Posts

March 04, 2013

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For those not on the Libel Reform Campaign e-mail listing, I reproduce here the text of an e-mail I've just received from the campaign organisers. Your help is needed. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Friends We need your urgent help this week to get the libel reform bill back to the House of Commons. There is the real risk that unless we act it will be dropped. We have all worked hard to win the case for reform – to show the chilling... Read more

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4:42 PM | What I taught today: heavy on the epistasis

Today we talked about gap genes and a little bit about pair rule genes in flies, and to introduce the topic I summarized genetic epistasis. Epistasis is a fancy word for the interactions between genes, and we’ve already discussed it on the simplest level. You can imagine that a gene A, when expressed, activates the…

March 03, 2013

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8:22 PM | In Burkino Faso, traditional beliefs encourage trust and fair-play in the small-business community

Village life in sub-Saharan Africa is governed by a moral code enforced by customs, regulations, and taboos. Because communities are close-knit, large discrepancies in wealth are frowned upon, and the accumulation of private wealth is regarded as anti-social. Locals believe that spirits and ancestors enforce this moral code, and that transgressors will be punished by misfortune, business failure, and severe illnesses or accidents. But does this actually have any effect on behaviour? Myriam […]

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10:08 AM | Closing the week 8 – Anthro, Islam, Evangelicals, The West, Dutch and Other Affairs

Closer Blog: Back from toobusyland: A weekly round up of writings on the Internet, some relevant for my research, some political, some funny but all of them interesting (Dutch/English). (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.) (As usual to a large extent based upon suggestions from Dutch, other European, American and Middle Eastern readers. Thank you all.)Read more: Closing the week 8 – Anthro, […]

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1:23 AM | Climate change is not simple

I have said this before – but it bears repeating Climate change is complex. And I feel the need to repeat it now because of a current myth being pushed very strongly by climate change deniers/contrarians/sceptics. The claim that “there … Continue reading →

March 02, 2013

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1:32 AM | Friday Cephalopod: Skin

(via MBL)

March 01, 2013

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4:16 PM | We are the WEIRD

Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic, that is. One of the common complaints about evolutionary psychology is that it claims to be addressing evolved human universals, but when you look at the data sets, they are almost always drawn from the same tiny pool of outliers, Western undergraduate students enrolled in psychology programs, and excessively…

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2:07 PM | Het Al Qaeda Spook – De Intieme Ideologische Relatie tussen Inspire en Wilders

Closer Blog: De Telegraaf weet te melden dat het Al Qaeda blad Inspire een dodenlijst heeft met Geert Wilders. Maar wat is Inspire eigenlijk? En wat is Al Qaeda? Het antwoord daarop leidt tot de conclusie dat de Telegraaf in de propaganda van Inspire én Wilders is getrapt.Read more: Het Al Qaeda Spook – De Intieme Ideologische Relatie tussen Inspire en Wilders

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12:51 AM | February ’13 – NZ blogs sitemeter ranking

Credit: Motella There are now over 280 blogs on the list, although I am weeding out those which are no longer active or have removed public access to sitemeters. (Let me know if I weed out yours by mistake). Please … Continue reading →

February 28, 2013

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7:50 PM | Comment on protracted moderation of a comment: BMC Cancer, ‘WDDTY’ and homeopathy

Concomitant with airing my recent take on QuackRag WDDTY's clumsy referencing, I proceeded (after previous attempt to contact the corresponding author via the e-mail address provided for the purpose proved fruitless) to post the following as a Reader comment on the cited paper at BMC Cancer: 'Without homeopathic remedies, is care 'homeopathic'? I came across this reference in an article entitled 'Homeopathy is more than placebo' in the latest issue of the magazine 'What Doctor's Don't Tell […]

February 27, 2013

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5:30 PM | DNA aus dem Waffeninneren in einem Fall von Mehrfachmord

Unseren sich inzwischen ausweitenden und derzeit nur von uns bearbeiteten Forschungsbereich, den wir intern „molekulare Ballistik“ nennen und der rechtsmedizinische und wundballistische Aspekte und Techniken mit Methoden und Möglichkeiten der forensischen Molekulargenetik integriert, habe ich hier anhand der Präsentation zweier unserer Teilprojekte ja bereits vorgestellt. Nachdem wir mit unseren ersten Erkenntnissen ein wenig „um die…

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5:00 PM | Auf Reisen – 33. Spurenworkshop der DGRM in Halle a.d. Saale

Ende Februar findet immer der Spurenworkshop der Spurenkommission der DGRM statt. Der historische und aktuelle Hauptzweck der Spurenworkshops ist dabei immer, die Ergebnisse der beiden jährlichen GEDNAP-Ringversuche für forensische Labors vorszustellen und zu diskutieren. Inzwischen ist die Veranstaltung, die wirklich als ganz kleiner Workshop ihren Anfang nahm, aber zu einer großen internationalen Tagung mit Hunderten…

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4:10 PM | Invasión de charlatanes

Por Martín Bonfil Olivera Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia, UNAM Publicado en Milenio Diario, 27 de febrero de 2013 La ciencia es una fuerza determinante en toda sociedad moderna. Los beneficios que la investigación científica y las aplicaciones del conocimiento que produce nos han otorgado son innumerables (piense, para botoncito de muestra, en antibióticos, quimioterapia contra cáncer y sida, las teorías del big bang y de la evolución, la industria, […]

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3:58 PM | What I taught today: the great cis vs trans debate

My students are also blogging here: My undergrad encounters Developmental Biology Miles’ Devo Blog Tavis Grorud’s Blog for Developmental Biology Thang’s Blog Heidi’s blog for Developmental Biology Chelsae blog Stacy’s Strange World of Developmental Biology Thoughts of Developmental Biology Biology~ My students get a full exposure to the Sean Carroll perspective in his book, Endless…

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8:34 AM | Henry Morris (1918-2006)

Henry Morris died seven years ago on Monday. YOM posted some things this week to commemorate this event.

