Science & Society
Like about four years ago, the name of Grigoriy Yakovlevich (Grisha) Perelman is again in the mass-media headlines all around the world.
Grisha is a prominent mathematician, who was able to solve one of the most perplexed mathematical problems of the last two centuries: he had managed to prove the Poincaré conjecture.
In 2006 he was awarded the prestigious Fields Medal, but had voluntarily and expressly refused to accept it.Most recently, he has been awarded the not less prestigious Clay Millenium Prize, but is expected to reject this award as well.
Grisha has practically torn himself apart…
It's that time of year again... Geek Pop 2010! What is Geek Pop, you may ask?
From the website:
"Geek Pop is a free online music festival featuring artists inspired by science. Every year, we bring together musicians from around the globe in a gleeful celebration of geek culture. You can find all the performances at the website or download them and listen to them at your leisure.
Geek Pop first flung open its virtual gates to the world in 2008. Back then, we didn’t have a festival site of our own and had to make do with a corner of the Null Hypothesis site. Nevertheless, Geek Pop ‘08 was in…
BIL is a fringe unconference that grew out of people trying to gatecrash TED conferences. BIL UK 2010 is scheduled to be held at Oxford on the weekend after TED, thereby giving some people the opportunity to sneak into TED Global anyway. There are also BIL conferences scheduled in the US for 2010.
How much science will there be? Judging by the videos on the BIL website, quite a lot, but as always it will depend on you, the organisers and whoever else turns up. "BIL is an ad-hoc conference for people changing the world in big ways. It's a place for passionate people to come together to…
ATLAS is a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Starting in late 2009/2010, the ATLAS detector will search for new discoveries in the head-on collisions of protons of extraordinarily high energy. ATLAS will learn about the basic forces that have shaped our Universe since the beginning of time and that will determine its fate. Among the possible unknowns are the origin of mass, extra dimensions of space, unification of fundamental forces, and evidencefor dark matter candidates in the Universe.
ATLAS also has an online store! Amid the usual apparel is an original T…
Samshive |
One of the fundamental assumptions underlying the human quest for knowledge is that we can somehow logically answer questions we have about anything. This is a very pragmatic assumption and has given rise to the amazing and often destructive spectacles that we as a species have developed, but please be aware that this assumption is just that – an assumption.
To appreciate the true significance of how foundational this assumption is, please consider the following. In our modern world, mathematics lies at the foundation of everything. Physics relies on it, which in turn provides the…
One thing that scientists and politicians have in common is the need to beg: the former beg for funds while the latter beg for votes. Britain will soon have an election so this is the time for the politicians to beg to both scientists and non-scientists. So what's their pitch?
The British Science Association asked the science spokesperson of each major political party to give their best spin on the issue of science and the public; the results were published in this month's issue of People&Science. “I am optimistic for the future of science.” Swoons Adam Afriyie, for the Conservatives. “…
Aitch |
A Quest for Truth
Must science be focused on seeking the truth in everything?I mean, pretty much anything worth reading about science, is an initial theory, with perhaps a few pointers as to the failure of current theories to cover the espoused angle or perspective of the author's ideasOften, if any idea appeals, people will try to verify the theory....to find the truth in itOnce sufficient tests have been made, comparisons are made, to find the truth in itPeer reviewers will examine data, methodology, causes of discrepancy, error bars, and plain illogicality, or wrong thinking, to find the…
The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center will welcome His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to its public grand-opening celebration Saturday-Sunday, May 15-16.
UW-Madison neuroscientist Richard Davidson established the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) to scientifically determine how healthy qualities of mind develop and to investigate interventions to cultivate those qualities in children and adults.
The Dalai Lama will join Davidson in a public dialogue at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 16, at Madison's Overture Center for the Arts…
Update: for those who aren't familiar with creationist propaganda, some
of them like to blame
all of the evils of the world upon Darwin. These include racism,
fascism, and communism/Stalinism. All of those comparisons are silly,
but the last one seems really odd because communism was diametrically
opposed to "social darwinism", which had nothing to do with Darwin
either. The Russians always had problems with the role of intra-species
conflict that was central to Darwin's theory, derived from Malthus'
ideas; many saw it as English
ideological imposition on science. The Soviet Union even went…
Tree |
I've read 3 Bibles cover to cover, and, I am a science addict.I hear often about Creation verses Evolution, Religions seeking to disprove Evolution, and Evolution seeming to represent disproving creation. I would like give some time (though not equal in the stated environment) to discus a third possibility, that both, are describing the truth. So I would like to introduce a hypothesis inclusive of both, to post the hypothesis, with evidence that supports it, and let that stand on its own merit. While leaving it open for discussion, of one opposing the other, please post such…