Posts

May 15, 2013

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7:00 AM | The moral maze: Dutch Salafis and the construction of a moral community of the faithful

Closer Blog: My article in the special issue of Contemporary Islam on Moral Ambiguities and Muslim Lives: The moral maze: Dutch Salafis and the construction of a moral community of the faithful.Read more: The moral maze: Dutch Salafis and the construction of a moral community of the faithful

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2:06 AM | Chris Hadfield’s 5-month Space Mission in 90 Seconds

Many people have probably just become aware of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield in the last week because of his musical video Space Oddity that went viral. It might be hard to find anyone who has not watched that video. However, Hadfield … Continue reading →

May 14, 2013

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4:25 PM | Grammar and gender

This is the letter that landed 100 academics the inaugural Idler Academy Bad Grammar award. Well, we might pedantically recoil at a missing comma and a misplaced apostrophe in the very first sentence of the clunky first paragraph; and frown quizzically at the unlikelihood of 100 failed cursory proof-readings of an early draft (which suggests to me that most of the signatories did not see the final version). Feel free to pick me up on any grammatical slips here. But... Read more

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4:00 PM | Molekulare Ballistik zieht Kreise

Nach der Vorstellung unserer Forschungsarbeiten zur molekularen Ballistik im Deutschlandfunk am 26.02. und in Quarks & Co am 30.04. wurden auch andere Medien auf das Projekt aufmerksam. Am 03.05.13 erschienen auf NGZ online diese zwei Artikel: Und heute zierte den Bonner Express folgende…

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4:44 AM | Confusion and distortion – has global warming stopped?

There’s a mantra circulating at the moment claiming that global warming “stopped 17 years ago.” It is of course being pushed by the pseudosceptics in the climate denial echo chamber. However, even people who should know better have been heard … Continue reading →

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12:02 AM | Mary’s Monday Metazoan: I’m guessing uncircumcised

But that membrane hanging off of it is just plain weird. Maybe the video will help make sense of it all. (via ZooBorns)

May 13, 2013

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9:55 PM | Countries with a state religion also have fewer political and civil freedoms

It's fairly common for a national government to explicitly favour one particular religion or sect. This support can take many forms - financial, political, or legal - but the common factor is that the dominant religion gets a helping hand from the state. Now it probably wouldn't be too much of a surprise to learn that states inclined to interfere in religious expression are also more likely to place a controlling hand on political and civic freedoms, However, proving that relationship is not […]

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8:18 AM | Gene Tales

It's not an overly interesting "tale" today: Jeffrey Tomkins writes "Long Complex Gene Tails Defy Evolution."

May 12, 2013

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7:15 PM | Happy Mother’s Day!

At first glance, I thought it was an epiploon or omentum, but no, it’s a lovely octopus mother tending her brood. Go hug your mom right now, or if she’s not nearby, hug a mollusc instead.

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4:00 PM | Von der 22. GWUP-Konferenz in Köln

Ich hatte ja schon vor einer Weile angekündigt, daß vom 9. bis 11. Mai im Mediapark in Köln die 22. GWUP Konferenz mit dem Titel „Pseudotherapien“ stattfindet. Ich habe die Konferenz besucht und berichte hier ein wenig von meinen Eindrücken und den für mich besonders interessanten Vorträgen: Donnerstag, 9.5. / Publikumstag zu finden war der…

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7:00 AM | The Not So Secret World of British Sharia Councils

Closer Blog: A few days ago BBC’s Panorama aired an undercover report on the so-called British sharia councils. The program was pitched as an exposé of the secrets of British sharia councils. The program wasn’t as revealing as it suggested.Read more: The Not So Secret World of British Sharia Councils

May 11, 2013

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11:07 PM | “Incontrovertible” is it, Rodney?

I wonder if many politicians, or in this case ex-politicians, are capable of seeing the irony and contradictions in their public statements. Or perhaps porkies are just the stock in trade of politicians so irony doesn’t even come into it. … Continue reading →

May 10, 2013

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4:17 PM | http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/05/10/16086/

How else is Google Maps going to get coverage of the 70% of the planet underwater? (via Cephalove)

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11:21 AM | De Khans van Pakistan: Imran Khan

Closer Blog: Op 11 mei 2013 vinden er verkiezingen plaats in Pakistan. Oud-Cricketlegende en voorzitter van PTI, Imran Khan, maakt een goede kans om te gaan winnen volgens Nazima Shaikh.Read more: De Khans van Pakistan: Imran Khan

May 09, 2013

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11:42 PM | Video coverage of astronauts’ return to earth next Tuesday morning

It’s all go aboard the International Space Station at the moment. An external ammonia link was found today (see NASA: Space station power system radiator leaking). This is connected to power systems and steps are changes are being made to … Continue reading →

May 08, 2013

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3:52 PM | Will Smith must be stopped

He has a new movie coming out this summer, After Earth. It looks awful, but then, that’s what I’ve come to expect from Will Smith’s Sci-Fi outings. Jebus. Anyone remember that abomination, I, Robot? How about I Am Legend? I steer clear of these movies with a high concept and a big name star, because…

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2:50 PM | De Duve: el viajero de la célula

Por Martín Bonfil Olivera Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia, UNAM Publicado en Milenio Diario, 8 de mayo de 2013 Había una vez un científico que quería conocer cómo era una célula: cómo estaba formada, cómo funcionaba, cómo se vería si pudiera uno estar dentro. Hasta esa época (los años 50 del siglo pasado) el enfoque más lógico era usar un microscopio; la aparición de los microscopios electrónicos abrió nuevas posibilidades a esta manera de […]

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9:51 AM | Edible Eggs?

