Question: Primatologist Jane Goodall asserts three reasons for her optimism about the ultimate disposition of our planet’s health. One is shown at left, i.e., all we need to do is stop poisoning and otherwise harming our Earth, and it will …
Category: Renewables – Science
The Scientific Community’s Voice in the November Election
James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States when the magazine “The Scientific American” was first published. Before this revered publication announced its support of Kamala Harris in her opposition to Donald Trump, it had maintained silence …
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ABC News: US stats show violent crime dramatically falling, so why is there a rising clash with perception?
From ABC News: In his State of the Union address this month, President Joe Biden boasted that the nation reported a historically low murder rate in 2023 and violent crime had plummeted to one of the lowest levels in 50 years. For …
Atheism
In the human population, at least in the Western World, we find a strong correlation between intelligence and atheism. What Stephen Hawking said here hits home to me. Having said this, the correlation is nowhere near absolute; there are huge …
Easy Science
As young minds develop, they go through certain stages. Babies experience “object permanence,” meaning that, at somewhere between four and seven months, they come to realize that things don’t simply vanish when they are removed from sight, and then come …
Tagged with: Easy Science
What’s to Like about Science?
Twentieth Century philosopher of science Karl Popper (pictured) wrote: The game of science is, in principle, without end. He who decides one day that scientific statements do not call for any further test, and that they can be regarded as …
Tagged with: What's to Like about Science?
No Technically Proficient High School Graduates
The meme here came from a reader. My only objection to the concept is that, since the number of school hours per year is fixed, for everything you add you need to remove something. From prior conversations on the subject, …
Tagged with: No Technically Proficient High School Graduates
Whence Came Our Love of Other Life Forms?
Did God give you your love of other animals, or was it part of your basic nature?
Tagged with: Love of Other Life Forms
The Origin of Religion
Although there is no doubt that religion has been the tool of the con man (and the tyrant) since the early days of humankind, I doubt that Mark Twain meant this as a serious statement. It seems far more likely …
Tagged with: Origin of Religion
Making Sense of the Universe Around Us
The meme here reminds me of an interview with Neil deGrasse Tyson in which he was asked, “Given that we understand less than 10% of what the universe is composed of, with all this dark energy and dark matter, couldn’t …
Tagged with: dark energy and dark matter
