http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/science-bloggers/ en-us Sat, 6 Sep 2008 23:01:18 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2076333/posts Last week, National Organization of Women’s spokesperson Kim Gandy asserted that GOP VP nominee Governor Sarah Palin was “not an authentic woman because she doesn’t support women’s issues like abortion.” This week, the Obama campaign charges that Palin is “not a normal human being.” The charge stems from the failure of the teleprompter during Palin’s speech to the Republican Convention on Wednesday. “Usually, a mishap like this causes at least momentary confusion,” observed Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. “Where were the ‘ers,’ ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ that a normal human would utter under such stress? They were suspiciously absent from Ms.... AZCONSERVATIVE http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2076333/posts#comment Sat, 6 Sep 2008 23:01:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2069749/posts ~~~snip~~~ Electromagnetic waves are far too slow to be the only means of signalling in an immense universe. Gravity requires the near-instantaneous character of the electric force to form stable systems like our solar system and spiral galaxies. Gravitationally, the Earth ‘sees’ the Sun where it is this instant, not where it was more than 8 minutes ago. Newton’s famous law of gravity does not refer to time. We must have a workable concept of the structure of matter that satisfies the observation that the inertial and gravitational masses of an object are equivalent. When we accelerate electrons or protons... Thunderblogs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2069749/posts#comment Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:34:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2068783/posts Speaker Pelosi is deep in it now. I am still looking for a link, but Amy reports that Brendan Daly, Nancy Pelosi’s spokesman issued a statement about her remarks on Meet The Press: “The Speaker is the mother of five children and seven grandchildren and fully appreciates the sanctity of family. She was raised in a devout Catholic family who often disagreed with her pro-choice views. “After she was elected to Congress, and the choice issue became more public as she would have to vote on it, she studied the matter more closely. Her views on when life begins were... WDTPRS blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2068783/posts#comment Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:58:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2068742/posts ELTON John didn't see this one coming . . . Real life "Rocket Man" Yves Rossy, 48, is planning a high-flying rocket mission over the English Channel that will be televised on American TV and around the world. The daring stunt will air on the National Geographic Channel in primetime - as well as 165 other countries, officials said yesterday. They will also stream live video of the event on their Web site. NY Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2068742/posts#comment Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:14:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067855/posts Have you ever had this happen: You are minding your own business, teaching your life science course, it's early in the term. A student, on the way out after class (never at the beginning of class, rarely during class) mentions something about "carbon dating." This usually happens around the time of year you are doing an overview of the main points of the course, but before you've gotten to the "evolution module"... The student is talking about C14 dating and how it "has problems." But you are a life science teacher and can't think of a single point in your... Greg Laden's Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067855/posts#comment Mon, 25 Aug 2008 21:01:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067535/posts Imagine yourself going to a news stand and picking up Esquire’s September issue. Its cover isn’t made out of paper as usual, actually, it’s electronic! The cover, which comes with its own battery pack, will flash “the 21st Century Begins Now.” A moving cover? That’s something new. Style Drama http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067535/posts#comment Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:53:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067508/posts New design could be a boon to the reconnaissance, small plane industry As the Olympics close, a dizzying couple weeks of record breaking have come to an end. In total 43 world records were smashed. In this spirit aerospace startup QinitiQ announced an important record of its own in the field of alternative energy. In Phelpsian fashion, QinetiQ's Zephyr Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) obliterated the previous world record for continuous solar flight, though some technical disputes may hold off its place in the records books for a short time. According to QinetiQ, the Zephyr flew for 83 hours and 37... DailyTech http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067508/posts#comment Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:19:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067340/posts t is estimated that two out of three men and one out of five women suffer from hair loss. It can be very depressing and most affected individuals try to cover up their balding spots with wigs and other camouflage attempts. Some use growth stimulators and hormone inhibitors. Some are satisfied with these treatments, but a lot more aren’t. Many find that wigs and hairpieces don’t look genuine and take too much time to maintain. Growth Stimulators and Hormone inhibitors on the other hand may be effective, but they need to be taken or used daily. That can take a... a blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2067340/posts#comment Sun, 24 Aug 2008 23:05:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066212/posts In 1943 during WW2, an army Sgt., Ed Davis, was working in Iran near the Turkish border, in charge of locals hired by our army to build a road through Iran to the Soviet border, which would carry supplies to the Soviets instead of