Writing in American Antiquity, researchers from Arizona State University and North Carolina State University say archaeologists can use computational modeling to study the long-term effects of varying land use practices by farmers and herders on landscapes.

By using these techniques, archeologists can develop alternative computerized scenarios that can be compared with traditional archaeological records, possibly enhancing previous findings of how humans and the environment interact.

Elevated levels of carbon dioxide predicted by models of climate change can drive increased production of fungal spores, including some associated with allergies and asthma, according to a new study in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Researchers have programmed an autonomous molecular "robot" made out of DNA to start, move, turn, and stop while following a DNA track.

The development could ultimately lead to molecular systems that might one day be used for medical therapeutic devices and molecular-scale reconfigurable robots---robots made of many simple units that can reposition or even rebuild themselves to accomplish different tasks.

Results of the research have been published in Nature.

The traditional view of a robot is that it is "a machine that senses its environment, makes a decision, and then does something---it acts," said Erik Winfree, associate professor of computer science, computation and neural systems, and bioengineering at Caltech.

In medicine, physicians often present case histories or case reports of an interesting situation/patient, along with the outcome (typically a diagnosis) and discussion.¹ On controversial cases, medical ethics can be invoked (although not quite to the expertise or depth of Dr. Pigliucci). Here's one I recently came across - whether to perform a kidney transplant for a middle-aged male with multiple co-morbidities - and I thought the implications were really interesting. I'll give you basic relevant facts and context and would like to know what you'd do.

Patient: A 50-year-old Caucasian male with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and Type 1 Diabetes.

A global Warming Skeptic Clouds The Issues


This article is written in response to Dr. Roy Spencer's claims about cloud albedo effects in an article by Cameron J English: Interview With A Global Warming Skeptic: Dr. Roy Spencer.


One of the most common arguments used by deniers of AGW is that computer models are unreliable.

Richard Dawkins suggested that the first measure of an intelligent species, should two chance to meet, would be whether they understood how they came to be. I imagine such a remarkable exchange of cosmic existentialism set on a hovering space dongle, lit only by the faint glow of distant ringed planets:

“Hey, you know about evolution?”
“Yep”

And with these words, the warmth of science would triumph over the cold curve of the ever widening Universe, at least for a moment.

It is no secret that a majority of the peer-reviewed climate change literature lays blame for global warming on human greenhouse gas emissions.

But despite the abundance of research supporting anthropogenic global warming, there is a sizable community of qualified scientists who believe the so-called consensus view on global warming is completely wrong. I wanted to find out why, so I contacted one skeptical researcher to ask.

Academics pay a lot of attention to the quality of their writings. It is generally a point of pride to publish flawless documents, and this is felt in scientific disciplines just as much as in literary ones. If I told you how much time the members of a scientific experiment such as CDF at the Tevatron or CMS at CERN (the ones I work in) spend in the review of their articles before these are sent to the publishers, you would be startled.

Economics And Climate Change

I am confident that global climate change is real.

I am also confident that over-complicated knee-jerk legislation and taxation will make matters worse.  Problems get solved by rational actions, not panic attacks.

Either economics stands on science or it stands on quicksand.

The principles of taxation are not founded in science.  But they could be.


The world is faced with a problem in need of a solution.

The problem is this:

I am constantly amazed at how pathologizing variable phenomena is usually a human social agent. Consider the XY fertile Akodon females who go roaming around in South America. No other rodents seem to have told these fertile XY females that they have a  disorder of sex development (DSD). That will undoubtedly be left to some of the "powers that be" of the human species. Shall I say rats? Or shall I say of mice and men?