From the “50 and 100 years ago” feature in this week’s Nature (sub. req): A recent survey shows that the study of physics in American public high schools has been declining for more than half a century… why [does our youth] turn away from a career in science? We can only grope for the answer. …
Scribblista notes our tumbleweed snowman, which makes an annual appearance beside the freeway near my house. Your science fact of the day: tumbleweed, also known as Russian thistle, is not native to North America, having originated in a batch of flax seed from the Ukraine. (Then shouldn’t it be “Ukrainian thistle”?)
Read a good article this morning in Science News by Janet Raloff about science in the courts – how the 1993 Daubert decision has changed the way courts handle scientific evidence in controversies. At the heart of the piece is the different views of the two cultures – science and the law: Scientists question, test, …
Dave Thomas points to an argument that is largely evidence-free but nevertheless alluring: Doug Kern at Tech Central Station on how the Internet killed off enthusiasm for UFOs: The Internet processes all truth and falsehood in just this fashion. Wild rumors and dubious pieces of evidence are quick to circulate, but quickly debunked. The Internet …
I did not know that the bottle gourd was the first domesticated plant in the Americas, 10,000 years ago. (If you’d asked me, I would have guessed maize. Wrong.) It’s what archaeologists call a “utility species” – domesticated not for food but for non-edible usefulness. (Dogs also qualify as a “utility species.”) Bottle gourd was …
Via the comments at ScienceGate, a good science blog I’d not read before: James Hrynyshyn’s Island of Doubt.
There’s this strange sort of schoolyard bully pleasure in taunting Michael Fumento. I wonder, though, if we’re the bullies, or if he is. I sorta feel like the skinny guy, taking pleasure in the bully’s comeuppance. But I dunno. Maybe we’re being the bullies. Should I feel bad, picking on poor Michael? The thing is, …
I meant to blog this when it came out a couple of weeks back: Al Zelicoff’s take-down in the Albuquerque Tribune on “bird flu mania” So, are the fears justified for Washington’s preparations against the spread of this new “killer” influenza to humans? The short answer is no. The threat is extremely remote. It’s not …
Kevin Vranes has noticed liberals noticing “peak oil”. I think he’s on to something interesting here.
Kevin Vranes, whose hockey stick post I discuss below, is part of a group of science policy bloggers at no/se/nada (well, it looks like the group is mostly Kevin). Added to the blogroll. Now that I’ve got a “science policy” section over there, Chris Mooney’s been added. I’ve shared my discomfort with his work, but …