According to a new paper in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, where you vote may influence how you vote. The suggestion is that visual cues of churches or religious buildings lead people to vote more conservatively, “and the effect seems to hold, whether you’re Christian, Muslim or
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Exponential Book: Independent and original
I doubt if I can offer any deeper insight or more pointed advice to a tenure track assistant professor in the sciences, than what anyone can find on a number of reputable science blogs. Often times, however, as I go through posts describing the “dos and donts” of young scholars
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: In Which Climate “Skeptics” Drop the Lysenko Bomb. No, I’m Not Kidding….
Lysenko_in_field_with_wheat.jpg There has been a much justified uproar over last week’s Wall Street Journal op-ed, in which a group of scientific “skeptics” reiterate the old line that we don’t have to worry about global warming, and that those who do so are engaging in climate “alarmism.” Ample refutations have been
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Uneasy Relationship Between Explaining Science to Conservatives…and Explaining Conservatives Scientifically
democrat_and_republican_symbols.jpg Over the past year or more, I’ve profited from a series of conversations and exchanges with Yale’s Dan Kahan, the NSF supported researcher who has made great waves studying how our cultural values predispose us to discount certain risks (like, say, climate change). Kahan’s schematic for approaching this question—dividing
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Letter to SaskPower President Regarding Solar Power
Here’s a letter going to the SaskPower President soon. If anyone has any suggestions for it, you have short time to make them. rwatson at ]saskpower.com[ Dear Mr. Watson, I’ve found some troubling information on the SaskPower website. The first link is troubling because of what it leaves out. Solar
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Newt Gingrich on Science: The "Say Anything" Candidate
newt_gingrich.jpg After smashing Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, former House speaker Newt Gingrich has now emerged as tied with the onetime Republican presidential frontrunner. So it’s time to look closely at Gingrich's record on science—which is not, perhaps, as dismal as Rick Santorum’s, but still gives ample cause
Continue reading350 or bust: Why I Am Putting All My Eggs In The Citizens Climate Lobby Basket
Citizens Climate Lobby is a well-organized grassroots organization made up of Canadians and Americans who want a sustainable future for their children, and are willing to work on creating the political will for a sustainable climate. In the process, they are empowered to claim their own political power in a
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Arguing Against Sustainability
On the weekend I had an argument with @unambig (Adrian), a former blogger turned journalist in BC, and @BSnowsell (Brandon) a Saskatoonian Conservative. They’ve said they are against government involvement in making infrastructure for sustainable transportation. Adrian is upset by the carbon tax, and Brandon wants no money put into
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Get Mad At SaskPower
I don’t know why I’m mad today at SaskPower. It’s not like they’ve gone out of their way to piss me off lately. I simply started thinking about how unjust it is that there are unscientific smear campaigns against wind power, but there aren’t as many well funded groups of
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Who’s Afraid of Kerry Emanuel? Why Republicans Are Attacking a Republican Climate Scientist
kerry emanuel.jpg Last week, MIT climate scientist and hurricane specialist Kerry Emanuel received email threats for his view on climate change. These were quickly and appropriately condemned by the progressive and environmental blogosphere—as they are condemned by me—but I want to go a bit further and contemplate why Emanuel’s views
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Classroom Climate Battle: A New Heavy Hitter Joins the Fray
Teacher-writing-on-blackb-007.jpg For a year now, I’ve been covering the growing fight over the teaching of accurate climate science in American classrooms. The conflict is being driven by politics, of course, but also by the fact that school districts are, increasingly, bringing information about global warming into the educational curriculum—leading, inevitably,
Continue readingThings Are Good: How do We Define Life?
Most of the news that gets covered here is related to new discoveries and good events happening around the world, but sometimes we need to take a step back from those discoveries and think deeper about what it all means. Recently NASA launched its most ambitious mission to Mars and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Does PolitiFact Adequately Cover Scientific Misinformation? Well, Sort Of
pinocchio.jpg I’ve been harping a lot lately on the fact-checkers, like PolitiFact, and how they too often fall for a type of phony journalistic “balance” that those of us who practice science journalism as a trade have long abhorred. And then it occurred to me: Maybe the deep difference between science
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Smoking Pot Not As Damaging to Lungs as Cigarettes
Many people come to my blog to read about things neither of us wish were happening, but they want my opinion about it along with some facts I’ve found. Here’s some news that some people may find very interesting, and it backs up a study I remember reading about years
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: How to Get a Liberal to Deny Climate Science (Yes, It Can Happen)
geoengineering_diagram1-660×439.jpg Regular readers of my posts will know that I’ve often focused on the work of Yale’s Dan Kahan and his colleagues, who have published fascinating research on how our political and cultural views about how society ought to be ordered skew our perceptions of scientific reality. In particular, Kahan
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Just Dab Your Ant with Hormones and *Poof* husky He-Ants!
“Canadian researchers have discovered they can induce supersoldier ants — whose bodies react to stress by expanding in size with huge oblong heads and giant vicious jaws — in the Pheidole ant species. The findings are significant because they show there is dormant genetic potential that can be invoked by
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Santorum Misrepresents Climate Science. Again.
501px-Rick_Santorum_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg Rick Santorum was asked about climate change recently, while campaigning in New Hampshire. The video of his response, as well as the transcript, can be found here. Suffice it to say that while Santorum sounds thoughtful and rational in his response, in fact he gravely misrepresents scientific knowledge and understanding. Let's turn to the tape.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Creationists – Thick, Puerile and Ignorant
That being said, here is a video from DiscoveringReligion that takes some of the more inane arguments put forth by our deluded christian friends vivisects them in great detail and sends the now ensaddened god squad packing. Filed under: Religion Tagged: Creationism, Creationist Fail, Dispellling Creationist Nonsense, Science
Continue reading350 or bust: Is Climate Change God’s Will?
The following is a reposting from last January: Recently a good friend of mine shared that, at a family gathering over the holidays, her son and daughter-in-law had remarked that they didn’t “believe” in climate change. Since then, I have been considering her situation. What is an appropriate response that
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Rick Santorum and Science: Bad Combination!
rick_santorum_official_photo.jpg As Republican primary season schizophrenia continues, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum is now in the spotlight, having very nearly beaten Mitt Romney in Iowa. So what do we people who care about science, and global warming in particular, know about Santorum? Whoa boy. None of the Republican candidates, with the
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