Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Today is officially International Darwin day. No seriously, it really is, I’m not making that up, the 12th February is officially Darwin day. It was chosen because Charles Darwin was born on 12th February 1809, and so it is celebrated all around the world today. Celebrating the life and works of Charles Darwin goes right … Read more
Welcome to this week’s weird religious news posting. Extreme religious belief and right-wing politics are both in many respects similar. Those that embrace such positions tend to be driven by emotional fears, and that drives them towards the preservation of existing traditions and ideas. When faced with alternatives then they will quite naturally resist. Facts … Read more
Radio Canada Internation reports the reactions being made by many in response to a new course that offers to train you in quackery. They are not alone, other have deployed similar criticism. The course on offer is Homeopathy … Starting this fall, Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario, will offer a diploma in homeopathy, a practice the critics … Read more
Listing to a climate denier explain his stance will generally result in you listening to something utterly daft being said. Normally the appropriate response is to perhaps roll your eyes and move one, but in this specific case a spotlight needs to be thrown upon it all because it actually does matter. Scott Pruitt is … Read more
In 1990 a very ambitious project was started called the Human Genome Project. It was scheduled to take 15 years, but was actually completed in 2003, earlier than expected. As the project had progressed, technology had advanced and so it did not take as long as had been anticipated. A few quick facts … The … Read more
The TL;DR; best possible answer to the extragalactic planets question is “Probably yes”. The degree of fuzziness in the above answer reflects the complexity of what was done and the degree of certainty that surrounds the conclusion reached. We can’t go with “yes”, nor can we go with “No”, but instead the best we have … Read more
