by Dave Thomas : nmsrdaveATswcp.com (Help fight SPAM!  Please replace the AT with an @ . NOTE - ALSO, PLEASE USE A DESCRIPTIVE SUBJECT LINE! E-MAILS WITH NO SUBJECT LINE, OR ONLY A ONE-WORD SUBJECT LINE, WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY DELETED AS SPAM!)

Mass Media to Blame for Climate Skepticism?

Science Daily reports on Feb. 23rd that "Mass media have been a key vehicle by which climate change contrarianism has traveled, according to Maxwell Boykoff, a University of Colorado at Boulder professor and fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, or CIRES. ... 'One problem occurs when outlier viewpoints are not individually evaluated in context,' said Boykoff. 'A variety of influences and perspectives typically have been collapsed by mass media into one general category of skepticism. This has been detrimental both in terms of dismissing legitimate critiques of climate science or policy, as well as amplifying extreme and tenuous claims.' Such claims are amplified when traditional news media position noncredible contrarian sources against those with scientific data, in a failed effort to represent opposing sides, said Boykoff. ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100222140619.htm

Losing Faith in Science?

The Financial Times reports on Feb. 22nd that "Public trust in science as a whole has suffered from recent attacks on climate research, the head of the senior US scientific body admitted at the weekend. 'There is evidence that the corrosion in the public attitude to climate science has spread over to other areas of science,' said Ralph Cicerone, president of the National Academy of Sciences, citing public opinion surveys in the US and elsewhere. Speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in San Diego, Prof Cicerone and other research leaders said scientists must work to regain public trust by being more open about their findings. 'We need to be more transparent and provide more access to our research data,' he said. ..."

Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/1700ab46-1dbc-11df-9e98-00144feab49a.html

Creationism in Israel...

The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) reports on Feb. 21st that "The chief scientist in Israel's ministry of education, Gavriel Avital, 'sparked a furor' by questioning the reliability of evolution and global warming, leading to calls for his dismissal, according to Haaretz (February 21, 2010). 'If textbooks state explicitly that human beings' origins are to be found with monkeys, I would want students to pursue and grapple with other opinions. There are many people who don't believe the evolutionary account is correct,' he was quoted as saying. 'There are those for whom evolution is a religion and are unwilling to hear about anything else. Part of my responsibility, in light of my position with the Education Ministry, is to examine textbooks and curricula.' Hava Yablonka of Tel Aviv University told Haaretz that Avital's statements were tantamount 'to saying that space should be given in textbooks to the view that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it. It's astonishing that the chief scientist of a government ministry can say such bizarre things.' ..."

Source: http://ncse.com/news/2010/02/controversy-over-evolution-israel-005334

Liberals, Atheists ... Smarter?

Science Daily reports on Feb. 23rd that More intelligent people are statistically significantly more likely to exhibit social values and religious and political preferences that are novel to the human species in evolutionary history. Specifically, liberalism and atheism, and for men (but not women), preference for sexual exclusivity correlate with higher intelligence, a new study finds. The study, published in the March 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Social Psychology Quarterly, advances a new theory to explain why people form particular preferences and values. The theory suggests that more intelligent people are more likely than less intelligent people to adopt evolutionarily novel preferences and values, but intelligence does not correlate with preferences and values that are old enough to have been shaped by evolution over millions of years." "text ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224132655.htm

Brits Release Top Secret UFO Files...

The Huffington Post reports on Feb. 18th that "The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense, the MoD, is releasing secret documents on UFO sightings, the Telegraph reports. Some of these sightings include a UFO flying over the London soccer stadium Stamford Bridge and a "funny shaped object" spotted above British politician Michael Howard's house. Other reports mention Winston Churchill and someone claims to have seen a flying Toblerone chocolate bar. Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defense UFO claim investigator, states that 95% of the reports are ordinary occurrences that people have misidentified or mistaken. He adds, "But a small percentage of cases--perhaps 2-3%--are very interesting, are genuinely unexplained, and even those of us at the MoD who worked on this issue were puzzled genuinely saying, 'Well, we dont know what it is.'" One such example is a man who claimed he saw a UFO then subsequently got sick and developed a skin condition on the same day. ..."

