Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
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
Having thought I was done, I’m now once again back on the topic of Blasphemy in Pakistan. There is an article in Today’s “The News”, A Pakistani on-line paper, that rather bizarrely claims … Rimsha case speaks volume of the failure and inefficiency of the Islamabad police but its latest turns and twists have made … Read more
Since blogging yesterday about the on-going case in Pakistan of a child (Rimsha) being accused of Blasphemy (she did not, a complete wanker of a cleric planted the evidence), I’ve since noticed a small almost throw-away line. Towards the end of the following article in the Guardian about it all I found this … Human rights … Read more
The spotlight of the world has been focused upon Pakistan and is showing everybody what really happens when you permit extreme religious nutters to dictate. Pictured here you can see Rimsha going to court in Islamabad. So what has been going on? A judge deferred the hearing of Rimsha Masih last Friday until Monday over charges … Read more
The deployment of straw men is often used to craft the illusion of a strong argument. The metaphor is one in which your opponent will surreptitiously substitute your actual argument for a weak passive dummy and then rapidly demolish it. It conjurers up images of assault troops marching out to do battle against a field … Read more