FAQ | Register Now | Sign In

Subscribe to the newsletter

[x]

Stay in touch with the scientific world!

Placebo Buttons?

A recent article suggested that many of the buttons/toggles that we experience in our daily lives...

The Development Of Social Monogamy In Mammals

Two papers published this week have proposed explanations regarding the evolution of social monogamy...

Easy Answers To World Problems

After reading another article by Alex Berezow ["The Arrogance of a Well-Fed Society"] insisting...

The Precautionary Principle Review

There is an interesting series of articles published by the Guardian discussing various aspects...

Gerhard Adam

I'm not big on writing things about myself so a friend on this site (Brian Taylor) opted to put a few sentences together: Hopefully I'll be able to live up to his claims. "I thought perhaps you... Read More »

ET: Anybody Home?

Feb 08 2010 | comment(s)

There is a presumption among many people that extraterrestrial life is a foregone conclusion and that it is only awaiting our discovery. The Drake equation is usually highlighted as many astronomers suggest that with the billions of worlds available, that life is all but inevitable¹.

Equally there is a sense that life couldn't possibly be unique to a single planet, so there is a strong belief that there must be other planets on which life flourishes. However, we need to consider what the basis for these assumptions actually is.

An Afternoon of Dressage

Feb 08 2010 | comment(s)

I just spent the afternoon watching an equine competition called dressage, which I believe is from the French meaning "having one's teeth drilled" (I could be wrong).

In higher levels of competition, the rider moves through the various patterns and "tests" to demonstrate the smoothness of movement between the horse and rider. At the lower levels of competition you can have someone call out the pattern moves, which makes it a bit like slow-motion square dancing without the music.

The Myth Of Biological Selfishness

Feb 02 2010 | comment(s)

As addressed in other posts, there is a significant difference between "selfishness" and "self-interest". However, it seems that there is still a general insistence on perpetuating the selfishness perspective.

A Smoker's Trip Down The Rabbit Hole

Jan 29 2010 | comment(s)

Curiouser and curiouser .... it appears that smoking is not longer bad enough. Now, by the act of smoking, we are also generating that evil, pernicious secondary smoke.

Just went you thought it couldn't possibly get any worse than being a smoker, you find that you are also a victim of secondary smoke. New research indicates that smokers are "at additional risk from breathing environmental tobacco smoke, contrary to the prevailing assumption that such risks would be negligible in comparison to those incurred by actually smoking."

Mental Health Professionals Not Qualified To Assess Long-Term Effects Of Torture

Jan 29 2010 | comment(s)

Here is an article relating to a discussion about the qualifications of mental health professionals in assessing the long-term effects of torture.

There is extensive research, they argue, that torture causes long-term
mental health problems. However, "we do not yet have the scientific
knowledge to predict with any precision what the psychological outcome
will be for an individual."

Airports Could Get Mind-Reading Scanners

Jan 28 2010 | comment(s)

Airports Could Get Mind-Reading Scanners - A mind-reading scanner that can tell if a given traveler is a potential threat. [LiveScience]

When I first saw this article, I thought it couldn't be as silly as it sounded. I was wrong. The premise is based on the same faulty assumptions that lie detectors are based on without the benefit of controls.

All in all, I was hoping that this would be capable of detecting how stupid most of these ideas were. Oh well, if it doesn't work in airports, perhaps it can replace the "dowsing rods" currently used to detect explosives.