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Delicate Arch at night; credit: Astronomy.com Introduction In 1950, while having lunch with colleagues Edward Teller and Herbert York, who were chatting about a recent cartoon in the New Yorker depicting aliens, physicist Enrico Fermi suddenly blurted out, “Where is everybody?,” a question now known as Fermi’s paradox. This article presents background on Fermi’s Continue reading Where are the extraterrestrials? Fermi’s paradox, diversity and the origin of life Credit: Wikimedia commons Evolution as a “theory” One of the most common misconceptions in the public scientific arena is that evolution is “just a theory.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary lists several definitions for the word “theory” [Merriam2009]. The two that are the most relevant here are: (a) “a plausible or scientifically acceptable general principle or Continue reading What is the evidence for evolution? RNA (on left) compared with DNA (on right); courtesy Wikimedia The abiogenesis problem Exactly how life first emerged on Earth (the “abiogenesis” problem) remains a critical unsolved question in biology. Was it inevitable, given a favorable environment, or was it a fantastically improbable event? All we know for sure is that it occurred at Continue reading The origin of life in an inflationary universe The Covid-19 virus (courtesy U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention) A pandemic is upon us As this is being written (April 2020), the entire world is gripped in the throes of the rapidly spreading and deadly Covid-19 pandemic. International travel has been greatly curtailed worldwide; many businesses, large and small, have shut their Continue reading Pseudoscience in the age of Coronavirus An age of unparalleled progress Though many do not recognize the fact, behind the disturbing headlines that dominate the news today, scientific progress marches forward, unabated and undiminished. Just within the past 100 years, researchers have discovered the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and the standard model; unraveled the structure of DNA; sequenced the Continue reading Why are people embracing astrology in an age of science? Credit: IPCC The facts of climate change At this point in time, the basic facts of climate change are not disputable in the least. Careful planet-wide observations by NASA and others have confirmed that 2018 was the fourth-warmest year in recorded history. The only warmer years were 2016, 2017 and 2015, respectively, and 18 Continue reading The scientific debate is over: it is time to act on climate change The TRAPPIST-1 system of exoplanets, approximately 40 light-years away Exoplanets galore As of the present date (August 2019), more than 4000 exoplanets have been discovered orbiting other stars, and by the time you read this even more will have been logged. Several hundred exoplanets were announced in a July 2019 paper (although these await Continue reading How many habitable exoplanets are there, really? Introduction Right off, it may not sound like pi, climate change denial and young-Earth creationism have much in common. In fact, there is an important connection. Here is some background. Credit: Michele Vallisneri, NASA JPL Computing pi Pi = 3.1415926535…, namely the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter, has fascinated Continue reading Pi, climate change denial and creationism Introduction Both creationist and intelligent design writers assert that there are large gaps in the fossil record, and that the conventional scientific picture of a gradual evolution is a myth. To a certain extent, this is true: the fossil record includes transitions that appear abrupt. In 1972, paleontologists Niles Edgredge and Stephen Jay Gould published Continue reading Does the punctuated equilibrium theory refute evolution? Credit: Templeton Foundation The Templeton Foundation has announced that Marcelo Gleiser, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist at Dartmouth University in New Hampshire, USA, has been awarded the 2019 Templeton Prize. The Templeton Prize, which includes a 1.1 million pound stipend, is awarded each year to a person “who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming Continue reading Marcelo Gleiser wins Templeton Prize |
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