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| Topic: Science |
8:39 am EST, Mar 28, 2005 |
We wake up thinking we know what we know, only to find that we have to think all over again. An Unexpected Softness |
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Startling Scientists, Plant Fixes Its Flawed Gene |
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| Topic: Science |
5:54 am EST, Mar 23, 2005 |
In a startling discovery, geneticists at Purdue University say they have found plants that possess a corrected version of a defective gene inherited from both their parents, as if some handy backup copy with the right version had been made in the grandparents' generation or earlier. The finding implies that some organisms may contain a cryptic backup copy of their genome that bypasses the usual mechanisms of heredity. If confirmed, it would represent an unprecedented exception to the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel in the 19th century. Equally surprising, the cryptic genome appears not to be made of DNA, the standard hereditary material. The discovery also raises interesting biological questions -- including whether it gets in the way of evolution, which depends on mutations changing an organism rather than being put right by a backup system. Startling Scientists, Plant Fixes Its Flawed Gene |
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Who's Afraid of Intelligent Design? |
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| Topic: Science |
5:45 am EST, Mar 23, 2005 |
Many education experts and important scientists say we have to keep this religious-based "intelligent design" nonsense out of the classroom. But is that really such a good idea? Turning Darwin into an unassailable god without blemishes doesn't give student brains enough exercise. "If you don't see the risks, if you don't see the gaps, you don't see the genius of Darwin." I think it depends on the quality, knowledge, and skill of the teaching staff. In the wrong hands, this approach would only lead to further confusion and misunderstanding. Who's Afraid of Intelligent Design? |
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Why Science Can't Show Us God |
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| Topic: Science |
6:52 am EST, Mar 22, 2005 |
The idea that science and religion coalesce in the structure of the universe has been expressed by a slew of physicists in recent years. Know the final equations, Hawking tells us, and you will know "the mind of God." There is nothing new about this notion, but there is something fundamentally missing from this portrayal of the religious enterprise, at least from a Christian point of view. Contrary to widespread belief, religion and science have not always been at odds. Why Science Can't Show Us God |
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A Man or a Mouse? Or Both? |
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| Topic: Science |
6:51 am EST, Mar 22, 2005 |
What happens when you cross a human and a mouse? Jeremy Rifkin does a Bill Joy. We should draw the line at this type of experimentation and prohibit any further research into creating human-animal chimeras. A Man or a Mouse? Or Both? |
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Scientists Are Made, Not Born |
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| Topic: Science |
9:08 am EST, Feb 28, 2005 |
Do women have what it takes to become scientists? Clearly, debating whether women are intellectually equipped for sciences makes little sense. Women themselves have already settled the issue, one degree at a time. Scientists Are Made, Not Born |
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Evolution Takes a Back Seat in US Classes |
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| Topic: Science |
11:43 am EST, Feb 4, 2005 |
And so the Yankees whipped the Southerners with their own Bible belts ... "She confided that she simply ignored evolution because she knew she'd get in trouble with the principal if word got about that she was teaching it." The practice of avoiding the topic was widespread ... "You can imagine how difficult it would be ... it's just too much trouble." Some teachers avoid the subject altogether; others give it very short shrift or discuss it without using "the E word." Evolution Takes a Back Seat in US Classes |
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Afraid to Discuss Evolution |
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| Topic: Science |
11:35 am EST, Feb 4, 2005 |
Although most state curriculum standards mandate that evolution be taught, and standardized tests typically include questions on evolution, some teachers apparently assume that evolution is a small enough part of the curriculum that their students can get by without mastering the subject. Those students remain ignorant of one of the bedrock theories underlying modern biology. A 1998 doctoral dissertation found that 24 percent of the biology teachers sampled in Louisiana said that creationism had a scientific foundation and that 17 percent were not sure. Naturally. Afraid to Discuss Evolution |
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| Topic: Science |
10:26 pm EST, Jan 30, 2005 |
Efforts are underway in 43 states to nibble away at the clear line the Supreme Court laid down in 1987, when it banned Bible-based creationism as an intrusion of religion into the classroom. US students have trouble enough keeping up with their counterparts in foreign countries in mastering the sciences. In biology, they should not have to contend with religion-based efforts to introduce misinformation into their classes. Creationists at the gate |
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| Topic: Science |
5:34 pm EST, Jan 30, 2005 |
NYT publishes a contrarian review of "Collapse." Taken together, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" and "Collapse" represent one of the most significant projects embarked upon by any intellectual of our generation. They are magnificent books: extraordinary in erudition and originality, compelling in their ability to relate the digitized pandemonium of the present to the hushed agrarian sunrises of the far past. I read both thinking what literature might be like if every author knew so much, wrote so clearly and formed arguments with such care. All of which makes the two books exasperating, because both come to conclusions that are probably wrong. How the World Ends |
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