Science - General Archive
June 28, 2011
A Sciency Person Avoids Theology
I just read that some sciency person wants to be a theologian. So I thought I’d go read what that sciency person had to say about theology. Here’s a sample of what sciency person and astrophysics professor Charles Liu said....Read all of "A Sciency Person Avoids Theology"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:12 AM
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September 20, 2010
It’s Not Just What You Say
Jeff Galak and Leif D. Nelson will publish an abnormally interesting paper, “The Virtues of Opaque Prose: How Lay Beliefs about Fluency Influence Perceptions of Quality,” in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. They preformed three experiments that manipulated fonts...Read all of "It’s Not Just What You Say"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:40 AM
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September 15, 2010
The Earth With Rings Of Satellites
Boing Boing has two abnormally interesting posts one right after the other. “What if the Earth had rings?” (What happens when satellites collide?) followed by “13,000 satellites around the Earth” (This one has a real time Google Earth presentation to...Read all of "The Earth With Rings Of Satellites"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:11 PM
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June 7, 2010
A Simple, All Too Repeatable, Experiment
Below is a transcript of part of a video of Neil DeGrasse Tyson discussing the need for science literacy. The setting is the World Science Festival 2010. My transcript, which may not be trustworthy, starts at the 5:00 minute point...Read all of "A Simple, All Too Repeatable, Experiment"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:26 PM
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March 30, 2010
Seven Trillion Electron Volts
This is a big deal! As the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN ramps up to full capability, it will answer many questions along the way. It will raise many more. That’s the way science works....Read all of "Seven Trillion Electron Volts"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:02 PM
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December 7, 2009
Quotation From 1989 For Today
Isaac Asimov on "The Relativity of Wrong," . . . when people thought the earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the earth was spherical, they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the earth is spherical...Read all of "Quotation From 1989 For Today"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:28 AM
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October 11, 2009
I Have A Low View Of Science
I've been pondering issues around the frequent claim that some set of presuppositions are unique to science in a way that is analogous, even identical, to theological presuppositions. This thought process caused me to return to something Karl Popper said...Read all of "I Have A Low View Of Science"
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:28 PM
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April 22, 2009
A Book For Earth Day
Alarming without being alarmist, Amy Seidl's Early Spring: An Ecologist and Her Children Wake to a Warming World tells the story of global warming in the context of Seidl's Vermont hollow home and the garden where she and her...Read all of "A Book For Earth Day"
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:41 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
April 21, 2009
On A Very Small Mammoth
Daniel Fisher is a paleontologist at the University of Michigan who studies mammoths and their ice age relatives. He is also a son of my friend and teacher Loren Fisher. Daniel Fisher is part of a team studying the amazing...Read all of "On A Very Small Mammoth"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:42 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
April 18, 2009
Choice Blindness
Lars Hall and Petter Johansson report on an abnormally interesting series of studies on the extent to which we are experts concerning our own choices. Here's a snippet from their New Scientist piece. . . . Experts might be forgiven...Read all of "Choice Blindness"
Posted by Duane Smith at 1:59 PM
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March 23, 2009
This Seems Self-evident
At least it does to me. . . . a scientifically literate person not only understands the scientific method, but also knows some science. Read Mike the Mad Biologist's whole post. I know a philosopher of science, philosopher of physics...Read all of "This Seems Self-evident"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:15 PM
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March 16, 2009
Stargazing For Science
Is it dark out where you live? If not, it will be before the day is over. But just how dark will it be? Will the ambient light come from the stars, the planets, and the moon or will it...Read all of "Stargazing For Science"
Posted by Duane Smith at 9:15 AM
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February 14, 2009
Quotation of the Day
Public open access to the products of the public's money is nowhere near as important as Congress' open access to lobbyists' money. - John Hawks Please read John Hawks' Weblog for the context of his words....Read all of "Quotation of the Day"
Posted by Duane Smith at 3:03 PM
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February 8, 2009
A Lie Well Told
Think what tedious years of study, thought, practice, experience, went to the equipment of that peerless old master who was able to impose upon the whole world the lofty and sounding maxim that "Truth is mighty and will prevail"-- the...Posted by Duane Smith at 1:22 PM
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November 26, 2008
It's Not Only The Turkey
What makes you sleepy after that Thanksgiving dinner? Well, it may not be the Turkey. According to the Los Angeles Times it may be everything else. "You eat a ton of other food, and that makes you tired," says Jamie...Read all of "It's Not Only The Turkey"
Posted by Duane Smith at 4:37 PM
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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"
Posted by Duane Smith at 7:46 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
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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Titles Only From Here On
February 3, 2006
Agile in a Clumsy Sort of Way
January 30, 2006
Critical Analysis as a Surrogate for Something Else
January 24, 2006
New Science on an Old Problem
January 13, 2006
The Travels of Snails
January 9, 2006
Does the Bayesian Machine Model Help Explain Emotional Responses to Life's Uncertain Decisions?
January 8, 2006
A Bayesian Mind?
January 1, 2006
How Do You Tell a Social Activist from a Scientist or Mathematician?
December 30, 2005
Secular Numerology
September 29, 2005
Pray for a Miracle
September 20, 2005
Chris Mooney on the Bush Administration and Plan B
August 30, 2005
Chris Mooney and the War on Science
August 21, 2005
New Einstein Manuscript Found
July 23, 2005
Life on Titan?
April 29, 2005
A Note on Marketing Science
April 15, 2005
A Two Edged Sword for Women in Math and Science
March 7, 2005
Goodbye Hans Bethe
February 25, 2005
Extreme Questions
February 24, 2005
The Intrinsic-Aptitude Hypothesis vs. Old Fashioned Prejudices