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Debate:
Does the irrationality of religion make it an enemy of science?
FOR: Sunny Bains, outgoing Editor of The Science Reporter
There are two incompatible ways of looking at the world. One is the scientific way: you ask questions about how the world works, hypothesise, and then make observations/perform experiments to support, contradict and/or refine your ideas. The other is to accept a world-view imposed by a cleric or ancient book: religion. Of course, this is a massive over-simplification when applied to a world of complicated people...
AGAINST: Michael Hanlon, Science Editor of The Daily Mail
All anthropological evidence points to religion being hardwired into the human psyche. No truly atheist societies have ever emerged (when supernatural gods are absent, such as in North Korea, deified humans are called in as substitutes). Indeed, some scientists have argued that proto-religious behaviour can be glimpsed in chimpanzees and there is no reason to suppose that our extinct hominid cousins would not have possessed what we could call a ‘spiritual’ side...
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Editorial:
Sex discrimination, really?
I remembery vividly hearing Susan Greenfield on BBC Radio 4's In the Psychiatrist's Chair back in 2000. I was painting my living room and didn't really have an opinion about her at that time. I'd read her book The Human Brain: A Guided Tour and, although I didn't absolutely adore it, I thought it was pretty good. So if anything I was pre-disposed to like her...
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News:
Scientific American announces first female editor-in-chief
Scientific American has appointed Mariette DiChristina as its Editor–in-chief. The announcement, made in December 2009, marks the first time a woman has served in the role in the magazine’s 164-year history.
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Libel reform campaign makes progress
Jack Straw, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, has announced a formal review of libel legislation in England and Wales after mounting pressure from various campaigns. A working group consisting of lawyers, academics and newspaper editors will review the legislation and propose any reforms they see as necessary.
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Copenhagen coverage fails to ride waves made by 'Climategate'
The leak of confidential e-mails from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit (UEA) dropped a bomb on the climate change agenda just weeks before the COP15 summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Media outlets all over the world picked up the debris.
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News aggregator claims linking freedoms under threat
A new campaign aims to fight the introduction of regulations against linking.
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Features:
Making chemistry cool
When university departments are closing and your subject seems to have lost even its mad-scientist cachet, how do you regain public and media interest? Brian Emsley knows...
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Thinking skeptically
Cures, breakthroughs and wonder drugs—who can science journalists trust and how skeptical should we be? Wendy Grossman offers some advice….
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How to... Write a conference review
Conference reviews are a fact of life, but can be more interesting for the writer than the reader if not thought through carefully. Sunny Bains explains...
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ABSW News:
ABSW 2009: A year in review
Chair Natasha Loder looks back on the ABSW's achievements and her first six months in charge.
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ABSW-L Buzz
2010 may be upon us, but the same pedantic troubles keep us warm on ABSW-L...
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Member's Books
Check out two new books by members: Bouncing Bomb Man: The Science of Sir Barnes Wallis by Iain Murray, and An Introduction to Ionic Liquids by Michael Freemantle.
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Columns:
My ABSW
In the spring of 1997, I found myself in Strasbourg at the first meeting of Euroscience. I'm a young research student, disillusioned with academia, and I've been paid to come and moan about how miserable life is for postgraduates. During a break, I wandered over to a balcony to drink my nasty black euro-coffee. Somehow I ended up chatting to a bearded man who turned out to be a journalist.
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Fabian's World
A skeptic's view of recent events...
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Hall of Shame:
Most shameless use of a dead genius to sell Live luggage
Sir Isaac Newton is being used to sell something called an anti-gravity handle. Sigh.
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Events:
Out and About
After the excitement of Christmas and the sparkle of New Year there is precious little to warm a science writer's heart as the bleak, grey days stretch out for what seems to be an eternity. And, if you're anything like me, you're skint. Rather than shiver at home, scraping a fork morosely through a Pot Noodle, it's time to find some events to go to. Some of them might even be free...
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