Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Its IgNobel time … and as summed up by Nature … Then there are the Ig Nobel awards. These come with little cash, but much cachet, and reward those research projects that ‘first make people laugh, and then make them think’” — Nature And the 2011 winners are … PHYSIOLOGY PRIZE: Anna Wilkinson (of the … Read more
Now here is a cool little 10 min clip that I’ve come across. Its Richard Feynman talking about the scientific method. Here is a very brief summary … How do we find a new law? we guess it then we compute the consequences of the guess then we compare that directly with observation to see … Read more
Andrew Brown writes in the Guardian (with a picture of some bloke setting things up at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky) … At least creationists have given it some thought. Would you rather an indifferent or a passionately wrong child in the science classroom? Let’s not simply sneer at Darwin deniers If you read … Read more
Some utter insanity has apparently broken out in Italy. The BBC Newsnight page reports that seven scientists are, in a Galileo-style inquisition, to stand trial next week for failing to accurately predict the precise timing of an earthquake. Wow … scientists accused of failing to predict an earthquake? Actually no, that is not what is … Read more
Now this is interesting, really interesting … lets start with five key bullet points … Scientists at the University of Glasgow say they have taken their first tentative steps towards creating ‘life’ from inorganic chemicals If they really do construct complex chemical cells with life-like properties, it could help us understand how life emerged (but … Read more
I’ve tripped over an interesting little snippet in New Scientist where there is a claim that some software called Cleverbot has passed one of the key tests of artificial intelligence: the Turing test. Now before we proceed, lets clarify what this test actually is. It was introduced by Alan Turing (hence the name) in his … Read more