Tensions are running high as researchers race to find a vaccine for a quickly mutating bird virus. If H5N1 successfully jumps the species barrier, we could have another HIV-level pandemic on our hands.
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A Congressman Proposes National Darwin Day
An official resolution to commemorate the birth date of Charles Darwin has been proffered by Congressman Rush Holt in collaboration with the American Humanists Association.
The Plight of Tasmanian Devils
The current plight of the Tasmanian devil is of grave significance. A nasty cancer-causing mutation has already wiped out 84% of the species, leaving only 35,000 remaining in the wild.
The Hobbit in Fast Forward: An Exercise in Innovation
The cinema space is abuzz over The Hobbit premiere, but not just over Bilbo Baggins and his adventures against the legions of Sauron. Let’s peek behind the curtain at Peter Jackson’s unorthodox frame rate choice.
The Best Science of 2012
Detonate your mind with this inspirational list over at My Science Academy of what the human race achieved this past year through the pursuits of science. Here are a few of my favorites.
Schwartzberg: The Hidden Beauty of Pollination
In this brief TED presentation, Louie Schwartzberg shares with us clips of his 35-year collection of time-lapse footage. The video captures in exquisite detail nature’s four primary pollinators: bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and bats.
Oldest Fossils Ever Discovered Are Found in Australia
The details of the discovery presented at last month’s Geological Society of America meeting are now part of public domain. A team scouring the Pilbara region of Australia claims to have found evidence of the earliest fossils now known to science.
Antibiotics Kill the Good Along with the Bad
Antibiotics are currently the best countermeasure to a variety of infections, but its downsides are legion.
The Achilles Heel of Climate Denialism
A survey of the peer reviewed literature shows that just 0.17% of papers since 1991 reject global warming. Regardless of how entrenched one’s views are within the denialist ecosystem, reality can only be eschewed for so long.
Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel
According to Diamond, it merely was adventitious that Eurasians possessed the guns, germs, and steel to conquer foreign lands, for it was their indigenous proximity to an ecologically diverse landmass that best explains their success.
Evolution, Theism and the Dissonance Which Lies Between
Christian fundamentalism notwithstanding, is a contemporary understanding of evolution at odds with the popular conceptions of God?
There Is No Single “Humanness” Gene
Jerry Coyne silences the recent hype over yet another “humanness” gene.
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