Endagered in the Appalachians

Image Credit: Logical Science

Scientific American posted this article today regarding the relationship between coal mining, environmentalists, and endangered species.  The Appalachian Mountains are home to an incredible amount of animals, many of which are endangered.  However, legal negotiations between coal mining companies and environmentalists are allowing for the destruction of these endangered species.

You can read the article from SciAm for all the info on exactly what’s happening, but I’m using this post to give some more insight into the issue from a person living in the heart of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

Francis Collins Nominated To Head NIH

On Wednesday, July 8th, 2009, President Barack Obama announced that he would nominate geneticist Francis Collins as head of the National Institutes of Health.

“Dr. Collins is one of the top scientists in the world,” said Mr. Obama.  “His groundbreaking work has changed the very ways we consider our health and examine disease. I look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead.”

From Collins’ well known credentials, to his equally well known spiritual side, it is clear President Obama has made a wise decision in allowing Collins this opportunity.

Same-Sex Marriage

Over the past few months, I’ve been excited to see that many people are standing up and supporting same-sex marriage.  With the addition of a few states finally legalizing it, it certainly helped the morale of those of us who are staunch supporters of the issue.  But with the constantly turning tables on Proposition 8 in California, rough patches in this quest for equality and acceptance are hard and troubling.

5 Misconceptions About Evolution

A large part of the reason why Creationist arguments against evolution can sound so persuasive is because they don’t address evolution, but rather argue against a set of misunderstandings that people are right to consider ludicrous. The Creationists wrongly believe that their understanding of evolution is what the theory of evolution really says, and declare evolution banished. In fact, they haven’t even addressed the topic of evolution. (The situation isn’t helped by poor science education generally. Even most beginning college biology students don’t understand the theory of evolution.)

The five propositions below seem to be the most common misconceptions based on a Creationist straw-man version of evolution. If you hear anyone making any of them, chances are excellent that they don’t know enough about the real theory of evolution to make informed opinions about it.

• Evolution has never been observed.
• Evolution violates the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
• There are no transitional fossils.
• The theory of evolution says that life originated, and evolution proceeds, by random chance.
• Evolution is only a theory; it hasn’t been proved.

Anti Same-Sex Marriage Arguments Refuted

So being from an area smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt, I’ve heard just about every argument against same-sex marriage you can think of.  But one in particular repeates itself in every debate, and arguably it is the fundamental aspect that all other anti same-sex marriage arguments are based upon.  This post will focus on the argument that homosexuality is not a choice and is against nature.

Abortion and the Bible

From the pews of my church I often have to resist the urge to laugh at the atrocities that spew from so called “God-called ministers.”  Resisting another urge to stand up and refute their absence of logic and research, I often reply to their statements in my head and save the rant for a blog post, which is what I’ve done today.

Religion and Morality

If one is religious person, or know someone who is, there is a good chance that one defines morals by the doctrine specific to the particular religion one follows. Many people view this as a perfectly fine way of defining moral beliefs, and it is evident in the political world especially. Issues such as same-sex marriage, abortion, and the death penalty are issues that all have been affected by the religious beliefs of those who rise in support or opposition to them.

This post shall center around two main ideas.

1) Is religion an acceptable platform for moral dictation?

2) Are political positions formed on the basis of religious doctrine valid positions?

Gun Control

In this post, I want to address several questions about gun control.  Is it a deterrent for crime?  Is it a permissible form of protection by our government?  Where exactly should it be implemented and how?  These are all questions that need to be answered, not just from me, but from a variety of sources, before any unanimous consensus can be reached.  I have done quite a bit of research on this topic, but I want this post to primarily be an open discussion among readers of this blog.  I feel that this is a more effective way to obtain information and share it with one another.  However, I shall incorporate, along with my opinions, statistics into this post that will hopefully raise some awareness about both sides of this issue.

Blocking Sound Using Holes/New Fuel Information

When one is awoken by his/her neighbors at night by their television or loud conversations, one may be surprised to know that a few holes drilled through a wall can reduce that sound volume.

Polytechnic University of Valencia’s Francisco Meseguer and his colleagues placed a series of 20-centimeter-thick aluminum plates in a tank of water and found that perforated plates could diminish ultrasound waves passing through by up to another 10 decibels as compared with solid plates.

Congrats Obama

Congratulations Barack Obama!  And congrats to John McCain for a very good run.  Both candidates deserve all of our resepect.  I will leave this post as an open discussion about this historic election, but here is what is coming up in the next few days:

Tomorrow:  Cryonics – The Future of Science

Friday:  What the Constitution Says about Gay Rights

Saturday:  Politics Blog unveiled