New Scientist just published a great article on the side of scientific research that the public doesn't see; repetition, frustration, and boredom of actually carrying out detailed measurements and collecting data:

Science is not a whirlwind dance of excitement, illuminated by the brilliant strobe light of insight. It is a long, plodding journey ( Read more... )

One of the more advanced tools we work with here in the labs is called a mass spectrometer. It works by separating out different type of molecules, shattering them into pieces with an electrical current, mapping out the fragments, and using them to identify the substance. Here is a screen shot from an actual analysis I was working on a few days ago ( Read more... )

One of the best articles I've read in a long time, covering the authors concern about the modern obsession with happiness, the overuse of antidepressants, and the need for sadness and dissatisfaction to stimulate change and growth.http://chronicle.

Bush Acknowledges Existence Of Carbon DioxideWASHINGTON-In an unexpected reversal that environmentalists and scientists worldwide are calling groundbreaking, President George W. Bush, for the first time in his political career, openly admitted to the existence of carbon dioxide following the release of the new U.N. Global Environment Outlook this ( Read more... )

I was reading this article this morning about the recent republican debate in which 3 of the candidates - fortunately the lower tier ones with little chance of actually getting the nomination - indicated that they don't accept evolution ( Read more... )

An interesting observation I found posted on Skeptic Report page on creationism. Seems kind of approriate given recent passings-away of certain theocratic individuals.

Consider, if you will, a technocrat (evolutionist) and a theocrat (creationist) . I believe that they are living in each other's worlds ( Read more... )

It's has been deathly quiet here this week, which is likely why i've been spending my time meandering through the net and reading about all kinds of random topics.

After reading about some of the controversies about teaching evolution as science, I happened on a link to the Institute for Creation Research. It's a truly scary web-page that claims ( Read more... )

I was quite heappy to read this morning that the school board in Pensylvania that is trying to have Intelligent design (creationism) taught as science was almost entirely ousted by voters in the recent election. The nine newley elected members are all opposed to teaching I.D. as science ( Read more... )