Science & Society

Scientific Blogging University Writing Competition- Begins Today!

Today marks the start of the (first) Scientific Blogging University Writing Competition. We decided to do this because, since our inception, the scientific community has been incredibly gracious about embracing Science 2.0. The top question we have been as ...

Article - Community Connect... - Sep 1 2009 - 10:54am

Dumbing down of The Science Channel.

More reality programs, less hard science coverage, and when they do cover hard science it's watered down.  This is all true as the production values of the programs have increased while the science value has decreased.   When the science channel start ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Sep 2 2009 - 2:43am

Creationists on BloggingheadsTV

What's the quickest way to get scientists and serious science writers to quit coming on your show? Invite the creationists. Discover bloggers Sean Carroll and Carl Zimmer explain what happened: Sean says: ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Sep 3 2009 - 9:10am

Transhumanism- Ray Kurzweil And The Singularity

I've been trying to figure out why "transhumanists" and their predictions irritate me so much.  Perhaps it's seeing humanity reduced to a simplistic engineering problem to be solved.  Or maybe it's the love affair that appears to b ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Sep 7 2009 - 1:38pm

Interlude 3: More Science Webtoons

As a relaxing Friday treat, here are two science-related webtoons from occasionally NSFW  Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.  Fortunately, these two are appropriate for all ages.  We are given the true shape of the universe, and learn deep truths about mel ...

Blog Post - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Sep 4 2009 - 12:36pm

Hegemony, Technology and the Future: The Theories and Technological Research

Some people believe in fate, others don’t. I do and I don’t. I may seem at times as if invisible fingers move us about like puppets on strings. But for sure, we are not born to be dragged along. We can grab the strings ourselves and adjust our course at e ...

Blog Post - Eric Bock Hyde - Sep 9 2009 - 5:09pm

Problems of Transhumanism- Augmenting Intelligence

One of the favorite themes in transhumanist discussions is considering the melding of human intellect with "machine intelligence" to arrive at superhuman abilities.   Right from the beginning we have a few problems.  We don't really know wha ...

Blog Post - Gerhard Adam - Sep 5 2009 - 3:01pm

Nothing Lifts Sales Like Cephalopods

Apparently, for a week in 2006 the UK newspaper The Guardian gave away wallcharts (=posters) as a promotional gambit to drum up readership. It seems the charts were all nature-themed, with a strong marine component and significant cephalopod representation ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 6 2009 - 12:03am

Citizen Science Family Leads To Discovery Of A Lost Bug

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in citizen science was certainly not on the minds of 6-year-old Alyson Yates and her mom, Kate, when they stepped out into their back yard one day to scout for ladybugs. ...

Article - Matthew T. Dearing - Sep 8 2009 - 9:55am

District 9: Private World Government and Our Future

The 2009 movie District 9 is a metaphor for what might be an evolved version of the world federalist government we have today.  Some time before the 1990s, conflicts were mainly fought between nationalized groups.  However the private province of war has t ...

Blog Post - Eric Bock Hyde - Sep 14 2009 - 11:38pm