Neil deGrasse Tyson, "The Most Astounding Fact" and "We Stopped Dreaming"

June 4, 2012 By 2 Comments

At around 5am this morning on Facebook, Neil deGrasse Tyson posted links to these videos and wrote (with good reason), “I continue to be moved by what creative videographers have done with my words.” The first video is about how astonishing it is that the elements that made our emergence as physical life possible, and [...]

Filed Under: Astronomy, Astronomy, Biology, Biology, Cosmology, Cosmology, History, Science 2 Comments

Thinking According To Scale

November 21, 2011 By 3 Comments

PZ and Crommunist offer nice denunciations of the significance of a graphic which has been going around the internet which concludes that the chance of any given individual alive today ever existing was 1 in 102,685,000.  Below the fold is the graphic, key snippets of their remarks and the lesson to draw for how we should consider [...]

Filed Under: Atheism, Atheistic Ethics, Atheistic Ethics, Biology, Biology, Ethics, Ethics, Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Metaethics, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, My Theory of Morality's Rational Foundations and Nature, Naturalistic Fallacy, Naturalistic Fallacy, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Probability, Psychology, Psychology, PZ Myers, PZ Myers, Science, Science, Sociobiology, Sociobiology Tagged With: , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Finding And Combating Aging Genes

November 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Cynthia Kenyon at TED: via Colin Farrelly Your Thoughts?

Filed Under: Biology, Biology, Science Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

Is Oxytocin The "Morality Molecule"

November 7, 2011 By 9 Comments

That is Paul Zak’s theory. The video is fascinating: Now I just need to find 8 people to hug me everyday. (via Philosopher’s Haze, who you can read for a summary if you cannot watch the video for some reason). Patricia Churchland’s book Braintrust: What Neuroscience Tells Us about Morality explores the role of Oxycotin in morality [...]

Filed Under: Biology, Biology, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychology Tagged With: , , , , 9 Comments

PZ Bait

November 6, 2011 By 3 Comments

Is this squid dead or alive? Michael at a Nadder! explains what is going on:

Filed Under: Biology, Biology 3 Comments

Is This A Creepy Enough Video For Halloween?

October 31, 2011 By 1 Comment

Your Thoughts?

Filed Under: Biology, Biology 1 Comment

"Not Everything In Life Is Logical"

October 24, 2011 By 17 Comments

When we rationalists, naturalists, and other assorted atheists insist that no one should form beliefs that disregard logic and evidence, the defenders of faith often tell us that “Not everything in life is logical”, or use some variant of this phrase. What might they mean by this? Where is their confusion exactly and how best [...]

Filed Under: Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments Against The Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Arguments for the Existence of God, Astronomy, Astronomy, Atheism, Atheism, Atheism, Biology, Biology, Epistemic Justification, Epistemic Justification, Epistemology, Epistemology, Evidence, Evidence, Evolution, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Intelligent Design, Metaphysics, Metaphysics, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, New Atheism, Philosophy, Physics, Physics, Rationalism, Religion, Religion and Science, Science, Science, Secularism, Technology, Technology Tagged With: , , 17 Comments

Autism Linked To Absence of a Cluster of Genes

October 11, 2011 By 25 Comments

Dr Wigler suggested the missing cluster is a 27-gene grouping on chromosome 16. Most people have two sets of the cluster – individuals with autism have only one, or just fragments of the second, the researchers say. Now Dr Wigler’s colleague, Alea Mills, has found the deleted gene cluster not only plays a role in [...]

Filed Under: Biology, Biology, News, Science, Science 25 Comments

A Fluorescent Green Cat Could Help Combat AIDS

September 19, 2011 By 2 Comments

For real. Learn how here. (via) Your Thoughts?

Filed Under: Biology, Biology, Science, Science 2 Comments

Offer Nominations for 3 Quarks Daily's Prize for Best Blog Writing in Philosophy

September 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

For the third straight year, 3 Quarks Daily will award a prize for blog writing in philosophy.  Nominate what you think is the best philosophy blog post from the last year by 11:59pm EST on Monday night (September 5). Below the fold are both the full details of the contest and a very good video interview [...]

Filed Under: Biology, Biology, Ethics, Evolution, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Evolutionary Psychology, Moral Psychology, Moral Psychology, Morality, Morality, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, Philosophy, Psychology, Psychology, Social Psychology, Social Psychology Tagged With: , , , Leave a Comment