Science & Society

Crossing Over: How To Use And Misuse The Fisher-Pry Curve

The Economist reported that in early 2007, for the first time in history, more humans lived in cities than in the countryside. We are now a different species, in terms of the environmental niche we inhabit.  One thinks of Isaac Asimov’s Trantor, the plane ...

Article - Fred Phillips - Sep 19 2009 - 11:30am

Pirates & Squid, a Natural Match

On this day of celebration, let us remember and honor the invaluable contributions of squid to pirate lore and culture:- Davy Jones and the Kraken in Pirates of the Carribbean: Dead Man's Chest. As observed elsewhere, the Kraken's mouth is much m ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 19 2009 - 10:10pm

Two letters

One sometimes gets frustrated reading our Daily/Sunday Telegraph.  So many of their columnists, and those who comment on blogs, think that "Global Warming" is a man-made political scam, a another appendage to the giant bloodsucker that is the Tre ...

Blog Post - Robert H Olley - Sep 21 2009 - 2:50am

Public Misunderstanding Of Studies

Over at Bioephemera, Jessica Palmer agree with Language Log’s Mark Liberman in his admonition against the use of “generic plurals” in science reporting. ...

Article - Barry Leiba - Sep 22 2009 - 1:41am

free Olin College no longer free

For most of its life, Olin College of Engineering in scenic Needham, Massachusettes was free.  All students received a 100% scholarship.  In a sad reflection of the times, though, this has now changed.  Writes their Dean: There has been an important chang ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Sep 22 2009 - 11:48am

Supernovae and the City

Recent events in the Chrematosphere *  have brought the following to mind. It is from Fred Hoyle’s Frontiers of Astronomy, concerning the collapse of a giant star before it explodes as a supernova. The collapse ...

Blog Post - Robert H Olley - Sep 22 2009 - 2:17pm

Why Religion And Science Rarely Mix Well

I'm not one of the more fundamentalist types in the broad science community who had any issue with Francis Collins leading the NIH.   His credentials are impeccable and the same people who were backflipping with glee over Stephen Chu as Energy Secreta ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Sep 24 2009 - 11:10pm

Spanking and IQ

Well, now we know that spanking results in lower IQs for children than those that aren't spanked.  Of course, maybe once we figure out what IQ really means (if anything) this study might actually have some significance. "But the 2- to 4-year-olds ...

Blog Post - Gerhard Adam - Sep 24 2009 - 11:19pm

Giant Landlocked Squid in Michigan!

Okay, I know Michigan is practically an island, but that water is fresh, and there are no freshwater cephalopods (curious, yes? I will muse on that later!). So we can consider it landlocked from a squiddish perspective. And the giant squid isn't a rea ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 25 2009 - 7:23pm

Dear Penn And Teller: Bullshit!

I like Penn&Teller, the magicians and debunkers of pseudoscience and general inanity. I regularly use clips from their show in my critical reasoning class, despite cringing every time Penn indulges in his “fuck this” and “motherfucker that” exercise i ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Sep 26 2009 - 1:16am