Science & Society

One of my top 5 favorite TED talks from TED 2010, Michael Specter speaks about how society needs to embrace science. We shouldn't place more importance on ideology than scientific data, on politics…

63 Years Old Solo Balloonist Reaches North Pole Jean-Louis Etienne has made the first solo balloon voyage to the North Pole, traveling 3,130 kilometers - 1,945 miles - in five days from Norway to…

If you live in London, then you could do worse than join a Westminster Skeptics night out getting paralytic about science. Westminster Skeptics promote an evidence-based approach and critical…

Decisive Advantage by Chris Potter in the Pittsburgh City Paper. If I had a kid who might want to go into research for a living, I'd want them to read this story. It gives some insight into what is…

(I recently discovered this series of entries about fixing science journalism, begun in February.  Because I just joined up, I wasn't able to add my two cents.  So I thought I'd add it now…

The New York Times recently published an article about bias against women and minorities in science fields (and schooling). I’ve written about this before, in my regular blog, and that was about a…

The United States and Russia are scheduled to sign a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) this Thursday in Prague. The previous treaty expired on 5 December 2009, making the absence of any…

Any time a 'best science sites' list is created by someone outside the usual self-congratulatory, self-indulgent clique it's worth taking a look, namely because in this instance I found 5 terrific…

South Dakota Exempted From Laws of Science The South Dakota Legislature thinks that scientific laws are made up by people to suit agendas.Accordingly, they have invented some agendist stuff to make a…

Not long ago, I read J.R.R. Tolkien's mythopoeia masterpiece, The Silmarillion (his creation myth for the world of The Lord of the Rings). Upon finishing it, I immediately picked up Sparks of Life, a…