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Back off, man, I'm a scientist.
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(Christianity vs. Islam) vs. (Fundamentalism vs. Rationality) (Science)
By Shimmer Sun Oct 16th, 2005 at 04:04:40 AM EST
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New Scientist is a publication out of
the UK that has an interesting take on current events here in the US and
around the world. The
Oct. 8-14 issue has a special report on religious fundamentalism -- a
topic that they admit is outside their normal purview. Their coverage is quite
clear-eyed, and I believe their motivation borders on panic at what they see
happening across the pond in the US. As they put it, "the irony of a science
magazine reporting on a movement that would ultimately destroy science has not
been lost on us". Know thy enemy, right?
(Subscription required to read the articles online. Or you can just read the paper
edition like I did.)
Full Story (325 comments, 827 words in story)
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Irreducible Complexity - Mathematical Definition and Refutation (Science)
By mberteig Mon Oct 3rd, 2005 at 11:51:31 AM EST
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There have been some recent articles here on K5 about Intelligent Design (1), (2), (3), (4). None of them have presented a formal logical approach to the question.
One of the foundational ideas behind intelligent design is the that of Irreducible Complexity. What follows is an amateur's attempt at a formal mathematical definition of irreducible complexity and then a brief analysis of a possible refutation of it based on the proposed definition. This work has been done mostly out of interest.
(This article was originally published at http://www.berteig.org/mishkin/IrreducibleComplexity.html - it is much nicer to look at there due to the limits of the html allowed here on K5.)
Full Story (115 comments, 2127 words in story)
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Relativity, Uncertainty, Incompleteness and Undecidability (Science)
By chato Wed Aug 31st, 2005 at 08:45:49 PM EST
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In this article four fundamental principles are presented: relativity, uncertainty, incompleteness and undecidability. They were studied by, respectively, Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing. This is a very simple explanation without the technical details, but which tries to show at least the general idea behind each principle.
Full Story (200 comments, 3343 words in story)
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The Genetic Origin of Ashkenazi Genius (Science)
By Thrasymachus Sun Jul 31st, 2005 at 04:40:34 PM EST
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A genetics paper published in the Journal of Biosocial Science in June, “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence,” makes the following claims about Ashkenazi European Jews:
- They have the highest average IQ of any ethnic group.
- Their intelligence advantage is genetic.
- Their intelligence advantage is recent.
- Jews as a whole are not of above-average intelligence, just the Ashkenazi.
- Ashkenazi intelligence is a result of natural selection.
The paper is important not just for what it says about the Ashkenazi, but also for what it says about the nature of intelligence and genes. A surprising amount of favorable press coverage was generated over it—positive coverage appeared in both The Economist and The New York Times—despite the fact that the authors are claiming that: a) some racial differences in intelligence exist, and b) that they can be genetic in origin.
Full Story (474 comments, 996 words in story)
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Peak Oil: the next big thing. (Part One.) (Science)
By Apuleius Sat Jul 9th, 2005 at 03:25:26 PM EST
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In between shark attacks, missing persons, Michael Jackson, and who knows what else, you might have missed a few important stories. On the 4th of July,
a power plant in Grati, on Indonesia's island of Java, was shut down after
it just plain ran out of its stored fuel oil. Another power plant on the
island is going to close next. This should not be all that surprising. Oil is now trading at $60 a barrel, and the first to suffer from this are those who can't cough up that kind of dough. But this is just the beginning. The price won't come back down, and soon enough you will begin to feel the pinch. Grab a cup of coffee and read on.
Full Story (361 comments, 2370 words in story)
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