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/18/ufo-files-released-by-min_n_467240.html

In Less Than Two Weeks, "Bible Codes" to be Disproved...

Via David Morrison at NASA, I've learned of an upcoming Test of Bible Code predictions: " I represent a Bible Code researcher named HARRY WALTHER. He has found a Bible Code that warns of COMET IMPACT- MARCH 01, 2010 - UTAH. Please read the following page and search for any comet that could impact Utah on March 01, 2010. Thank you. ..."

Morrison writes "Thank you for the warning. In two weeks we will know if the prediction was correct. Claiming success after the fact (like with the earthquake in Haiti) is meaningless, but in this case there seems to be a real testable prediction about the future."

Source: http://www.satansrapture.com/2010code.htm

Boslough on the "Real Climate Controversy"...

Sandia physicist Mark Boslough has a riveting column in the Feb. 15th Albuquerque Journal. He writes "Global warming is occurring. It is caused by human activities. Both the theoretical basis (fundamental laws of physics) and observational evidence for warming are incontrovertible. The first decade of this century was the warmest ever recorded in human history, just as the models predicted. ... In 2005, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., referred to global warming as the 'greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.' Reps. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., sent a letter to the Hockey Stick scientists, demanding that they immediately provide them with extensive documentation about what the politicians claimed were 'methodological flaws and data errors' in their work. Barton and Whitfield held Congressional hearings, and asked for a review of the Hockey Stick by a panel led by Edward Wegman, a statistician with no background in or understanding of climate science. The Wegman panel wrote a report that criticized the statistical methods used by the scientists. Climate change denialists embraced this criticism. Ever since they have claimed that the Hockey Stick has been discredited and, in a leap of logic, that global warming is not real. To many researchers, the investigation was nothing more than an anti-science witch-hunt. Scientists play by well-defined rules. They require peer-reviewed publication, logic and evidence. Science is like a hockey game that only works if fans understand it and teams play by the rules. The politicians knew their side could not win against a world-class 'hockey team.' They chose instead to create confusion and sow doubt. Their tactic was to act like unruly fans and throw hundreds of decoy hockey pucks onto the ice and then take advantage of the chaos. As any sports fan knows, when a fight breaks out on the ice or in the stands - that becomes the story. The idea was simply to delay any action. They didn't have to win the game. All they needed to do was disrupt it. ..."

Source: http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/guest_columns/152149149349opinionguestcolumns02-15-10.htm

Elephant Trick - Walking while Running?

The BBC reports on Feb. 14th that "With their awkward, lumbering gait, elephants moving at high speed are not the most graceful of animals - but are they walking or running? Now scientists believe they have an answer: new research confirms that they do both - at the same time. By observing elephants moving across a hi-tech track, the team found the hefty creatures run with their front legs but walk with their back legs. The research is published in the Journal of Experimental Biology. Earlier research had suggested that elephants perform a strange, part-walk/part-run while travelling at speed. But a team from Belgium, Italy and Thailand was able to investigate this further by using a specially built track that was able to precisely measure the forces exerted with each weighty elephant step. ..."

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8508796.stm

Texas Gov Candidate with Wacky Fringe Belief...

Surprisingly, it's not about Creationism! Dallas Morning news reports on Feb. 11th that "A Republican gubernatorial candidate said Thursday she has questions about whether the U.S. government was involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks — a statement she swiftly backed away from and one that drew immediate criticism from her better-known rivals in the race. Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison dismissed the comments made by Debra Medina on the Glenn Beck Show that there were 'some very good arguments' that the U.S. was involved in bringing down the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. 'I don't have all of the evidence there, Glenn,' Medina said. 'I think some very good questions have been raised. In that regard there's some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all the evidence there.' Medina later released a statement saying she did not believe the government was involved in the attacks. ... Beck, who is influential among the Libertarian-leaning voters that Medina has attracted, said he had been flooded with mail since he announced she would be on the show. Medina said in the interview that she has not been questioning the attacks publicly. 'There was a theme that ran against you, and that is, you are a '9/11 Truther,'' Beck said, referring to the term given to people who doubt the official account of Sept. 11. 'While I don't endorse anyone ... I think I can write her off the list,' Beck said. 'Let me take another look at Kay Bailey Hutchison if I have to. Rick, I think you and I could French kiss right now.' ..."

Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D9DQ76J80.html

Freshwater Case Noticed Across the Pond...

The Guardian (UK) reports on Feb. 10th that "Jennifer Dennis studied her 13-year-old son's skin and was uncertain which to be more astonished by: the shape made by the strange dots running the length of his forearm, or how they got there. 'When I looked at it, the shape was definitely a cross, like a Christian cross,' said Dennis. 'Zach said his teacher did it with an instrument that gave off something like a lightning bolt. It was red, like a sunburn or if you burn your arm on the oven.' The next morning, Dennis was standing in the reception of Mount Vernon middle school demanding to know what had been done to Zachary. That was three years ago and the small, deeply religious Ohio town is bracing itself for the answer to Dennis's question after the lengthy de facto trial of a man who is either a decorated teacher martyred for his Christian faith, or a religious zealot who spent years undermining the very science he was paid to teach. Along the way, the dispute has prompted Bible-waving students to march on their school, set teacher against teacher, and forced Jennifer Dennis and her family to leave town. At the heart of the controversy is John Freshwater, who taught at Mount Vernon middle school for 21 years. Freshwater said he had done the same science experiment to hundreds of students before Zachary Dennis, using a Tesla coil, which gives off an electric spark. The teacher said it was painless and harmless – although a doctor would later testify that Dennis had second-degree burns – and that he had made an X, not a cross, on the boy's skin. That might have been the end of the matter after the school ordered Freshwater to stop using the coil on children. But Zachary Dennis's parents asked him what else was going on in science class. Out poured accounts of lessons on evolution mingled with creationist theories about "intelligent design", a euphemism for the hand of God, of questions about religious beliefs and of classroom walls pasted with the Ten Commandments. Other children told of also having crosses burned on their arms. The school sacked Freshwater in June 2008. He invoked his right to a hearing that is about to reach its conclusion after dragging on and off for more than a year and costing the school board close to $500,000 (£300,000). Dick Hoppe – a former nuclear missile engineer who later helped design the Apollo spacecraft command module, and who was more recently a visiting professor of biology at a local college – has attended almost every day of the hearings. 'One student, when asked what he had learned about science from Mr Freshwater, testified that what he learned was you can't trust science. That surprised me. I didn't want to believe it was that overt,' said the avowed atheist. ..."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/brand-cross-christian-science-teacher

Science and Religion Compatible? - Church of England...

Christian Today reportas ohn Feb. 12th (Happy Darwin Day!) that "The Church of England’s governing body has passed a motion declaring scientific claims to be compatible with Christian beliefs. The motion, put forward by former computer science lecturer Dr Peter Capon, also urges the House of Bishops to take steps to improve public understanding of the compatibility of science and Christianity. Dr Capon said he had put the motion forward in order to refute the 'crude caricature of faith' as something 'blind and irrational' being propagated by atheist scientists like God Delusion author Richard Dawkins. He rejected the notion that science could answer all questions about existence, saying it was possible to see the meaning of life through science and through faith. It was not only atheists to face criticism, however. Dr Capon said some Christians had embraced theories 'for which there is scant scientific evidence', as he warned Christians would make a 'categoric mistake' if they attempted to read the Bible as a modern scientific textbook. He pointed to the growing popularity of young earth creationism in the US, which he accused of trying to 'force a wooden literalism on the Bible'. 'This so-called 'creation science' attracts conflict because it contradicts so much modern scientific understanding. Rejecting much mainstream science does nothing to support those Christians who are scientists in their vocation or strengthen the Christian voice in the scientific area. Nor does it help the Christian who is a science student in school, college or university or encourage their faith in a great Creator,' he argued. Instead, Dr Capon urged Christians to take scientific evidence seriously and avoid prejudging science for theological reasons. ..."

