Assorted creationists claim variously that creation theories are falsifiable and that evolutionary theories are not falsifiable. Here, I want to quickly point out a few flaws that I see in their arguments. I will discuss these issues in a more general manner in another post that I am currently writing.
Creationism is falsifiable: This essay from the Discovery Institute provides two arguments, neither of which are satisfying.
When I am out doing bug programs I am often asked (with a slow-down-to-look-at-an-accident wince); “where do you keep all these bugs? Do they stay at your house?” I explain about the shelves with the lights, or the bug room and usually digress into a shopworn lecture on respect and the difference between invited and uninvited guests.
And the position I take on respect is this: that respect is a matter of making good decisions based on your understanding of the situation. The better you understand, the more respectful your decisions will be (unless you’re trying to be bad). The less you understand, the more likely you should be to do nothing – learn more.
Heads up, banner-plane pilots: you, like so many before you, could lose your job to a sleek, 21st century technology that not only performs better than you, but looks way cooler doing it.
There is a new article out in today’s Molecular System Biology, which has the media saying the typical baloney-filled things like “The Key to Aging Discovered,” “Breakthrough to Immortality,” and “Live Forever?”
It's often the case that attending a conference like AAAS means you have to choose between competing programs, like the good stuff, the fun stuff and the stuff you will make fun of. This morning I had one of each at the same time but since I didn't get to the one I would likely have made fun of, I will leave that out.
Instead I had to make a tough call between Eugenie Scott and "How Can Scientists Support Policy Makers?" and "The Science of Superheroes" - Genie won, at least in the beginning.
Did you ever wonder why some people become astronomers? I asked random astronomers at last month's AAS meeting, and in my latest
365DOA podcast, you can find out what each said-- and how each explained their research in 30 seconds or less. For the big picture, the stories of why ordinary, sane people become astronomers, it turns out we get bit by the astronomy bug early.
Either in elementary school, we've already decided, or in high school, we get inspired. By the time people hit college, the ones who want to be career astronomers have already decided that's their path.
No, this isn’t a close-up of the surface of a golf ball. It’s a new
type of material, one that is porous and elastic, lighter than solid
aluminum yet stronger than steel, one that its creators are calling an “ultra high-strength metal matrix composite foam.”
A bit of a misnomer, really, considering the foam is made up entirely of stainless steel.
The enzyme calcineurin is critical to normal development and function of heart cells, and loss of the protein leads to heart problems and death in genetically modified mice, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Their new study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, demonstrates that calcineurin in hearts of mice is directly linked to proper cardiac muscle contraction, rhythm and maintenance of heart activity. The near total absence of calcineurin in mice leads to heart arrhythmia, failure and death, according to the research team.
People who live in areas with lower household incomes are much more likely to die because of their personal and household characteristics and their community surroundings, according to research conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University and published in the American Journal of Public Health.
Researchers analyzed census data and vital statistics from Virginia counties and cities between 1990 and 2006. They demonstrated that one out of four deaths would have been averted if the mortality rates of Virginia's five most affluent counties and cities had existed statewide. In some of the most disadvantaged areas of the state, nearly half of the deaths would have been averted.
Plants and algae, as well as cyanobacteria, use photosynthesis to produce oxygen and "fuels," the latter being oxidizable substances like carbohydrates and hydrogen. There are two pigment-protein complexes that orchestrate the primary reactions of light in oxygenic photosynthesis: photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII). Researchers writing in PNAS say they have taken a significant step closer to understanding how these photosystems work their magic, which may boost the effort to develope new sources of energy.
