Bishop: 100 cases in 10 yrs for Italy priest abuse

ROME — Italy's bishops' conference provided the first ever statistics of clerical sex abuse in the country on Tuesday, saying there had been about 100 cases over the past 10 years that warranted church trials or other canonical procedures.

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Creationism in the Classroom

Dayton, Tennessee - Clip from the BBC1 documentary 'Science Friction: Creation' circa 1996



Really this video is evidence of why there is a problem with teaching evolution. Its not the theory itself but the teachers either lack of understanding of what it is that he is actually teaching or fear of stepping on the toes of some fundamentalist in the name of "multiculturalism" and acceptance.

Whales and dolphins - 'resource' or 'right'?

New research is showing that whales and dolphins possess intelligence and culture more complex that we had previously assumed, says Margi Prideaux. And, she argues, this raises anew the question of how we should relate to them - including whether it is ever right to hunt them.

Despite long held preconceptions of human pre-eminence, scientists are discovering sophisticated intelligence beyond the boundaries of our own species.

It may surprise us, but dolphins and whales have such qualities.

Is it possible that 2010 could be remembered as the year when we faced our insecurities and embraced other highly evolved species, with all the responsibility that entails?

In February, the 2010 Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) addressed the unprecedented subject of "intelligence in dolphins: ethical and policy implications".

A panel of three well-regarded academics discussed whether the emerging scientific knowledge about the cultural and cognitive processes of whales and dolphins should influence international policy decisions and ethical considerations for their treatment.

Their conclusions were that yes, it should.

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Christianism FAIL

An interesting Article from The Daily Dish about the acceptance of Homosexuals in modern society shows the decline in peoples faith in the Church to deliver a relevant message on what is right or wrong.

While public attitudes haven't moved consistently in gays' and lesbians' favor every year, the general trend is clearly in that direction. This year, the shift is apparent in a record-high level of the public seeing gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable. Meanwhile, support for legalizing gay marriage, and for the legality of gay and lesbian relations more generally, is near record highs.

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The Right to be Wrong

From USA Today is an article on Religious Freedoms that I thought was particularly interesting.

America has a complex and enduring commitment to pluralism. We want people to be free to act — and believe — as they please. But we must all play in the same sandbox, so we are attentive to the idiosyncrasies of our playmates, especially when they don't make sense to us.

Few idiosyncrasies are more perplexing than the ways people connect science and religion. Widespread rejection of evolution, to take a familiar example, has created a crisis in education, and it now appears that biology texts might be altered to satisfy anti-evolutionary activists in Texas. Many on the textbook commission believe their religion is incompatible with scientific explanations of origins — evolution and the Big Bang — so they want textbooks with more accommodating theories and different facts.

Tufts University philosopher and leading atheist Daniel Dennet no doubt finds all this mystifying, since he thinks seminary education should ultimately terminate one's faith: "Anybody who goes through seminary and comes out believing in God hasn't been paying attention," he toldThe Boston Globe.

Dennet's brother-in-arms, atheist Jerry Coyne, raked Brown University cell biologist Ken Miller and me over the coals in The New Republic for our claims that Christians can unapologetically embrace science. The only faiths compatible with science, wrote Coyne, are "Pantheism and some forms of Buddhism" — hardly encouraging since few Americans embrace either of these. Coyne wrote that "90% of Americans" hold religious beliefs that "fall into the 'incompatible' category."

The 90% of Americans holding beliefs incompatible with science include Charles Townes and William Phillips, who won Nobel Prizes in physics in 1964 and 1997, respectively. What sort of atheist complains that a fellow citizen doing world-class science must abandon his or her religion to be a good scientist?

Our commitment to pluralism and individual freedom should motivate generosity in such matters and allow people "the right to be wrong," especially when the beliefs in question do not interfere with us. Nothing is gained by loud, self-promoting and mean-spirited assaults on the beliefs of fellow citizens.

I still think that Religion encroaches on other freedoms too much to get its knickers in a twist just yet, but there should be some restraint from bullying people for having a view of the world that cannot be scientifically proven.

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12 Events That Will Change Everything

Scientific American put together an interactive piece on 12 events that could drastically change the world, from nuclear exchange to cold fusion to the discovery of other dimensions. Pretty much all the stuff Lost totally prepared us for.

The feature illustrates all of the potentialities – the breakthroughs and the catastrophes alike – with diagrams, photograph and expert video interviews: Frank Drake, the man behind the famous Drake’s Equation, speaks on the near-future of extraterrestrial search, and interactive timelines plot the progress of artificial intelligence over the last decade.

Taken together, the piece is like a looking glass into future Michael Bay movies – it’s all spectacular stuff that will undoubtedly inspire humans to band together and move united into the future. You don’t want to be left out of that, do you? Consider this your primer.

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Darwinian spacecraft engine to last twice as long

The following article from New Scientist is a prime example of what can happen when we don't fight progress for fear of losing our superstitions. Through our acceptance of Evolution and Natural Selection we are able to use its principles to better our own technologies.

SPACE agencies may one day have Charles Darwin to thank for the longevity of their spacecraft. The life expectancy of a popular type of ion engine has been almost doubled using software that mimics the way natural selection evolves ever fitter designs.

Electrostatic ion engines are becoming popular in space missions. Instead of relying on burning large amounts of heavy liquid propellant for thrust, they use solar power to ionise a small supply of xenon gas. A high voltage applied across a pair of gridded electrodes sends the positively charged ions rushing at high speed towards the negative electrode. Most ions pass through the grid, generating thrust.

However, some ions collide with the grid itself, causing it to gradually wear out, says Cody Farnell, a space flight engineer at the University of Colorado in Fort Collins. Simulations suggest grids in a typical NASA engine will last 2.8 years - but Farnell wondered whether changing the grid's design could extend its lifespan.

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