Source: http://www.christiantoday.com/article/science.and.religion.are.compatible.says.church.of.england/25287.htm

Beyond Climategate: Mashey Report Released...

In a lengthy February 8th report titled "Plagiarism? Conspiracies? Felonies? Behind the Wegman Report and Decades of Related Anti-Science Attacks," John Mashey details the shenanigans behind the release of a Congressionally-mandated report that appeared to disprove anthropogenic Global Warming. A snippet: The WR [Wegman Report] not only incorporated deceptive plagiarism, but expanded far beyond its supposed statistics charter. It included a large section attacking the social network of paleoclimatology. It incorporated inappropriate references from the ?grey literature or popular press, totally misplaced in something supposed to be credible. ..."

Source: http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/plagiarism.conspiracies.felonies.v1.0.pdf

Whole Lotta Atheist Bashing at KKOB AM...

Wednesday's (Feb. 3rd) edition of the Jim Villanucci show featured caller after caller complaining bitterly about the "Atheist Activist" group, which is calling for citizens to remove the religious roadside memorials so ubiquitous here in Nuevo Mexico.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-34463-Albuquerque-Christian-Apologetics-Examiner~y2010m2d3-Atheist-Activist--driving-a-wedge-between-decent-people-and-road-side-memorials

It's not a hoax - there is indeed such a group, which writes "'For us, the memorials raise serious church-state constitutional concerns because they usually feature religious symbols and are placed on state property,' said Robert R. Tiernan, a lawyer with the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis., who successfully defended a Denver man arrested in 2001 after he removed a religious roadside memorial. 'I'm sympathetic to people who have faced this kind of grief,' added Mr. Tiernan, whose 13-year-old son died after a car accident in 1981. 'But the public space belongs to everyone, and I think it's important to honor that.' Atheists and other non-christians find them offensive, annoying and depressing. When you do see them, remove them as soon as possible. Every day that they stand gives some motorists the impression that the State condones religious symbols being placed along the road on State property. There is nothing stopping us from taking down these religious symbols. We don't need any new laws, we need direct action. ..."

Source: http://www.atheistactivist.org/Roadside.html

What was missing from all the complaining? The very idea that this might even be a legitimate question for public discussion; and also, the fact that this effort comes, not from New Mexico, but from Pennsylvania.

Source: whois.domaintools.com

Climate Professor Cleared of Fudging Data...

The Los Angeles Times reports on Feb. 4th that "A Penn State University panel on Wednesday cleared a climate professor of falsifying data, concealing information and misusing confidential information, but ordered a full investigation into whether he violated academic standards in researching global warming. The decision followed a preliminary inquiry into questions raised by the unauthorized release in November of more than 1,000 private e-mails written by several of the world's top climate scientists, including Michael E. Mann, the Penn State professor. A panel headed by Graduate School Dean Henry C. Foley looked at four allegations and dismissed all but one, which asks whether Mann's research activities "seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community." A new committee of five Penn State science professors has been set up to review that allegation and report its findings to Foley within 120 days. Mann called the university's initial report a 'vindication' and welcomed the further investigation. ..."

Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate-emails4-2010feb04,0,5873118.story

More Dinosaurs in Living Color...

ScienceDaily reports on Feb. 5th "Deciphering microscopic clues hidden within fossils, scientists have uncovered the vibrant colors that adorned a feathered dinosaur extinct for 150 million years, a Yale University-led research team reports online Feb. 4 in the journal Science. Unlike recently published work from China that inferred the existence of two types of melanin pigments in various species of feathered dinosaurs, the Science study analyzed color-imparting structures called melanosomes from an entire fossil of a single animal, a feat which enabled researchers to reveal rich color patterns of the entire animal. In fact, the analysis of melanosomes conducted by Yale team was so precise that the team was able to assign colors to individual feathers of Anchiornis huxleyi, a four-winged troodontid dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic period in China. This dinosaur sported a generally gray body, a reddish-brown, Mohawk-like crest and facial speckles, and white feathers on its wings and legs, with bold black-spangled tips. ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204144422.htm

Study that Kicked Off "Vaccines = Autism" Fears Finally Withdrawn...

