Science - General Archive
May 10, 2008
Our Mother's Voice
Kinzler, Dupoux, and Spelke "asked whether infants and young children show visual and social preferences for speakers of their native language." Using the biblical story of Shibboleth in Judges 12:5–6 as an epigraph, they report on four experiments that seek...Read all of "Our Mother's Voice"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:22 PM
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October 31, 2007
Goodbye Washoe
Washoe died Tuesday night. You can read the Associated Press article. I'm sure there will be a lot more to come. Whether you believe Washoe could communicate complex ideas in American Sign Language or not, her life as an extended...Posted by Duane Smith at 8:12 PM
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October 26, 2007
The Moon Through Smoke and Ash
I took this picture at about 7:00 PM this evening from our front yard. The smoke has cleared a great deal in our area but the smoke from burnt areas still colored this nearly full moon. I think that...Read all of "The Moon Through Smoke and Ash"
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September 25, 2007
Scientific Literacy
Thomas Martin, an Honors Faculty Fellow at Barrett Honors College of Arizona State University, wrote an award winning essay entitled "Scientific Literacy and the Habit of Discourse." His essay is packed with abnormally interesting thoughts. Here is one example, Science...Read all of "Scientific Literacy"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:57 PM
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March 31, 2007
My Philosophy?
So says the QuizFarm. You scored as Kantianism. Your life is guided by the ethical model of Kantianism: You seek to have consistent laws rule your actions, and your will is directed by reason. "I do not, therefore, need any...Posted by Duane Smith at 9:49 AM
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February 12, 2007
"Different Paradigms" or Intellectual Schizophrenia or Just Plain Lying?
This story comes from today's New York Times. Marcus R. Ross who recently received a PhD in geoscience at the University of Rhode Island believes the world is "at most 10,000 years old." His dissertation was on marine reptiles that...Read all of ""Different Paradigms" or Intellectual Schizophrenia or Just Plain Lying?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:30 PM
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November 28, 2006
Anything for Science
Acephalous is conducting an experiment on the propagation of artificial memes across the internet. To participate, provide a link from your blog to this post on Acephalous. Via Gentleman's C, A Blog Around the Clock, Adventures in Ethics and Science,...Read all of "Anything for Science"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:41 PM
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November 23, 2006
Some Thoughts for Thanksgiving
Take a few moments and listen to a talk (in two parts) given by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist and the Frederick P. Rose Director at the Hayden Planetarium. The talk is not on Thanksgiving but it will enrich any day...Read all of "Some Thoughts for Thanksgiving"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:13 AM
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November 22, 2006
An Average Weather Report: On the Role of the Media in Science Education
The above graphics come from two different weather reports by two different reporters on our local CBS affiliate. I'm not showing these to cause envy among those of you from less temperate climes. I have something else in mind....Read all of "An Average Weather Report: On the Role of the Media in Science Education"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:19 PM
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August 4, 2006
Pat Robertson on Global Warming
PZ Myers at Pharyngula wrote a post that I was about to write. So please, go read his. It is better than mine would have been anyway....Read all of "Pat Robertson on Global Warming"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:19 AM
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July 17, 2006
Think Like a Scientist
Over at Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet Stemwedel has a very good post entitled, "Things non-scientists can do to improve communication with scientists." Go give it a read. She offers three suggestions for what are, in reality, educational goals...Read all of "Think Like a Scientist"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:27 PM
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May 1, 2006
Why Does Writing Have The Shapes It Has?
I ran across an abnormally interesting article on natural influence on the frequency of shapes of the writing topology in some 115 nonlogographic writing systems. The burden of the article by Mark A. Changizi of Cal Tech and his team...Read all of "Why Does Writing Have The Shapes It Has?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:30 PM
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March 8, 2006
Good Math Bad Math
While I love math for its beauty and its power, I seldom blog on it. But like many beautiful and powerful things it is often misused. Now there is a new blog in the blogosphere, Good Math Bad Math ,...Read all of "Good Math Bad Math"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:17 PM
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February 19, 2006
At the Cutting Edge, Mathematicians May Only Have Evidence Themselves
I've noted a couple of times that only mathematicians and logicians have proofs and that the rest of us only have evidence. Well things may be changing. A mathematical proof is irrefutably true, a manifestation of pure logic. But an...Read all of "At the Cutting Edge, Mathematicians May Only Have Evidence Themselves"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:28 PM
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February 5, 2006
It's Just a Theory
Last night the science wing and the reason driven political wing of the blogshere (Chris Mooney, John Lynch, DarkSyde, World O'Crap, Sean Carroll, Tim F., Phil Plait, Amygdala, John in DC, Altrios, Mark Kleiman, PZ Myers, Mike the Mad Biologist)...Read all of "It's Just a Theory"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:53 AM
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February 3, 2006
Agile in a Clumsy Sort of Way
I don't blog much about the technology I was involved with in midlife but the New Scientist has an article on a software-defined radio test that did catch my normal, if not my abnormal, interest. When I was involved in...Read all of "Agile in a Clumsy Sort of Way"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:49 PM
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January 30, 2006
Critical Analysis as a Surrogate for Something Else
I started to write about this the other day when it was more timely, then I got side tracked so I thought I'd take another shot today. As background you might want to read the posts on afarensis and Dispatches...Read all of "Critical Analysis as a Surrogate for Something Else"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:53 PM
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January 24, 2006
New Science on an Old Problem
Thucydides begins his account of the great plague of Athens in Book II, chapter 47 of his History of the Peloponnesian War with these words, Ηρξατο δε το μεν πρωτον, ως λεγεται, εξ Αιθιοπίας της υπερ Αιγυπτου, επειτα δε και...Read all of "New Science on an Old Problem"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:21 PM
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January 13, 2006
The Travels of Snails
What do you get when you mix snails, incest, crusaders, the Ottoman Empire, a wonder of the ancient world and archaeology? You get a great story and some interesting science and history. Aydin Örstan explains it all on Snails Tails....Read all of "The Travels of Snails"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:09 PM
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January 9, 2006
Does the Bayesian Machine Model Help Explain Emotional Responses to Life's Uncertain Decisions?
