Atheist News Feed

Gene Tests Confirm Identity of Copernicus

2009-07-08T01:05:51Z

Genetic testing has confired the identity of Nicolaus Copernicus’ remains, and suggests that modern astronomy’s father had bright blue eyes.

His bones were found four years ago under a Roman Catholic cathedral in Frombork, Poland. Forensic reconstruction of the skull suggested a resemblance to Copernicus. The bones’ DNA matched the DNA of hairs found in a book that had belonged to him.

Those results were informally announced last November by Polish researchers, and are formally described in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers also used mitochondrial DNA — which is passed intact from mother to child, making it a favorite tool for archaeological genetics — to confirm the match. The profile found in the bones and hair have only been found in four other European individuals, making a coincidental match extremely unlikely.

Copernicus also possessed a variation in a gene called HERC2 that’s usually seen in people with blue eyes.

Most paintings depict Copernicus, the first astronomer to realize that Earth orbited the sun, an intellectual father of the scientific revolution, as having dark eyes. But he likely peered at the heavens through baby blues.

Citation: “Genetic identification of putative remains of the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.” By Wiesław Bogdanowica, Marie Allen, Wojciech Branickic, Maria Lembring, Marta Gajewska, and Tomasz Kupiec. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106 No. 27, July 6, 2009.

Images: 1. PNAS 2. University of Arizona

See Also:

Brandon Keim’s Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter.

Creationism question in 'misleading' science GCSE

2009-07-07T00:51:04Z

Thousands of teenagers sitting a test last month were required to outline how the controversial theory is used to explain the origins of life.

They were asked to place the strict Biblical theory alongside Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

The move - in a GCSE prepared by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance - was criticised by experts who said they were "dismayed".

Last night, AQA admitted it was "misleading" and insisted similar questions would not be included in future tests.

A Note to American Google Users on Net Neutrality

2009-07-05T23:47:22Z

The Internet as we know it is facing a serious threat. There's a debate heating up in Washington, DC on something called "net neutrality" – and it's a debate that's so important Google is asking you to get involved. We're asking you to take action to protect Internet freedom.

In the next few days, the House of Representatives is going to vote on a bill that would fundamentally alter the Internet. That bill, and one that may come up for a key vote in the Senate in the next few weeks, would give the big phone and cable companies the power to pick and choose what you will be able to see and do on the Internet.

Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all Internet access, want the power to choose who gets access to high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build a two-tiered system and block the on-ramps for those who can't pay.

Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight. Please call yourrepresentative (202-224-3121) and let your voice be heard.

Thanks for your time, your concern and your support.

Eric Schmidt

One of us: Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe

2009-07-05T21:46:26Z

Our respectability among juvenile fans of Harry Potter may have just gone up a notch: Daniel Radcliffe has cheerfully declared himself to be an atheist.

I'm an atheist, but I'm very relaxed about it. I don't preach my atheism, but I have a huge amount of respect for people like Richard Dawkins who do. Anything he does on television, I will watch.

I understand that this same segment of society has also found a heightened interest in the works of playwrights like Peter Schaffer, so we know the Harry Potter effect can help. If only Radcliffe had an excuse to take his clothes off for atheism…

Of course there is also the complementary effect that the people who were convinced that both Harry Potter and atheism were the demon-spawned products of Hell have now had their suspicions confirmed.

Read the comments on this post...

All quiet on the God front

2009-07-05T16:00:42Z

By Simon Blackburn
Saturday 4 July 2009

Simon Blackburn discusses the argument that religious experience can’t be discussed

Forced marriage: 'I can't forgive or forget what they did to me'

2009-07-05T13:58:30Z

Dr Humayra Abedin talks for the first time to Nina Lakhani about the international storm that began when she visited her parents in Bangladesh.

An NHS doctor from east London who was held hostage and forced into marriage has spoken for the first time about her four-month ordeal, during which she feared for her life.

Indian court decriminalizes consensual gay sex

2009-07-04T18:23:36Z

New Delhi's gay community celebrated a landmark court ruling Thursday that decriminalizes homosexuality - a decision that could end widespread police harassment and be a harbinger for gradual acceptance for homosexuals across this deeply conservative country.

The Delhi High Court ruled that treating consensual gay sex between adults as a crime is a violation of fundamental rights protected by India's constitution. The ruling, the first of its kind in India, is not binding outside New Delhi.

