It’s incredible how different we all are . . .

Here's how photographer Timothy Allen sums up his two year trip to the far corners of the world in order to capture images for the BBC series Human Planet:

It's incredible how different we all are, but yet we share roughly the same hopes and dreams for life. We're essentially looking for a roof over our head, looking to find a mate in life and feeding ourselves and looking after our offspring, and that's about it, really.

Allen's quote brings to mind Donald Brown's work on the incredible sameness of all human animals. But, as Allen points out, our cultures are also dramatically different from one another. Now please do yourself the supreme favor of clicking on this link to view a sampling of Allen's exquisite photography for Human Planet. His slide show includes some of the most memorable photos I've ever seen. You can read through the live chat that the show's team had earlier tonight, and please do consider a visit to Allen's own site. And here's a bit of video from the series, a segment dealing with the "last free people on the planet."

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Excellent websites present the basics of evolution and the scientific method

The University of California Museum of Paleontology and the National Center for Science Education have offered an excellent remedy to the increasingly vocal anti-science chorus one hears in the United States. This remedy is a website called "Understanding Evolution." The site is a link-rich resource for both teachers and for the general public. From the About page:

Understanding Evolution is a non-commercial, education website, teaching the science and history of evolutionary biology. This site is here to help you understand what evolution is, how it works, how it factors into your life, how research in evolutionary biology is performed, and how ideas in this area have changed over time.
Consider these pages to get you started: "What is the evidence for evolution" and "Misconceptions about natural selection and adaptation." And why stop at evolution while you're in the learning mood? Why not also explore the scientific method at a related site titled "Understanding Science." As was the case with "Understanding Evolution," "Understand Science" was produced by the UC Museum of Paleontology of the University of California at Berkeley, in collaboration with a diverse group of scientists and teachers, and was funded by the National Science Foundation. Here's an excerpt from the About page:
The mission of Understanding Science is to provide a fun, accessible, and free resource that accurately communicates what science is and how it really works. The process of science is exciting, but standard explanations often miss its dynamic nature. Science affects us all everyday, but people often feel cut off from science. Science is an intensely human endeavor, but many portrayals gloss over the passion, curiosity, and even rivalries and pitfalls that characterize all human ventures. Understanding Science gives users an inside look at the general principles, methods, and motivations that underlie all of science.
At this site, you'll find answers to such questions as "What is science?" and "Why science matters." At this site, readers can also access information "correcting misconceptions" about science and teachers have access to numerous resources. [caption id="attachment_16827" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Image by Zabiello at dreamstime (with permission)"][/caption] Both of these sites are both well-written and well-designed. You might want to keep these links handy for those increasingly frequent occasions when you hear evolution-ignorant and science-ignorant folks spout off the that the earth is 6,000 years old or that "evolution claims that people came from monkeys."

Continue ReadingExcellent websites present the basics of evolution and the scientific method

Useful fragile accidents

I have long struggled to understand how it is that otherwise intelligent adults can make religious claims that make no sense at all. For instance, otherwise intelligent people will claim that Jesus walked on water, or that Mary had a baby even though she was a virgin. These claims have no factual basis. To my ears, these are ludicrous claims. How is it that the human intellect allows these things to be uttered? Well, perhaps the intellect barely tolerates this. The human intellect is a relatively weak Johnny-come-lately to our cognitive apparatus. What really drives our decision-making is a big elephant underneath a tiny lawyer. Each of us is a tiny lawyer riding a big elephant. It turns out, however, that the elephant has almost irresistible power to reach up and invade the lawyer's ability to articulate. It takes great training to resist the elephant and to maintain disciplined abstract self-critical thought.  When we speak words, then, it is rarely the lawyer in full command of the mouth. That elephant is smart in the sense that it was evolutionarily honed over many millions of years to allow us to survive; most of those years, we survived even though we were not even conscious. And that elephant is still powerful, compelling decision-making based upon millions of years of trial and error. And the intellect? We give it far too much credit, even though this is where humans can sometimes shine above and beyond the other animals. After all, other animals cannot calculate a 15% tip, and they cannot figure out how to invent medicines or discover DNA. [More . . . ]

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The most poetic thing in the universe

Lawrence Krauss discusses the most poetic thing he knows about the universe:

The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.

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Website aimed at the lack of knowledge about Christianity

Truth Saves, a site designed by Joseph R. Hanson, is "not a website against Christianity." Rather, it is against the lack of knowledge about Christianity."

This site is not against religion, most religions are beautiful and helpful. This site is only against dogmatic systems. Christianity happens to a religion AND a dogma, it is both a system of beliefs and a system of claims. It is not the religious side of Christianity that this site is concerned about.
Truth Saves is an upbeat site filled with easily digested information about the Bible, skepticism and science (here's the page on "evolution"). Here's the site's motto: "It's time we all become more honest and knowledgeable about Christianity and its claims." If you know a Christian who is starting to ask skeptical questions, Truth Saves is an easily accessible place to send him/her.

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