Now on ScienceBlogs: Did the Universe start from a Singularity?
Upcoming UCLA Pro-Test Rally: Stand Up for Animal Research on April 8th The UCLA chapter of the pro-science organization Pro-Test has announced its second major rally to show support for science and to stand up against the ongoing campaign of intimidation being waged by animal rights activists. The organization originated in Oxford...
We have seen evil, and it is us Here is why we need Wikileaks — because when our soldiers carry out Collateral Murder, we should know about it. Good journalism should be exposing this stuff for us. This is a video shot from an American helicopter gunship...
Re. the Census: Will Republicans Suddenly Discover Statistical Sampling? If the wingnut Census rebellion holds, I wonder if Republicans will suddenly see the virtues in statistical sampling.
Terrorists Using Exploding Breast Implants! So screams this Fox News headline, taken from a report in The Sun. Female homicide bombers are being fitted with exploding breast implants which are almost impossible to detect, British spies have reportedly discovered. The shocking new Al Qaeda tactic...
This is Awkward Forget about being for a policy before you were against it; the Obama administration is mastering the art of being for something while simultaneously being against it. The same administration that is now seeking to overturn the Don't Ask Don't...
Climate Scientists as Pastors and Skeptics as Peer-Reviewers? UK Report and Der Spiegel both emphasize need for increased public access and participation in review of scientific data....
Economics and Evolution as Different Paradigms X: The Ultimate-Proximate Distinction and Why it Matters Everything that evolves requires two explanations. First, why does a given trait exist compared to many other traits that could exist (ultimate causation)? Second, what are the physical mechanisms that cause the trait to be expressed (proximate causation)? The question...
Oklahoma Religious Right Frags Itself The righteous folk in Oklahoma were none too happy when the federal government passed a hate crimes bill that included gays and lesbians, so they decided to do something about it. They'd pass a bill saying that local and state...
Schlafly: Supreme Court Needs a Veteran Phyllis Schlafly has a column at -- where else? -- the Worldnutdaily arguing that the Supreme Court needs at least one military veteran on it because John Paul Stevens is likely about to retire and he is the last member...
Dumbass Quote of the Day From Bill Donohue: "It is a sad day when al-Qaeda suspects are afforded more rights than priests." Actually Bill, if the church had turned those pedophile priests over to the police, as any other organization would be legally required to...
Kincaid's Drug War Irrationality Cliff Kincaid -- easily one of the dumbest men in the entire conservative wing of the country -- has another one of his patently irrational columns at the amusingly misnamed Accuracy in Media site. This time he's attacking those more...
10 Rules For Dealing With Cops There's a new short film out by the group Flex Your Rights that offers 10 tips for how to deal with the police without giving up your constitutional rights. Here's the list, without much explanation: 1. Always be calm and...
New public health blog Long-time observers of the progressive blogopshere are likely aware of Barbara O' Brien and her blogging at The Mahablog, Crooks and Liars, AlterNet, and elsewhere. She was a panelist at the Yearly Kos Convention and a featured guest blogger at...
Another week of GW News, April 4, 2010 Logging the Onset of The Bottleneck Years This weekly posting is brought to you courtesy of H. E. Taylor. Happy reading, I hope you enjoy this week's Global Warming news roundup...
Economics and Evolution as Different Paradigms IX: Consilience in Action Consilience, or the unity of knowledge, is the Nirvana of science, where everything interlocks consistently with everything else. Neoclassical economics is not consilient with other branches of knowledge and the strongest argument on its behalf is that it doesn't need...
Note to Dems: If You Weren't So Loud, We Wouldn't Have to... get drunk and hit you: "When asked about the violence, 49% of the 1,009 adults surveyed over the weekend said the "Democratic tactics" are a "major reason" for the violent incidents." Any political statement longer than three to five words has little or no concrete meaning to many Americans who 'agree' with that statement.
Does O'Reilly Watch His Own Show? Bill O'Reilly's obliviousness to his own hypocrisy knows no bounds. On Monday night, he actually spent several minutes arguing that the tea party movement could not be held responsible for the whackos that gather at their events. Yes, the same...
ScienceOnline2010 - Writing for more than glory: Proposals and Pitches that Pay (video) - Part 2 Writing for more than glory: Proposals and Pitches that Pay - Rebecca Skloot with guests Saturday, January 16 - 4:40 - 5:45pm Description: What is a sellable idea? How do you develop one? Is your idea enough for a...
Vitter: Obama Oil Plan a Cover The Worldnutdaily interviews Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who opines that Obama's decision to open up Virginia coastal waters for oil drilling is not real, that it's a cover for a plan to reduce the production of domestic energy even...
Jon Stewart on Erick Erickson A hilarious take on CNN's hiring of Erick Erickson from Jon Stewart and the Daily Show....
The Real Face of Jesus? This video is a clip from the History Channel, where they report on the face that is imprinted onto the Shroud of Turin (rumored to be the burial cloth of Jesus Christ). Ho-hum.
Freethinker Sunday Sermonette: worse than norovirus? Not more immature than religion.
Vatican Easter Speech Just in time for Easter Sunday! Here is an except from the Vatican Easter speech (translated into English, of course). He does forget to mention the hundreds of thousands of children who were raped in His Holy Name (amen), but he does manage to talk about nearly everyone else in the world.
John McLean hides the declines John Mclean has a reply to Lewandowsky at the Drum where he proves once and for all that he has no clue, with comments like: If the SOI accounts for short-term variation then logically it also accounts for long-term variation....
“Twenty-odd years ago I was in an elevator with Jesse Helms and asked him about his reputation as a master of the Senate's arcane rules. He smiled and said, "I didn't make the rules, I just use what I've got." His other idea was that Senators in a filibuster or other delaying action should be forced to wear ridiculous hats while speaking.” kehrsam on How to Fix the Filibuster Problem
PZ Myers 04.05.2010
PZ Myers 04.04.2010
Ed Brayton 04.05.2010
Ed Brayton 04.05.2010
Erik Klemetti 03.31.2010
Latest science stories | More at nytimes.com
Some engineers use cranes and steel to make their designs reality, but synthetic biologists engineer using tools on a different scale: DNA and the other molecular components of living cells. Synthetic biology uses cellular systems and structures to produce artificial models based on natural order. Read these posts from the ScienceBlogs archives for more:
Pharyngula May 30, 2007
The Loom January 31, 2008
Discovering Biology in a Digital World July 2, 2006