Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Now least you are wondering, “What the heck are Ig Nobel prizes?”, I better explain.These honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology. Every year, in a gala ceremony in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre, … Read more
Well … we are at an all-time low now. Arctic sea ice appeares to have reached its minimum extent for the year, and that extent is 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles). It is the lowest seasonal minimum extent in the satellite record … ever. Here are a few scary facts for you … Read more
The knowledgeable subject matter experts are yelling, but nobody appears to be really listening … The BBC reported a couple of days ago … Arctic ice melting at ‘amazing’ speed. Scientists in the Arctic are warning that this summer’s record-breaking melt is part of an accelerating trend with profound implications. … The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) … Read more
Within a scientific context we know specific things to be true, not because they are the current fad or preference, but rather because that is where the data has led us. If new surprising data arrives that leads us to a different conclusion, then that is where we go. If however you reject the process, … Read more
This is big news, the international Encode project has found that about a fifth of the human genome regulates the 2% that makes proteins. What was the previous thinking? Until now, the thought was that the vast stretches of DNA between our 20,000 or so protein-coding genes – more than 98% of the genetic sequence … Read more
Jim Al-Khalili interviewed evolutionary biologist and author Prof Richard Dawkins on BBC Radio 4 (broadcast on Mon 3rd Sept) It ran for 28 mins and is worth listening to. Richard Dawkins’ first book on evolutionary biology “The Selfish Gene” was published to much acclaim and some controversy in 1976. In this interview with Jim Al-Khalili, Professor … Read more