http://www.reduciblycomplex.com Science is fun! Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:41:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (This post is also available as a seperate page of Reducibly Complex, the link to which can be found below the banner at the top of this page.) ABSTRACT Do you believe in God? Do you have evidence to back up your belief? In an article on www.everystudent.com, six reasons are given as ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2010/03/13/evidence-of-god/ "Poyekhali!" ("Let's Go!") - Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin On this day in 1934, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was born. Gagarin was the first man in space. He shouted this expression on April 12th, 1961, as the engines fired on the launch-pad to propel him on this historic mission. http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2010/03/09/science-of-yesteryearquote-of-the-day-march-9th-2010/ On this day in 1618, Johannes Kepler formulated his Third Law of Planetary Motion. This third law states that "the square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit." Important stuff, this. http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2010/03/08/science-of-yesteryear-march-8th-2009/ We skeptics are often called cynics by true believers. If only it were that easy. Still, I love when skepticism actually DOES take the form of cynicism... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2010/02/26/the-medicine-of-water/ I got cut-off in traffic today on my way to classes. Twice. Both times, I was cut off by somebody that did not respect the right-away rule at 4-way stops. Both times, I honked at them. Both times, I was given the finger. This made me realize something. When something happens ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/10/21/are-you-willing-to-admit-youre-wrong/ I love things like this... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/10/14/the-lyre-bird/ Here's a video that has been floating around for the interwebs for a couple weeks. It's freaky-cool. http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/10/01/glorious-dawn/ It will be interesting to see what response, if any, the anti-vaccination crowd will have for this report that the National Health Service (UK) Information Centre has found that the rates of autism in adults directly correlates to the rates of autism in children. The anti-vax movement, spearheaded by Jenny McCarthy, ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/09/25/more-evidence-jenny-mccarthy-is-an-asshole/ Ryan Gregory of the Genomicron blog has put together a quick, but excellent, list of predictions made by the theory of evolution that have later been confirmed. The list can be found at: http://genomicron.blogspot.com/2009/09/does-evolutionary-biology-make.html http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/09/25/predictions-of-evolution/ Even though I'm sure this is old and that most evolutionists in America have probably seen it already, it is new to me and I think its great! http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/09/24/hah-great-pictureeventhough/ "If anybody had that cure out there, like so many people swear they do, you'd be two things. You'd be very rich, and you'd be very famous. Otherwise, shut up." -- Patrick Swayze (1952-2009) to the cancer cure quacks. Thanks to wastrel on the SGU Forums for this quote. http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/09/18/quote-of-the-day-september-18th-2009/ Wow, it's been a long time. No promises of more posts to come (I'd like to start writing in here again, but who knows if I'll have time), but here's a funny atheist video that my colleague Tim sent to me. The clincher was the reverend claiming some kind of "mutation" ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/09/08/clearing-out-the-dust-bunnies/ On this day in 1796, English physician Edward Jenner administered the first vaccination against smallpox to an eight-year-old boy. Jenner innoculated an 8-year-old boy, James Phipps, with material from the sores of dairymaid Sarah Nelmes who had a mild case of cowpox. A few weeks later, on 1 Jul, he subsequently tested ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/05/14/science-of-yesteryear-may-14th-2009/ Those of you who don't know her, the above is our pal Jenny McCarthy. McCarthy began her career as a Playboy Playmate, and moved on to an acting career which landed her in amazing acting roles like a spot in the "Lingerie Bowl." So naturally, this makes her an authority ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/05/14/an-introduction-to-the-stupid-that-is-jenny-mccarthy/ On this day in 1811, The original Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, were born of Chinese parents in Siam (Thailand). Upon immigrating in to the U.S., they adopted Bunker as their surname. They were joined at the waist by a band of cartilage, about 8 in. circumference and 4 in. long. Only after their death ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/05/11/science-of-yesteryear-may-11th-2009/ So, it’s been a very long time since I’ve updated my blog. Long-story made very short, I’ve had little time. I would say that I’m going to start updating this thing again, but I don’t know that I can live up to that promise right now. I will be making ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/05/11/holy-crap-what-happened/ On this day in 1997, the successful cloning of an adult mammal was announced: a female