New Scientist

Science is an Economic Solution (New Scientist)

Brian Cox was not faced with the toughest audiences at the Old Monk in Westminster last night. His talk was delivered to Westminster Skeptics; an assorted rabble of scientists, sceptics, bloggers and journalists led by legal blogger Jack of Kent, who meet once a month to discuss issues dear to rationalists. Brian's message - that science funding must be protected and ideally increased - was not a particularly hard one to sell to such an audience.

Continuing reading here or, read an edited version at New Scientist

Your rating: None Average: 4.3 (7 votes)

Homeopathy: Overdosing on Nothing (for New Scientist)

AT 10.23 am on 30 January, more than 300 activists in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US will take part in a mass homeopathic "overdose". Sceptics will publicly swallow an entire bottle of homeopathic pills to demonstrate to the public that homeopathic remedies, the product of a scientifically unfounded 18th-century ritual, are simply sugar pills.

Read on at New Scientist!

Your rating: None Average: 3 (2 votes)

The Ida Fossil: Signs You've Asked an Awkward Question #42

I'm not sure what's more priceless in this video: Attenborough's eyebrows making an abrupt dash for the ceiling, or publicity-seeking scientist Jørn Hurum's hand-wringing grimace. The question? New Scientist's Rowan Hooper asked Hurum whether the team behind the recent Ida fossil farce couldn't "have waited a little longer to do a more rigorous analysis before making their media splash." The response (see video here) was illuminating, and frankly cynical. I'll be blogging about Ida in more detail tonight, after the BBC1 show at 9pm.

Your rating: None Average: 3 (1 vote)

Wikio - Top BlogsCurrent CO2 level in the atmosphere