Pope believes in “God of the gaps”

Galileo has been sent a letter explaining that all is forgiven and that he was right all along (well yes that’s Catholicism for you, its only 500 years too late). Also evolution is asserted to be factual, and of course the Big Bang really happened. So where, from the viewpoint of the Catholic church, does … Read more

Mystery of Solar Corona being far hotter than the sun’s surface resolved

A new paper has just appeared in Science dated 7th Jan (wow, its still only 6th, have I just fallen into a time rift?). Anyway, they appear to have unraveled a mystery. For quite some time it has been known that the solar corona is far hotter than the sun’s surface by millions of degrees, … Read more

Fraudulent claim about MMR and Autism – the data was faked

The news is out, Andrew Wakefield’s study that claimed to prove a link between the MMR vaccine and Autism was not just shoddy, he actually faked the data, so it was outright fraud. Why would he have done this, where was his integrity? It turns out that he was being paid by a law firm … Read more

Climate Change Feedback loops

The Guardian has, what it is calling “The Ultimate Climate Change FAQ”, and today somebody has just updated the answer to one of the questions … its really quite interesting … well OK, all answers are, it just so happens that today’s caught my eye. The question is “What are Climate Change Feedback loops?” … … Read more

Influential governor in Pakistan who spoke against insane blasphemy law – assassinated

The BBC reports … (click here) … The influential governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, has died after being shot by one of his bodyguards in the capital, Islamabad. Mr Taseer, a senior member of the Pakistan People’s Party, was shot when getting into his car at a market. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said … Read more

Surface of Mars Possibly Shaped By Plate Tectonics In Recent Past

Wow … cool … space.com reports that there is evidence that there has been plate tectonic activity on Mars as recently as 250,000 years ago. You can click on the picture to get a larger copy. What it shows is that the many ridges and scarps on the rumpled apron of land north and west … Read more