The Wall Street Journal reports on Feb. 2nd that "A British medical journal formally retracted Tuesday the major study that first raised concerns about the link between autism-like symptoms and the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine. But while the withdrawal supports the scientific evidence that vaccinations don't cause autism, it isn't likely to persuade advocacy groups who still believe in the link. The 1998 study of 12 children triggered worry among British parents that the measles vaccine caused autism, and many decided not to immunize their children against measles, according to Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet, which issued the retraction Tuesday. He called the study the "starting pistol" in the controversy. Ten of the original 13 authors on the original paper, conducted by researchers at the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, retracted the paper in 2004. However, the first author on the paper, Andrew Wakefield, did not. ..."

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704022804575041212437364420.html

Radford at Alibi writes up NMSR...

The latest edition of Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi feartures an article by Ben Radford on NMSR, Dave Thomas, Bible Codes, the Aztec UFO, and more!

Source: http://alibi.com/index.php?scn=news&story=30634

"Hobbit's" Brains - Not Too Small...

ScienceDaily reports on Jan. 27th that "Homo floresiensis, a pygmy-sized small-brained hominin popularly known as 'the Hobbit' was discovered five years ago, but controversy continues over whether the small brain is actually due to a pathological condition. How can its tiny brain size be explained? Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology have tackled this question in the context of a comprehensive assessment of the evolution of brain and body size throughout the larger primate family. ... According to Mundy, 'We find that, under reasonable assumptions, the reduction in brain size during the evolution of Homo floresiensis is not unusual in comparison to these other primates. Along with other recent studies on the effects of 'island dwarfism' in other mammals, these results support the hypothesis that the small brain of Homo floresiensis was adapted to local ecological conditions on Flores.' ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126220325.htm

Universe Is More Run Down Than Thought...

ScienceDaily reports on Jan. 26th that " Cars run out of petrol, stars run out of fuel and galaxies collapse into black holes. As they do, the universe and everything in it is gradually running down. But how run down is it? Researchers from The Australian National University have found that the universe is 30 times more run down than previously thought. PhD student Chas Egan and Dr Charley Lineweaver from the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics have computed the entropy of the universe. Scientists compute entropy to out how efficient an engine is or how much work can be extracted from a fuel or how run down and disordered a system is. Using new data on the number and size of black holes they found that the universe contains 30 times more entropy than earlier estimates. 'We considered all contributions to the entropy of the observable universe: stars, star light, the cosmic microwave background. We even made an estimate of the entropy of dark matter. But it's the entropy of super-massive black holes that dominates the entropy of the universe. When we used the new data on the number and size of super-massive black holes, we found that the entropy of the observable universe is about 30 times larger than previous calculations,' said Mr Egan. ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100126104844.htm

Space Poop? Best.Guide.Ever.

This two-minute video from Universe Today is worth the watch.

Source: http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/25/best-description-ever-of-how-to-go-to-the-bathroom-in-space/

Astrology gets Short Shrift from Astronomers...

Universe Today reports on Jan. 26th that "So you think the position of Mars in the sky at the time of your birth made you tall, dark, and handsome (or short, fair, and ugly)? Or lucky (or unlucky) in love? If you think believing in astrology is anywhere close to scientific, well, Dude, time to think again. Pick two babies born within a minute of each other. One has two nurses and a doctor attending; the other, just a midwife. One is born in a brightly lit maternity ward in a downtown big city hospital; the other in a poorly lit room in a village 50 kilometers from the nearest big city. 'Downtown' is just a few meters above sea level; the village is situated on a 1000 meter high plateau. These local differences have far greater effects on the babies than Mars does. Let's see how. Nearly five centuries of physics have given us quite a few certainties, and among those are that the only long range forces in the universe are gravity and electromagnetism. And both of these, from Mars, are totally – and I mean totally – overwhelmed by those same forces that were produced by things near you when you were delivered. In a word, Mars can't influence you. ..."

