Science & Society

Abu Hamza addressing worshippers in London under police observation. Stefan Rousseau/PA By Matthew Francis, Lancaster University Abu Hamza has been sentenced to life in a US prison, after being found guilty of 11 charges of terrorism and kidnapping. The ruling was handed down as events unfolded in France, once again putting his role in inspiring jihadist sympathizers in the spotlight. British security services have alleged that Cherif Kouachi, one of the Charlie Hebdo accused, was mentored by Djamel Beghal who himself had been based at Hamza’s Finsbury Park Mosque in London. This association…

Air Asia 8501 - Tail Section Raised The tail section of Air Asia 8501 has now been raised.  Detik News reports that Army Commander General Moeldoko cannot confirm whether the FDR or black box is still in the tail section. The AirAsia QZ8501 tail section was successfully recovered to the ship Crest Onyx, Saturday (01/10/2015). Detik News observers are at the site, the pieces are placed on the deck of the ship. Some divers appear to be members of the  inspection team.The plan is that the tail section will be taken to Pangkalan Bun for the purposes of an investigation by the NTSC. Tail…

Social attitudes are reinforcing the negative beliefs towards people who self harm, according to an analysis of the life stories of people who self-harm and who were also diagnosed with a personality disorder revealed that several spoke of being refused pain relief while being sutured by hospital staff. Others had met staff who thought they were immune to pain because they self-harmed. An estimated 5% of adults have self-harmed with the aim of relieving psychological distress. The was carried out by Dr. Jane Simpson from Lancaster University with Charlotte Morris, Mark Sampson and Frank…

David Pope's cartoon posted on Twitter. David Pope By Robert Phiddian, Flinders University Cartoonists and satirists in “the West” are confronted with the risks of their expressive freedom today as a consequence of the assassinations at Charlie Hebdo in Paris. This is how illiberal authoritarians respond to satire – not with laughter, shamelessness or low-grade malice, but with violence. It can be an easy life as a cartoonist in places with freeish presses. As long as you are funny, you get to criticize the powerful with something close to impunity. In Iran, or North Korea, or Myanmar it is…

The mythology among the people who really care about what is happening on the left or the right is that the people opposite them are uneducated and being exploited by elites. The opposite is true: Polarized people tend to be highly educated. Sorry, Republicans, those Democrats did not register for the wrong party because they are dumb. and sorry, MSNBC viewers, Rush Limbaugh is one of the smartest people in America, whether you like his show or not.  But that means some polarization is good. An educated public is a crucial element to a democratic society and educated people will have…

To Tolkien, the machine represents a means to attain power over others. His orcs -- deformed and ugly creatures, whose hands are sometimes replaced with weapons -- embody this lust for power. LOTR Wikia By Richard Gunderman, Indiana University-Purdue University My grandfather was a carpenter, and I don’t think he ever developed much of a sense of trust in machines. I remember him laboring away at our home one summer, transforming our screened-in porch into a dining room. He could drive a nail through a 2x4 with a single blow, a skill I still haven’t mastered. He simply loved making things,…

Air Asia 8501 - Some Factual Information "Based on the available data regarding the location of the lost aircraft, weather is a factor in the triggering of the incident. The most likely weather phenomenon is cooling air which can cause engine damage due to icing. This is just one of the possibilities that arise based on the analysis of available meteorological data, and is not a final decision about the cause of the incident."From the BMKG weather report, in full below. Facts and Fiction Whenever there is a major air incident rumours and guesses tend to fly around the world faster than facts…

I think it's time for a little snow - C.P.Snow, that is.   Charles Percy Snow was an English physical chemist, novelist and civil servant. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Technology from 1964 to 1966.  He presented the 1959 Rede Lecture in which he made a statement about science which was picked up by the contemporary media.  A good many times I have been present at gatherings of people who, by the standards of the traditional culture, are thought highly educated and who have with considerable gusto been expressing their incredulity at the illiteracy of…

Ready-to-eat desserts such as cakes, cookies, pies, doughnuts, and pastries add a significant amount of energy, sugar, and saturated fat to Americans' diets, making them a strategic target for cultural pundits and the scholars who arm them with epidemiological papers looking to lay blame for obesity. But fast food portion sizes have not gone up since 1996, so those can't be blamed, and a new study finds that people are buying a lot fewer cakes and pies. It may be time to think about individual responsibility and stop declaring war on wheat, sugar or whatever will be the fad in 2015. Scholars…

2014: the year crystallography went mainstream. CSIRO, CC BY-SA By Mark Lorch, University of Hull ’Tis the season for listicles rounding up the stories of the year. So with, the authority vested in me, here is a selection of six top, bottom and forgotten science stories of 2014. Bounciest landing: Rosetta The Rosetta drama reached fever pitch in November with the descent of Philae to the surface of a comet. But let’s not forget the slow build to the plot, starting with a launch back in 2004 setting Rosetta on a path that involved four gravitational “slingshots” around Earth and Mars, three…