Join us on Friday night for a discussion about Freedom of Speech and the Atheist Bus Campaign. Modeled on the highly popular Cafe Scientifique, Centre for Inquiry presents Cafe Inquiry. Join us for a series of interactive forums exploring contemporary issues in science, reason, philosophy and politics. We bring you 2 or 3 guest experts that open by addressing the issue from a variety of perspectives and responding to moderator questions. Then we open it to the floor for your questions and comments to the panel and each other. This is your chance to interact with a diverse group of people on CFI's broad topics.I've met some of the people who were involved in the atheist bus campaign. This promises to be a fun evening. If you've never been to an event at the Centre for Inquiry you can get in touch with me. I'll be happy to meet up with you and take you to the location.
Read Lord! What Fools Those Atheists Be! in Report Magazine. (Report Magazine is published in Edmonton, The Christian West's centuries-old tradition of free expression and open debate is unique in that nothing like it exists anywhere else on earth. No such tradition exists in any society dominated by a single non-Christian faith, including the atheistical Communist-materialist nations of China, North Korea and the former Soviet Union. It is not an accident that these ads have deliberately set out to offend the majority Christian theists living in London, Madrid and Washington, D.C. They would not have been allowed in Beijing, New Delhi or Riyadh.Parker believes that Christianity is associated with free expression and open debate. He claims that no other religion has a similar tradition. This would have been news to the people of Cordova in the Moorish Kingdom from 800-1200 AD. It would also have been news to most Catholics throughout history and to most Protestant sects (e.g. Puritans). They aren't exactly noted for tolerating free expression and open debate. (Were the ancient Greeks Christians?)
Today's molecule is a drug as well as a biological molecule that's found in some species. You need to supply the common name and the correct IUPAC name for this molecule. The stereochemistry isn't shown in the figure but you have to specify it in your answer.
Today's issue of The Toronto Star has an article on Andras Nagy, a colleague who works at one of the hospital research institutes here in Toronto. Apparently Nagy made a list of "Top 10 awards for work in science-related endeavours" in a magazine called Scientific Magazine [Scientist honoured for stem-cell coup]. Today's molecule is a drug as well as a biological molecule that's found in some species. You need to supply the common name and the correct IUPAC name for this molecule. The stereochemistry isn't shown in the figure but you have to specify it in your answer.Darwin called The Origin of Species “one long argument” for his theory, but Jerry Coyne has given us one long bluff. Why Evolution Is True tries to defend Darwinian evolution by rearranging the fossil record; by misrepresenting the development of vertebrate embryos; by ignoring evidence for the functionality of allegedly vestigial organs and non-coding DNA, then propping up Darwinism with theological arguments about “bad design;” by attributing some biogeographical patterns to convergence due to the supposedly “well-known” processes of natural selection and speciation; and then exaggerating the evidence for selection and speciation to make it seem as though they could accomplish what Darwinism requires of them.Amazing.
The actual evidence shows that major features of the fossil record are an embarrassment to Darwinian evolution; that early development in vertebrate embryos is more consistent with separate origins than with common ancestry; that non-coding DNA is fully functional, contrary to neo-Darwinian predictions;1 and that natural selection can accomplish nothing more than artificial selection — which is to say, minor changes within existing species.
1. It's a lie that non-coding DNA is fully functional and it's a lie that "neo-Darwinism" predicts the presence of large amounts of junk DNA in some species.
I can't stand atheists -- but it's not because they don't believe in God. It's because they're crashing bores.She then proceeds to describe all the "boring" things that upset her.
The problem with atheists -- and what makes them such excruciating snoozes -- is that few of them are interested in making serious metaphysical or epistemological arguments against God's existence, or in taking on the serious arguments that theologians have made attempting to reconcile, say, God's omniscience with free will or God's goodness with human suffering.This is becoming a mantra for Christian apologists and it's about time we put an end to it.