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7:25 AM | Smells Like Design

Brian Thomas' article for Wednesday - Moles Can Smell in Stereo - is a quickie. The subject is well summarised by that title: new research does indeed show that eastern moles specifically do smell in stereo, in much the same way as an animal might hear or see in stereo. This research was discussed in much more detail at Carl Zimmer's The Loom, so there is no need to go over it here.

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3:12 AM | A sensible Christian perspective on Peter Singer

Book review: Peter Singer and Christian Ethics: Beyond Polarization by Charles C. Camosy Price: US$25.75; Kindle US$16.80 Paperback: 286 pages Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 28, 2012) Language: English ISBN-10: 0521149339 ISBN-13: 978-0521149334 We all “do” morality – its part … Continue reading →

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1:53 AM | Halos in the sky

I just got back from this evening’s Cafe Scientifique — where were you guys? — and I got to see lots of pretty pictures of halos and sundogs and light pillars. One of the nice things about living in Morris is that we actually get a lot of that weird atmospheric phenomena here, because we…

February 26, 2013

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6:32 PM | Open brief van Marokkaans-Nederlandse organisaties aan de Tweede Kamer

Closer Blog: Naar aanleiding van het debat over het zogenaamde 'Marokkanenprobleem' dat is aangevraagd door de PVV roepen zo'n 90 Marokkaans-Nederlandse organisaties de overige partijen op om niet mee te werken aan deze 'PVV-verkiezingsbijeenkomst'.Read more: Open brief van Marokkaans-Nederlandse organisaties aan de Tweede Kamer

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4:10 PM | I can defend both Lawrence Krauss and philosophy!

Philosophers are still grumbling about Lawrence Krauss, who openly dissed philosophy (word to the philosophers reading this: he recanted, so you can put down the thumbscrews and hot irons for now). This is one of those areas where I’m very much a middle-of-the-road person: I am not a philosopher, at least I’m definitely not as…

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7:35 AM | Muslims in Alsace – A ‘French’ Model?

Closer Blog: The French region of Alsace-Moselle, near the German border, has its own specific legislation concerning religions. For historical reasons, local authorities are allowed to finance religious groups, unlike in the rest of the country.Read more: Muslims in Alsace – A ‘French’ Model?

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6:56 AM | Technische Probleme…

Leider gibt es im Moment ein neuartiges Problem mit der Blogsoftware: ich kann Texte, die ich schon begonnen hatte, nicht mehr editieren. Solange das nicht behoben ist, kann ich die offenen/anstehenden Beiträge, die ich quasi schon fertig geschrieben habe, nicht veröffentlichen. Ich hoffe, das Problem wird schnell beseitigt…

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1:33 AM | Mary’s Monday Metazoan: FEED ME!

(From a pleasant story about rescuing orphaned night monkeys)

February 25, 2013

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4:51 PM | Libel Reform: Defamation Bill – Third reading: House of Lords… again

Dear [MP], Thank you for your e-mail of 20 February 2013, as provided by your Caseworker, XXX, in response to mine of 12 February. May I commence by stating that this response is disappointing? With the exception of the brief final paragraph, it is copy-pasted entirely from the text of a letter from Lord McNally of 18 July 2012, forwarded to me by yourself, following my previous communications (e-mails: 11 and 18 June 2012) to you on the Libel Reform... Read more

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4:25 PM | What I taught today: maternal effect genes

My students are also blogging here: My undergrad encounters Developmental Biology Miles’ Devo Blog Tavis Grorud’s Blog for Developmental Biology Thang’s Blog Heidi’s blog for Developmental Biology Chelsae blog Stacy’s Strange World of Developmental Biology Thoughts of Developmental Biology Biology~ You know I teach the 8am courses every term, right? Every semester for years I…

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8:49 AM | Pigeons “Confirm” Creationism?

The study of pigeons was instrumental in the formulation of Charles Darwin's ideas about evolution, and using the same principles that underlie the theory in general he hypothesised that all pigeons are descended from the wild rock dove. A new study published in Science used modern genomics to "prove Darwin right." But somehow, through some twisted interpretation of the study, Brian Thomas has produced an article published under the headline "Pigeon Study Confirms Creation." How did he do it?

February 24, 2013

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10:14 PM | Why do the religious have a problem with outsiders

There's plenty of evidence that, at least in the Christian west, religious people are more likely than average to be hostile towards others who they perceive as being outside their group. Strangely, this isn't just hostility to people from other religions, but also encompasses hostility towards co-religionists who are sufficiently difference (racism, for example). Partly this is simply because people with so-called "Right-wing Authoritarian" attitudes also tend to be religious. But […]

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1:31 AM | So Why Bother?

Your Origins Matter have uploaded the following video, encouraging pastors and their flock to come to YOM's conferences.

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12:46 AM | Global climate – and your grandchildren

I am spending some time dealing with family business so am reposting some of my past book reviews over the next few day. Another excellent book about climate change – by a climate science who has been centrally involved from … Continue reading →

February 23, 2013

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1:53 PM | Not to mention the excessive reductionism…

Wow. Talk about major failure. A new study out correlates levels of Foxp2 with levels of vocalization in rats: basically, male rats squeak more than female pups when they’re stressed by separation from their mothers, and mothers tend to rescue the rat who squeaks the loudest. They then found higher levels of Foxp2 in males,…