Daily Archives: August 14, 2008

Evolution v. Creation Metaphor Watch: Design without a Designer, Maybe—But Laws without a Lawgiver?

Given that most people do not have advanced degrees in mathematics or the sciences, debates and discussions surrounding evolution and creationism appear in the public square in the form of competing metaphors, similes, and extended analogies. In other words, we use … Continue reading

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A Victor Shklovsky Defamiliarization Gesture: The Bust of Caesar Set Alongside the Bust of a Woman

    The Caesar bust is at the Huntington Library in California; the female bust is by Renoir.

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Were Neanderthals Just People Like You and Me?: A Recent Mitochondrial DNA Study Says NO

According to an article on the Discover magazine website, scientists have recently sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of a Neanderthal. Their finding: Neanderthals were substantially different, genetically, from modern humans, and probably rarely, if ever, interbred with us. Our two lineages seem to … Continue reading

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Colorful Powerbust: Caesar at the Huntington Library, CA

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Let the Sun Shine?: Could a Major Solar Technology Discovery Give Us Energy Independence Within the Next 20 Years?

An article in MIT News suggests so. Here’s the link: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/oxygen-0731.html

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Not the Tao of Physics, nor the TOE of Physics—But Logan’s Run?: Surfer Physicist Garrett Lisi’s E8 Solution to the Theory of Everything is Beautiful—But Where are the Exits?

The Telegraph of London had an exceptionally clear discussion of physicist Garrett Lisi’s E8 solution to the “Theory of Everything.” Money quote:  Lisi’s inspiration lies in the most elegant and intricate shape known to mathematics, called E8 – a complex, eight-dimensional … Continue reading

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