What with all the genetics articles lately we haven't seen a soft tissue DpSU from the ICR in a while. For today, Brian Thomas writes "The Incredible, Edible '190 Million-Year-Old Egg'."

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6:05 AM | Hello world! Challenges for blogging as anthropological outreach

Closer Blog: My comment in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI): Hello world! Challenges for blogging as anthropological outreach. Together with my colleague Henk Driessen I organized the Anthropology and/in Publicity conference in 2010. Henk Driessen, Mathijs Pelkmans and yours truly have written a comment in JRAI.Read more: Hello world! Challenges for blogging as anthropological outreach

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4:15 AM | A beggar’s market?

Thus guy, James, from Austin, Texas, may have discovered something about the market. He is homeless man named James and is performing something of a social experiment. James has laid out nine bowls in front of him, each labelled by … Continue reading →

May 07, 2013

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10:37 PM | Residencias médicas 2013: algunos números

El viernes 26 de Abril se rindió el Examen Único para Residencias Médicas en Argentina. Para quienes no sepan, es un examen que otorga puntaje para obtener alguna plaza en residencias (o concurrencias) de especialidades médicas...

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8:20 PM | No such thing as ‘Allopathy’

Over at FreethoughtBlogs, an uncharacteristic petit faux pas in the prolifically excellent ‘A Million Gods‘ motivates me into publicly scratching an irritation. The first time I think I heard/read the term ‘allopathy’ was in the context of something discussing homeopathy. And it seemed quite reasonable to me at the time: homeopathy = ‘like cures like’; ‘allopathy’ = err, something other cures it; or it cures something other. Until I got wise on who coined this term, and why? One […]

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4:20 PM | The first day of the rest of my summer!

It’s going to be a good season, I can tell already. It’s finals week, so I’ll still have an abrupt pile of grading to do on Thursday, but otherwise, my teaching obligations are done for the semester. Now I’m trapped, trapped I tell you, in Morris for almost (I do have two quick trips to…

May 06, 2013

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11:45 PM | Mary’s Monday Metazoan: More charismatic megafauna?

Oh, no. The metazoan curator sent me this photo for this time around, and I groaned a bit: more big furries. I told her, “Where are the tubeworms, the crustaceans, the zooplankton? Why no jellyfish or echinoderms?” And she said, “But they’re so cute!” and gave me that look. That look that means I have…

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10:46 PM | Teoría y Práctica – Richard Feynman

Richard Feynman En el libro No ordnary Genius de Christopher Sykes se cuenta que durante una visita a Ginebra, Richard Feynman decidió visitar el Laboratorio de Física del CERN. En la línea del acelerador de partículas se encontraba una gigantesca máquina llena de luces y perillas, con andamios y hombres por todos lados. Feynman preguntó para [...]

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10:00 PM | Zum Welttag der Genitalautonomie

Heute jährt sich erstmalig das Urteil des Landgerichts Köln, das die medizinisch nicht indizierte Beschneidung von Jungen als Körperverletzung und damit als strafbare Handlung wertete. Quelle Zugegeben, der Welttag der Genitalautonomie klingt etwas gestelzt. Dennoch ist es bitter nötig, daran zu erinnern und noch einmal darauf aufmerksam zu machen, daß das mutige und gute Urteil…

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7:01 PM | La medicina alternativa es política-ideología

La medicina alternativa y complementaria es una entidad política-ideológica, no científica. Es una categoría artificial creada con el propósito de promocionar una variedad de prácticas de salud fraudulentas, dudosas o no verificadas. Dr. Steven Novella -Steven Novella

May 05, 2013

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11:47 PM | Interfaith delusions

I am not claiming that “interfaith” activity is bad – obviously it can do a lot to reduce inter-religious friction, hostility and violence. And that is certainly needed in parts of the world today. No – the bad arises when … Continue reading →

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10:46 PM | Esta semana en ciencia – 5 de mayo 2013

Seis noticias científicas cortas que ocurrieron esta semana...

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10:00 PM | WTF Forensik – Tod durch Philemon und Baucis Syndrom

Warnung: in dieser Reihe wird es immer wieder zu Begegnungen mit und Blicke in die tiefsten menschlichen Abgründe kommen und obgleich ich mich stets bemühen werde, nicht ins Sensationalistische abzugleiten, mag bisweilen die unausgeschmückte Realität bereits mehr sein, als manche(r) erträgt. Diesmal: drei Fälle von Simultanversterben von Ehepartnern. „Philemon und Baucis“ aus den Metamorphosen von…