Check one off the list

Remember that stuff about loving thy neighbor and helping the underserved? Apparently the agnostic and atheists of the medical world are actually more likely to do so. So much for morality without the good book.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Looks like monkeys learn in the same way as humans. Why am I not surprised? It seems, given that apes and monkeys are our closest living relatives, that we should share alot of the same brain functioning. Then again, I'm no primatologist. Then again, we've all had jobs that we figured a chimpanzee might be better suited for.

Thank you Wyoming!

Some enterprising young scientists from the University of Chicago have found a fossil that fills a gap in the body of knowledge surrounding the development of limbs. Read it here. What I really like about the find is that, being another coelacanth fossil, you can compare it to the fossils previously discovered and illustrate the significance of it to the lay person. There is nothing better than an easily understood physical example to get the public to an comprehensive understanding of evolution. Yay for transitional forms.

Appealing to my former life as a shovelbum

This cartoon makes a hapless appeal to my emotions.....and it worked. This is the winning cartoon from the Union of Concerned Scientists "Science Idol" editorial cartoon. I really do agree with the premise of the cartoon, although I think that the Feds should be joined by serveral other groups. I must admit, I dont really miss the CRM world yet.

If you have some extra time to peruse, check out this link from the UCS. An A to Z guide on the interference of politics on science. I can't think of a more appropriate post for this blog.

I bet this guy gets tons of action...

Yeah, so this guy is considered a mathematical genius. I would agree for the most part, especially when I see this:

Well try this for size.
The task is to find the 13th root of 85,877,066,894,718,045, 602,549,144,850,158,599,202,771,247,748,960,878,023,151,390,314,284,284,465,842,798,373,290,242,826,571,823,153,045,030,300,932,591,615,405,929,429,773,640,895,967,991,430,381,763,526,613,357,308,674,592,650,724,521,841,103,664,923,661,204,223.
The answer's 2396232838850303. Multiply that by itself 13 times and you get the above. Even with a calculator you wouldn't beat Alexis Lemaire doing the calculation in his head.

On your marks... Lemaire prepares to break the record at OxfordLast week, at Oxford's Museum of the History of Science Lemaire broke his own record for the task, taking it down to 77.99 seconds.

That's sick. It kinda makes me wonder what he does in his spare time, if he knows what that is.

When religious beliefs become child abuse...

There's been alot of squawking about Richard Dawkins assertion that religious beliefs can constitute a form of child abuse (you can find it here.), and Catholic priests violating the innocence of altar boys is clearly that, but what about this guy:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/29/exorcism.death.ap/index.html

That's child abuse because of religion. This jackass was deluded enough to A: think its possible to be possessed by demons, and B: assume that for some reason he could remove a demon by choking a three year old. Superstition and irrationality are child abuse, adult abuse and an all out crime against humanity. Call it an isolated incident if you want, but I'm sure if someone did the legwork, they would uncover a much more systemic vision of these occurrences. If you have Showtime, take a moment to watch Penn and Tellers Bullshit about excorcisms; I cant believe that people actually buy into this garbage.

That's how they roll in the U.K.

So, while I do generally agree with the point she's making, I really only wanted to link to this article because Susan Greenfield is referred to as "Baroness".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/29/nteach129.xml

I'm thinking we should institute some more categories here in the states. Britain has had the lions share of duchesses, dukes, barons, knights etc. for far too long.