Marinetto: The fetishisation of theory does have practical payoffs for editors. For one Swedish academic, Pär J. Ågerfalk, the charge of “insufficient theoretical contribution” can be employed as a neat rhetorical brush-off for submissions that editors do not like the look of but “cannot quite put their finger on why”.
Month: April 2020
Smithsonian Magazine on the biggest human fossil discoveries of the past decade; ENST replies
One reason it’s not been an especially “vibrant” decade is that the subhumans all turned into relatives, and reasonably smart ones at that. Paleontologists are still looking for the subhuman that would validate Darwinism.
Rob Sheldon on current efforts to explain the universe’s expansion
Sheldon: Yet another example of “curve fitting”, adding free parameters whose only purpose is to get a closer fit to the data. This is why particle physics and cosmology has made no progress over the past few decades as Sabine Hossenfelder warns. No one even faintly understands what a theory is supposed to wear to Stockholm, much less accomplish for posterity.
Dr. Fauci and Big Farma
Please indulge my well-earned cynicism. Let’s recap what’s been going on. Dr. Raolt says that HCL is showing remarkable results with his CoVid patients. Dr. Raolt expands this study beyond his own clinic and patients. Dr. Fauci says that this is “anecdotal.” A doctor in New York says that HCL, when given early on, is Read More…
We are told: The recipe for the origin of life has been revised
Scientists revising their origin of life theories is—in the present climate—somewhat like fiction writers revising their novels. Nothing in the world wrong with it. But let’s be clear what level of real-world information we are talking about.
Stephen Wolfram’s new theory of everything LACKS something?
Let’s see if this Answer to Everything is still a buzz in the fall.
Fish evolve in a single generation? Not so fast…
Timothy Standish: The authors seem to have found that if you already have alleles that adapt you to a certain set of conditions, then you will be able to rapidly adapt to those conditions. The speed is impressive, but you could argue that the speed with which natural selection can work is not the real question. The real question is, “How fast can those alleles that make organisms more fit arise de novo in a population that doesn’t already have them?”
At STAT: Ioannidis’ differing COVID-19 views shouldn’t be demonized
Demonizing differing views is a characteristic of superstition, not science. It says a lot about “science” today that its practitioners choose such methods.
Michael Egnor on COVID-19: Herd immunity vs herd mentality
Dr. Egnor is sadly right. The rubbish purveyed to us along the lines of “trust science!” has proven false. Whenever the smoke clears…
The universe simulates ITSELF?
According to classical reasoning, self-simulation wouldn’t make sense but maybe one must abandon classical reasoning to be in theoretical physics these days. Handy to know.
Plumbing New Depths of Lockdown Stupidity
“There is no point in keeping grocery stores open if the meat packers are closed due to the virus.” Commenter Ed George
Most people have heard about the whale series of evolution, often in school…
It’s not something we are supposed to ask questions about but some people have, in an animated short.
Icelandic genome provides clues to Neanderthal history, creates puzzle
Puzzle: However, the researchers also found significant fragments of genetic material from another archaic species of human, Denisovans, in the DNA of the Icelanders, and this was something of a surprise. Up to now, Denisovan genes have primarily been found in Australian Aborigines, East Asians and people in Papua New Guinea. So how did these genes end up in Islanders’ DNA? And when?
Michael Egnor: Jerry Coyne just can’t give up denying free will
Egnor: Someday, I predict, there will be a considerable psychiatric literature on the denial of free will. It’s essentially a delusion dressed up as science. To insist that your neurotransmitters completely control your choices is no different than insisting that your television or your iphone control your thoughts. It’s crazy.
Newsweek: Lockdown “Clumsy” and “Heavy-Handed”
To our progressive interlocutors: When even Newsweek bails on you, it is time to abandon your narrative. MOST U.S. HOSPITALS ARE EMPTY. SOON THEY MIGHT BE CLOSED FOR GOOD instead of merely preserving hospital beds and other resources, this heavy-handed injunction has created a burden of its own design: a historic number of empty beds Read More…