How Predictable Is Evolution?
As ever, divesting the news from Science Daily for your perusal: Feb. 19, 2013 — Understanding how and why diversification occurs is important for understanding why there are so many species on Earth. In
Jonathan MS Pearce
Papal resignation linked to inquiry into 'Vatican gay officials', says paper - one shitstorm to another!
Well, I was just about to produce a big post on how the explosive, moving, powerful, revealing documentary, Mea Maxima Culpa, was behind the resignation of the Pope, as many have said. Well, the Guardian (reporting La Rupubblica) think otherwise. It's not "the paedophiles", it's "the gays"! One shi
Non-believers taking college campuses by storm
vAs Katherine Don reports here. This month at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a select group of students will show their humanitarian spirit by participating in the Bleedin’ Heathens Blood Drive. On February 12, they will eat cake to celebrate Darwin Day, and earlier this year, they
The Outsider Test For Faith
So John Loftus, of Debunking Christianity, and who wrote what is still the finest book deconstructing the Christian position (Why I Became An Atheist whose second edition is now out) has a few books due out soon. I am excited about both, but particularly The Outsider Test For Faith (OTF), based on a
Dang. The Republicans: dinosaurs + people = pass your exams...?
Oh shit. UPDATE: On February 19, HB1674 passed through the Oklahoma Common Education committee on a 9-8 vote. In biology class, public school students can't generally argue that dinosaurs and people
Molecules Assemble in Water, Hint at Origins of Life
Science Daily reports: Feb. 20, 2013 — The base pairs that hold together two pieces of RNA, the older cousin of DNA, are some of the most important molecular interactions in living cells. Many scientists believe that these base pairs were part of life from the very beginning and that RNA was one of
The cyclical universe debate re-ignited
The BBC have produced the following fascinating article. What do you good people think? Scientists say they may be able to determine the eventual fate of the cosmos as they probe the properties of the Higgs boson. A concept known as vacuum instability could result, billions of years from no
Djesus Uncrossed - The Movie (Most hilarious)
Couldn't resist. Funny as hell. http://youtu.be/CknpHpmIJtI
Philosophy 101 - Socrates Factfile
I've been thinking. In doing the philpapers inspired Philosophy 101 series (found here and here, so far), touching on the questions asked in the largest ever survey of philosophers, i thought i would give some nice, basic factfiles explaining what some of the key philosophers have brought to the phi
More evidence of common descent - Humans and Chimps Share Genetic Strategy in Battle Against Pathogens
As if any was needed. Science Daily - Feb. 14, 2013 — A genome-wide analysis searching for evidence of long-lived balancing selection -- where the evolutionary process acts not to select the single best adaptation but to maintain genetic variation in a population -- has uncovered at least six re
Philosophy 101 (philpapers induced) #2 - Abstract objects: Platonism or nominalism
So having posted the Philpapers survey results, the biggest ever survey of philosophers conducted in 2009, several readers were not aware of it (the reason for re-communicating it) and were unsure as to what some of the questions meant. I offered to do a series on them, so here it is – Philosophy 10
Red Brain, Blue Brain: Republicans and Democrats Process Risk Differently, Research Finds
I love research like this, it just fascinates me, and adds to the mountains of empirical evidence that supports the logical and philosophical evidence / argumentation which underpins determinism (or, more accurately, the lack of libertarian free will) about which I wrote my first book - Free Will? A