Following on to Claudia’s piece about the importance of scientific R&D, this article, while admittedly monkey business, illustrates the point:

Two monkeys with tiny sensors in their brains have learned to control a mechanical arm with just their thoughts, using it to reach for and grab food and even to adjust for the size and stickiness of morsels when necessary

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 An analysis/rant on the subject of “intelligent” design and why it makes me want to scream

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In 1911, the great English physicist Ernest Rutherford brought forth a model of the structure of the atom that revolutionized science. He did it with 20 research assistants (including some of the greatest minds in 20th century physics) in the basement of a rambling old stone house known as the Cavendish Laboratory.

Conditions in the lab were appalling. The roof leaked. It was cramped beyond belief. And Rutherford was a notorious skinflint when it came to paying his assistants.
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I’m no scientist. Neither is Nobel Prize winning global warming alarmist and hypocrite Al Gore. Nor are the legions of global warming deniers who are pointing to a stretch of cold weather as “proof” that global warming is a myth.

We are, most of us, not qualified in any way, shape, or form to make any kind of technical or scientific judgment on most of the evidence relating to climate change unless we happen to hold an advanced technical degree and are able to examine that evidence in its totality and not pick and choose headlines that bolster one’s political position on the issue.
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For thousands of years, a chimera has been held to be a mythological creature, a beast made up of pieces of other beasts; lion, snake, goat. So when you hear “chimera” you might be more inclined to think of the creature on the left than on the smiling young lady on the right.

Yet the creature on the left is the fruit of a great imagination, while the girl on the right is the real deal, an authentic chimera.

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Jules Crittenden points out that, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), the Lancet has botched yet another study, this time about “maternal and child undernutrition.”

DWB’s conclusion, as paraphrased by Jules: “dangerously flawed in its methodology and conclusions.”  (more…)

John Tierney has an excellent article in the NY Times science section about global warming and the science and reporting behind the climate change scare. A must read, IMO.

A year ago, British meteorologists made headlines predicting that the buildup of greenhouse gases would help make 2007 the hottest year on record. At year’s end, even though the British scientists reported the global temperature average was not a new record — it was actually lower than any year since 2001 — the BBC confidently proclaimed, “2007 Data Confirms Warming Trend.” (more…)

The BBC has a cool article about the relative feasibility of using a low-orbit solar array as a source of renewable energy here. 

A recent study by the Pentagon concluded that a solar array in space was close to being technologically feasible, and robotics should soon make the building of large structures in space safer and quicker.

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Leopold Summerer of the European Space Agency believes the generation of solar power from space may be only 20 years away.

But he adds that the cost of the undertaking will mean it will have to be another international effort along the lines of the Space Station.

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Who cares about Democracy anyway?

The Daily Mail reports that Pope Benedict has “has launched a surprise attack on climate change prophets of doom, warning them that any solutions to global warming must be based on firm evidence and not on dubious ideology.”

His remarks “will be made in his annual message for World Peace Day on January 1, but they were released as delegates from all over the world convened on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali for UN climate change talks” the Daily Mail explains. (more…)

Using data acquired from the International House of Pancakes, scientists have documented that Kansas is not, in fact, as flat as a pancake. It is, in fact, a great deal flatter. (more…)