Science

My Fellow Blogeratti,

It's 0515 in the AM, I haven't got my Times Union yet, but when I looked for it, I noticed the moon through a bit of haze in the sky.  Nice to see it's still there.  So, without the paper to read yet, I checked my e mail & what do I see on the front page of the New York Times?  A story from Orange Park, Florida centered on the fight @ teaching evolution versus creationism & the problems trying to teach evolution in this state when so many students come to school already accepting the literal interpretation of the creation from the Bible.

The story focuses on the efforts of David Campbell, a science teacher at Ridgeview high School.  Some of you may know him or know of him & his efforts to advance science, critical thinking & the scientific process in the schools.  From what I've read about his efforts in this state, is has been an up hill battle all the way.

Here's a good one kids.  It's been a slow day & the CUBS aren't on TV, so I've been surfing the favorites on the computer.  Came across this on Science Daily.  It has to do with science & evolution.  Not to worry.  Uncle Rich is going for the purely scientific nature of the information, so no politics or religion.

It seems that a man by the name of Tim Weaver, an anthropologist from UC Davis, "adds evidence that CHANCE, rather than natural selection, best explains why the skulls of modern humans & ancient Neanderthals evolved differently.  The findings may alter how anthropologists think about human evolution."

Ok, this would be a good spot for any opinions on the Big Bang Show.  I thought in general, it was pretty good, easy to understand & well presented.  I was going to complain that while it had broad, interesting topics, it was lacking in depth.  But then I remembered that it was geared for a general audience whose population, for the most part, isn't scientifically adept.  That's not a slur, just a reflection of statistics.

For those of you who might wish to learn more, I can recommend a pretty good book.  "1001 Things Everyone Should Know About the Universe," William A. Gutsch, Jr., Ph.D. by Broadway Books.  It covers a ton of stuff, goes into some detail, keeps the scientific terminology on an understandable level & is entertaining as well as informative.  JATFUR.

Came across an article in the Smithsonian that made my brain freeze & hit a wall.  My science background consists of general science back in high school when we still wrote on slate tablets.  But there are things scientific that on one level sound like common sense & we understand easily.  Kick it up a notch or two & we can accept it in a general way even if we don't know the specific mechanics involved.  Light waves bending in the presence of a gravitational mass is one example.  Einstein predicted it in one of his theories & it was proven by an eclipse in 1929, I think.  But this one just blew me away.