Category Archives: Science

Philosophy, Reason, Science

We are ‘Star-Stuff’

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Carl Sagan on the set of Cosmos13 years ago, on this day, Carl Sagan lost a long struggle against myelodysplasia and passed away at only 62. His tragic death left the global community of astronomers and scientists of all fields with an immense feeling of loss. Never has one person brought to so many, with so much enthusiasm the grand story of our origins, and of course, the origin of the Universe. Thankfully, he left us an incredible legacy and continues to inspire with every passing day through the multitude of outstanding books he authored, and perhaps most important of all, the Cosmos television series.

First broadcast in 1980, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage remains the pinnacle of the documentary genre, encompassing the history of science, life, the Earth, the stars and the Universe, as well as our place therein and our future. Central to this 13-hour masterpiece, Sagan approached these subjects with the wonder and excitement of a child, exploring through imagination, but with the depth and understanding of a brilliant scientist. To his fans, his stirring and at times even romantic elocution would trump that of the greatest poets. And as one of them (a fan, not a great poet), I am left unable to express how much I want the world to see this series. I believe it should be shown in every school, in every country, and broadcast at least once a year for the world to see again. If I had the money and power to achieve this, I wouldn’t give it a second thought. Fortunately, we are part way there, as many people discover Sagan’s work circulated on the internet every day. Even in our humble corner, we’ve seen users of this forum meet and embrace Sagan’s philosophy having never previously heard of him. It seems appropriate that on the anniversary of his death, we should celebrate the birth of his legacy, a candle in the dark burning brighter than ever.

Philosophy, Reason, Religion, Science

The Qur’an . . ? Really?

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The day I’ve had.

Cold, so very bitterly cold. Anyone who’s been any closer to outside than their own bedroom knows it’s been cold enough to freeze the smile of a Catholic priest in an orphanage. Cold enough to make people who should know better wear beanies. You get what I’m saying; coldness.

Walking down Kilburn high road (note to foreign types; Kilburn high road is a shopping street in London that contains a pub called The Cock, and this is all you need to know) I noticed a couple of trestle tables with brightly coloured pamphlets. A few people stood behind these tables, picking up a sheet from the ground. Initially I thought they’d been breakdancing, poppin’ some sweet moves in the grindstreet dustcore scene, yo.

Nope. Muslims! Continue reading The Qur’an . . ? Really? →

Culture, Philosophy, Reason, Religion, Science

If Science Is A Conspiracy, Why Does This Computer Work? And Other Stories

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Believers.

Why can’t I just leave them alone, eh? Why can’t I keep my mouth shut?

Ok . . . because some of them think I’m going to hell, think I have no morals, and think my life is meaningless until I open my heart/wallet to Jesus/Allah. I find that fundamentally impolite. It’s hard to say who casts the first stone in these cases, but since I tend not to take issue with the fuzzy sort of believers – y’know, the nice ones who believe in love and redemption rather than bigotry and scientific wank – I only ever attack someone as a result of something they’ve said.

Then the issue was raised of “who’s to say who is right? Creationists take things on faith, atheists take things on scientific proof. Who’s right?”

It’s generally about this point that my brains start to drop out of my ears. Science is right. It has even been suggested to me that, since I haven’t analysed the data myself, scientists are feeding everyone bullshit.

Two words. Peer review.

Continue reading If Science Is A Conspiracy, Why Does This Computer Work? And Other Stories →

Science

The Equation of Creation. Really?

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creation_equationDavid Cumming, CEO of Intelligent Earth and self-proclaimed “scientist” does not know what numerology is. Or perhaps he does, but is unable to identify it. To the lay person, it’s the occult-driven obsession with trying to find significance in numbers. To the sceptic, it’s a rash that comes and goes, at its peak when watching Deal or No Deal and best treated with a topical dose of statistics. To David Cumming, it’s a trap. A big hole in the ground with very steep walls, which he willingly threw himself into with the publication of his summary of the ‘God Equation’. This rather poorly written and overly drawn-out exegesis of unrelated numbers gets off to a bad start after the above equation is presented, followed by two paragraphs of Mr. Cumming referencing himself in the third person. TK knows this is silly, and despite being a brilliant, charming and terrifically sexy individual (whom in many ways is the central protagonist of the greatest story never told), will not succumb to employing such a conceited writing device. Beyond this, Cumming begins his derivation.

Continue reading The Equation of Creation. Really? →

News, Science

Just take an hour

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With the flu season practically upon us and the media full of stories and misinformation about H1N1 and vaccines in general it is great that a couple of the internet and podcasting’s more prominent skeptics have taken the time out to set the records straight on this issue. This week both Brian Dunning at Skeptoid.com and Steven Novella of The Skeptics Guide the Universe have both released episodes dedicated to correcting the misinformation and allying allaying the fears related to these topics. With a combined running time of less than hour this is the quickest and easiest way to get up to date on this important issue.

