Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Thorsday Tonic - A Wave of Reason





Lyrics:
Russell:
When you are studying any matter
Or considering any philosophy
Ask yourself only: what are the facts,
And what is the truth that the facts bear out

Sagan:
Science is more than a body of knowledge
It's a way of thinking
A way of skeptically interrogating the universe

If we are not able to ask skeptical questions
To be skeptical of those in authority
Then we're up for grabs

Shermer:
In all of science we're looking for a balance
between data and theory

Harris:
You don't have to delude yourself
With Iron age fairy tales

Porco:
The same spiritual fulfillment
That people find in religion
Can be found in science
By coming to know, if you will, the mind of God

Krauss:
The real world, as it actually is,
Is not evil, it's remarkable
And the way to understand the physical world
is to use science

Dawkins:
There is a new wave of reason
Sweeping across America, Britain, Europe, Australia
South America, the Middle East and Africa
There is a new wave of reason
Where superstition had a firm hold

Plait:
Teach a man to reason
And he'll think for a lifetime

Sagan:
Cosmology brings us face to face with the deepest mysteries
With questions that were once treated only
in religion and myth

The desire to be connected with the cosmos
Reflects a profound reality
But we are connected; not in the trivial ways
That Astrology promises, but in the deepest ways

Feynman:
I can't believe the special stories that have been made up
About our relationship to the universe at large
Look at what's out there; it isn't in proportion

Russell:
Never let yourself be diverted
By what you wish to believe
But look only and surely
At what are the facts

Randi:
Enjoy the fantasy, the fun, the stories
But make sure that there's a clear sharp line
Drawn on the floor
To do otherwise is to embrace madness

Sunday, June 3, 2012

A Lifeboat For Humanity?


























Hank Fox's post Lifeboat of Knowledge, Dinghy of Power will give you much to think about. Like this:

"A lifeboat as in: A conveyance that rescues or gathers something valuable from an area of danger, a place where it will be drowned or sunk, and brings it to safe harbor.
  But THE Lifeboat as in: The thing that saved the knowledge and techniques of Science.
  Now I can make my argument as: We may have had flashes of science as far back at the third millennium B.C., but we didn’t have The Lifeboat until about 350 years ago."

And this:

" So: The Catholic Church’s 2,000-year-old Dinghy of Power goes on. But also, the dinghies of all those younger religions — Islam, and the Mormon Church, and even that mind-control turd Scientology, recently crapped out by SF writer L. Ron Hubbard.
  How? Just this: They found an interesting new way to convince people to fall under their sway. Rather than terrorizing them directly – “Obey me or I’ll burn you and your whole family to death in a fire!” (which works only as long as you’re willing to actually follow through and burn some people, and only as long as you live) …
  … they discovered you could terrorize people indirectly. Very different from scaring them with direct physical threats, this was scaring them and then posing as the friend who could save them.
  Hey, *I* won’t burn you and your whole family to death in a fire, but This Other Guy will. This huge, dangerous guy that you can’t hope to avoid … because he gets you after you die. He can see in the dark, follow you everywhere. He knows everything and he can hear your thoughts. Plus, almost everything you’re doing pisses him off, and you don’t have a chance in Hell of knowing the good things from the bad … without me."

And this, in response to the frequent derailing rebuttal to the "Dark Ages" argument that Wait! Islam produced science and mathematics during the "Dark Ages" (leaving aside for the moment the obvious point that most people refer to them as the "Christian" dark ages for that very reason):

" For much of human history, Knowledge served as a threat to Power. What do you do when individuals rise up and say “Hey, Candy-Titties doesn’t even make sense! Besides, I just discovered that the Earth isn’t the center of the universe!” For it to be a true Dinghy of Power, you have to squash that individual — and his discovery — right away.
  So for most of human history, religion (and, yes, superstition) was the choppy sea on which each new discovery attempted to bob and float, but was instead swamped and sunk out of sight.
  Doesn’t mean there weren’t fantastic inventions and discoveries in past eras. Does mean they were continually lost or suppressed.
  For instance: Kudos for the early intellectual advances of the Arabs — astronomy! mathematics! — and for those of so many other peoples over the earth. But where did they all go? Those discoveries remained virtual secrets as far as larger humanity was concerned. They vanished. Something sank them.
  It was only after we cobbled together the Lifeboat of Knowledge that such discoveries had a place of rescue. A place where one piece could be placed on another, and something built with it."

