In January Oxfam released a report which stated that “just 8 men own the same wealth as half the world”. This was seized on by the left to make points about income inequality, poverty and the excesses of modern capitalism. However, the 50 percent of the world’s poorest mentioned in the report do not live…
Podcast Recommendation: Rational Lampoon from Big Picture Science (SETI)
Big Picture Science from the SETI Institute is an excellent podcast generally, but this week’s episode “Skeptic Check: Rational Lampoon” is definitely worth a listen if you are interested in modern democracy, how things have become so divided and public knowledge generally. In just 51 minutes the podcast discusses social learning in animals, including humans. Drawing…
What you should know about Ebola (+video)
Viruses are scary things. Some of them are deadly but they are very small and invisible to the naked eye. The only defenses against them, even in states where you can openly carry firearms, are good hygiene, vaccines and your body’s natural defenses. That means that there is no way to be 100% sure that…
It’s official, Barbie is bad for girls
In a recent study published in the journal Sex Roles Aurora M. Sherman and Eileen L. Zurbriggen examined the effect of Barbie on girls career ambitions. The researchers had a group of girls play with one of three dolls. Two were Barbies, one in a clingy dress and one in a doctor’s white coat and jeans.…
Listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson’s interview with Inquiring Minds
As someone who is a bit obsessive when it comes to politics and science, the Inquiring Minds Podcast is one of my favorites. Inquiring Minds looks at the science stories of the week, as well as the impact those stories might have on political issues. This week is particularly awesome because Neil deGrasse Tyson is…
Once more with feeling “GMOs Won’t Harm Your Health”
Indre Viskontas at Mother Jones has posted an interview with Dr. Steven Novella of Yale. “Novella is a prominent voice in the skeptical movement, a scientific movement that, as he describes it, focuses heavily on explaining the truth behind common myths—things that people believe that aren’t true.” It is worth reading the whole article but…
On Overview of Life Out There in Fact and Fiction: “Once Upon a Planet” [podcast]
The CBC’s Idea’s podcast with Paul Kennedy recently took a one hour look at our search for extraterrestrial life. The podcast features views from: Ray Jayawardhana, Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics at University of Toronto. Robert J. Sawyer, science fiction novelist. Jack Cohen, biologist, science writer and science fiction author. Gregory Benford, Professor of…
A Final Word from Christopher Hitchens (Audio Podcast)
Christopher Hitchens passed away almost two years ago now, but apparently TV Ontario has been sitting on some audio. It is from a lecture titled the Three New Commandments which was recorded at the Royal Ontario Museum back in 2009. In it, Hitchens looks at some of the many contradictions in the 10 commandments story…
Hacker High School : Free Online Hacking Lessons for Teens
The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) produced the first set of Hacker High School lessons in 2006, these have since been translated into French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Italian. However, technology has advanced considerably in the last 6 years and new attempts have been made to stop people from hacking so the lessons…
Hacker High School : Free Online Hacking Lessons for Teens
The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) produced the first set of Hacker High School lessons in 2006, these have since been translated into French, Spanish, German, Dutch and Italian. However, technology has advanced considerably in the last 6 years and new attempts have been made to stop people from hacking so the lessons…