Science & Society

Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes

Not sure how all this works yet, but anyway, I found this nice presentation of world life expectancy and wealth over the last 200 years. The data is interesting in itself, but the presentation is particularly interesting/entertaining. ...

Blog Post - Steve Donaldson - Dec 3 2010 - 5:37pm

Death- Humanity's Number One Problem

The three problems of humanity were outlined in a talk by Nick Bostrom (of Oxford University, UK) at TED in April 2009.   While I'm sure there are some that will consider these points to be quite reasonable in setting goals, I'm continuously amaz ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Dec 4 2010 - 7:26pm

New York Times: The Lost Puzzles

Did you get visit here after quickly vanquishing my puzzles in this morning's New York Times Science section? If so, you're likely ready for a new challenge. Below are the puzzles the Times cut — because they're too darn tricky or perhaps be ...

Article - Garth Sundem - Dec 8 2010 - 2:51pm

Economics- The Cheerful Science?

Economics is always called the dismal science, because it has science pretensions yet never makes accurate predictions.   The outlook, according to economists, is always rather bleak. But given the current state of the economy, economists are downright ecs ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Dec 8 2010 - 1:13pm

Poor Nations: Medieval England Had It Better Than You

Economics is called the dismal science for a reason- things are never very good to economists.  Heck, economists have been over the moon about the economic downturn because it gives them something to talk about ("Economy booming, inflation low without ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Dec 8 2010 - 1:48pm

The 2010s Will Be To The 2060s What The 1960s Are To Us Today

The title, “ The 2010s will be to the 2060s what the 1960s are to us today ” is in a sense the most uplifting quote I have heard in a long while (yeah, I know about all the bad things, too, whatever). Since the 60s also stand for quite some influence of p ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Oct 18 2011 - 12:28am

Skepticism About Skepticism

Anyone can be skeptical about a scientific result. It's good to state your skepticism, to make your view known. But are you done once you speak your view? Is that all it takes, a quick skeptical wrench and we shut off the flow of science? Guest writer ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Dec 13 2010 - 1:27pm

Human Survival- Humanity's Second Biggest Problem

The three problems of humanity were outlined in a talk by Nick Bostrom (of Oxford University, UK) at TED in April 2009. In this piece I will continue to examine the "big" problems identified in the TEDTalk. Problem #2:  Existential Risk is a BIG ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Dec 10 2010 - 12:40pm

Ages and ages: Kicking loose from the Age of Fire

This blog is in response 1 to Patrick's excellent M.A.D. 2.0 article. It started as a comment, but I thought, what the heck, let's make it my first blog. I've got to make the leap at some point instead of just lurking and hijacking! I' ...

Blog Post - Quentin Rowe - Dec 13 2010 - 11:20am

Perils Of Science Outreach

While you sit there, I am simultaneously providing this blog post, this podcast, and this AGU talk.  All on the same topic-- how can we get scientists to provide science for public consumption. The podcast poses these problems for you, the readers of scien ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Dec 17 2010 - 10:51am