Book Review: Here Be Dragons

Dan Agin, 12.28.2009

Author/Neuroscientist

This book is a grand time-and-space voyage of the imagination, the drift of continents, the appearance and rise and fall and extinction of new species, the human story with all its tragedy and complexity.

Woo Woo Is a Step Ahead of (Bad) Science

Deepak Chopra, 12.28.2009

Author, Sirius/XM radio host

For those who aren't familiar with the term, "woo woo" is a derogatory reference to almost any form of unconventional thinking, aimed by professional skeptics.

Cameron's Avatar: Jar Jar Binks Meets Pocahontas

Athena Andreadis, Ph.D., 12.27.2009

Scientist by day, writer by night.

All of James Cameron's films after The Abyss increasingly resemble the Hindenburg: bloated, self-indulgent, lacking originality and subtlety in all but F/X. Avatar is the culmination of these -- with CGI.

The Bizarro Decade

Eric Williams, 12.23.2009

Screenwriter

As I look back on the past ten years of the "Still-Unnicknamed Zeroes," I'd like to formally request a little less turbulence in the next decade. Please? No era is devoid of history.

The Animal Noble Prizes of the Decade

Frans de Waal, 12.22.2009

At the start of the decade, most of us believed that only chimpanzees might come anywhere near our wonderful human intellect, but by 2010 we realize that dogs, birds, monkeys, and elephants also challenge the human-animal divide.

Your New Year Resolution: Adopt a Denier

Wallace J Nichols, 12.21.2009

Scientist, activist, community organizer, author

Believe it or not, there are people who deny the veracity of the mountain of science behind the origins of humans, the formation of the universe, health care and the state of our environment.

Will the Copenhagen Climate Talks Connect Two 150-Year-Old Dots?

Cary Fowler, 12.14.2009

Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust

Edwin Drake drilled the first commercial oil well in 1859. The Age of Oil was born. The same year, the science of global warming was born.

The Cowardice and Calumny of Creationism

Michael Shermer, 12.03.2009

Publisher Skeptic magazine

On Monday, November 30, 2009, Occidental College paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Donald Prothero and I teamed up against Intelligent Design ...

Anthropology Association Condemns Work with U.S. Counterinsurgency

Jeff Stein, 12.03.2009

SpyTalk Columnist

Anthropologists should not be helping U.S. military forces gather information about Afghan villagers and their way of life, a study commission sponsored by their academic organization said today.

Beyond 2012 Hype, A Scientist And Mayanist Faces The Evolution Question

Shana Ting Lipton, 12.05.2009

L.A. Scribe/Researcher/Consultant

Laymen need not be afraid to read The Purposeful Universe even if they are not predisposed to science. As deep and challenging of a read as this book might be for the Average Joe, it's well worth the effort.

Game over

David Horton, 11.27.2009

writer, scientist, conservationist, liberal, atheist

There are times when all good women, and men, need to come to the aid of the party. Times when profound changes in understanding occur. Times that put...

Debunking Darwin or fine-tuning Evolution? How Ardi research resonated in Middle East

Meedan, 11.30.2009

Translated Middle East news and discussion

The discovery of Ardi, the oldest hominid skeleton ever found, was big news for the science community around the world. But in the Middle East, the n...

When Science Teachers Don't Believe In Evolution

Valerie Tarico, 11.25.2009

Author of "The Dark Side: How Evangelical Teachings Corrupt Love and Truth," and founder, WisdomCommons.org

If nothing else, creationist efforts to undermine science and science education should teach us something about our species, about our impressive capacity for delusion.

A Jane Goodall Thanksgiving

Michael Winship, 11.24.2009

Senior writer at Bill Moyers Journal on PBS

My Thanksgiving list this year includes Jane Goodall, who was interviewed by my colleague Bill Moyers for this week's edition of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS.

Don't Confuse Real Healing With Suppression Of The Disease

Dana Ullman, 11.20.2009

Expert in homeopathic medicine

When a person experiences relief from any treatment, conventional or alternative, one should not necessarily assume that a real healing has occurred.

Toonblog: The Natural History Of Sarah Palin

Shan Wells, 11.20.2009

Political cartoonist, "Durango Telegraph," toonblogger, political illustrator

The release of Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue, has been an occasion of great frivolity amongst those of us on the left.

Bill Bryson's 'Really Short History of Nearly Everything' Is The Dream Gift Book For Every Curious Kid

Jesse Kornbluth, 11.20.2009

Editor of HeadButler.com

Bill Bryson has created "A Really Short History of Nearly Everything," and he's done me -- and you, and every curious kid burdened by a dull textbook or a brain-dead science teacher -- a huge favor.

Thanksgiving: Puritans, Pilgrims, and Sexual Obsession

Dan Agin, 11.28.2009

Author/Neuroscientist

The idea that the Puritans (and Pilgrims) suffered from religious persecution in England is probably a myth. What they suffered from was unease at the general licentiousness of English life.

Sarah Palin Is Flat: Change Without Evolution

Bill Allen, 11.19.2009

Retired Editor-in-Chief of "National Geographic"

The concepts of creationism and "intelligent design" deserve no more credibility than that given to those who continue to "believe" in a flat earth.

2012 Supplies One More Victory for Pseudoscience

Daniel Cubias, 11.19.2009

The Hispanic Fanatic

2012 pillages an ancient culture, deliberately misrepresents its traditions, and then claims its all true. More important, it taps into the serious vein of crazy that we have in this country.

Book Review: The Humans Who Went Extinct

Dan Agin, 11.15.2009

Author/Neuroscientist

Our unique American intellectual tragedy is that of all Western countries we have the largest percentage of people who propose that modern humans essentially descended intact from the clouds.