Tag Archives: Science “Journalism”

“Earliest mammals sniffed their way to smarts – Yahoo! News”

What do you make of an opening line like this? The unusually large brains of mammals apparently didn’t evolve so that we could ponder philosophy — but so we could sniff our way to success. A new analysis of some of the earliest mammals and mammal-like creatures shows their complex brains evolved in stages, starting …

May 19, 2011 – 4:48 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged | Comments (10)

Melanie Phillips on “The Secular Inquisition”

From Melanie Phillips today comes possibly the most intellectually aware statement I have seen from any journalist on the Intelligent Design controversy, including this: While materialist fundamentalists can deal with religious believers by scoffing they are in a separate domain altogether from the real ie scientific world, the suggestion that science might itself arrive at …

May 5, 2009 – 10:29 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , | Comments (29)

Reality and “Religion’s Real Child Abuse”

Richard Dawkins wrote in The God Delusion that religion is a dangerous form of child abuse, a claim he reiterated in an online essay titled “Religion’s Real Child Abuse.” He explicitly says that while sexual abuse by priests may be bad, what’s worse is raising children to think of themselves as members of one religion …

April 14, 2009 – 5:45 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , | Comments (3)

“Worst Science Article Ever?”

This, from Discover Magazine, is just for fun: You don’t have to look to hard to find bad science writing. Here at Discoblog, we do our best to chronicle, analyze, and explain the worst of it, from the playing hockey with facts to the over-reliance on questionable studies to the always-popular “slapping pseudo-science on a …

March 2, 2009 – 2:05 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Just For Fun, Origins and Science | Tagged | Comments Off

Spirituality protects against depression better than church attendance??

I saw this headline in my newsreader, and of course I was intrigued. Spirituality protects against depression better than church attendance Questions were clicking in my mind immediately, even as I clicked the link. How did they define spirituality for purposes of their research (the operational definition)? What religious groups were included, and did they …

October 23, 2008 – 7:19 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged | Comments (1)

Warning to Canadians: Duck!

This news just in from EurekAlert (quoting the actual headline): New comet discovered in Canada To be more specific: [A] comet has been discovered at the University of Calgary’s Rothney Astrophysical Observatory, which is located about 35 kilometres southwest of Calgary. To my friends in Canada: I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving Day yesterday. …

October 14, 2008 – 1:04 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Just For Fun | Tagged | Comments (6)

Confusing Science With Religion

From the comic strip Partially Clips, via Language Log. “[The scientist] knew that he could say yes or no, and the reporter would print whatever answer he gave. But he also should be grateful for any kind of media interest in his field, even if treating scientists like oracles of knowledge this way is probably …

August 26, 2008 – 1:07 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , | Comments Off

“New Scientist Needs a Reality Check”

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Science "Journalism"

Ah, science journalism! While this [New Scientist report] makes for an interesting, Alice – through – the – Looking – Glass foray into utter nonsense, the falsehoods and misinformation presented as historical fact need correcting. [Link: Evolution News & Views: New Scientist Needs a Reality Check] Do please look into the facts on this, and …

July 11, 2008 – 3:40 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in The Faith | Tagged | Comments Off