flying them in. In short, Ed did a tremendous favor for a little Kurdish village near Ararat. His workers were mostly Kurds and the chief of the village came to Ed and asked if he would like to see Noah's Ark. He said the summer on the mountain had been hottest in many years and the... http://rsanoa.home.comcast.net/~rsanoa/ark_summary.htm http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066212/posts#comment Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:59:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066892/posts Progress on South Africa's Pebble Bed Reactor Canada's SNC Lavalin has gotten a C$253 million contract to help build the second phase of a demonstration Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) for completion by 2014 in Koeberg, South Africa. The small advanced reactor, a South African national project, would produce 165 MWe and could be built in 'packs' of eight. It is hoped that up to 30 of the units would be used in South Africa in coming decades, taking industrial heat-supply roles in the production of hydrogen and synthetic oils as well as electricity. The PBMR design is also a... Next Big future http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066892/posts#comment Sat, 23 Aug 2008 23:36:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066849/posts Human life may begin at conception (gotta love Peggy Noonan in the WSJ—“what do they think it is, a 1948 Buick?”), but according to Alan Colms, “personhood” is not achieved until a child exits the birth canal alive and in accordance with its mother’s wishes. This is eerily suggestive of Peter Singer’s assertion that babies (alive, out-of-the-uterus, breathing on their own, pooping, crying infants) do not truly have “personhood” for several months after birth, and that therefore, such non-person human beings may be terminated at the will of the parents. Claiming to know when to assign the status of “person”... WhenWeAreQueen http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066849/posts#comment Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:20:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066228/posts Looks Like 2008 may end up being the coolest year of the young century. Imagine that, in the midst of all this global warming...China became the world's biggest polluter in April of this year... Self-righteous USA critics have yet to shift their scorn eastward. We could be in for more cooling for the next decade or so. Doesn't Mother Nature know the science is settled? BBC reports all this grudgingly, and inserts all manner of caveats and finger shaking scolds, admonishing us naive global warming deniers to not let our guard down. This is all temporary! Professor Dinglebulb from the... Nietzsche is Dead http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2066228/posts#comment Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:37:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2065256/posts Evolution in its earliest days was derided by some for what they believed was a lack of observable evidence. However, a major piece of supporting evidence for evolution has come from computer analysis of cellular compounds. By examining minute details in organisms’ genomes, we have observed how traits were transferred to descendants and how other traits arose at different points in the evolutionary ladder. DailyTech http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2065256/posts#comment Thu, 21 Aug 2008 02:35:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2064820/posts An expert from the National Autonomous University of Mexico predicted that in about ten years the Earth will enter a "little ice age" which will last from 60 to 80 years and may be caused by the decrease in solar activity. The Virginian http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2064820/posts#comment Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:12:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2064795/posts NYC's Mayor Bloomberg yesterday proposed to develop wind turbines atop the Big Apple's bridges and skyscrapers. The mayor also tossed out the possibility of building wind farms way out in the Atlantic Ocean, miles from shore, that he said could generate roughly twice the energy of similar land-based facilities and supply 10 percent of the city's electricity needs within a decade... EconomicPolicyJournal.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2064795/posts#comment Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:29:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2063280/posts Breeder reactors: A renewable energy source by Bernard L. Cohen, American Journal of Physics, 1983 (H/T Crowlspace Uranium can last for 5 billion years with a withdrawal rate of 6,500 tonne per year from the oceans [with breeder reactors this would be double current world electricity usage]. This estimate does not include using Thorium which is more common in the earth's crust than Uranium. < > Currently nuclear reactors use about 100 to 200 tons of uranium every year. 10,000 to 20,000 kg of uranium per billion kWh. 200 to 400 times more uranium than the french msr design uses.... Next Big Future http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2063280/posts#comment Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:53:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2061981/posts University of Reading scientists have developed a robot controlled by a biological brain formed from cultured neurons. And this is a world's premiere. Other research teams have tried to control robots with 'brains,' but there was always a computer in the loop. This new project is the first one to examine 'how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a brain stores specific pieces of data.' As life expectancy is increasing in most countries, this new research could provide insights into how the brain works and help aging people. In fact, the main goal of this project is to... Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2061981/posts#comment Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:01:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2060181/posts The ongoing debate between evolutionists and "Intelligent Design" (ID) theorists has become quite intense of late, thanks in large measure to the happenings in Kansas. Unfortunately, the debate has really produced more heat than light. Browsing through some of the nontechnical literature on both sides, one cannot help but be amazed at the level of vitriol and recrimination that evolutionists and their critics have leveled at one another. It really seems that ID theorists and evolutionists are actually talking past one another, which is usually why honest and intelligent brokers end up yelling instead of finding a consensus.This column will... redstate.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2060181/posts#comment Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:57:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2059367/posts Gods, fairies, magic and the like are ways of saying "we don't know," and one simply can't base a scientific theory on a set of assumptions that includes "and something we don't know, but you can imagine it to be anything you like, happens here." Science is a discipline, a rewarding endeavour to understand things in relation to other things and their interactions. The theory of evolution is not a belief; it is a scientifically useful model. As more data support it, it might be a threat to certain beliefs, but it is not a threat to belief in a... August 10, 2008 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2059367/posts#comment Sun, 10 Aug 2008 11:30:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2054952/posts Therefore, to end this futile back and forth, allow me to quote from the National Academy of Sciences: “Scientists no longer question the basic facts of evolution as a process. The concept has withstood extensive testing by tens of thousands of specialists in biology, medicine, anthropology, geology, chemistry, and other fields. Discoveries in different fields have reinforced one another, and evidence of evolution has continued to accumulate for 150 years.” This statement confirms overwhelming support of evolution from the American scientific community. Mr. Brown is right. I would not allow a creationist to teach that theory in a science classroom... The Treasure Coast Palm http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2054952/posts#comment Fri, 1 Aug 2008 16:45:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2054240/posts The Chicago Tribune posted a story in the July 30 edition that highlights the often absurd hyperbole all too common in the language of environmentalists and eco-watchers. The story detailed the findings of scientists studying Lake Michigan and the ecology of the Great Lakes, one of them saying it is in "catastrophic" shape. Native fish and vegetation are being crowded out by new species and the "Great Lakes are at a tipping point" the Trib warns. It's all presented as some major disaster that should alarm us all, as if Mother Nature is being ruined, presumably by man. But a... publiusforum.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2054240/posts#comment Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:28:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2054132/posts PROFESSOR PETER SINGER: LOVER OF GREAT APES Anyone remember Professor Peter Singer? He’s the esteemed professor of bioethics at Princeton who advocated legalizing the execution of infants up to 28 days old in his book, Practical Ethics. I guess we have to assume that killing a 29 0r 30 day old human being–or a 29 or 30 year old?– might be an ethical no-no, but that’s not a given with Singer, either. Talk about a poorly titled book! And that’s hardly the only outrageous belief held by this nutty professor. He seems to launch his insanity from a simple perspective:... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2054132/posts#comment Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:48:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2053883/posts PZ just had a book review published in Nature: Science and evolution have an advocate in Kenneth Miller, one of North America's eminent knights-errant, a scientist who is active in defending evolutionary theory in the conflict between evolution and creationism. He has been at the centre of many recent debates about science education, most prominently testifying against intelligent design creationism in Pennsylvania's Dover trial, which decided that intelligent design was a religious concept that should not be taught in public schools. He is also a popular speaker, offering the public a grass-roots defence of good science education. Miller's new book... Science Blogs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2053883/posts#comment Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:24:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2052780/posts Has James Hansen, head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, been taking bribes from George Soros and others? I'm not an attorney so I don't know if Hansen has actually done anything illegal. However, as a political scientist the situation definitely has an odor to it. There is no legitimate reason for any private body to spend $750,000 to "package" a government official the way George Soros allegedly did for James Hansen. There is no legitimate reason for a government official to receive a grant from a private research organization for supporting one of its causes as James... Townhall http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2052780/posts#comment Mon, 28 Jul 2008 22:53:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2050967/posts Media sources such as CNN, and also several questionable academics have come out with a multi-pronged attack on John McCain's knowledge of the "Information Economy" this week. Amongst those is a media professor from American University named Steinhorn Comments By L. Steinhorn, Prof of Communications Steinhorn claims that McCain's funny syllogism of "A Google", his desire to avoid email, and lack of a MySpace webpage prove that McCain does not understand the Information Economy. He points to Barrack Obama's use of YouTube and MySpace to win over young voters as proof that he understands modern economics. This is false on... My Space Blogs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2050967/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:13:56 GMT