Source: http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/26/debunking-astrology-mars-cant-influence-you/

Top Brit Scientist: "Climate Change Sceptics 'should not be dismissed'"...

The Telegraph reports on Jan. 27th that "Climate change sceptics should not be dismissed, the Government's chief scientific adviser [John Beddington] has said, as he called for more openness in the global warming debate. Prof John Beddington admitted the impact of global warming had been exaggerated by some scientists and condemned climate researchers who refused to publish data which formed the basis of their reports into global warming. In an interview, Prof Beddington, called for a new era of honesty and responsibility from the environmental community and said scientists should be less hostile to sceptics who questioned man-made global warming. His words were refected in a New Scientist editorial that also argued that climate scientists should "welcome in the outside world" for more scrutiny. Prof Beddington also said public confidence in climate science would be boosted by greater honesty about its uncertainties. 'I don't think it's healthy to dismiss proper scepticism,' he said. ..."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7081039/John-Beddington-chief-scientist-says-climate-change-sceptics-should-not-be-dismissed.html

Pat Robertson Voodoo Doll on E-Bay...

After 44 bids, the Doll is going for $730 at present. Proceeds will go to the Haiti relief fund. Do I hear $740?

Source: http://cgi.ebay.com/PAT-ROBERTSON-VOODOO-DOLL-Proceeds-Go-To-Haiti-relief_W0QQitemZ190366726496QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c52bdb960

Dinosaurs, in Living Color?

At the New York Times, Carl Zimmer reports on Jan. 27th that "What color were dinosaurs? Well, at least one of them had a feathered mohawk tail in a subdued palette of chestnut and white stripes. That is what a team of Chinese and British scientists reported Wednesday in Nature, providing the first clear evidence of dinosaur colors from studies of 125-million-year-old fossils of a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx. 'We might be able to start painting a picture in color of what these things looked like,' said Lawrence M. Witmer, a paleontologist at Ohio University, who was not involved in the study. Of course, such pictures have been painted many times, but the colors were products of a painter's imagination, not a scientist’s laboratory. ... In the new study, Michael Benton, a paleontologist at the University of Bristol, and colleagues have analyzed the structures of what appear to be feathers and say they match the feathers of living birds down to the microscopic level. They used microscopic features to determine the ancient feathers' color. ..."

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/science/28dino.html

A related article at National Geographic has a vivid restoration of Sinosauropteryx:

Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100127-dinosaur-feathers-colors-nature/

Liquid Diamond Oceans in Space?

Discovery.com reports on Jan. 15th that "Oceans of liquid diamond, filled with solid diamond icebergs, could be floating on Neptune and Uranus, according to a recent article in the journal Nature Physics. The research, based on the first detailed measurements of the melting point of diamond, found diamond behaves like water during freezing and melting, with solid forms floating atop liquid forms. The surprising revelation gives scientists a new understanding about diamonds and some of the most distant planets in our solar system. 'Diamond is a relatively common material on Earth, but its melting point has never been measured,' said Eggert. 'You can't just raise the temperature and have it melt, you have to also go to high pressures, which makes it very difficult to measure the temperature.' Other groups, notably scientists from Sandia National Laboratories, successfully melted diamond years ago, but they were unable to measure the pressure and temperature at which the diamond melted. ..."

THE GIST:
• Like ice on water, solid diamond floats on liquid diamond.
• The finding explains possible liquid diamond oceans on other planets.
• Diamond oceans may cause off-kilter planetary tilts.

Source: http://news.discovery.com/space/diamond-oceans-jupiter-uranus.html

Freshwater Hearings Profiled in the NY Times...

The New York Times reports on Jan. 20th that "Most people in this quiet all-American town describe themselves as devoutly Christian, but even here they are deeply divided over what should happen to John Freshwater. Mr. Freshwater, an eighth-grade public school science teacher, is accused of burning a cross onto the arms of at least two students and teaching creationism, charges he says have been fabricated because he refused an order by his principal to remove a Bible from his desk. After an investigation, school officials notified Mr. Freshwater in June 2008 of their intent to fire him, but he asked for a pre-termination hearing, which has lasted more than a year and cost the school board more than a half- million dollars. The hearing is finally scheduled to end Friday, and a verdict on Mr. Freshwater’s fate is expected some months later. But the town — home to about 15,000 people, more than 30 churches and an evangelical university — remains split. To some, Mr. Freshwater is a hero unfairly punished for standing up for his Christian beliefs. To others, he is a zealot who pushed those beliefs onto students. 'Freshwater's supporters want to make this into a new and reverse version of the Scopes trial,' said David Millstone, the lawyer for the Mount Vernon Board of Education, referring to the Tennessee teacher tried in 1925 for teaching evolution. “We see this as a basic issue about students having a constitutional right to be free from religious indoctrination in the public schools.' ..."

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/20/education/20teacher.html

No More Jesus Rifles...

ABC News reports on Jan. 21st "Trijicon, the gunsight maker that has imprinted Bible verse numbers on its scopes, has announced that it will no longer imprint the verses on the sides of scopes intended for the U.S. military, and will also provide clients with the kits to remove the Bible verse numbers from existing scopes. An ABC News report earlier this week revealed that the Michigan-based company, which has a contract to provide up to 800,000 scopes to the U.S. military, prints references to New Testament chapters and verses in code next to the model numbers of its scopes. The scopes are used by the U.S. Marine Corps and Army in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by U.S. allies in those countries, and for the training of Afghan and Iraqi troops. 'Trijicon has proudly served the U.S. military for more than two decades, and our decision to offer to voluntarily remove these references is both prudent and appropriate,' said Stephen Bindon, Trijicon president and CEO in a statement. 'We want to thank the Department of Defense for the opportunity to work with them and will move as quickly as possible to provide the modification kits for deployment overseas.' Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the Department of Defense 'applauds the voluntary actions announced today by Trijicon.' ..."

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/jesus-rifles/story?id=9618791

New Insights on Primate Origins...

ScienceDaily reports on Jan. 20th that "A new model for primate origins is presented in Zoologica Scripta, published by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The paper argues that the distributions of the major primate groups are correlated with Mesozoic tectonic features and that their respective ranges are congruent with each evolving locally from a widespread ancestor on the supercontinent of Pangea about 185 million years ago. Michael Heads, a Research Associate of the Buffalo Museum of Science, arrived at these conclusions by incorporating, for the first time, spatial patterns of primate diversity and distribution as historical evidence for primate evolution. Models had previously been limited to interpretations of the fossil record and molecular clocks. "According to prevailing theories, primates are supposed to have originated in a geographically small area (center of origin) from where they dispersed to other regions and continents" said Heads, who also noted that widespread misrepresentation of fossil molecular clocks estimates as maximum or actual dates of origin has led to a popular theory that primates somehow crossed the globe and even rafted across oceans to reach America and Madagascar. In this new approach to molecular phylogenetics, vicariance, and plate tectonics, Heads shows that the distribution ranges of primates and their nearest relatives, the tree shrews and the flying lemurs, conforms to a pattern that would be expected from their having evolved from a widespread ancestor. This ancestor could have evolved into the extinct Plesiadapiformes in north America and Eurasia, the primates in central-South America, Africa, India and south East Asia, and the tree shrews and flying lemurs in South East Asia. ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100119154710.htm

Weather versus Climate Change?

Tired of hearing "Global Warming is a crock!" every time a snowflake drifts to earth? Check out this week's episode of "Climate Change Crock of the Week"!

Source: http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/19/climate-vs-weather-video/

'Creation' Movie to Premiere in January...

