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Skeptic Summary #37
By The Staff
Posted on: 4/22/2005
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An evolutionary, name that movie, the new Pope, keep on truckin', the life of slime, religion's influence and more!
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Week ending April 22, 2005 (Vol 2, #16)
Welcome to the Skeptic Summary, a quick week-in-review guide to the Skeptic Friends Network and the rest of the skeptical world.
Forum Highlights:Has anyone seen this blog posting? - No, but thanks for showing us this anti-evolution article, Fripp!
Movie Challenge II - What’s my line?!?
OFFICIAL Pope Discussion Thread - Benedict XVI? We’ll have to see about that.
Editor’s Choice: Run over by a truck - SFN member Ricky discovers he’s nothing more than a bump in the road. Kil’s Evil Pick:Low Society - “It’s not plant or animal — or bacteria or fungus, for that matter — but it’s living. Take a walk outside, and it’s all around you. The cellular slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum is a social amoeba belonging to the neglected sixth kingdom of life, the Mycetozoa. In the labs of Rice University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, this unlikely little creature is fast becoming to social and evolutionary biology what the fruit fly has long been to developmental biology — a model organism with which scientists can pry open nature’s secrets.” (Thanks to GeeMack for providing us this very cool link.) From the Archives:Religion’s Influence in the 21st Century - Seems fitting with the new Pope and all… Chat Highlights:Sunday: Hangovers and computer-science studies; dissenting opinions in faith among family and friends; and Pagan weddings with the occasional pun. Also: movies about the paranormal, bad/good scripts and directing, and very bad movie ads: “the story we are about to tell you is true…” yeah, right!; gods and natural science; and finally, freakish dreams with violent content.
Wednesday: While the host was regretfully delayed by academic obligations, Mab picked up the slack. Also: Computer programming; Ricky’s pranks; Kil’s alleged demise; Boron10’s new identity?; Debate with B88; low-cost yard work; and an SFN meet-up in DC? Wanna find out more? Come to chat next week!
Come chat with us. New Members this Week:Fripp
Siggie
Clem Is Me
John the Non-Baptist
(Not a member? Become one today!)
Elsewhere in the World:Bad Science
Hypersonic Sound
Iraq’s Endangered Cultural Heritage: An Update
Maximus Factor aka Ancient Avon
New State of Matter Is ‘Nearly Perfect’ Liquid
What’s New by Bob Park
Got some skeptic news items? Send them to us, and we’ll think about adding them. Book of the Week:The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and Other Clinical Tales, by Oliver Sacks
The human brain is an absolutely fantastic organ, capable of so very much that it’s hard to get a grasp on just how extraordinary it is. And one of the best ways to discover this complexity is through the study of the brain when it fails in some way, or otherwise acts outside our normal experience. Oliver Sacks, a very well-written neurologist, probes the human brain in general with studies of people with problems in their heads. From the tragic to the manic, every data point offers hints about how healthy gray matter functions.
— Dave W.
More issues of the Skeptic Summary can be found in our archive.
The Skeptic Summary is produced by the staff of the Skeptic Friends Network, copyright 2005, all rights reserved.
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