Category Archives: Science

Settling Back Into the Middle Ages

Posted on Sunday 17 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

This is about the religious rally in Washington DC this weekend. And the limitations of human nature. NY Times, guest essay by Katya Underman, today: We Are Sliding Back Into the Middle Ages My comments before reading the essay: One … Continue reading →

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The World Marches On, With or Without the US

Posted on Saturday 16 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

An idea to anticipate, not react to, car accidents; How American under Trump and MAGA is moving exactly backwards in dependence on fossil fuels; Florida is whitewashing the history of slavery; Men who want women to be quiet: this idea … Continue reading →

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Categories, Scales, a Public Health Triumph, and How the So-Called Experts Have Been Right

Posted on Wednesday 13 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives like categories, especially binary ones: two examples. Including the claim that what makes a man gay is liberalism; NYT updates its Autocracy Index, 12 markers of democratic erosion; Conservative panic over falling reproduction rates seen instead as a public … Continue reading →

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Dan Barker, CONTRADUCTION

Posted on Wednesday 13 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

(UK: Hypathia Press, 2024, 111pp, including References but no index) Dan Barker (Wikipedia) is an atheist writer who was once an evangelical Christian pastor. I read one of his earlier books, LIFE DRIVEN PURPOSE (review here), which challenged Rick Warren’s … Continue reading →

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New Ideas in the World

Posted on Tuesday 12 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Has a new circulation system been found in the human body that might explain why acupuncture seems to work? Has a new framework been found that explains how the laws of nature varied at the start of the universe before … Continue reading →

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UFOs, Consciousness, Being Savvy

Posted on Saturday 9 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Frank on the new UFO data; Thoughts about being savvy, and reality-literacy, and the lack of evidence for both UFOs and God; Carlo Rovelli denies there is a “hard problem” of consciousness. – – – One more about the … Continue reading →

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Sean Carroll on Science and Religion, and Templeton

Posted on Thursday 7 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Sean Carroll on science and religion, and why he doesn’t take money from the Templeton Foundation; Short items on how the Trump administration cutting funding to study the hantavirus, the one now loose on that cruise ship; more blaming Satan … Continue reading →

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Neil deGrasse Tyson, Paul Krugman, Jesse Bering

Posted on Wednesday 6 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Neil deGrasse Tyson on aliens, and his new book; Paul Krugman explains how MAGA will kill many Americans; Jesse Bering on karma; And short items about Trump’s health, aliens, the ballroom, the upcoming cage match, and “low T”. – – … Continue reading →

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Humanity and Heartbreak?

Posted on Monday 4 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A new version of Lord of the Flies, which I think I might watch; The idea of peer review, and my professional background; Cory on Rebecca; What religious tribalists mean by “going against the grain”. – – – I’ve read … Continue reading →

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Michael Shermer: TRUTH

Posted on Sunday 3 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters” (John Hopkins University Press, Jan. 2026, 370pp, including 50pp of acknowledgments, notes, and index) The title of this latest book by Michael Shermer, following CONSPIRACY (2022) (reviewed … Continue reading →

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