Are we still evolving? – New study says “Yes” … but I still have a couple of questions.

It might sound silly to claim that evolution has stopped, but some that I’ve discussed this with at times have suggested it might be the case. The thinking is that natural selection no longer kicks in because we now step in with modern medicine and so those who would not have been previously naturally selected … Read more

Middle Eastern state ad in Guardian today: Torturer, salary £16,000 – £21,000 … seriously!!

This one truly takes the biscuit … sitting smack bang in the middle of the careers advertisements within Today’s UK Guardian is an advert for a “Torturer”, starting on £16,000 to £21,000 a year. (This is the point at which you insert your completely gob smacked stunned silence) … the ad in question reads … The government of a Middle … Read more

Conversion: Mike Tyson

Believers often hold up famous folks who have embraced their specific belief as a form of celebrity endorsement, and one such recent example I have come across are Muslims being rather proud that Mike Tyson is one of them. OK, so lets look at the facts. Tyson was famously convicted of the rape of 18-year-old Desiree … Read more

Latest Research: Chiropractic manipulation of the spine may cause strokes and even death

Anybody who has been hanging out in the skeptic landscape knows about Chiropractors vs Simon Singh. For those that don’t here is a brief summary … Simon Singh, the UK based science writer wrote an article – “Beware the Spinal Trap” in which he was critical of the practice of chiropractors. Basically … bad back perhaps, but … Read more

Making science and engineering cool – Inspiring the next generation

Oh now this is interesting, MIT has launched an initiative in collaboration with Khan Academy founder Salman Khan called MIT+K12. OK, you know about MIT right, but who is Salman Khan? Mr Khan is a chap who has set up a free online education platform and nonprofit organization called the Khan Academy. It contains over 3100 videos … Read more

Crazy Beliefs: Breatharianism

There are plenty of folks who embrace truly bizarre ideas, but some of these concepts are just so decoupled from reality you just cannot grasp how such a belief was ever embraced as a good idea by anybody at all. One example of this is Breatharianism. This is where individuals believe that they do not … Read more