science

Announcement of 8 Earth-like planets – 2 are very earth like

by

Hey now this is cool, the discovery of eight very earth-like planets has been announced So what are the details? Astronomers announced today that they have found eight new planets in the “Goldilocks” zone of their stars, orbiting at a distance where liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface. This doubles the number of … Read more

Catholic Church refuses to divest schools or respect human rights in Ireland

by

Atheist Ireland reports on the latest developments … It is increasingly clear that the Catholic Church will not divest any schools to other patron bodies unless they are forced to do so. In fact they have reinforced their position of opposing human rights standards in education, by rejecting the Toledo Guiding Principles. Even Prof John Coolahan … Read more

Claim: “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God.”

by

Much to the surprise of many, there was a recent article over on the Wall Street Journal entitled. “Science Increasingly Makes the Case for God.” (sorry, but the WSJ article is behind a paywall, but a summary of it can be found here). This of course is not the only instance of such a claim, but rather is … Read more

The Detox myth busted

by

There is a really really good article over on the UK’s Guardian by Dara Mohammadi. For background, he is a Health and Science writer at the Guardian, also presents the Lancet’s news podcast, and is a senior assistant editor at the Lancet. “Detox” is one of those extra special words that if encountered should trigger … Read more

Claim: “Physicists achieve superconductivity at room temperature”

by

Over at Science Alert there is a story that appears on the surface to be quite exciting, “Physicists achieve superconductivity at room temperature“, ah but  … (sorry, spoiler alert, the claim is sort of true, but there is a huge catch, so don’t get too excited). First, let’s step back for a second as explain … Read more

“Get Me Off Your Fucking Mailing List” has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication

by

Indeed yes, a scientific paper entitled “Get Me Off Your Fucking Mailing List” has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication. So the story here is that back in 2005 the authors,  David Mazières and Eddie Kohler, wrote this “paper” as a joke reply to the gazillions of emails they get from vanity journals. When solicited for a submission … Read more