The threat that the resurgence of fundamentalist religion in the world poses to humanity cannot be over-emphasized. Hank's post is a great way for me to start working on posts about education and the suppression of knowledge which have been beating against the wall of my brain for months, but which just seemed too darn huge to get down on paper. Maybe I will try to break them up into smaller bits.  The trouble with the power and reach of religion is...it's power and reach. Religious influence has always been ubiquitous in society, but its power and ability to control the future of humankind has reached renewed ascendency.

I really am convinced that we have reached a point where the level of power that religious fundamentalism holds has achieved critical mass. Either we act now to reduce that power, or we face the dawning of another dark age.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Thorsday Tonic - Anti-Science




A refreshing dose of rationality on a Thorsday morning. Sit back and enjoy, "Anti-Science", another excellent rap created by the inimitable Tombstone Da Deadman.

Watch it! This song will stay in your head all day!

Sunday, May 20, 2012

How Much Would You Pay For The Universe?





It's the weekend, People, and I have a yard to whip into shape!

Nevertheless, I am nothing if not a font of inspirational material for my readers.  Take a five minute break from your Sunday leisure - or if you are a productive person like Yours Truly, from your Sunday achievements - and listen to Neil DeGrasse Tyson's rousing words in defense of NASA research.

Let's reach for the stars!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

We Are Stardust




3 minutes of musical inspiration for a beautiful Saturday morning. We are stardust, in the highest exalted way. Stand in the middle and enjoy everything both ways; the tininess of us; the enormity of the universe.


Lyrics:

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]
We are part of this universe
We are in this universe
The universe is in us
Yes, the universe is in us

[Lawrence Krauss]
Every atom in your body
Came from a star that exploded
You are all star dust
From a star that exploded

[Tyson]
Look up at the night sky
We are part of that
The universe itself
Exists within us

We are star dust
In the highest exalted way
Called by the universe
Reaching out to the universe

We are star dust
In the highest exalted way
Reaching out to the universe
With these methods and tools of science

[Richard Feynman]
Stand in the middle and enjoy everything both ways
The tininess of us;
The enormity of the universe

[Tyson]
The atoms that make up the human body
Are traceable to the crucibles
That cooked light elements
Into heavy elements

These stars went unstable in their later years
And then exploded
Scattering their enriched guts
Across the galaxy

[Refrain]

[Tyson]
We are part of this universe
We are in this universe
The universe is in us
Yes, the universe is in us

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Poetry of Reality



Tuesday tonic!

Lyrics:

[Michael Shermer]
Science is the best tool ever devised
For understanding how the world works

[Jacob Bronowski]
Science is a very human form of knowledge
We are always at the brink of the known

[Carl Sagan]
Science is a collaborative enterprise
Spanning the generations
We remember those who prepared the way
Seeing for them also

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]
If you're scientifically literate,
The world looks very different to you
And that understanding empowers you

Refrain:
[Richard Dawkins]
There's real poetry in the real world
Science is the poetry of reality

[Sagan]
We can do science
And with it, we can improve our lives

[Jill Tarter]
The story of humans is the story of ideas
That shine light into dark corners

[Lawrence Krauss]
Scientists love mysteries
They love not knowing

[Richard Feynman]
I don't feel frightened by not knowing things
I think it's much more interesting

[Brian Greene]
There's a larger universal reality
of which we are all a part

[Stephen Hawking]
The further we probe into the universe
The more remarkable are the discoveries we make

[Carolyn Porco]
The quest for the truth, in and of itself,
Is a story that's filled with insights

(Refrain)

[Greene]
From our lonely point in the cosmos
We have through the power of thought
Been able to peer back to a brief moment
After the beginning of the universe

[PZ Myers]
I think that science changes the way your mind works
To think a little more deeply about things

[Dawkins]
Science replaces private prejudice
With publicly verifiable evidence

(Refrain)

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Our Place in the Cosmos





Like Dawkins, I find the reality of our existence thrilling.

A little inspiration for a Saturday morning.

Lyrics:

[Narrator]
With every century
Our eyes on the universe have been opened anew
We are witness
To the very brink of time and space

[Robert Jastrow]
We must ask ourselves
We who are so proud of our accomplishments
What is our place in the cosmic perspective of life?

[Carl Sagan]
The exploration of the cosmos
Is a voyage of self discovery
As long as there have been humans
We have searched for our place in the cosmos

[Richard Dawkins]
Are there things about the universe
That will be forever beyond our grasp?
Are there things about the universe that are
Ungraspable?

[Sagan]
One of the great revelations of space exploration
Is the image of the earth, finite and lonely
Bearing the entire human species
Through the oceans of space and time

[Dawkins]
Matter flows from place to place
And momentarily comes together to be you
Some people find that thought disturbing
I find the reality thrilling

[Sagan]
As the ancient mythmakers knew
We're children equally of the earth and the sky
In our tenure on this planet, we've accumulated
Dangerous evolutionary baggage

We've also acquired compassion for others,
Love for our children,
And a great soaring passionate intelligence
The clear tools for our continued survival

[Michio Kaku]
We could be in the middle
Of an inter-galactic conversation
And we wouldn't even know

[Sagan]
We've begun at last
To wonder about our origins
Star stuff contemplating the stars
Tracing that long path

Our obligation to survive and flourish
Is owed not just to ourselves
But also to that cosmos
Ancient and vast, from which we spring

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Thorsday Tonic - GU Universe Episode 2



Sit back and enjoy some awesome inspiration on a Thorsday morning!

GU Universe:  The Heritage of Life, Episode 2  (Episode 1 can be found here)

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Evolu- er Variation! Yeah, That's It!



via Pharyngula: Potholer and Hovind Come Together!

Would you like a quick, easy-to-understand explanation of speciation? Potholer is your man!

This brief, funny video explains everything (even Kent Hovind!)

Monday, April 30, 2012

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Sen. Gretchen Whitmer for President!


Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, ally of Michigan youth 


























In 2008, a clear majority of voters in the state of Michigan sent a strong message to their legislators that they approve of stem cell research and want it to go forward in their state universities. The University of Michigan has gained a reputation as a world leader in stem cell research for cures for several diseases and the people of the state rightly wanted that reputation - and the valuable research for which it was justly earned - to continue unmolested by partisan politics fueled by powerful special interest groups. So, of course you can guess what is coming.

Last year, Michigan house Repubicans, to please their socially conservative corporate backers, decided to execute an end run around the will of the people by inserting language into education funding bills demanding detailed - and unnecessarily burdensome - reports on details of the stem cell research over and above what had previously been required by the law. During the contentious debates which followed, the Republicans went as far as suggesting that the university was evading established rules of accountability to obtain funding underhandedly. Using the most devastating play in the conservative right-wing's handbook, the Republicans appealed to the well-tended public distrust of intellectualism and science, conflating them with their liberal anti-god conspiracy fears which have been equally carefully nurtured over the past few decades by the religious right and its political arm, the Republican party.

Democrats trying to prevent yet another Republican religious attack on higher education argued passionately to repeal the onerous language which had been inserted into the funding bill last year (and which threatens to be continued this year). In spite of these efforts - and in direct defiance of the will of the people who voted in November 2008 to allow stem cell research to proceed - the Republican controlled House and Senate passed the punitive, research-suppressing measures.

It seems that the corporate and religious right is perfecting its strategy to completely bypass the democratic process, undermine the republic and achieve its goal of near total power through a puppet democracy.  Thanks to Citizens United, they can now operate as super citizens - a tiny, elite and powerful group controlling 99% of the country's wealth - by pouring money into campaigns to ensure the elections of their personal agents in legislatures across the country. Using the Republican party as their political arm, powerful special interests - nearly always an alliance of churches and corporate "citizens" - now effectively rule the United States. Sadly, they have achieved this oligarchy with the willing compliance of millions of "moderate" Americans who have remained unwilling to rock the boat of their comfortable religious communities by speaking out against religious influence on public policy.

Senator Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, spoke out on the education funding nightmare, defending the right of American students and researchers to continue to receive the funding which the people of Michigan have declared they are entitled to receive.






In addition to fighting to save the world-class reputation of Michigan universities, Senator Whitmer has also stood up courageously for gay Michigan youth. In the fall of 2011, she gave this powerful speech on bullying after the Senate passed the Matt's Safe School Law. The outrageous law, cruelly named after a young Michigander who had been driven to suicide by relentless bullying by religious schoolmates, was touted as an "anti-bullying" law, but in fact gave legal protection to bullies whose persecution of others is justified by their religious beliefs.

Watch Sen. Whitmer's brief, but powerful remarks:





While religious conservatives and their corporate allies celebrate their almost total dominance of American government and society, there still remain a few dedicated voices for social justice and liberal ideals. Senator Gretchen Whitmer stood up for Michigan youth, for education and for scientific research, all anathema to the oligarchy which seeks to reduce American society to an uneducated feudal state.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Thorsday Tonic - Bill Nye on Evolution Part 2



Sit back and enjoy Part 2 of the evolutionary science video featured on Tuesday.

Bill Nye the Science Guy:  Evolution (Part 2)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Tuesday Tonic - Bill Nye on Evolution Part 1



Sit back and enjoy a little evolutionary science on a Tuesday morning.

Bill Nye the Science Guy:  Evolution (Part 1)

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Sunday Sermon Antidotes - P.Z. Myers At GAC



An idea can take over the world - until it is replaced by better ideas!


The Global Atheist Convention has just wound down, but I am sure that there will be amazing material - speeches, ideas, videos - coming out of Melbourne, Australia for weeks to come.  I complain a lot about computers and the internet, but I am very thankful for the technology that allows us to see, read and listen to the ideas presented at this and other conferences and events with such ease and almost instantaneously.

P.Z. Myers spoke last night and he posted his "talk" on Pharyngula this morning.  I'll be eagerly watching for the video, but for now, you can enjoy reading it.  Here is an excerpt:

"The most brilliant thing Christianity ever did was to take that idea of the Word, that concept of identity wrapped up in an abstract set of ideas and stories, and to open it up to everyone. Aww, Rome fell? You're all alone? Here, we can help you find yourself, we can give a new meaning to your life, we have a standard that you can hold high and find unity with a greater people. It’s called the Bible.

I repeat, absolutely brilliant. It made Christianity bulletproof.

Cities fall. Kings die. Bloodlines fade. But ideas can go on and on and on. Now, a 21st century person can feel continuity with a 5th century priest; an American can share a central element of their self with someone in South Africa, with someone in China, with someone in Australia; heck, with someone on the space station, or walking on the moon. We can have the concept of an ecumene; people tied together by a common belief that crosses borders. It’s a powerful tool. It’s widely used, too; what is a United States citizen but someone bound by a set of documents, the Constitution?"

He went on to challenge atheist stereotypes, Christian assumptions about themselves and about atheists, harms done to humanity by religion and finally how the small, but growing segment of humankind who have shaken off the dehumanizing shackles of superstition and embraced reality has begun to make an impact.  Religionists are enraged because they know that their grip on the psyche of humanity is weakening at long last - and that it is weakening because of the hard-won advances made by science.

P.Z. Myers zeroed in on exactly why religion fights science so ferociously - why it has always hated and feared science. He discussed how science has been the true savior of humankind over the centuries - with religion fighting progress and useful knowledge every step of the way, of course - and he finished with a rousing battle cry:

"Yesterday I was listening to our Christian protesters outside, and I thought, “Huh. So that’s what you get when you give a sheep a microphone, amplified bleating.” There they were, calling on everyone to deny the richness of human experience and join the flock in the narrow boring confines of the sheep pen, so mindless they didn’t even realize they were calling to the wolves.

I have a different metaphor for us, my brothers and sisters in atheism. We are not sheep; there are no shepherds here. I look out from this stage and I see 4000 pairs of hunter’s eyes, 4000 hunter’s minds, 4000 pairs of hunter’s hands. I see the primeval primate hunting band grown large and strong. I see us so confident in our strength that we laugh at our enemies. I see a people thinking and planning, fierce and focused, learning and building new tools to conquer new worlds.