Godless-in-Chicago-Mobile

2009-07-03T01:00:47Z

Some atheists advertise on billboards…

Those atheists are not named Rob Sherman. He decked out his entire Sherman-mobile:

He’s promoting his blog.

And himself

And he’ll be driving in the fourth of July parades in various Chicago suburbs.

If he accidentally runs over a Christian child, our entire movement will be set back four centuries.

…

According to Michael Miner of the Chicago Reader, Chicago Now pays its bloggers $5 per 1,000 hits.

I wonder: What do the Science Bloggers get? Is it comparable?

And how do I get me a piece of that action?

Pat Buchanan: Making a Monkey Out of Darwin

2009-07-01T21:39:59Z

Camp Quest UK Issues Corrections To Inaccurate Articles

2009-06-30T20:57:56Z

I mentioned yesterday that a series of articles in The Sunday Times (UK) was riddled with inaccuracies.

Samantha Stein, the camp director, has issued corrections to the pieces.

There are a *lot*:

“Dawkins sets up kids’ camp to groom atheists” (Headline)

Richard Dawkins is not setting up Camp Quest UK. The word “groom” is misleading, offensive and inaccurate.

…

“Dawkins, who is subsidising the camp, said it was designed to ‘encourage children to
think for themselves, sceptically and rationally’ “

Richard Dawkins has no personal involvement with Camp Quest. He is not “subsidising” the camp. The Richard Dawkins Foundation has made a small one?off donation to Camp Quest.

Those are just two of many.

Take-home message: Even when it’s positive press, as this was intended to be, don’t trust everything you read verbatim. Reporters rarely get all the facts straight.

All this said, it was great publicity for Camp Quest UK — lots of major British media wanted to talk about it after the articles were published.

(via Science, Reason, and Critical Thinking)

Dawkins' Response to Sunday Times

2009-06-30T00:42:39Z

Expelled redux

2009-06-28T19:31:39Z

They're doing it again. There's a new movie being released, The Voyage That Shook the World, that you can tell from the tagline — "One man, one voyage, one book ignited a controversy that still rages today" — is creationist trash (hint: there is no scientific controversy anymore on this matter). Look a little further, and you'll find it's produce by Creation Ministries International, which tells you right there what their agenda is: to tell lies for Jesus.

Here's where the parallel to Expelled lies…in the lies. They got several Darwin experts (Peter Bowler, Sandra Herbert, and Janet Browne) to appear in the "documentary" by concealing their motives. And then they admit to cherry-picking the interviews to put together their story.

You know, if they actually had an honest message, if they could be trusted to present the opinions of the experts accurately, they wouldn't need to deceive to get people to contribute to their projects. As it is, all we can trust them on is their ability to mangle the facts. Doesn't this tell you something about the credibility of the creationist movement?

At least they didn't hire Ben Stein as a frontman.

Read the comments on this post...

Science Videos & Lectures: Pulse-Project.org

2009-06-27T23:12:56Z

Salvation at the end of a television show

2009-06-27T17:28:40Z

ISTANBUL - Just when one thought TVshows could not get more outrageous, Kanal T comes up with the idea to make an imam, a priest, a rabbi and a Buddhist monk try to convert 10 atheists. While some fear the program could create problems, a sociologist says this just shows the yearning to learn more about religions.

Lawrence Krauss: God and Science Don't Mix

2009-06-26T15:13:03Z

A scientist can be a believer. But professionally, at least, he can't act like one.

Christopher Hitchens: No pleasing Mullahs, so why even try?

2009-06-26T00:56:57Z

One of the signs of Iran’s underdevelopment is the culture of rumour and paranoia that attributes all

What should science do? Sam Harris v. Philip Ball

2009-06-24T23:09:36Z

Sam Harris and Philip Ball discuss the conflict between religion and science. They do not agree…

Kids are awesome everywhere

2009-06-22T21:51:25Z

Christopher Hitchens: Persian Paranoia

2009-06-22T21:07:08Z

I have twice had the privilege of sitting, poorly shaved, on the floor and attending the Friday prayers that the Iranian theocracy sponsors each week on the campus of Tehran University. As everybody knows, this dreary, nasty ceremony is occasionally enlive

On Faith: Theocracy is Incompatible With Religious Liberty - J. Brent Walker

2009-06-22T20:59:11Z

Shared by AMB
Thanks Dan!

History and contemporary realities show us that a theocracy's unrestrained friendliness to one religion violates religious liberty as much as a secular state's untempered hostility to all religion.