Level of Important Greenhouse Gas has Stopped Growing

Seeded on Mon Nov 20, 2006 4:17 PM EST (today.uci.edu)

"Scientists at UC Irvine have determined that levels of atmospheric methane – an influential greenhouse gas – have stayed nearly flat for the past seven years, which follows a rise that spanned at least two decades.

global-warming, environment, science, methane, environmentalism, greehouse-gas

Robot Adapts to Injury

Seeded on Thu Nov 16, 2006 2:59 PM EST (Cornell University)

This four-legged robot is not preprogrammed to walk. Like a newborn animal it explores itself and learns to use its limbs to move. When a leg is damaged, it repeats the process and works out a new method of locomotion.

robots, science, consciousness, ai, artifical-intelligence

In Defense of Dawkins

Mon Oct 23, 2006 3:56 PM EDT

There are a variety of arguments for the existence of God, but the major three are: Ontological: God is perfect and it is more perfect for God to exist than not exist. Therefore God exists. Ultimate: Everything must have a cause. God is the first cause.

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evolution, religion, science, god, dawkins, creationism, philosophy, creation

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Refuting the Creationists

Wed Aug 9, 2006 8:04 PM EDT

A Creationist website, Answers in Genesis, has presented several arguments to "prove" that the Earth is 6,000 years old and therefore that Creationism is more accurate than evolution.

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evolution, science, fossils, creationism, creation, old-earth, young-earth

What I Did On My Summer Vacation - Ann Coulter

Seeded on Wed Aug 2, 2006 7:48 PM EDT (Yahoo! News)

Being on a book tour also means answering questions such as the following, which were left out of a Baltimore Sun article due to length. I hope you enjoy my responses, and look for me in fine bookstores everywhere this summer.

democrats, politics, republicans, liberal, coulter, ann-coulter, godless

Coulter: More Of John Kerry's Retroactive Campaign Promises

Seeded on Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:15 PM EDT (Yahoo! News)

After making the capture of Osama bin Laden their sole objective in the war on terrorism, now Democrats expect us to believe they would have been fighting every other Muslim jihadist on the planet like mad -- just not one of the main sponsors of Islamic terrorism, Saddam H …

lebanon, democrats, politics, republicans, coulter, war-on-terror, hezbollah

Connecting sound and meaning in words

Seeded on Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:08 PM EDT (Cornell University)

"What we have shown is that the sound of a word can tell us something about how it is used," said Morten Christiansen, associate professor of psychology at Cornell.

science, language, semantics, psychology, phonology

Democracy in Taxes

Thu Jul 6, 2006 2:49 PM EDT

Taxes seem to be an inescapable evil of life. Everyone seems to hate them, and most people would prefer to not pay them. This persistent opposition to taxation suggests that there may a problem in our approach. Are taxes really that bad? And could they be fixed?

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taxes, politics, corruption, economics, democracy, irs, capitalism, tax-reform, public-good

China's First MBA Monks

Seeded on Sun Jul 2, 2006 2:20 PM EDT (chinanews.cn)

China's first "MBA training course for monks" held a graduation ceremony at the Antai College of Economics & Management of Shanghai Jiao Tong University on June 28.

china, odd-news, mba, monks

Palestine Chronicle - John Chuckman: Why American Liberalism is Impossible

Seeded on Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:55 PM EDT (palestinechronicle.com)

"America has become a very conservative country since the era of the New Deal, but that is only what was to be expected. Except for a brief time during the New Deal, liberalism has almost no place in America's history. That history is one of ruthless expansion and conquest.

israel, politics, war, military, liberal, war-on-terror, conservative, conservatism, liberalism

Lethal Inhalers Can Double Death Rates

Seeded on Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:16 PM EDT (Cornell University)

A new analysis that compares two common inhalers for patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) finds that one reduces respiratory-related hospitalizations and respiratory deaths, but the other -- which is prescribed in the majority of cases -- increases …

health, inhalers, chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease, copd, beta-agonist

Politics is Irrational

Seeded on Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:26 PM EDT (Sciam)

No matter the issue under discussion, both sides are equally convinced that the evidence overwhelmingly supports their position.

politics, bias, neurology

An Agnostic's Defense

Sun Jun 25, 2006 6:40 PM EDT

I. Either/Or

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religion, god, atheism, understanding, theism, dialogue, agnosticism

Second-Wave Feminism: Two Movements in One

Fri Jun 23, 2006 2:30 PM EDT

Most of the time, Feminism is referred to as if it were a single, monolithic movement. This approach ignores a lot of the diversity within any political movement, but is especially inappropriate in dealing with Feminism.

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women, politics, men, feminism, feminist, feminist-movement, radical-feminism, gender-role

Evidence of a Rare Type of Macroevolution

Seeded on Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:43 PM EDT (Cornell University)

"Understanding how animals become different species, a process known as speciation, is a major concern in understanding evolution. Arnegard's fish may allow researchers to test if a specific type of speciation is possible.

evolution, science, speciation, macroevolution

What is a Nation?

Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:30 PM EDT

The question of what constitutes a nation is especially important in understanding the which groups should have their own nation. It has applications in final structure of Iraq (one nation - or three?), the unification of Europe, and any other region where the borders are in flux.

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politics, nation, political-science, nationality

Paradox and Consciousness

Sat Jun 17, 2006 2:43 PM EDT

A rather unlikely method of studying consciousness has developed from theoretical mathematics and Godel's Theorem. Godel's Theorem is kind of complicated and will require familiarity with the following five terms to make any sense:

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science, math, computers, artificial-intelligence, philosophy

InstaRant: Get Your Opinion on Gay Marriage

Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:32 PM EDT

In a polarized debate like gay marriage, many people are unsure of where they stand. Please use this handy survey to determine what you should yell about and what objections you should ignore.

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us-news