Paul Braterman is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Glasgow University, and former Regents Professor at the University of North Texas. His research has involved chemistry related to conditions on the early Earth and to the origins of life, and collaborations with Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Sandia National Laboratories, and NASA’s Astrobiology Institute. His earlier book, From Stars to Stalagmites, discusses aspects of chemistry in their historical and everyday contexts, and he is now working on a book exploring the links between creationism, climate change denial, conspiracy theories, and right-wing politics. Email: [email protected]; contactable at @[email protected]
by Paul Braterman Bullshit is sticky, and by trying to stamp on it you spread it. Because its appeal is directly to the emotions, rational critique is beside the point, while virtuous outrage is as effective as support in sending it viral. The term bullshit was introduced in its current sense by the philosopher Harry…
by Paul Braterman Karl Popper More recent strata lie on top of older strata, except when they lie beneath them. Radiometric dates obtained by different methods always agree, except when they differ. And the planets in their courses obey Newton's laws of gravity and motion, except when they depart from them. As Isaac Asimov reportedly…
by Paul Braterman Translations change the course of civilisations. The translation project begun by Caliph al-Mansour in the 8th century CE, and accelerated under his grandson Harun al-Rashid, made available in Arabic scholarly writings from Greek, Aramaic (Syriac), Persian, and Indian sources, and laid the foundation for the flowering of science and philosophy in the…
by Paul Braterman EVOLUTION: What the Fossils Say and why it Matters, Donald R. Prothero (2nd edition) If you are interested in evolution, get this book. And make sure that your library gets it. And your children's high school library. Incidentally, it's incredible value; list price $35.00/£27.95 from Columbia University Press, with over 400 lavishly…
by Paul Braterman The wise learn from everyone.1 The freak success (half a million reads) of my recent piece How to slam dunk creationists, and the subsequent discussion, have again set me thinking about how to learn from creationists. It is not enough to say, as Dawkins notoriously said, "[I]f you meet somebody who claims…
by Paul Braterman Ten minutes difference, and Earth would still be Planet of the Dinosaurs We have suspected for some decades that the dinosaurs1 became extinct as the result of a massive meteorite, an asteroid, hitting the Earth. We have known where the impact site was since 1990, if not before. But it is only…
by Paul Braterman In 1957, Charles Keeling of Scripps Institution of Oceanography began regular measurements of carbon dioxide concentration at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. By 1960, he was already in a position to report a steady increase, together with seasonal variations. In the northern atmosphere, CO2 concentration falls during the spring and summer growing season, but…
by Paul Braterman "Our MPs will be the kingmakers, playing a huge role" (From victory speech of Gregory Campbell, on right, 1 a.m. Friday 9th June, 2017) Overview: I am assuming as I write this that the Conservative Party will remain in power in the UK for the immediate future. As a matter of arithmetic,…
by Paul Braterman Below, R: How not to; "The Scientific Method", as inflicted on Science Fair participants. Click to enlarge Consider this, from a justly esteemed chemistry text: Scientists are always on the lookout for patterns.… Once they have detected patterns, scientists develop hypotheses… After formulating a hypotheses, scientists design further experiments [emphasis in original]…
by Paul Braterman R: Sagan warns us against fallacies. But is exposing fallacies enough to shield us from the demons? I had been waiting for a quiet moment to write about this, but there isn't going to be a quiet moment, so now will have to do. Debaters regularly accuse their opponents of using fallacies.…
by Paul Braterman The now Vice-President of the United States stands accused of having said that evolution is "just a theory"; see here and here. No he did not say that. What he did say (full text below, with notes) was far, far worse. Much more detailed and much more dangerous. After reminding us that…
by Paul Braterman Evolution has nothing to do with progress. Most evolution doesn't even have anything to do with adaptation, and it is perfectly possible for a change that is worse than useless to spread through a population. Paradoxically, however, such non-adaptive change may be a necessary prelude for major adaptations. This post was inspired…
by Paul Braterman How Darwin's name is taken in vain, with mini-reviews of some of the worst offenders From Darwin's Notebook B, 1837 Don't say Darwin unless you mean it. Don't say theory when you mean historical fact. And don't say you believe in evolution, when you mean you accept it on the basis of…
by Paul Braterman A 1929 law* imposes three unelected clergy on each of Scotland's local Education Committees. This was based on practice dating back to the 1870s, with the formation of the Scottish educational system from a merger of church and non-church elements, and to the 1918 incorporation of Catholic schools into the system. The…
by Paul Braterman Part 1 of this series, “Atoms Old and New: Atoms in Antiquity” can be read here. The transition to modern thinking “It seems probable to me, that God in the beginning formed matter in solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, movable particles… even so very hard, as never to wear or break in pieces;…
by Paul Braterman Michael Gove (remember him?), when England's Secretary of State for Education, told teachers “What [students] need is a rooting in the basic scientific principles, Newton's Laws of thermodynamics and Boyle's law.” Never have I seen so many major errors expressed in Newton via Wikipedia in so few words. But the wise learn…
by Paul Braterman Islam Evolving, Taner Edis, Prometheus Books, June 2016 This is an excellent review of an important but difficult subject, and a welcome change from the ill-informed bluster of a Sam Harris, or the limp apologetics of a Karen Armstrong. It is the work of an author who is exceptionally well placed to…
by Paul Braterman Glen Roy is a valley in the Western Scottish Highlands, just south of the Great Glen (home to Loch Ness), and draining through Glen Spean to Loch Linnhe, an inlet of the Atlantic. It is remarkable for the presence of the Roads, a series of parallel, almost horizontal, grooves in the hills…
by Paul Braterman Toilet signs on sale at ebay Toilet etiquette is where prudery meets absurdity. Your chance of being embarrassed, let alone molested, by a transgender person in a US public toilet is probably zero, and certainly less than your chance of being shot dead at home by a toddler playing with a gun;…
by Paul Braterman As in Alcatraz; Alcove; Alfalfa; Alcohol; Alkali; Alizarin; Almanac; Alchemy; Alembic; Algol; Almagest; Algebra; Algorithm; Alhambra The syllable Al- is Arabic for “The”, and is attached to the beginning of the word to which it applies. Like English today, or Latin in Renaissance Europe, the dominant language of learned discourse for several…