scientific theories and models is found to rest on a shaky foundation. That’s just what may be happening in two very different fields: genetics and planetary science: Lateral pass to the opposing team: Building evolutionary trees by comparing genomes was supposed to be simple. Sure, geneticists knew […]

Origin of Life

Mars Was and Is Dry

September 21, 2007

The cover story of Science this week has bad news for those hoping for Martian lakefront property. A series of articles by planetary scientists who studied images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter casts strong doubt on the presence of water on Mars, even in the planet’s early days. The overview article by Richard Kerr in […]

Astronomy

Dark Matter Sheds Light on Invisible Stars: Come Again?

September 17, 2007

Can one unknown shed light on another unknown? That’s what some UK astronomers seem to be saying. Before describing their model, consider this conundrum with which they ended a story in the BBC News: “We don’t know what the dark matter is, we don’t know what the first stars are. If we bring these two […]

Solar System

Iapetus update

September 13, 2007

The data have returned from Cassini’s closest-ever flyby of Iapetus (see 09/07/2007). All the images can be found at Cassini Multimedia raw images, with good samples posted by the imaging team here and here. Amateurs and pros at Unmanned Spaceflight started getting really excited at 12:40 a.m. Tuesday when the images hit the […]

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