Archive for the ‘Science’ Category
The science of libertarian morality
Friday, November 5th, 2010That is the title of an article by Ronald Bailey at Reason about a recently published psychological survey comparing libertarians, conservatives, and liberals. The survey's findings were interesting, if unsurprising: It will not surprise Reason readers that the study found that libertarians show (1) stronger endorsement of individual liberty as their ...
Medical contrarianism isn’t always right
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009A few years ago, for a stretch lasting a year or two, I boycotted LewRockwell.com because their all-too-frequent Creationist columns were embarrassing to the libertarian movement and I didn't want to be associated with those types of people, nor reward the publication of such hokum with additional page hits. It ...
Inequality is fatal?
Thursday, May 14th, 2009In the April 30 issue of Nature, the new book The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett is reviewed. Some excerpts from the review: Why are our chances of reaching a great age so affected by wealth and status? The obvious ...
Taxes shouldn’t pay for stem cell research
Saturday, March 7th, 2009To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. —Thomas Jefferson Because they shouldn't pay for anything. Associated Press reports: Eight years of frustration are close to an end for scientists seeking ways to use embryonic stem cells to combat illness and ...
Space junk
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009Debris from satellites and other random pieces of space junk are crowding the lower levels of outer space, to the extent that satellites and the Hubble Space Telescope are at risk for colliding with some of it at any given time (supposedly). I can imagine this problem will only get ...
Science needs an economics revolution
Saturday, December 6th, 2008Here in the scientific research world, there is considered to be a vast dichotomy between the atmospheres and work environments in academic (university) research labs and private (big pharma and biotech) research labs. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. The impression is that in academia, you are free ...
Stabenow and Gettelfinger plead for bailout
Friday, December 5th, 2008On the radio this morning I heard a clip of Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, presumably in Washington, talking about the desperate need for a bailout of the automotive industry. I can't find an article or video with her dialogue, but this is very close to an exact quote from Stabenow's ...
Urine-to-water purifying machine
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008Astronauts on the space shuttle Endeavor believe they have nearly perfected a machine that filters urine to produce drinkable water. The article quotes space station commander Mike Fincke: "Not to spoil anything, but I think up here the appropriate words are 'Yippee!'" Folks—he pees into a cup, pours it into a ...
Carl Sagan reads from Pale Blue Dot
Sunday, November 16th, 2008I'm pretty sure this is the best video on the entire internets:
Rooting for Barack Obama
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008All of my friends and colleagues, being scientific researchers who are funded by the State (National Institutes of Health, mainly), want Obama to win so badly they can taste it. They preach about doing your civic duty of voting every chance they get, and they talk and email about how ...
Michigan ballot proposals
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008I broke down and went to my polling location this morning to vote for one ballot proposal and vote against four of them, and write in "NOBODY" for president, Senate, House of Representatives, state legislature positions, mayor, etc. The ballot proposal I voted Yes on was to legalize medical marijuana ...
The behavioral psychology of lotteries
Friday, August 15th, 2008In the August 15, 2008 issue of Science, in the Editors' Choice section of the journal, highlighting recent scientific articles the editors of Science found interesting, a study on the psychology underlying socioeconomic trends in lottery-playing was summarized: ... The low chances of winning life-style-altering prizes are prominently posted, yet many ...
California’s ban on individual genetic risk assessment
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008The state of California is attempting to shut down direct-to-consumer genetic testing. Now, this is just bizarre. I don't even know what to say about it, but I felt I had to condemn it on my web page because it is just so stupid. It is also so typical of ...
European research needs a dash of anarchy
Saturday, June 21st, 2008Such was the title of a letter to the editor of Nature in the June 12, 2008 edition of the journal, written by Theo Walliman of Zurich, Switzerland. I thought it was pretty neat and quite refreshing to see such a sentiment expressed in Statolatrist Nature, even though it can't ...
Inside the Statolatrist mind
Saturday, June 21st, 2008In New Scientist magazine, Owen Flanagan reviews the book The Political Mind by George Lakoff. Flanagan provides a surprising and refreshing non-Statolatrist perspective on science and politics in this review, but that might be typical in New Scientist—it certainly isn't in primary scientific journals. Flanagan is especially skeptical of this ...
