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…
science
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…
New Proof: Republicans Really Are Anti-Science
republican war.jpg As readers know, I’m a regular monitor of polls capturing various aspects of the public’s views on science. These polls consistently show that for the most part, even…
On the road again
A long and tiring term is coming to a close. Time to celebrate the holidays, then head out to Vancouver for a few days, to end 2011, and then it…
The Future of Academic Research
Yesterday, Nature – one of the worlds premier scientific journals recognized University of British Columbia scientist Rosie Redfield as one of the top 10 science newsmakers of 2011. The reason?…
The Climate-Media Paradox: More Coverage, Stalled Progress
who speaks for the climate.jpg For those of us who care about global warming, 2006 and 2007 felt like pretty good years. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for…
Can Fact Checking be Politically “Neutral,” When Facts Are Not Equally Distributed Across the Political Spectrum?
pinocchio.jpg Recently, I sat in on an off-the-record meeting about political fact-checking. I can’t report or quote from the event, but it spurred along some general thoughts that had already…
Heads In the Sand, or Rolling?
I find it to be a very difficult day to be a proud Canadian. If you don’t agree with scientific fact that there is climate change from our pollution, you’ll…
A Democrat Undermines Science
planb_200x170.jpg In my debate a few months back with Kenneth Green about the left, the right, and science, my colleague really could have used some more strong examples of left…
A Simple Statement Of (Rationalist/Atheist) Creed
It is high time to realize that it is not wise to continue indulging irrational, ideology-driven, religious-driven, science-rejecting, mendacious, folks by allowing them to spew their bullshit without being called…
Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
On this post-COP 17 Sunday, with its indecisive outcome and the sad truth which that outcome reveals about the industrialized world’s myopia and its potentially lethal addiction to fossil fuels,…
U.S. Navy: Climate Change Is A National Security Threat
Here are some more voices from Durban, as the UN climate negotiations continue to the end of the week: Rear Admiral David Titley, Oceanographer and Navigator of the US Navy,…
Hope As A Gas
What if we could frack for natural gas without polluting the drinking water tables? I don’t think it’s as easy as this article suggests. Your only concern cannot be the…
Standarize Electronics
Electronics work best when there are standards to follow. Without standards we wouldn’t have CDs that could be read in any nearly CD-ROM or DVD drive. We wouldn’t have radios…
The Science of Debiasing: The New “Debunking Handbook” Is a Treasure Trove For Defenders of Reason
dbh_large.gif For quite some time here at DeSmogBlog, I’ve been writing about the growing science of irrationality—in other words, our ever-better scientific understanding of why people reject clearly correct information.…
Why It’s Better to Know
If you wonder why it’s better to be smart, these smart people spell it out for you in an easy to watch hour and a half of jokes and scientific…
How a Civilization Dies
Our civilization is coming to an end, sooner than later. It won’t end with a war, or a disease, or a flood, but rather with an abandonment of reason and…
Much to the chagrin…
… of the faith-based and evidence-challenged right! Trashy, Ottawa, Ontario