Big win for Open Access
Major university has refused to renew journal subscriptions with Elsevier. They are pushing for Open Access, will no longer pay excessive fees
Weird Religious News – Trump & Friends at CPAC
It’s that time of year again when we have what must be more or less a wet-dream for that blend of right-wing politics and religious fundamentalism. This past week saw CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) take place. No longer is this event a traditional Conservative event, this is a new shiny CPAC reformed in the … Read more
The Battle against Anti-Vaccine ignorance
A couple of days ago Newsweek published a fabulous article titled “9 ANTI-VAXXER MYTHS DEBUNKED“. There they proceed to demolish these 9 myths … Vaccinations cause autism. Vaccines don’t really work. Vaccines contain toxins. Vaccines can overwhelm a baby’s immune system. Natural immunity is safer than vaccine-acquired immunity. There are effective natural and homeopathic alternatives … Read more
Why do people believe in a Flat Earth?
A Recent talk at AAAS reveals an insight into why there are some who sincerly believe that planet earth is flat.
Will Global Warming really Destroy Clouds?
Various media stories have popped up reporting the idea that global warming will lead to the destruction of clouds, and that in turn would then lead to greatly accelerated warming. For example … USA Today: Climate change could zap clouds, bake the Earth even more In a word … yikes! What is even more scary … Read more
Finding Patterns in Big Data with machine learning
At the recent AAAS meeting Dr Genevera Allen gave a talk in which she highlights a rather interesting problem that specifically relates to the use of machine learning. Sitting between our ears is a pattern seeking engine that can and will at times identify false positives. We build in our own image and so we … Read more