Category Archives: Science

Rainbows and the Afterlife

Posted on Wednesday 14 May 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Notes for an idea. Had thought the other day to pursue the metaphor about human life being a transient state of a vast collection of molecules that will eventually collapse and disperse, leaving nothing behind, rather analogous to the way … Continue reading →

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Goonan Quotes

Posted on Sunday 4 May 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Like the meaty interview with Joan Slonczewski a couple months ago, Locus Magazine’s May interview with Kathleen Ann Goonan, of which I posted excerpts this afternoon, has several passages of particular interest to my theme here. About science fiction: At … Continue reading →

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Amateur Astronomy and Cultural Mythology

Posted on Saturday 3 May 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Since my post the other day about the my trigger to amateur astronomy in my youth, a grade-school textbook called A Dipper Full of Stars, I picked up the copy of that book I bought for a few dollars over … Continue reading →

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The Range of Human Perception

Posted on Tuesday 29 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Alternet, Chris Mooney: Why Right-Wingers Think the Way They Do: The Fascinating Psychological Origins of Political Ideology These experiments suggest that conservatives actually do live in a world that is more scary and threatening, at least as they perceive it. … Continue reading →

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Kalam Cosmological Argument

Posted on Tuesday 22 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

The Kalam Cosmological Argument is one of the traditional, philosophical, arguments for the existence of God. The idea is that everything must have a beginning; therefore the universe must have a beginning, therefore God. (Which those who use this argument … Continue reading →

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The Reality of Sexuality

Posted on Tuesday 22 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

From a few days ago, this post by Andrew Sullivan, on his blog, about a recent discovery of a particularly weird animal sexuality. The more we learn about nature, the more the notion that the universe reflects a cosmic version … Continue reading →

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Interesting Links This Weekend

Posted on Sunday 13 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

There’s *another* great science show running [in addition to “Cosmos”], “Your Inner Fish”, based on the book by Neil Shubin, which explores the physiological resemblances among animals, from fishies to humans, that are of course one of the many lines … Continue reading →

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Mind/Brain and Mathematical Intelligence

Posted on Saturday 12 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Several interesting links today to articles I’ve not yet had a chance to read, but I’ll defer those to note this review in Entertainment Weekly of a book called Struck by Genius by Jason Padgett (and Maureen Seaberg… probably the … Continue reading →

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The Need to Feel Special

Posted on Wednesday 9 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

The scientific kerfuffle of the past couple days has been about a documentary supporting geocentrism (as if the creationists are not crazy enough), the idea that the Earth is the center of the universe, immovable, and that the sun and … Continue reading →

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Creation Myths

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

The TV series Cosmos has gotten some flack from Christian conservatives who think their creationist ideas are being dissed. In a science show! This article at AlterNet details the many creation myths that Cosmos is not covering. The critics complaining … Continue reading →

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