 

But then seeing where I am I imagine that you lot already know all about these podcasts and have already listened to them. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. 😉

Random, Science

And now for something completely different

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Ok firstly, seriously people am I the only person posting on this blog at the moment? I mean one more post and the entire first page will be nothing but posts from me and I’m pretty sure our readers don’t want to just be hearing from me all the time.

 

Secondly I have to acknowledge that there is a very good chance, judging from the reactions of people I know, that no one else is going to find this as remotely cool, interesting or hypnotic as I do. I completely expect that many of the comments on this one will be along the lines of “erm ok then” or the ever popular “WTF!”

 

So a while back, inspired by similar things from the likes of CDK007 and Thunderf00t, I decided to try and write a little program that would visually demonstrate the principles of evolution by natural selection. I know, my life really is that exciting. I decided to create a little population of computerised bugs and by simply applying selection pressure to them show how they could evolve over the generations to be better suited to their environment. The main difference, between my program and those of the afore mentioned YouTubers, is that I wanted to make my version interactive so that people could play around with it to their hearts content. With that in mind I made a whole host of changes to the original version of the program I had written before so that it is now possible to play around with a number of different selection pressures and change the environment in which the bugs live at will. Finally I made the decision to share it with the rabid horde here at the League of Reason. So with no further ado, and with some trepidation, I give you:

 

Bug Evolver 2.0

 

For more details of exactly what is going on in this program check below the fold.

 

 

Continue reading And now for something completely different →

News, Science

Drugs are bad…mmm’kay

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Ok firstly let me apologise for not posting anything in ages. No excuse really, I just didn’t get around to it. But hey it seems as if no one else did either so I don’t feel all that bad about it now. Anyway on to what I wanted to talk about.

 

Now I am sure that by now many of you have heard about Professor David Nutt, chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, being fired by Home Secretary Alan Johnson for comments about the government’s cannabis policy. I have no doubt there is more to the story than is being reported but it does seem to indicate that, despite Mr Johnson doing his best to avoid saying so directly, Professor Nutt was let go because he publicly pointed out that the government’s policy with regards to certain drugs was in no way based upon scientific evidence nor the advise provided by the advisory council itself.

 

Now I don’t know what your thoughts are with regards to the legality of drugs, though I would be interested to find out, but I think the point to focus on here has to do with the intersection of science and political policy. Here is a section from the BBC report on the matter that I think highlights my point:

 

Prof Nutt was sacked on Friday after using a lecture to say that cannabis was less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.

 

He also said it was upgraded to Class B – against the council’s advice – for political reasons. Earlier in the year he had suggested that taking ecstasy was no more dangerous than horse riding.

 

Hitting back in the Guardian, the home secretary said Prof Nutt was not sacked for his views “which I respect but disagree with” but because “he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy”.

 

It is that last sentence that really stands out. The job of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs is to provide the government with the best information there is about the dangers of drugs. If the evidence says, to use Professor Nutt’s own example, that alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than cannabis, and you say this, does this really make you “a campaigner against government policy“? Are you not just telling the truth? So is the truth against government policy? Fellow council member Dr Les King, who resigned in protest over this matter, had this to say:

He said ministers had used the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs as “a rubber stamp, as a poodle, by coming to the advisory council with a pre-determined agenda about drug classification”.

 

What do we do when the science says one thing but the political wind is blowing in the other direction? If the government wants to put out the message that cannabis is a killer and should be illegal but all the evidence says otherwise where should we, as skeptics and rational thinkers, side on this matter? With the Law or with the science?

 

I’m not going to say any more on this right now as I am still formulating my own thoughts. I would, as always, be interested to hear what you think about this issue.

 

Oh and on a completely unrelated note 2009 Golden Crocoduck winner Ray Comfort has used a comment from me as the basis of his latest blog post. That’s fairly cool…in a weird way.

Reason, Science

Open letter to my GP

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Below the fold you will find a copy of a letter I recently sent to my local GP. Because I have yet to recieve any reply back from them and am in fact generally happy with them I have decided not to include the name of the practice in this post, I’m sure you understand. Also I just want to mention a similar letter by The Australian Skeptics from which I will admit borrowing a few lines. Hey they had already done the research; there was no reason for me to go reinventing the wheel. Anyway here’s what I had to say:

 

Continue reading Open letter to my GP →

Literature, Science

The Greatest Show on Earth Review

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Hi All,

I have uploaded my review of The Greatest Show on Earth to my YouTube channel. It is a 2 parter and I will be auctioning off my copy of the book this weekend on dprjones BlogTV charity drive. Hope you enjoy my review.

