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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 Introduction Both creationist and intelligent design writers assert that science has yet to understand the origin of life, and further claim that this is a fatal flaw in evolutionary theory [Behe1996; Dembski1998]. More importantly, creationist-minded members of the public have, in numerous cases, attempted to capitalize on this perceived weakness to persuade school boards and Continue reading When did life start on Earth? Top 500 supercomputer performance (orange = #1, blue = #500, green = sum) Postmodern denials of scientific progress The fact that scientific research has made immense progress over the past years, decades and centuries is taken for granted among professional scientists and most of the lay public as well. But there are others, from Continue reading Is scientific progress real? Credit: NASA The great silence As we have explained in previous Math Scholar blogs (see, for example, MS1 and MS2), the perplexing question why the heavens are silent even though, from all evidence, the universe is teeming with potentially habitable exoplanets, continues to perplex and fascinate scientists. It is one of the most significant Continue reading New books and articles on the “great silence” Credit: Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics String theory, fine tuning and the multiverse String theory is the name for the theory of mathematical physics which proposes that physical reality is based on exceedingly small “strings” and “branes,” embedded in 10- or 11-dimensional space. String theory has been proposed as the long-sought “theory of everything,” Continue reading Does the string theory multiverse really exist? Distant galaxies magnified by a gravitational lens Fermi’s paradox As we have discussed on this forum before (see, for example, previous Math Scholar blog), Fermi’s paradox looms as one of the most profound and puzzling conundrums of science: Given that the universe is presumed to be teeming with intelligent life and technological civilizations, why Continue reading Fermi’s paradox and the Copernican principle |
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