The NCSE reports on Jan. 7th that "Creation, the new film about Darwin featuring Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly, premieres in the United States on January 22, 2010, in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, and Boston. In her review of Creation at The Panda's Thumb blog, NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott described it as 'a thoughtful, well-made film that will change many views of Darwin held by the public — for the good." Scott, the film's director Jon Amiel, and Kevin Padian, president of NCSE's board of directors, will participate in a discussion panel at the San Francisco premiere, and similar events are planned for the premieres elsewhere. A strong opening weekend improves the chances that the film will subsequently appear in further cities, so NCSE encourages its members and friends to show up in force. For updates, visit Creation's website. ..."

Source: http://ncse.com/news/2010/01/creation-premieres-united-states-005273

Anti-Evolution Bills Crop Up in States Starting with 'MISS...'...

The NCSE reports on Jan. 13th that "A bill in Mississippi is apparently the first antievolution bill of 2010. House Bill 586, introduced on January 12, 2010, and referred to the House Education Committee, would, if enacted, require local school boards to include a lesson on human evolution at the beginning of their high school biology classes. The catch: "The lesson provided to students ... shall have proportionately equal instruction from educational materials that present scientifically sound arguments by protagonists and antagonists of the theory of evolution." ..."

Source: http://ncse.com/news/2010/01/antievolution-legislation-mississippi-005283

The NCSE reports on Jan. 14th that "House Bill 1651, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 13, 2010, and not yet referred to a committee, is apparently the second antievolution bill of 2010. ..."

Source: http://ncse.com/news/2010/01/antievolution-legislation-missouri-005284

Creature from the Plantimal Kingdom?

A. Mohit at Technorati.com writes on Jan. 14th "Plants are plants and animals are animals, the twine shall never merge, right? Not so fast! How about a creature which is part animal and part plant? For many years, scientists have been studying a green slug, which lives between the two worlds. The slugs feast on algae. However, instead of digesting the whole algae the slugs retain and store the chloroplasts in their own bodies. This enables them to directly convert sun light into energy, as most plants do, through the process known as photosynthesis, and survive without any food for very long time. The slug is known by its biological name, Elysia chlorotica. Sidney Pierce, a biologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa has been studying them for nearly twenty years. He presented his study on Jan 7, at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, creating a new interest in this unique animal. ..."

Source: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/ocean-creature-providing-more-than-just/

Dembski Comes Clean...

At long last, an "Intelligent Design" theorist, William Dembski, has come out and stated the obvious: " True, young-earth creationism remains the majority view in the SBC, but it is not a litmus test for Christian orthodoxy within the SBC. I'm an old-earth creationist ..."

Source: http://oursovereignjoy.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-review-william-dembskis-end-of.html?showComment=1262796237570#c3180405680925148037

Tetrapods Even Earlier than Known...

ScienceDaily reports on Jan. 7th that "The discovery of fossil footprints from early backboned land animals in Poland leads to the sensational conclusion that our ancestors left the water at least 18 million years earlier than previously thought. The results of the Polish-Swedish collaboration are published online in the journal Nature. "These results force us to reconsider our whole picture of the transition from fish to land animals," says Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University, one of the two leaders of the study. ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100107114420.htm

Cellphone Help against Alzheimer's?...

ScienceDaily also reports on Jan. 7th that " The millions of people who spend hours every day on a cell phone may have a new excuse for yakking. A surprising new study in mice provides the first evidence that long-term exposure to electromagnetic waves associated with cell phone use may actually protect against, and even reverse, Alzheimer's disease. The study, led by University of South Florida researchers at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC), was published January 6 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. "It surprised us to find that cell phone exposure, begun in early adulthood, protects the memory of mice otherwise destined to develop Alzheimer's symptoms," said lead author Gary Arendash, PhD, USF Research Professor at the Florida ADRC. "It was even more astonishing that the electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones actually reversed memory impairment in old Alzheimer's mice." The researchers showed that exposing old Alzheimer's mice to electromagnetic waves generated by cell phones erased brain deposits of the harmful protein beta-amyloid, in addition to preventing the protein's build-up in younger Alzheimer's mice. The sticky brain plaques formed by the abnormal accumulation of beta amyloid are a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Most treatments against Alzheimer's try to target beta-amyloid. ..."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100106193217.htm