I read an interesting article the other day. The author, Cameron Wybrow, discusses the world of the mutant heroes known as the X-Men — from the comic books (which I read for many years) and, more recently, several movies — and their enemies. The X-Men are led by Charles Xavier, a well-to-do geneticist who founds […]
How much do you pay for gasoline? Do you pay extra for the high-octane, “premium” grade? If you get the premium stuff because it’s supposed to run hotter & cleaner, which is better for your engine, chances are, you’re getting taken for a ride. People with an opinion on the subject can be quite passionate, […]
How much do you pay for drinking water? Do you buy “pure” mountain spring water? Natural mineral water? Imported from the underground aquifers of ________? If you drink Perrier, Evian, Aquafina, Dasani, etc., because it’s supposed to be healthier or better tasting than tap water, chances are, you’re getting “soaked”. Bottled water is BIIIIIG business, […]
Early last year, I wrote a brief post about a suit brought against the California Science Center for unlawful discrimination against a pro-Intelligent Design group and the subsequent cover-up of the details behind the censorship. (If you don’t want to read the articles I link to in the original post, you can get the important […]
“[T]he truth is that promoting science isn’t just about providing resources — it’s about protecting free and open inquiry. It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology.” — President Barack Obama, when announcing the appointment of John P. Holdren as ‘science czar’ No, the above quote was […]
The simple answer to the title question is “Yes”… or “No”… or “Sometimes”. If you talk to (or read) many devotees of Darwinian evolutionary theory, either professional or layman, you will often find them perplexed as to how any “rational” person can deny the “fact” of evolution. For them, it is so clearly the only […]
Since at least the 1970s, we’ve been warned that the world is at, or close to reaching, “peak oil“. As you can probably guess, the term indicates reaching some sort of limit. According to Wikipedia, “Peak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the […]
Last time, I wrote about various, highly unusual characteristics of the Milky Way Galaxy and of the Sun that allow for life to exist in this particular, small, local region of space. Before that, I posted about the many factors in the very structure of the universe that must be (and are, obviously) extremely fine-tuned […]
“Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with the very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit life, and one which has an underlying (one might say ‘supernatural’) plan.” — Arno Penzias, physicist who shares the Nobel prize for physics for discovering […]
“One would have to conclude either that the features of the universe invoked in support of the Anthropic Principle are only coincidences or that the universe was indeed tailor-made for life. I will leave it to the theologians to ascertain the identity of the tailor!” — Bernard Carr, cosmologist and professor of mathematics & astronomy […]