Genetic-discrimination legislation scares me
Sunday, May 11th, 2008The journal Nature had a news story about the bill prohibiting genetic discrimination that breezed through the Senate and that will undoubtedly become law very shortly. Since you'd have to have access to the full content of the Nature website to read it, I will paste the text of the ...
Ecological and Austrian theory
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008I'm in more of a link-and-run mood than a quote-and-philosophize mood (read: I'm short on time lately), so here's an interesting blag post from Liberty & Power: Ecological and Austrian theory, about the similarities between ecosystems and economic markets and the disconnect between people who advocate a "hands-off" or laissez-faire ...
Biofuels demonstrate Bastiat’s broken window fallacy
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008This seems to me an excellent example of the broken window fallacy, or the law of unintended consequences: U.N. expert calls biofuel a "crime against humanity" because of all the food it wastes and the price increases it causes, when there are already shortages and high prices of food in ...
Bionic eye returns sight to blind
Thursday, April 24th, 2008This bionic vision system consists of an ultra-thin electronic receiver implanted into the eyeball, which receives a signal transmitted by a special pair of glasses that the patient wears. Pfff, I don't know who would want that; I'd much rather wear a gold, semicircular visor that looks like it came ...
Michio Kaku: Time-travel, teleportation will happen
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008Michio Kaku is so bad-ass it makes my head hurt. I have no political/libertarian spin for this in any way, but I'm still posting it on my blag instead of my livejournal—that's how cool he is. In an interview with the Telegraph, he predicts that time-travel, Star Trek–like teleportation, and near-perfect ...
Government funding of science
Monday, March 31st, 2008Obviously the main problem with scientific research across the world today is the fact that it is funded primarily with tax money. The main problem with scientific research, according to most scientists, is that not enough tax money is given to scientists. Bruce Alberts, lead author of one of the most ...
R.I.P., Arthur C. Clarke
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008The author of Rendezvous With Rama, Childhood's End, The Fountains of Paradise, and 2001: A Space Odyssey and one of the "big three" Grand Masters of science-fiction (Heinlein, Asimov) has died at the age of 90.
Vox Day’s ignorance about scientists
Monday, January 28th, 2008Vox Day takes an ignorant shot at research scientists:While I have tremendous regard for the effectiveness of the scientific method, I have very, very little respect for scientists. They are very, very far from the impartial devotees of scientody that they so love to portray themselves being. With a few ...
Workaholics, workophiliacs, and clock watchers
Saturday, January 26th, 2008Because of a variety of factors, I've felt a little less than passionate and motivated about lab lately. I think these factors are mainly: fixation on computer-related free-time activities; frustration with getting scooped and having to hurry off our paper and then abandon the project; and lack of confidence that ...
Dog translator
Saturday, January 19th, 2008The BBC reports on a new computer program that can translate what your dog is saying by the tone and nuances of its barks. That's a fantastic invention, but not as impressive as this...
The testimony of Kevin Padian in Kitzmiller v. Dover
Monday, January 14th, 2008This is easily the most thorough presentation of paleontological evidence for evolution by natural selection and the most damning collection of evidence against intelligent design that I have ever encountered. I would, in fact, go so far as to describe it as beautiful. Two shortcomings of this biology lesson, however, ...
Ryan McMaken is a natural selection “skeptic”
Sunday, January 13th, 2008So that's what fundamentalist Catholic nutjobs are calling themselves these days. Crazy kids. Notice how he tries to preemptively deflect such "vilification" from himself, even though it happens to apply to him perfectly, though admittedly not to other skeptics such as Fred Reed. He concludes: Beyond labeling everything they disagree ...
Home air fascism
Thursday, December 27th, 2007The December 14, 2007 edition of NPR's "Science Friday" with Ira Flatow was a veritable orgy of statolatrist megalomania and top-rate fodder for libertarian ranting. Their topic during the hour in question was toxins in the air in our homes. You can listen to the entire hour here (click the play ...
Pale Blue Dot
Wednesday, December 26th, 2007I'm still convinced this is the best video on the internet.