What atheists don't seem to realize is that even for believers, faith is never easy in this world of injustice, pain and delusion. Even for believers, God exists just beyond the scrim of the senses. So, atheists, how about losing the tired sarcasm and boring self-pity and engaging believers seriously?OK. Here's an attempt to engage believers seriously.
[Hat Tip: RichardDawkins.net]
Today's the day we celebrate Queen Victoria's birthday (Victoria Day) in most Canadian provinces. Queen Victoria was actually born on May 24th but the modern holiday is the first Monday before or on May 24th. [The painting of Queen Victoria's Family in 1846 is by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.]
Michael Bliss is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto. He has written some excellent books on the history of science, notably a book about the discovery of insulin.It’s time that responsible leaders of the Canadian science and research communities began thinking of ways to cool down their more hot-headed colleagues. The strategy of declaring war on a government because some of its policies are temporarily inconvenient and vexatious can generate cheap short-term applause and support in some quarters, but in the long run tags its adherents as unreliable and unworthy, or worse. Eventually doors get shut in their faces, and/or they’re left to wither on the vine.I've never been a fan of Michael Bliss but this diatribe goes way over the line. Scientists are justifiably criticizing a science policy that they feel is doing great damage to Canada's ability to be competitive in the 21st century. Michael Bliss is saying that scientists should not speak out when they disagree with government policy. That's a strange position for someone who has made a reputation of speaking out on controversial topics.
It’s a sad way to tarnish what often has been and still could be one of the success stories of Canadian public policy.
By and large, Canadian researchers have not had a bad inning in recent years. Some observers think that the research community has actually had an easy ride, never having been forced to show exactly what benefits are being generated for the Canadian people by the money given researchers. If the government of Canada ever decided, for example, that this country should lead the world in demanding hard accountability from researchers who live off taxpayers’ largesse, today’s discontents would seem like extremely small beer.I suppose that's why Bliss admires Banting and Best and the others who discovered and produced insulin. I suppose he hates those scientists who discovered recombinant DNA technology to help with their curiosity motivated research even though it led directly to the production of human insulin—a far more effective form than the old insulin from pigs.
Godless is an internet radio show designed to give atheists at the University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus, a voice. We aim to reach out to non-believers, whether they call themselves atheists, agnostics, secular humanists or anything else, and provide a platform for the promotion of reality-based thinking.
There are several competing hypotheses about the origin of life. Most people know about the Primordial Soup scenario; that's the one where complex organic molecules are created by spontaneous chemical reactions. Over time these complex molecules, such as amino acids and nucleotides, accumulate in a warm little pond and eventually they come together to form proteins and nucleic acids.
The third hypothesis is called Metabolism First. In this scheme, the first reactions involve spontaneous formation of simple molecules such as acetate, a two-carbon compound formed from carbon dioxide and water. Pathways leading to the synthesis of simple organic molecules might be promoted by natural catalysts such as minerals and porous surfaces in rocks. The point is that the origin of life is triggered by the accumulation of very simple organic molecules in thermodynamically favorable circumstances.
The authors have reconstructed the simplest, most fundamental, biochemical pathways concluding that a reductive citric acid cycle is probably the best example of the first metabolic pathway. In this pathway, the two-carbon acetate molecule is made from carbon dioxide and water in the reverse of the common citric acid pathway found in eukaryotes. 
1. In spite of the claims surrounding a recent paper in Nature: RNA world easier to make.
2. Probably good science editing as well. My friend Morgan Ryan is managing editor and he is very good.
[Photo Credit: American Scientist, courtesy of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.]
Biology - Assistant Professor (Invertebrate Developmental Biology)University of Waterloo
Location: Ontario
Date posted: 2009-04-06
Invertebrate Developmental Biologist.
The Department of Biology of the University of Waterloo invites applications for a tenure track position at the assistant professor level in invertebrate developmental biology. Applicants must have a PhD and be prepared to establish an active research program; evidence of the ability to attract independent research funding and/or teaching experience would be an asset. We are particularly interested in applicants using genetic approaches to model invertebrate systems in conjunction with modern imaging techniques. