I'm not much of a drinker, never have been. I have always assumed it was because I did competitive athletics until I was about 25, which means I was outside the age where you 'learn' to like the taste of alcohol, so I never picked it up.Older now, I can drink a beer socially and I sometimes drink a glass of red wine because the consensus says it is good for you in moderation, but I am still not...
read moreSometimes kooky anti-science positions are academic; you have to fight against them because there is a slippery slope and social authoritarians will ban ten things if you let them ban one - because banning one is acceptance that they are 'right'.
read moreThe world is a better place when it is simple, black and white. That is why campaigning NGOs and many journalists share a not-so-attractive sensibility: they are often uncomfortable with complexity, writes Jon Entine at Forbes. Dividing the world, and prickly science policy issues, into black and white makes for exciting narratives. Unfortunately it’s invariably wrong, authoritarian and,...
read moreOnce a year someone is claiming to be on the trail of Atlantis, a science-fiction city or nation or whatever in which super-smart people from the past were somehow wiped out and took a whole lot of cool technology with them.Last year, it was at least interestingly supposed to be in Spain. read...
read moreNeil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died last Saturday in Ohio at age 82 and his funeral service is tomorrow. Like most everything else about him, the service is private.Yet the cosmos has decided to ignore the wishes of his family and so Armstrong is getting a special event for the occasion: a blue moon. Either that, or his family is being clever. read...
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