Category Archives: Science

Human Limitations and Potential

Posted on Friday 10 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Rethinking again the categories of posts I do here, while working on a new set of overview pages to supplement or replace my decade-old Provisional Conclusions. I tend to collect links about reality illiteracy (e.g. flat-earthers) and tribalistic morality (conservative … Continue reading →

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Lost Potential

Posted on Wednesday 1 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The families conservatives want; Heather Cox Richardson on the Republican motives to strike down the Fourteenth Amendment; Brief items about mandating the Bible in class; yet another study finds no link between Tylenol and autism; a conservative wants to sterilize … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Lost Potential

Facebook Saves

Posted on Monday 29 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Rand Paul and Tulsi Gabbard, still out to discredit Dr. Fauci, only reveal their scientific illiteracy; The difference between science and science’s pretenders, pseudoscience and science denial; A crude but apt characterization of Christian theology; Things theists claim as evidence … Continue reading →

Posted in LIteracy, Science | Comments Off on Facebook Saves

As Others See Us

Posted on Wednesday 24 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How World Cup tourists are impressed by the US; And an earlier piece about tourists were impressed by San Francisco, in both cases despite right-wing apocalyptic propaganda; Amanda Marcotte on why MAGA buys Trump’s reflecting pool hoax; Hegseth reverses the … Continue reading →

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Neil deGrasse Tyson, TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER

Posted on Sunday 21 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Perspectives on Your First Alien Encounter (Simon & Schuster/Simon Six, May 2026, 226pp, including 28pp of acknowledgements, notes, index, and image credits) This latest by Tyson is irreverent and casual, even lightweight, in the way Tyson’s books often are, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Science, Space | Comments Off on Neil deGrasse Tyson, TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER

Reflecting Pool Fiasco

Posted on Wednesday 17 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the reflecting pool fiasco is emblematic of Trump’s manner of government; Facebook’s AMV about how the reflecting pool is a miniature Anthropocene; Why Trump keeps talking about voter fraud: he has specific ideas about the kind of people who … Continue reading →

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Asymptotic Progress

Posted on Friday 12 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the news about adjusting climate change predictions is good news, and how science is always about increasingly approaching the truth, while never claiming (as religion does) to have found it; Trumps guts a line of oceanic defense; there’s a … Continue reading →

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Meaning, Purpose, Science, Science Fiction

Posted on Thursday 11 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Kevin Kelly’s take on a meaning of life: be the most improbable person you can be; And my provisional ideas about meaning and purpose; Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar. I mentioned Kevin Kelly yesterday, and so I checked out his blog, his … Continue reading →

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The Destruction of American Scientific Research

Posted on Tuesday 9 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Deport 106 million illegals?? More misunderstandings or lies about how California elections works; More about how experience, knowledge, and talent are being marginalized by the current US government; Items about 60 Minutes; Activity today: a brief jury duty experience (posted … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Science | Comments Off on The Destruction of American Scientific Research

More Tear-Downs and Cancellations

Posted on Tuesday 2 June 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Several items on the murdering of “60 Minutes,” and how loyalty to Trump is more important that expertise or experience; Another Trump appointee with no experience, only loyalty; The dismantling of an ocean monitoring system; The motivation behind the cancellations … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Progress, Science | Comments Off on More Tear-Downs and Cancellations