Tag: Science

PHD Comics: The Higgs Boson Re-Explained

This is a pretty good explanation of the Higgs Boson.  (Not that I have the expertise to judge it, but it matches other stuff I've read and seems more accessible.) Click though to see the full size version. via PHD Comics: The Higgs Boson Re-Explained. I'm sure it's a simplistic interpretation, but the picture of all … Continue reading PHD Comics: The Higgs Boson Re-Explained →

Did Neanderthals have religion?

It's been a while since Coolidge and Wynn posted an entry.  Now they've done one looking at whether Neanderthals intentionally buried their dead. What did Neandertals do with dead people? And what does this tell us about Neandertal behavior? These questions are perennial favorites for undergraduates and lay persons interested in human evolution. Indeed, one … Continue reading Did Neanderthals have religion? →

The scope of objective facts and morality

Our recent discussions, particularly on the thread about Jonathan Haidt's response to Sam Harris's challenge, left me thinking about the various scopes of objective facts.  In retrospect, it's a bit obvious to me now that a key question in moral philosophy is, if morality is objective, at what scope is it objective? Haidt used the … Continue reading The scope of objective facts and morality →

Are we nearing the end of science? – The Washington Post

Are we nearing the end of science? That is, are we running out of answerable questions, leaving us with only some mop-up duty, working around the edges of the great scientific achievements of Darwin, Einstein, Copernicus, et al.? via Are we nearing the end of science? - The Washington Post. This seems tangentially related to … Continue reading Are we nearing the end of science? – The Washington Post →

Will the age of science end?

A while back, I became interested in the history of science, particularly the early history, including people like Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Johanne Kepler, Andreas Vesalius, and many others.  In reading about them, one of the things I was struck by was how small scale science was back then. In its beginnings, modern science was mostly … Continue reading Will the age of science end? →

It’s Darwin Day, a celebration of science and reason | Machines Like Us

Darwin Day, according to the International Darwin Day Foundation, is “a global celebration of science and reason held on or around Feb. 12, the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin." The idea of the celebration arose in 1993 as part of the activities of the Stanford Humanist Community, then headed by biologist Robert Stephens. … Continue reading It’s Darwin Day, a celebration of science and reason | Machines Like Us →

Earth life may have started a billion years earlier | Machines Like Us

Provocative new research published this month in the journal Geology suggests that oceanic plate subduction was operating from the earliest times in Earth’s history, meaning conditions for the formation of life may have existed up to a billion years earlier than generally thought. via Earth life may have started a billion years earlier | Machines … Continue reading Earth life may have started a billion years earlier | Machines Like Us →

Politics and money equal bad science

Jerry Coyne blogged yesterday about the trend in articles pointing out the flaws in science, noting that most of the observed problems are in medical studies, most notably in drug studies, and that generalizing these problems to all of science isn't really accurate or fair. I agree, but I have an observation about why some … Continue reading Politics and money equal bad science →