You are not sheep. You, my brothers and sisters in atheism, are a fierce, coordinated hunting pack — men and women working together, and those other bastards have cause to fear us. So let’s do it: make them tremble as we demolish the city of god."

Here is a  link to P.Z. Myers' speech at GAC. Take the time to read it.  It is worth every minute.




Thursday, April 12, 2012

Thorsday Tonic - GU Universe Episode 1



Sit back and enjoy a little inspiration on a Thorsday morning.

GU Universe:  The Structure of the Universe.

(Note:  if repetitive, unnecessary video game "music" gives you a headache, this might not be for you. But it is an excellent and clear description of the universe with a backdrop of gorgeous Hubble photography)

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

First Evolution, Next Global Climate Change!



Recap of the February conference of American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Clips of Republican Rick Santorum highlighting the scary anti-science, anti-earth ideology of Republican party hardliners.

Short, excellent interview with Chris Mooney, science journalist, who places the blame on religion and libertarian economic ideology (which often go hand in hand due to the unholy alliance between business and the religious right dating back to the Reagan era).

Chilling.

Cure For Cancer?



Exciting news in the world of cancer research!

On April 10, the Ottawa Citizen reported that researchers at McGill University in Montreal are developing a blood test for breast cancer that may soon render mammograms obsolete.

"Scientists have worked for years on such blood tests without much success. But the McGill team — including scientists specializing in nanotechnology, chemistry and oncology — have made improvements to the existing technology while discovering a biomarker "signature" for a common subtype of breast cancer — that which is estrogen receptor-positive."

The preliminary testing showed great promise, but the early trial group was very small. Further research and larger studies need to be conducted - and soon - to determine if this test is as good as researchers hope it is. Luckily, Canadian researchers are working in an atmosphere conducive to looking for ways to do better than the current expensive technology.

Currently, mammogram technology is the only imperfect diagnostic tool that women and their doctors have to work with in the effort to detect breast cancer early. Mammography is painful, often inaccurate, and results in far too many false positives - which then result in too many harmful interventions - and, even worse, too many false negatives.

It will be a great day for women when a simple blood test can definitely provide early diagnosis.

Encouragingly, even in the USA, where mammography is big business, research is ongoing to provide better ways to fight breast cancer. At the University of Pennsylvania, there have been promising results in a breast cancer vaccine trial.

On April 8, the UK newspaper, The Telegraph, reported even more exciting news in the general field of cancer research. This story is about what could potentially become the groundwork for an eventual cure for many types of cancer. Scientists have identified a molecule - called MUC1 - which is found on the surface of cancer cells and researchers at Tel Aviv University, backed by Vaxil Biotherapeutics have developed a prototype "vaccine" which uses a small part of the MUC1 molecule to excite a patient's immune system, in much the same way that vaccines for other illnesses (like measles or polio) do.

"The therapy, which targets a molecule found in 90 per cent of all cancers, could provide a universal injection that allows patients' immune systems to fight off common cancers including breast and prostate cancer."

The science information manager at Cancer Research UK, Dr Kat Arney, cautions: "These are very early results that are yet to be fully published, so there's a lot more work to be done to prove that this particular vaccine is safe and effective in cancer patients.", but she added that research into the MUC1 molecule is ongoing in several places around the world because it has shown such promise. Currently, trials will be done using the "vaccine" as a treatment for patients already battling cancer, rather than as a traditional vaccine to prevent cancer.

All that, just this week in cancer research!

Post Script: Sadly, within a few short years,  we won't be seeing research of this calibre coming out of Tennessee, Oklahoma, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas or any of the other states currently considering legislation to allow the teaching of religious creationism in science classes and/or undermining evolutionary theory.  All of these promising treatments, like most modern medical treatments, are derived from our understanding of evolutionary biology.

If the religious right succeeds in undermining education in this country to the degree that they have declared they hope to, then all future world-changing scientific research will occur in other countries going forward.  I guess the Republican party is A-OK with forcing the USA to stand on the sidelines gaping in ignorance as the rest of the world advances far ahead of us in every important aspect of human scientific, medical and technological endeavor. Good work, Republicans.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Tennessee Insanity







Oh, Tennessee!  

