Meltdown of the EPA

Meltdown of the EPA (HT: The Intersection). I was pretty critical of the EPA under Clinton but what’s happened under Bush on so many things is horrific. He’s replaced political debate with fixing the science. I think on many issues (including global warming) there’s a big valid political disagreement about what to [...]

Global Warming Doubters

Nice discussion from January over at Dot Earth about scientists who are concerned about global warming. The article is about the American Geophysical Union statement on global warming. But in the comments they address the supposed experts on that supposed Senate report about climate skeptics that has been making the rounds. One [...]

Choosing Before Awareness of Choosing

Chris over at Mixing Memory has up a great post about fMRI images and predicting behavior. It’s well worth reading if you’re familiar with the old Libet study where the brain decides a choice before we’re aware of making the choice. That study was often quoted but ended up being problematic as it [...]

Cognitive Enhancers

Everyone is talking about Nature’s new story on cognitive enhancers. Basically a study of scientists who had used drugs to enhance mental performance.
One in five respondents said they had used drugs for non-medical reasons to stimulate their focus, concentration or memory. Use did not differ greatly across age-groups (see line graph, right), which will [...]

Block Universes, Free Will, and Alternative Possibilities

OK, I’m pretty rusty on my free will debate. It’s been over a year since I’ve really had the opportunity to read much on free will. So let me add the caveat that this post is partially to help get me back into the flow of things. That caveat in place let [...]

Happy Pi Day

It’s π day today. Science Friday had a show on it. There’s even a π day web site. I wish I’d known about it earlier. I could have gone out and bought some pies.
As a coincidence it’s also Einstein’s Birthday. (14 March 1879) It’s too late [...]

Who’s the Greenest of Them All?

You might be surprised. New Scientist this week has an interesting story about Global Warming and the Presidential Election. It’s behind a subscription wall but I’ll quote a bit below. Contrary to what you might expect (and the fairly partisan rhetoric coming from places like Science Blogs) they say that,

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