In “The Greatest Show on Earth The evidence for evolution”, Richard Dawkins takes on creationists and intelligent design proponentsists whilst taking the reader on a detective trail of evidence to show why evolution through natural selection is a fact and a theory.

Part 1

Richard Dawkins The greatest show on Earth Part1

Part 2

Richard Dawkins The greatest show on Earth Part 2

The details of the charity auction for Medicines sans frontiers (Doctors without borders) is here,

Dprjones BlogTV room:http://www.blogtv.com/people/dprjones

The site at which you can make donations is:

http://www.firstgiving.com/dprjonesblogtv

http://www.justgiving.com/dprjonescharityblogtvshow/

Don’t be intimidated by large donations,
simply donating what you can spare is appreciated; the small amounts make a big difference.

The website for Medicens Sans Frontiere (“MSF”):http://www.msf.org.uk/

In the US the charity (it is the same charity) is know as “Doctors without Borders”:

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

The msfuk youtube site is here:http://www.youtube.com/user/msfuk

The eBay auctions have started and will be added to as the show date approaches:

http://tinyurl.com/m2jb3e


DJ

Culture, Entertainment, Science

A refreshing change

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So last night I was watching Private Practice on Living, yes I know please don’t judge me, and I have to say that I was very impressed with the way they handled the subject of vaccination, the central story in this weeks episode. Unlike some TV shows that I won’t mention, cough Eli Stone cough, Private Practice took an unashamedly pro vaccination approach to the subject with not a single one of the main characters voicing anything but 100% support for vaccines and the vaccination program. On top of that they pulled no punches when addressing the anti-vaccination movement and at various points in the episode described them as “idiots”, “scientifically illiterate” and “conspiracy theorists”. The message was clear and unambiguous. Vaccines are good, they save lives and the anti-vaccination movement doesn’t know what it is talking about.

 

I also liked the simple but effective way they told the story. The story focused on a mother with three boys, the oldest of which suffered from autism that she believed was a direct result of vaccination. Every time she brought this up she was politely, sympathetically but directly told that this was not the case, that all the evidence showed that there was no link between autism and vaccination. Each time this happened she would come back one of the typical anti-vaccination replies. A mother just knows these things. You can’t be sure that vaccination didn’t cause his autism. He was vaccinated and the light immediately went out in his eyes. All powerful arguments to be sure but all anecdotal and unsupported by any evidence.

 

Anyway the reason she is at the doctors is because her middle son is sick and it quickly becomes evident that he has measles. It is also revealed that neither the middle or the youngest son have been vaccinated due to the mothers conviction that vaccination is what caused her oldest son’s autism. The doctors pled with her to let them vaccinate the youngest son but she won’t let them. After all, she says, measles isn’t that bad, it’s a childhood disease that kids get to toughen up their immune system. Nothing to worry about. Well, as I am sure you can guess, this quickly proves not to be the case and the sick child is rushed to hospital, but still the mother will not let the doctors vaccinate her youngest son.

 

The middle son gets sicker and sicker and the mother begs the doctors to help him while still resolutely refusing to let them protect her youngest child. The middle son starts to convulse and almost stops breathing but the doctors bring him back and then, in desperation, one of the characters rushes out and vaccinates the youngest son. The mother goes crazy, screaming at the doctors, accusing them of assault, telling them that they are over-reacting and have given her son autism. She threatens to sue but before she can say anything more an alarm goes off and a code blue is sounded. He middle son’s heart has stopped beating. The doctors rush to save him but despite working on him for almost half an hour he dies.

 

There is a very powerful scene after this with the mother and the doctor sitting in the hallway outside the now dead son’s room. The mother, tears running down her face, announces that she can’t believe this happened, that she thought measles was just like getting a cold. The doctor says nothing; he doesn’t need to as the point is all too painfully clear. Measles is a killer and the very best weapon we have against it is vaccination. Yes there are reasons to be cautious, some people can react badly to vaccines, but they do not cause autism and your “mommy instinct” is no match for years of well-researched medical science.

 

Private Practice may be a little relationship focused and soap operary at times but I was very impressed with how they handled this episode. It is all too common on TV and in the news for them to take either the “balanced” approach of making it seem like both sides have equally valid arguments or to squarely side with the anti-vaccination movement. It is refreshing to see the topic handled in a way that is entertaining, educational and solidly based upon carefully researched scientific evidence. I just wish it were only a story.