Science & Society

Alien Life- Will We Know It?

    Will we recognise alien life if we find it? The answer to that is: if it’s a very basic life form we will only know it as living if it’s based on carbon and water. The reason for saying that is that you only have to look at the articles  and comments ...

Article - Steve Davis - Feb 13 2012 - 1:48am

Engineered Pandemics? A Memo To Bird Flu Virologists

A note to bird flu virologists: Not all of you have been approaching of this whole engineered flu pandemic controversy quite optimally.  It’s understandable that you weren’t prepared for all the attention.  After all, you were only answering calls from bot ...

Article - Robert Cooper - Feb 14 2012 - 12:10pm

Science Academia Is Not Sexist,Though Maybe Motherhood Is

Despite claims by some of the more aggressive groups who attack science academia, women do not face a 'hostile' work environment because in some fields they are less than 50 percent or some other scientists are rude. Instead, they face a tough pe ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 16 2012 - 5:36am

The Heartland Institute And Murdoch Media

The Heartland Institute and Murdoch Media The Heartland Institute story broke on February 14th.  The revelation that anti-science bunkum has been funded by corporate dollars was no surprise to those of us who have been investigating these propaganda mills ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Feb 22 2012 - 11:30am

GMO Foods And The Precautionary Principle

There have been several articles talking about opposition to GMO foods as being "anti-science" and raising the issue of the precautionary principle, but in fairness, we have to consider what the role of the precautionary principle is, before we j ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Feb 23 2012 - 11:39pm

This Is Going To Be A Problem

Back in August, an iPhone game called simply "Squids"  charmed me  with its adorable, somewhat-anatomically-plausible rendition of my favorite animal. Luckily for my productivity, however, I don't have an iPhone--I have a  Nexus One. ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Feb 29 2012 - 5:23pm

My Workplaces: Mad Scientist Lab versus Chinese Red Banners

It may be of interest for those outside of science and academia to get a closer look at what diverse scientists’ work environments are like.  Some may be surprised about the drab conditions.  Only few places look like the mad scientists’ secret laboratory ...

Blog Post - Sascha Vongehr - May 5 2013 - 12:57am

Requiem for Humanity — Disease

DISEASE In an October 17, 2005 New York Times Op-Ed article titled Recipe for Destruction, Ray Kurzweil and Bill Joy collaborated on the following article: AFTER a decade of painstaking research, federal and university scientists have reconstructed the 19 ...

Blog Post - Alan Hoshor - Mar 10 2012 - 2:39pm

Requiem for Humanity — Biological Weapons

BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS How will human nature steer our nations over the coming decades? What are we evolved to do? The fundamental purpose of a living thing is to gather resources and reproduce. Some animals develop societies where the fundamental survival in ...

Blog Post - Alan Hoshor - Mar 10 2012 - 2:24pm

Unscientific America-- Denying Science At Our Peril

Increasingly, science is failing to influence public policy. Facts, statistics and data appear insufficient to change highly politicized minds... ...

Article - David Brin - Mar 11 2012 - 11:35am