Today, Tennessee's governor, Bill Haslam (R - of course) had a choice:  he could sign or veto the recently passed bill HB368/SB893 - which would encourage teachers to teach creationism in Tennessee classrooms and to teach children the outright lie that there is scientific controversy over established scientific theories such as evolutionary theory or climate change theory. 

Governor Haslam had done his homework.  His remarks indicate that he clearly understands that the suggestion that there is any scientific debate is false, and that the only "controversy" is religious and political.  Like cowards before him, the Governor chose to allow the law to pass without his signature. In short, he has hedged his bets: he cannot be accused of having signed a bill which will surely cut the promising future of Tennesse's growing reputation as a leader in STEM subjects off at the knees,  but he cannot be accused either of not having kowtowed to the religious right because he has allowed the bill to pass by standing aside and refusing to veto the odious piece of legislation.

Tennessee has the dubious distinction of being the state where the Scopes "Monkey" trial was held back in 1925.  At that time, teacher John Scopes was prosecuted for teaching evolution in a Tennessee school in defiance of a law banning scientific teaching which conflicted with Biblical creationism.  Scopes was found guilty and convicted, but the Tennessee Supreme Court later overturned the conviction.

Gradually, the overwhelming evidence for evolutionary theory convinced a majority of Americans that to prevent schoolchildren from learning this science was tantamount to returning them to the dark ages, and soon educational guidelines routinely included evolutionary theory in science curricula. Ever since that time,  religious proponents of creationism - sworn enemies of the scientific method and especially of evolutionary biology - have been scheming to undermine science and to bring religion roaring back into American public schools.

Tennessee is not the first state to introduce legislation since the 2010 elections which will allow religiously motivated "teaching" of the lie that there is scientific controversy over subjects like global climate change or evolutionary theory.  There is no scientific controversy on these subjects:  the science is solid and there is broad consensus among scientists all around the world that both are well-established, solidly proven scientific theories.  The "controversy" is strictly between religious/political opportunism and the truth.  Religious/political ideologues refuse to accept proven science, not because it is untrue, but because it threatens their own foundational belief systems.

How has Tennessee and states like it come to this sorry pass?  The easy answer is that the rise of the religious right has brought with it incredible pressure on the separation of church and state. But the deeper answer is that moderately religious Americans have enabled the far right to gain this much power.  Religious moderates, hiding behind their "no true Christian" justifications - linking hands with extremists to protect their own religious privilege - have enabled religious extremism to make these frightening inroads into education.

Tennessee had been slowly building a justifiably strong reputation for leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM disciplines) at secondary and post-secondary schools across the state.  University of Tennessee was ranked highly in STEM disciplines in recent years, thanks to the tireless efforts of science and mathematics teachers and professors.  With this law, the state legislature will undermine all of that hard work, and within a very few years, Tennessee will slide back into the educational backwater where its religiously-backed leadership clearly wants the state - and more importantly, its people - to be.

For the second time today, I want to link to Tombstone da Deadman.  This time, here is his wonderful rap from last summer: "Anti-Science".

Also:

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Cool Cutting Edge Science On Wheels!

We've just got back from a long road trip, so my apologies for the dearth of posts!

But here is something which I hope will make up for that!  Driving up I-65 between Indianapolis and Chicago, we spotted this! :


I had a feeling this was something really cool -  I mean, just look at those bright colorful symbols all over the thing! - so, since I was driving, I had the nifty spouse look it up on his smartphone. 

Turns out this bus is a converted 70's era road cruiser, fitted out as a mobile DNA sequencing lab!  This is so cool!  The mobile lab travels around the country to conferences and to universities and other places by request, where they demonstrate their new ion semiconductor sequencing technology by sequencing the DNA of interesting things they find at each locale they visit.

The bus was on its way to Chicago when we spotted it.  If only I hadn't been behind the wheel, I would have whipped out my camera and taken a picture. But the stock photo above will just have to do.  

Here is an annoying (I hate visuals that spin and quick cut editing), but fun little video from their website: