Papal Perplexment
An article in Science magazine discusses recent developments with regards to the view of evolution by the Catholic church. Last week Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, made the statement in the New York Times that he did not believe that the church could abide by the views of neo-Darwinism. I’m guessing that neo-Darwinism refers to the evolution of organisms over time due to random genetic mutation (of which Darwin had no concept when writing On the Origin of Species).
Tags: Science, Evolution, technology, News, Media
Filed under Science & Politics | Comment (0)The Intelligent President
Ok, so I don’t post for weeks, and suddenly twice in one week. Well, some topics just shouldn’t be passed up. A fellow compatriot in the blogosphere sent me this story. It has people all up in arms because of the implied support by our president of teaching intelligent design in schools. I’d like to suggest that maybe el presidente does believe in intelligent design, but that’s not what he said during the press conference.
Filed under Science & Politics | Comment (0)Where do I go Now…
This summer is an amazingly intense time for me. I’m working on the dissertation that will allow me to enter the hallowed halls of brainiacs around the world (or are they all just really hard-workers?). I’m trying to get my radio show more exposure and am working hard at various related improvements. I’m also travelling more than I’ve ever travelled, and I’m getting ready to go to New York for three months. I don’t know how I’ll keep the show going while I’m across the country from both my co-host and our studio, but we’re looking at various options that are only available due to the advances of technology.
Filed under PhDing | Comment (0)Thanks, Dad
My dad sent me an essay by an historian named Paul Johnson that was published in Forbes magazine, entitled “Thoughts on the existence of God.” Fine, I thought, fun to read. My dad usually sends me interesting tidbits. I noticed that my dad had written a note on the page… “’God’ is interjected in those explanations that are incomplete.” I was intrigued and went on to read the essay, which basically summed up why the author believed that there had to be a God.
Suffice it to say that the first paragraph made me rabid, and the rest of it whipped me into a frenzy. Why dump on science to prove that you believe in God? It is not necessary!!!
So, Mr. Johnson says that Darwinian evolution is “becoming increasingly vulnerable as the progress of science reveals its weaknesses.” Is that supposed to be a bad thing? I thought science was about change, and revising your theories as new evidence appears. I loved his next statement. “One day, perhaps soon, it will collapse in ruin.” Don’t be so melodramatic, Mr. Johnson. How about scientists agreeing that Darwinian evolution, or natural selection, is not the only process leading to change over time. Oh, hey, wait! They already pretty much do. Sorry to defeat your main thesis, but I don’t know that just because natural selection can’t explain all of evolution that automatically means God is involved.
I think my dad was right.
Tags: Science, Radio, technology, Podcast, Podcasting, News, Media
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)All in the Mind?
I’ve recently started reading Steven Pinker’s book, The Blank Slate. He begins by tracing the history of the philosophical and psychological arguements for human nature being a product of nature vs. nurture. While we now consider the debate to be fairly moot, Pinker argues that it is the history of the debate that has shaped our current social system. Interesting idea.
However, I got to thinking when he brought up the issue of the Ghost in the Machine. It’s the concept that we are in essence a duality of Mind and Body. Each existing separately; the mind as the ghost and the body as the machine. To believe in the ghost, it seems to me that one would have to lump the brain in with the body, everything physical should make-up the machine. The Mind then is an independent factor that exists separately from, yet in conjunction with the corporeal existence.
Tags: Science, Radio, technology, Podcast, Podcasting, News, Media
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)Sex-volution
This week I have spent some of my time (a lot, really) reading and replying to posts on the TWIS forum relating to evolution and religion. It is amazing how fast the discussion turns into mudslinging as soon as a creationist steps into the fray. It’s mean on both sides; the evolution proponents who berate the short-sightedness of the creationists, and the creationists, who defensively attack evolution like cornered animals. It eventually turns into name calling if no one steps in to create rules for the discussion. I hope that I can foster the forum to be based on open inquiry of science, not dogma, with a focus on observable, testable, and repeatable evidence.
Anyway, with all this evolution talk on my brain, I can’t help but look for evidence in everything I read. Recently, it seems to be all about love and sex in the science headlines, and the stories raise some interesting questions about the evolution of human sexuality and love. Are we hard-wired to experience love and romance? Is this wiring something that developed in an ancestor of most modern-day mammals? What controls the ability to experience these intense feelings? Are some individuals better able maintain close relationships simply as a result of their genes? While these questions may not have been answered, there is some interesting evidence and debate on the topic.
Tags: Science, Radio, technology, Podcast, Podcasting, News, Media, Sex
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)Back again
The quarter has ended. The finals are graded and the grades are in. I think that this may have been the last time that I will ever have to TA a course at UC Davis again. From here on out, it will be research, fellowship, and writing. Fingers crossed that everything goes as planned, and I can complete the dreaded dissertation by next March. Wait, or was that February? I’m not quite certain as the date keeps creeping up the calendar against my attempts to get things done in a timely manner.
At least I am finally collecting data! I have found a microscope arrangement that is available every now and again, and which people have been kind enough let me use on those occasions. I have measured 8 entire hippocampuses. I’ve also maybe found another piece of important equipment for the measuring of the telencephalon. Finally! However, even though the measuring seems to be moving along, I have found that the slides I coverslipped are coverslipped incorrectly, and must be re-slipped in order for me to be able to make any neuron counts. Some days I think I should just shoot myself… one step forward, two steps back. March… yes, March.
Filed under PhDing | Comment (0)A little learnin’
So, I’m spending a few days in DC for the orientation to the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship that I received. It’s hot and humid. In fact it just started storming… like thunder and lightning kind of storming. WILD!!!
I have a hard time believing that I’m just a block away from the White House, and mere miles away from the Pentagon. It’s pretty neat to be so close to where so many important decisions and deals are made.
I spent the day in the AAAS headquarters with 19 other students from around the country. Every one with visions of science and writing in their futures. While most of the other students will be heading out to their fellowships immediately following this orientation. I just get to go home. I’m getting all excited, only to put it all on hold until my fellowship starts in the fall. Someone get me a cold shower.
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)Into the Wilds
Not much time to post today… or this week for that matter. I’ve got tonnes of grading to complete for the lab course I teach. And, I’ve had to hula hoop. I’ve started taking my hoops to the Wednesday night Farmer’s Market here in town. Such a blast! I show up with only my hoops, and suddenly I’ve got people asking if they can give it a try. The young and old have been tempted. I’ve even gotten the nay-sayers to challenge their personal disbeliefs of hula-hooping potential. Everyone can hoop if they only try.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)How Far Can it Go?
I learned this morning that the House of Reps. has passed two bills related to stem cell research. The first, which would ease restrictions on federal funding of stem cell research to allow the use of IVF leftovers, passed at 238-194 with the majority of supporters being Democrats, but a suprising number of Republicans crossed the line as well. Although supported by many, this bill did not have the votes to beat a presidental veto. It will next go to the Senate for a vote. The second bill was almost unanimously passed (only one crazy libertarian detractor!), and will increase funding for adult and umbilical cord stem cell research.
While both of these bills will be supremely beneficial to stem cell research, only the first is up for a fight. It lacks majority support because people are simplifying it to an abortion/right-to-life issue. It is sad to me that people can’t see past that over-simplification to the truth of the lives that embryonic stem cells have the potential to save.
I think that the use of the term embryo is unfortunate. Most people envision a fetus when they hear the word embryo; something that they can picture as having human characeristics. The stage of development during which stem cells are collected though, is a simple ball of cells about as far from having human traits as I am from becoming an eagle.
Let’s get things straight people. We need to figure out how to help the living live before we fight over the unborn.
Tags: Science, Radio, technology, Podcast, Podcasting, News, Media, Politics
Filed under Science & Politics | Comment (0)