Science Stories In The News this week

Here is this weeks collection of science news stories that triggered my “Hey, that’s cool” detector. As always, if I’ve missed anything that is truly cool, then drop a comment and I’ll do an update that includes a hat tip you. The most obvious big news story this week was Stephen Hawkins declaring that we … Read more

Water on Mars – More evidence

Click to see a larger image on the Guardian web site … From Today’s Guardian …click here … This image, provided by NASA, shows volcanic cones on Mars that are similar in size and shape to cones found in Iceland where hot lava has run over wet ground. The heat from the lava boils the … Read more

Iranian Clerics being grossly immoral yet again

Once again we have yet another example of how barbaric the Islamic regime in Iran is. There are reports that they have sentenced Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani – the 43-year-old Iranian woman who faces execution after being convicted of adultery – to 99 lashes in prison for “spreading corruption and indecency”. So what exactly does that … Read more

How Religion will rewire your brain

Lets first of all start with a few words from George Dvorsky’s blog – Sentient Developments, where he wrote this great description of Diane’s TED talk (above)  … In this TED talk from 2009, cognitive deprogrammer Diane Benscoter talks about her efforts to help people leave cults. At the age of 17, Benscoter joined The … Read more

Going Monty Python

“One out of four people is mentally unbalanced. Think of your three best friends. If they seem all right then you’re the one.” – Slappy White Lurking out there are people who hold some very extreme and completely insane views. This ranges right across the diversity of belief; some specific example includes weirdness such as: … Read more