Category Archives: Science

Conservative Intellectuals, and the Wrong Way to Do Science

Posted on Thursday 24 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich collects comments from conservative intellectuals about the Trump administration; Reich summarizes ten points that demonstrates Trump’s ineptitude and incompetence; Similarly, Salon’s Brian Karem on how Trump has turned the White House into a joke; How RFK Jr.’s approach … Continue reading →

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The Most Sublime Moment in Classical Music

Posted on Saturday 19 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Asimov on Heinlein, about libertarianism; More about “viewpoint diversity” in science, and how scientists react; About another stupidly doctored photo by Trump, to prove something to his dimwitted followers; How the history Trump wants to erase hold the answer to … Continue reading →

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In a Sense, It’s All About Tribal Conformity

Posted on Thursday 10 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s deep thought about religion and conformity; How US scientists have withdrawn their names from a scientific paper about evolution, for fear of reprisal — one of them coincidentally mentioned in a piece posted yesterday; Short items about Trump’s lapel … Continue reading →

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Daughter of Dispatches from Reality

Posted on Wednesday 9 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Two pieces today: about the complexity of the universe, and the current cosmological crisis. – – – Quanta is one of those magazine/websites that, like Big Think and Nautilus and perhaps Noema and no doubt others, cover general concepts in … Continue reading →

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Is Science Partisan? How Could It Not Be?

Posted on Wednesday 19 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The astronauts have returned, and Trump and Musk lie about what actually happened; The idea of blaming Mexico for the overdose epidemic is wrong, and will not work; Short items about eating less, globalism, cutting aid to the poor to … Continue reading →

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Dispatches from Reality

Posted on Saturday 15 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Taking a day off from political posts, for posts about reality. Or at least, the exploration of reality. Mathematicians solve a 125-year-old problem, perhaps; OnlySky’s Dale McGowan about the evolutionary mismatch between the world we evolved in, and the modern … Continue reading →

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Tyson & Walker, TO INFINITY AND BEYOND

Posted on Saturday 8 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Lindsey Nyx Walker Subtitled “A Journey of Cosmic Discovery” (National Geographic, Sep. 2023, 319pp, including 16pp acknowledgements, further reading, illustrations credits, and index.) This is literally a heavier-than-usual book that is nevertheless a light-weight read (even … Continue reading →

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Conservatives Espouse Principles, But Behave Very Differently

Posted on Thursday 27 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

With an example of a Florida Attorney General suing Target for selling products the MAGA folks find objectionable; what happened to free enterprise? Let the market figure it out! Our Orwellian fascist government wants to eliminate past social media posts … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins: THE MAGIC OF REALITY

Posted on Friday 14 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: How We Know What’s Really True Illustrated by Dave McKean (Free Press, Oct. 2011, 271pp, including 6p of index and acknowledgements) When I was organizing my nonfiction books notes and posts last December, I was surprised that I had … Continue reading →

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Elizabeth Kolbert, H IS FOR HOPE

Posted on Saturday 8 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Climate Change from A to Z” Illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook (Ten Speed Press, 159pp, c2023, published March 2024) <Amazon> This is a book I bought on the basis of the author’s name (I quite admired her book of a … Continue reading →

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