Category Archives: Science

Whiteson & Warner, DO ALIENS SPEAK PHYSICS?

Posted on Thursday 12 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitle: “And other questions about science and the nature of reality” (Norton, 2025, 254pp, including 12pp of bibliography and index) Here’s a book that’s remarkable in an unusual way: I didn’t hear about it from anywhere, not in a review, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Mathematics, Science | Leave a comment

Leaving the US, Shalom, Worrying the Mind-Body Problem, the Latest Drake Equation analysis

Posted on Sunday 8 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

About Trump’s misguided “Christian” war, as more and more people are literally leaving the US; Peter Wehner on a word for our trouble times: shalom; Alan Lightman wonders, rhetorically, if our minds transcend the corporeal form (an issue long-since settled); … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Morality, Science | Leave a comment

Morality, War, Science, Persecution

Posted on Saturday 7 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich on the moral basis of civilization, and how Trump is destroying it; And Reich on how Trump is paying for the war, and giving the rich a huge tax cut; More about the undermining of America’s scientific expertise; … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Morality, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

Peace President Trump’s New War

Posted on Saturday 28 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Zack Beauchamp on how Trump’s Iran war makes no sense; Wondering how election interference would actually be done; How Trump repeatedly predicted Obama would attack Iran; Why some say the dropping birthrate is a good thing; An example from Dr. … Continue reading →

Posted in authoritarianism, History, Politics, Science | Comments Off on Peace President Trump’s New War

Visually Stunning

Posted on Monday 16 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

More about conservative comments about San Francisco; Paul Krugman wonders why MAGA hates the planet; How conservatives prioritize big families: quantity over quality; Connecting dots between mentions of Tom Holland and his book DOMINION; The MAGA attitude of contempt for … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Music, Politics, Science | Comments Off on Visually Stunning

Renouncing Reality, Yet Again, to Make Money

Posted on Thursday 12 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The Trump administration denies climate change, in favor of big business; Trump is best on cashing in; Paul Krugman explains why deportation don’t create jobs and will lead to more deaths of native-born Americans; Brief items about conservatives and small … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, reality, Science | Comments Off on Renouncing Reality, Yet Again, to Make Money

Which Part of Science Do Science Deniers Dispute?

Posted on Sunday 1 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump closes the Kennedy Center to deflect from all the artists cancelling there; A great SNL sketch about a woman who changes her mind about Donald Trump; Steven Novella asks which parts of science do skeptics actually disagree with; Andy … Continue reading →

Posted in Changing One's Mind, Politics, Psychology, reality, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Which Part of Science Do Science Deniers Dispute?

Shermer, Zakaria, Clinton, Bruckner

Posted on Saturday 31 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Michael Shermer on UFOs; Fareed Zakaria on civilizational erasure; Hillary Rodman Clinton on MAGA’s war on empathy; And Bruckner 4. – – – Michael Shermer has a new book out called TRUTH, which re-visits topics and themes from his earlier … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Music, Science | Comments Off on Shermer, Zakaria, Clinton, Bruckner

The Political Divide

Posted on Tuesday 13 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Eric Levitz at Vox on the “fiction” of the Left/Right divide, and how core principles nevertheless do divide the parties; Brief items about ICE recruiting and the right presuming the worst about everyone; Noting the death of Erich von Däniken, … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Science | Comments Off on The Political Divide

ICE Thugs

Posted on Thursday 8 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s posts are about the Minnesota ICE killing and the responses, from Trump and Vance to Jesse Bering, Jonathan V. Last, and others. An essay by Elay Shech about why we should trust science even though it keeps changing. (Because … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on ICE Thugs