ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 401

Caught in the Pulpit pg 139

“One of the forces maintaining the ironclad literalism of some conservative denominations is the fact that any relaxation of it within the denomination can have the opposite effect from the one intended. Instead of making it easier for doubters in the flock to accommodate to the creed, it can ignite the fuse of doubt and trigger an avalanche of disbelief. One of the eye-opening moments for Joe, the Mormon, was reading an article in a liberal Mormon magazine that broached the idea of there being only metaphorical truth in some point of LDS doctrine. This led Joe to a liberal Mormon online chat room (not one of the many anti-Mormon and ex-Mormon Web sites), which strengthened and elaborated his doubts. Similarly, it was an article in a liberal Adventist magazine that shook Michael from his innocence. So conservatives are perhaps more vulnerable to well-meaning attempts from within their own denominations than to skeptical assaults from outside the faith.”

–Linda LaScola & Daniel Dennett, Caught in the Pulpit, pg 139

Discuss!

House panel to challenge climate science

By Timothy Cama

Republicans on the House Science Committee are planning a hearing next week to challenge mainstream climate science conclusions.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), has dubbed its hearing “Climate Science: Assumptions, Policy Implications, and the Scientific Method.”

The hearing comes as the GOP, which controls both chambers of Congress and the White House, works on multiple fronts to unravel former President Obama’s aggressive agenda on fighting climate change.

President Trump is planning to use his power to undo major regulations like the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan, while Congress works to undo some rules such as limits on methane emissions from oil and natural gas drilling.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Killing Science and Culture Doesn’t Make the Nation Stronger

By Lawrence M. Krauss

Scientists throughout the country across a wide spectrum of fields, from biochemists to physicists, are bemoaning the potentially devastating impact on science and technology in the United States of President Trump’s proposed budget request to Congress. As much as the scientific enterprise, and with it the development of new technologies necessary for the long term economic health and security of the nation will be hobbled should the budget requests be approved, the budget—which purports to strengthen our security via large increases in national defense and homeland security—paradoxically undermines the nations fundamental strength by presenting a broad attack on our culture that could be more devastating than any threat posed by a wave of illegal immigrants.

The President’s budget reflects a consistent and fundamental vision about American strength that is fundamentally at odds with a vision presented by almost 50 years ago by the physicist Robert Wilson, the first director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago at which a large particle accelerator was being built. When testifying before Congress about the machine and its cost, Wilson was asked if it completion would aid in the defense of the nation. His answer is striking.

No Sir…I don’t believe so…. It has only to do with the respect with which we regard one another, the dignity of men, our love of culture… It has to do with are we good painters, good sculptors, great poets? I mean all the things we really venerate in our country and are patriotic about. It has nothing to do directly with defending our country except to make it worth defending.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Critical Thinking Instruction in Humanities Reduces Belief in Pseudoscience

By Anne McLaughlin, Alicia McGill, and Matt Shipman

A recent study by North Carolina State University researchers finds that teaching critical thinking skills in a humanities course significantly reduces student beliefs in “pseudoscience” that is unsupported by facts.

“Given the national discussion of ‘fake news,’ it’s clear that critical thinking – and classes that teach critical thinking – are more important than ever,” says Anne McLaughlin, an associate professor of psychology at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the work.

“Fundamentally, we wanted to assess how intentional you have to be when teaching students critical thinking,” says Alicia McGill, an assistant professor of history at NC State and co-author of the paper. “We also wanted to explore how humanities classes can play a role and whether one can assess the extent to which critical thinking instruction actually results in improved critical thinking by students.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Move to devise Muslim world plan against blasphemous content

By IFTIKHAR A. KHAN

ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministry would circulate a comprehensive strategy paper dealing with legal and technical issues regarding blasphemous content on the social media among ambassadors of Muslim countries, who would share the document with their respective governments so that a plan of action could be evolved for the future, it was decided on Friday.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and ambassadors of Muslim countries based in Islamabad.

The meeting — which arguably marked the first step towards evolving a joint strategy to deal with blasphemous material on the social media — also decided that references on the matter would be sent to chiefs of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

‘Fake research’ comes under scrutiny

By Helen Briggs

The scale of “fake research” in the UK appears to have been underestimated, a BBC investigation suggests.

Official data points to about 30 allegations of research misconduct between 2012 and 2015.

However, figures obtained by the BBC under Freedom of Information rules identified hundreds of allegations over a similar time period at 23 universities alone.

There are growing concerns around the world over research integrity.

The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has begun an inquiry into the issue to reassure the public that robust systems are in place in the UK.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Opening a Window into the Minds of Language-Impaired Children

By Larry Greenemeier

Imagine if every conversation you had was like speaking with someone in a foreign language that you only partially understood. Your conversations—to the extent they could be called that—would be filled with an exasperating combination of confusion, frustration and even embarrassment at being unable to comprehend many of the words and phrases that native speakers take for granted. That’s what it feels like for the nearly 8 percent of U.S. kindergartners who suffer from a developmental disorder called specific language impairment (SLI), except that instead of struggling with a foreign language they find it difficult to communicate verbally in any language.

Children with SLI—also called developmental language disorder—can hear just fine but have difficulty processing the meaning of spoken words. It takes them longer than other children to learn to speak. When they do start to form words and sentences they tend to leave off the grammatical endings of verbs that indicate past tense, and their words do not always come out in the right order. These difficulties affect their ability to read, and thereby their ability to learn in general. Researchers have struggled for years to understand the disorder, challenged by their communication barrier with the children they study. In recent years scientists have begun to realize that their best source of information about SLI is visual rather than verbal—a child’s gaze speaks volumes when words fail.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Big data renews fight over animal origins

By Amy Maxmen

Evolutionary biologists have battled for years over which animal lineage came first — sponges or comb jellies. The answer could transform how scientists understand the evolution of the human nervous system, digestive system and other complex traits.

A study published on 16 March in Current Biology, sides with the sponges, using an unprecedented array of genetic data to deduce that they were the first to branch off from the animal tree of life1. Sponges are simple creatures that lack a head, nerves and guts, so the conclusion makes intuitive sense. But big data doesn’t necessarily lead to better answers, some researchers warn.

“They’ve got a large data set, but almost certainly this is not the final word,” says David Hillis, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Texas at Austin who was not involved with the project. “This is just such a tough problem to solve.”

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Shaking Up the Dinosaur Family Tree

By Nicholas Wade

For more than a century, the placement of dinosaurs on the branches of their family tree has been based on the shape of their hips.

This classification has now been radically challenged by proponents of a new tree which, if accepted, swaps large subfamilies around, sheds new light on dinosaurs’ evolution and suggests they may have originated not in South America, as widely assumed, but perhaps in some Northern Hemisphere locality such as Scotland.

A Victorian paleontologist, Harry Seeley, declared in 1888 that dinosaurs should be divided into the bird-hipped (Ornithischia) and the lizard-hipped (Saurischia) categories that have been accepted ever since.

Under this system, the heavily armored stegosaurs and ankylosaurs are placed on the Ornithischian branch of the family tree. The Saurischian branch includes both sauropods like the herbivorous diplodocus, and theropods like the meat-eating tyrannosaurs.

Continue reading by clicking the name of the source below.

Happy 76th Birthday to Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins has been an inspiration to countless people from around the world.  From theology and belief toa the amazing wonders of nature discovered by biology, Richard’s work has undoubtedly changed the world for the better.

Please join us in wishing Richard a wonderful 76th birthday by leaving your well-wishes in the comments below.