lamb named "Dolly" that was born July 5th, 1996. The accomplishment of a group of scientists supervised by Ian Wilmut at Roslin Institute, Edinburgh, Scotland, was primarily the work of biologist Keith Campbell. Dolly was the first mammal ever ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/02/23/science-of-yesteryear-february-23rd-2009/ This is kind of old news, but it is new news to me. I don't know why, but I found this particularly interesting. From Scientific American: "Researchers have discovered two living species—so recently that they have yet to be named—of this Alavesia fly, a genus that had previously only been seen preserved in Cretaceous-era ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/02/23/scientific-american-a-living-fossil-found-in-namibia/ Happy 200th birthday to Dr. Charles Darwin. Later this year (in November) we will also be saying happy 150th anniversary to the release of Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Indeed today, Darwin Day, is a ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/02/12/happy-birthday-chuck-and-abe/ On this day in 1932, the "neutron" was described in an article in the journal Nature by its discoverer, James Chadwick, who coined the name for this neutral particle he discovered present in the nucleus of atoms. By bombarding beryllium with alpha particles, Chadwick discovered the neutron for which he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/02/07/science-of-yesteryear-february-7th-2009/ So, it's been a long while since I've been able to post to the blog. I just finished moving (actually, I still haven't even come close to being unpacked), and it has sucked most all of my spare time out of me for the last month. Rest assured...NEW POSTS SOON! http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/02/07/wowmoving-sucks/ On this day in varying years, Thomas Edison received several of his patents: 1. In 1886, a patent for an "Electrode for Telephone-Transmitters" (No. 348114). The patent application was dated one year earlier on 12 Jan 1885. 2. In 1897, one of the various patents for a "Phonograph" was issued (No.575151). It was one ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/12/science-of-yesteryear-january-12th-2009onthis/ "Evidence for Creation" is an easy target for a debunking article. Nevertheless, it is important to go through with reviewing this type of information because it can, and does, get repeated and used in other places. For instance, a comment was left by a high school teacher on the introduction ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/09/evidence-for-creation-debunked-conclusion/ Stephen Hawking was born on this day in 1942. Hawking is an English theoretical physicist who is one of the world's leaders in his field. His principal areas of research are theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity. Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University (formerly held by Sir Isaac Newton). ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/08/science-of-yesteryear-and-quote-of-the-day-january-8th-2009/ It has been brought to my attention recently (thanks Justin!) that this blog harps on creationism a lot. While this is true, that is certainly not my intention. A large part of the reason I have been going to the creation/intelligent design topics a lot lately is because of my ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/08/phwew-time-for-a-new-topic/ This is Part 10 of the ten part blog debunking the claims made on CreationEvidence.org's "Evidence for Creation." This blog examines point #10. STATEMENT: "The human brain is the most complicated structure in the known universe." RESPONSE:  This statement is rather dubious, and there are a number of problems with it: 1. Semantics: What is meant ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/05/evidence-for-creation-debunked-part-10/ George Washington Carver died on this day in 1943. Carver was an American agricultural chemist, agronomist, and experimenter who helped revolutionize the agricultural economy of the South. Carver demonstrated to farmers how fertility could be restored to their land by diversification, especially by planting peanuts and sweet potatoes, to replenish soil  impoverished ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/05/science-of-yesteryear-january-5th-2009/ On this day in 1958, the Russian Sputnik I satellite, the first man-made object to orbit the earth, fell back into the atmosphere and disintegrated, after 92 days in space. The Sputnik I (meaning "companion" or "fellow traveller") was launched from Kazakhstan. The craft circled the earth every 95 minutes at almost 20,000 miles ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/04/science-of-yesteryear-january-4th-2009/ On this day in 1919, Professor Ernest Rutherford succeeded in splitting the atom. By bombarding nitrogen atoms with alpha particles emitted by radioactive materials he transmuted the nitrogen atoms into oxygen. http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/03/science-of-yesteryear-january-3rd-2008/ This is Part 9 of the ten part blog debunking the claims made on CreationEvidence.org's "Evidence for Creation." This blog examines point #9. STATEMENT: "A living cell is so awesomely complex that its interdependent components stagger the imagination and defy evolutionary explanations." RESPONSE: The first thing to say about this statement is that it is a ... http://www.reduciblycomplex.com/index.php/2009/01/02/evidence-for-creation-debunked-part-9/