Is there a tie-in between this article in the Telegraph and the one I mentioned yesterday concerning the possibility that our mind is a Bayesian machine? Check this out from the Telegraph article, Investing money, changing jobs, getting married: all...Posted by Duane Smith at 3:53 PM
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January 8, 2006
A Bayesian Mind?
I've goofed around with Bayesian analysis at the intersection of archaeological and biblical studies. The Economist has an interesting article on the question of the extent to which our mind is a Bayesian reasoning machine. Here are a few snippets...Read all of "A Bayesian Mind?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:45 PM
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January 1, 2006
How Do You Tell a Social Activist from a Scientist or Mathematician?
Well, how do you tell some social activists from scientists and mathematicians? Jeffrey Shallit at Recursivity (cross posted on The Panda's Thumb), has an excellent post on what ex-blogger, mathematician, theologian and intelligent design creationist William Dembski and scientist, author,...Read all of "How Do You Tell a Social Activist from a Scientist or Mathematician?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:11 PM
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December 30, 2005
Secular Numerology
This morning I wrote a little ditty about the numerology of 666. Well there is another type of numerology: the study of numbers only because they are there. Jeffrey Shallitat at Recursivity tells us of the largest, so far, confirmed...Read all of "Secular Numerology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:26 PM
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September 29, 2005
Pray for a Miracle
If you haven't seen this, I thought you would enjoy it. When I was a lowly product marketing manager, I would ask engineering team leaders if there were any hidden "pray for a miracle" milestones in their design schedules. Never...Read all of "Pray for a Miracle"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:34 PM
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September 20, 2005
Chris Mooney on the Bush Administration and Plan B
Chris Mooney, the author of The Republican War on Science, has a mini sequel on the Op-Ed page of today's Los Angeles Times. He explains how the current administrating is abusing and ignoring science to prevent the over the counter...Read all of "Chris Mooney on the Bush Administration and Plan B"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:35 AM
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August 30, 2005
Chris Mooney and the War on Science
There are nineteen duplicates of complete works in our family library of over 2000 volumes. Of these, six are works by Mark Twain. The others range from the Bible to Great Gatsby to Plato's Republic. I am about to acquire...Read all of "Chris Mooney and the War on Science"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:26 PM
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August 21, 2005
New Einstein Manuscript Found
A student recently discovered a sixteen-page handwritten manuscript of a paper by Albert Einstein in Leiden University's Lorentz Institute for Theoretical Physics' archives. The manuscript, "Quantum theory of the monatomic ideal gas" dated December 1924, was discovered by Rowdy Boeyink,...Read all of "New Einstein Manuscript Found"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:24 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
July 23, 2005
Life on Titan?
I normally don't blog on space exploration, not because I'm not interested in it but because one must have some focus even if one has Abnormal Interests. However, I couldn't resist this one. The New Scientist asks, "Has Huygens found...Posted by Duane Smith at 9:27 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
April 29, 2005
A Note on Marketing Science
Matthew Nisbet writes a useful article for the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal web site, "The Multiple Meanings of Public Understanding: Why Definitions Matter to the Communication of Science." I'll have more to say on...Read all of "A Note on Marketing Science"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:30 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
April 15, 2005
A Two Edged Sword for Women in Math and Science
Today the New York Times published an article by Sara Rimer entitled, For Women in Sciences, Slow Progress in Academia. The article quotes Michigan Professor of Mathematics Hochster: "I vastly underestimated the problem," Professor Hochster said."People tend to think that...Read all of "A Two Edged Sword for Women in Math and Science"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:01 PM
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Titles Only From Here On
March 7, 2005
Goodbye Hans Bethe
February 25, 2005
Extreme Questions
February 24, 2005
The Intrinsic-Aptitude Hypothesis vs. Old Fashioned Prejudices