Nature
Charles Darwin: ‘Is man an ape or an angel?’
A century and a half after Darwin put forward the theory of natural selection, Steve Jones explains the power of his idea - and the stink it caused
In 1842, Queen Victoria went to London Zoo. She was not amused: “The orang-outang is too wonderful… he is frightfully, and […]
1Jul2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Can’t Darwin and God get along?
Of course they can, argues physicist and theologian Karl Giberson, if only many believers were more sophisticated and atheists less dogmatic.
July 1, 2008 | With biologist Richard Dawkins leading the way, many scientists today are locked in an unending match of whack-a-mole with Christian creationists, who insist that God created heaven, earth […]
Darwin Pond - free download
Darwin Pond is an imaginary gene pool, a primordial puddle of genetic surprises. More technically, Darwin Pond is an Artificial Life Simulation: a virtual world exhibiting the emergence of life-like behaviors. But it’s more than just a fun and informative thing to watch, you can participate in this […]
17Jun2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Ben Stein’s Blunder
Ben Stein’s Blunder
In a new documentary film — Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed — the actor, game show host and financial columnist Ben Stein falls for the pseudoscience of Intelligent Design
by Michael Shermer
In 1974 I matriculated at Pepperdine University as a born-again Christian who rejected Darwinism and evolutionary theory, not because I knew anything about […]
No Child Left Inside Initiative
Our children are less connected to the natural world than at any other time in
history. The implications of this, particularly for their physical and mental health, are immense.
People have limited contact with natural environments.
This is likely due to a complex mix of factors, including changes in the physical and social environments as well […]
Ben Stein: Front Man for Creationism’s Manufactroversy
Biblical creationism, repositioned as creation science and most recently intelligent design has lost the contest of ideas on all counts: the rules, the criteria and the judging. It doesn’t follow the scientific method; it doesn’t allow us to explain, predict, and control better; and the jury of relevant experts (aka biologists) keeps returning the same […]
12Apr2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Theoretical Physics - Geometry is All
A shape could describe the cosmos and all it contains
ONE of the mysteries of the universe is why it should speak the language of mathematics. Numbers and the relationships between them are, after all, just abstract reasoning. Yet mathematics has shown itself to be particularly adept at describing both the contents of the universe and […]
MRSA “Superbug” Is Spreading
Vance McGaugh was a normal healthy teenager. As his parents stood by his side at Cook Children’s Medical Center, they kept expecting him to pull through.But that didn’t happen. By the time he made it the hospital it was too late. Now his parents hope his story will save others from the “superbug” MRSA.”It still […]
3Apr2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Sex takes 3 to 13 minutes, study says
NEW YORK (AP) — Maybe men had it right all along: It doesn’t take long to satisfy a woman in bed.
A survey of sex therapists concluded the optimal amount of time for sexual intercourse was 3 to 13 minutes. The findings, to be published in the May issue of the Journal of Sexual Medicine, strike […]
Smallest, lightest black hole ever is identified
NASA scientists describe ‘little guy’ that is 15 miles wide in diameter
NASA scientists have identified the smallest, lightest black hole yet found.
The new lightweight record-holder weighs in at about 3.8 times the mass of our sun and is only 15 miles (24 kilometers) in diameter.
“This black hole is really pushing the limits,” said study team […]
World Cities Shut Lights for Earth Hour 2008
SYDNEY, Australia — The iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge went dark Saturday night as Sydney became the world’s first major city to turn off its lights for this year’s Earth Hour, a global campaign to raise awareness about climate change. Thousands of homes were dark for an hour in Christchurch, New […]
30Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
A stargazer’s guide to the spring sky
Most famous stars of the season constitute the constellation of Leo
We’re now more than a week into the spring season (even if, meteorologically, in some parts of the country it’s still very much wintry), and high in our current evening sky the most famous stars of spring are to be found making up the constellation […]
Google to Help in the Detection of Earth-Like Planets
MIT scientists started a project with the help of Google to find other planets with similar characteristics as Earth. For that, they are designing a satellite-based observatory that will be able to scan the entire sky. The current technology discovered around 200 extrasolar planets so far, but all of them have a much bigger size […]
27Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Oldest known human fossil found in Europe
Piece of jawbone unearthed in Spain could be up to 1.3 million years old
MADRID, Spain - A small piece of jawbone unearthed in a cave in Spain is the oldest known fossil of a human ancestor in Europe and suggests that people lived on the continent much earlier than previously believed, scientists say.
The researchers said […]
In Search of the God Particle
The biggest experiment in particle physics, the Large Hadron Collider, starts this summer in Switzerland. The goal is to find signs of an elusive particle called the Higgs boson—also known as the “God particle” because it might ultimately lead to a grand theory of the universe. What impact will the experiments have on our ideas […]
25Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
Evidence of ocean found on Saturn’s Titan
Liquid water (with a dash of ammonia) may lie beneath ice
An ocean seasoned with the chemical ingredients of life may lie hidden beneath the icy surface of Saturn’s moon Titan.
The evidence? The entire surface of Titan appears to be sliding around, scientists say, like cheese over tomato sauce on a slice of pizza.
Titan is the […]
Organic Molecule Detected on Distant Planet
Finding marks breakthrough in search for signs of life beyond solar system
Scientists have detected the presence of an organic molecule in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet for the first time, NASA announced today.
The finding, detailed in the March 20 issue of the journal Nature, marks a breakthrough in the attempt to detect signs of […]
Io Creates Glowing Spots on Jupiter
Newfound glowing spots on Jupiter seem unexpectedly to come from electron beams whipping around the giant planet’s volcanic moon Io. Io is the most volcanic body in the solar system, with its entire surface likely made up of lava from the moon’s hundreds of volcanoes. Io also causes glowing spots hundreds of miles […]
17Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | Continued
The SETI “Wow!” Signal
Whatever happened to the “Wow!” signal, the most promising transmission from space ever detected by SETI? Ever since it was recorded almost a quarter of a century ago, SETI enthusiasts have speculated about its origin and wondered whether it could be a beacon from an alien civilization. The latest attempt to relocate the signal, reported […]
14Mar2008 | Admin | 0 comments | ContinuedTranslate
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