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Science and Society

The Wacky Wonderful World Of Alicia Silverstone Science

I can be lazy. I was famous for it as a child. I didn't bother to walk, I didn't bother to talk. When I got older, if I had to do a chore, I found a way to be a screw-up and break something. I had unlimited time for D&D and art and sports, though, and I did well enough in school to get a scholarship to college. Because those things weren't work.If only I had Alicia Silverstone as a mom, who...

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Kepler – Young Earth Creationist

In the latest episode of Cosmos we got some history regarding how science has tried to converge on the age of the Earth. With that, we also got another jab at religion. Why use yet another religious contrast from hundreds of years ago to show the awesome power of science now? Is there so little actual imagination in their Ship Of The Imagination?(1)Just like with the age of the Earth, it's hard...

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Despite Guns, We Are Not More Violent Than Our Ancestors

If some drug-addled sociopath shoots up a movie theater or an elementary school, there is lots of speculation about the cause. In frustration and helplessness, people search for a magic bullet - things they can ban - to keep it from ever happening again.In European countries, at least the ones where guns are banned, and in some parts of America, guns are that magic bullet.Actual statistics don't...

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This Earth Day, Thank A Chemist

Earth Day is fast approaching and, let's face it, if you celebrate Earth Day you probably hate science. And you really hate chemists.  But there has never been a reason for it, it is simply modern chemophobia. If you ask an environmentalist if they should use a chemical solvent or baking soda to clean, they will say baking soda - but baking soda is a toxic synthetic chemical (NaHCO3) unless...

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When It Comes To Food, Do You Trust Science Or A Yogic Flying Instructor?

Professional forester and writer Norm Benson recently got a healthy dose of anti-science environmentalism, because he wrote an article endorsing a vitamin-enriched bowl of rice that, nonetheless, is protested by Greenpeace, Union of Concerned Scientists and everyone else who hates science more than they love children. read...

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Two Wrong Meta-Analyses Don’t Make A Right

Want to find the flaws in a study? Ask a competitor, just like you would ask a competitor about the flaws in an iPhone or any other product.And if you really want to see griping about the flaws in a study, ask someone who happens to believe just the opposite. When a paper comes out that uses the exact same terminology as studies that advocates happen to like, conservative scientific verbage...

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