Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
When thinking about weird religious news during the past seven days, perhaps one of the weirdest to go public was yet another end-of-the-world prediction. The weird bit is not that the prediction popped up, but rather that some took it seriously and some media outlets vigorously promoted it. Since I’ve already blogged earlier in the week … Read more
There is an article in the UK’s Guardian all about a myth. It is entitled … Would you Adam and Eve it? Why creation story is at heart of a new spiritual divide OK, let’s give you a quick summary of it. We live in a world where there are people who reject science based … Read more
When we started vaccinating for measles back in the 1960s it had the intended effect; the decline and obliteration of Measles. We might think of it as a harmless childhood illness, but its eradication is truly a big deal. The prognosis for measles is that complications such as bronchitis, sensorineural hearing loss, and panencephalitis (which is fatal), can occur, so eradicating it … Read more
If we proceed with a business-as-usual scenario and fail to take truly meaningful decisive action to address Climate Change then there is about a 50 percent possibility that global temperatures will rise by 4 degrees celsius. This is an actual existential threat for our species and would be quite deadly. Where are I getting this from? … Read more
Each and every year an end-of-the-world prediction will inevitably pop up. Perhaps the most recently well-known example of this was Harold Camping’s 21st May prediction back in 2011. That one is perhaps famous due to the $100 million that his group, Family Radio, spent promoting it via an advertising campaign that included billboards such as … Read more
Each September the #IgNobel awards, a parody of the Nobel Prize, gives out awards to the weirdest bit of real research that has taken place in the past year. While the award itself is satirical social criticism and not a real award, the research it highlights is quite real. It’s also not new, this has … Read more