Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Celebrate Science is launching later this month to “promote the importance of keeping creationism” out of the classrooms.
The campaign has the support of the National Centre for Science Education and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. There will also be screenings of No Dinosaurs in Heaven a film that “examines the hijacking of science education by religious fundamentalists”.
The climate change debate is heating up yet again. OK, so what has happened? Well, before I go there, lets first establish a few things so that you fully understand where I’m coming from. Man made climate change is real, the evidence is in, there is not really much real scientific controversy. In April 2010 a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that nearly 98% of working climate scientists accept the evidence for human-induced climate change, this latest study does not change that.
The famous theoretical physicist, Lawrence Krauss, writes in the UK Guardian today that space shuttles have been a colossal waste of American resources, time and creative energy. When I listened to him debate last week at TAM with Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson, he took the same line … and you know what … I tend to agree with him, I believe he is right.
Now please do not misunderstand me here, this stance does not in any way short change the courage and drive displayed by those brave individuals who have climbed on board and gone up. In fact when you consider the fact that these complex machines are constructed by assembling 2.5 million parts, each of which has been outsourced to the cheapest government contractor, then you would be utterly insane not to be highly nervous, and so yes, I applaud their courage.
Alzheimers, the incurable, degenerative, and terminal disease was first described by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906, hence it was named after him. In its early stages you have an inability to acquire new memories. This is observed as difficulty in recalling recently observed events, then as it advances symptoms include confusion, irritability and aggression, mood swings, language breakdown, long-term memory loss, and the general withdrawal of the sufferer as their senses decline.
This latest item of science news leaves me wondering just how much of it is hype and how much is real, so I’m pushing it out into a couple of skeptic communities to see what folks think. Here is the claim …
Physicists have created a “hole in time” using the temporal equivalent of an invisibility cloak.
I’ve had the deep privilege of spending last night at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ (Now, least you consider night to be an odd time to be out and about and wonder if they might be open at night … well think telescopes, stars etc … they tend not to do days, that big yellow thing in the sky tends to get in the way a bit).
The actual location is of course ideal, Flagstaff itself is over 7000 ft above sea level, and so perched about the city on Mars hill is the Observatory. The site is a US National Historic Landmark, for this is the home of historical scientific discoveries. They have a 24-inch (0.61 m) Alvan Clark Telescope (pictured ) which is still in use today for public education. Now don’t misunderstand me, they still do real science, they currently operate four research telescopes at its Anderson Mesa dark sky site, located 20 km (12 miles) southeast of Flagstaff, including the 72-inch (1.8-meter) Perkins Telescope (in partnership with Boston University) and the 42-inch (1.1 m) John S. Hall Telescope. (But for visiting, you want the Flagstaff site).