Ragged Clown

It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing…


Tag Archives: science

Science is only a model

September
2007

Seed Magazine has just announced the winners of a competition that invited contestants to answer the question:  What does it mean to be scientifically literate in the 21st Century? One of the winning essays, Camelot is only a model, praised … Continue reading

Chimp + Finch = Human

September
2007

An interesting paper in Seed magazine that suggests that the sudden emergence of language about 120,000 years ago is due to a mutation in a gene, FOXP2, that we share with most other organisms. Essentially, the paper says, most of … Continue reading

It’s a Fact

September
2007

In science, ‘fact’ can only mean ‘confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional assent.’ Stephen Jay Gould

Physics First

September
2007

The New York Times picked up the torch that Richard and I were carrying on Friday: Some experts on science education also point to the typical sequence of high school science instruction: biology, chemistry and then physics. It would make … Continue reading

Prove it!

June
2007

We had that “but you can’t prove it” discussion at our beer bash at work the other day. The one where your co-debater suggests that, if you believe something without proof, you are making a leap of faith. Consider the … Continue reading

Analogy of the Day

June
2007

I haven’t blogged for a while and was scanning some of my old half-started blog entries when I came across this quote: how amazing it is that the Mississippi River manages to meet every tributary, go under every bridge, past … Continue reading

A Better Scouting Organization

April
2007

I might sign my children up with these people since the other lot won’t let us in. They have better badges too. I qualify for this one and this one and – my only level III badge – this one … Continue reading

Neither or both?

April
2007

If there is anything about Quantum Physics that you are unsure about, it will all become clear after you watch this clip.

What’s the good of half an eye?

April
2007

A common argument, among those who wish to debunk evolution, is the argument from irreducibly complexity. The idea is that, if there is a complex organ – like an eye – and that there is no value in having a … Continue reading

Vitamin T

April
2007

Georgina is telling me that I can’t have tea to ease my post-op suffering because hot tea will cause my bleeding to bleed. But this website (the online arm of The Lancet and endorsed by the AMA and the BMA) … Continue reading