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Experiments on the origin of life

Nobel laureate J. W. Szostak delivered an interesting lecture on his experiments relating to the...

Wait: What Were The Controls? (Kids In Lesbian Households)

A CNN headline reads "Kids of lesbians have fewer behavioral problems, study suggests".Interesting...

What are scientists reading?

I recently took a look around my department to see what academic scientists are reading. I ignored...

Philosophy for kids

About a week ago, I asked the question "What is the most important field of science for the public...

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Adam RetchlessRSS Feed of this column.

I get paid to study microbial evolution. These writings are for my non-scientist friends and family (hi guys!) and anyone else who sees any value in them. The content will mainly be pointers to... Read More »

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What Would Cast Doubt On Evolution? Spontaneous Generation

What Would Cast Doubt On Evolution? Spontaneous Generation

Mar 16 2010 | comment(s)


Advocates of Intelligent Design (ID) creationism like to play Stump the Scientist by asking evolutionary biologists, "what would disprove evolution?" Several answers have been given1, but I want to add another: "spontaneous generation," meaning the creation of organisms without parents. The question of how to disprove evolution draws its power from the idea of falsifiability, which was formalized by the philosopher Karl Popper as the test to separate science from non-science2.
The importance of proper controls (is homosexuality an illness?)

The importance of proper controls (is homosexuality an illness?)

Feb 28 2010 | comment(s)

This American Life from Chicago Public Radio has an interesting story about the history of psychiatry with regards to homosexuality: why homosexuality used to be considered a mental illness, and why the psychiatrists changed their mind.
So awesome... (links)

So awesome... (links)

Feb 21 2010 | comment(s)

People want to see awesome stuff.

That's the main idea behind this blog, and the interpretation of a recent report on people's decisions to share New York Times articles with friends (via Rycharde Mann). So, without further ado, here is some awesomeness:

1) From absolute zero to the plank temperature...a nice interactive graphic showing where we fit in the scheme of temperatures.

2) A visible sonic boom, as a rocket passes by a sundog (the rainbow splotch at ~1:55 in the video)
Confusions On Evolution, Creationism, And Falsifiability

Confusions On Evolution, Creationism, And Falsifiability

Feb 20 2010 | comment(s)

Assorted creationists claim variously that creation theories are falsifiable and that evolutionary theories are not falsifiable. Here, I want to quickly point out a few flaws that I see in their arguments. I will discuss these issues in a more general manner in another post that I am currently writing.

Creationism is falsifiable: This essay from the Discovery Institute provides two arguments, neither of which are satisfying.
Parachute jump from 36 km above the earth.

Parachute jump from 36 km above the earth.

Feb 14 2010 | comment(s)

The highest jump ever made was by Joseph Kittinger in 1960--31 km. This year, astronaut Felix Baumgartner will attempt a 36 km jump, and there is talk about Michael Fournier attempting a 40 km jump. According to medical director Jonathan Clark (via Science magazine, subscription required), jumps from this height have a variety of health risks, including nitrogen bubbling from the blood, sweat freezing on the skin, and spinning while falling -- leading to a brain hemorage.
What Is The Average Global Temperature?

What Is The Average Global Temperature?

Jan 27 2010 | comment(s)

I recently encountered the following chart as part of an argument that CO2 does not affect global temperatures. It instantly raised my suspicions because the temperature data is just too clean--I can't believe that global temperatures is almost always one of two values, 12 degrees or 22 degrees, and that there is no noise in the measurements.



Note that this chart implies that the current temperature is about 12 degrees Celsius.