Tag: Science

G-HAT (Glimpsing Heat from Alien Technologies)

For those interested in the post about finding advanced civilizations in other galaxies by their heat emissions, Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams has a write up about the study, including links to additional material as well as the actual paper. I found that this part clarified the seeming contradiction in the Science Daily article. The currently reported work … Continue reading G-HAT (Glimpsing Heat from Alien Technologies) →

Einstein, Schrodinger, and the reluctance to give up hard determinism

Ethan Siegel on his Starts With a Bang blog has an interesting review of Paul Halpern's new book on Einstein and Schrodinger, and their refusal to allow the implications of quantum physics to dissuade them from idea that the universe is strictly deterministic.  It's an interesting post and one that I recommend reading in full. … Continue reading Einstein, Schrodinger, and the reluctance to give up hard determinism →

Dark energy may be less energetic than previously thought

This is interesting.  Astronomers discovered dark energy, the energy causing the rate of expansion rate of the universe to speed up, by looking at large numbers of Type 1a supernovae. Type 1a supernovae are white dwarfs (collapsed stars after their fusion has gone out) that explode.  What causes a previously stable white dwarf to explode? … Continue reading Dark energy may be less energetic than previously thought →

Stephen West and Massimo Pigliucci discuss David Hume

Stephen West, on his Philosophize This! podcast, interviews Massimo Pigliucci on David Hume.  This was a big win for me.  Two of my favorite podcasters discussing one of my favorite historical philosophers!  It provides some good insights into Hume's skeptical and empirical philosophy. One of the questions Stephen asks Massimo is what he thinks Hume's … Continue reading Stephen West and Massimo Pigliucci discuss David Hume →

Interstellar: more accurate than the typical sci-fi movie, but still had issues

This week, I watched the movie Interstellar, the Christopher Nolan film about travel to another galaxy, a black hole, a wormhole, and other exotic environments.  I enjoyed it immensely, although I also had some issues with it. In the film, at some point in the future, the Earth is dying due to a global crop blight. … Continue reading Interstellar: more accurate than the typical sci-fi movie, but still had issues →

Just in case you’re not there yet, homeopathy doesn’t work

As I've discussed a few times, I've been dealing with shoulder pain for the last few months.  As I've been fighting through this, one of the things I've been reminded of is how many purported breakthrough or unconventional cures are offered out there, that promise to avoid the often frustrating limitations and ambiguity of evidence based medicine.  For … Continue reading Just in case you’re not there yet, homeopathy doesn’t work →

Steven Weinberg’s new book on the history of science

Jerry Coyne has a post up discussing Steven Weinberg's new book on the history of science, including an exclusive excerpt: Steven Weinberg’s new book on the history of science (with excerpts) « Why Evolution Is True. The portion of the excerpt that spoke most clearly to me was this passage near the end: Science is not now … Continue reading Steven Weinberg’s new book on the history of science →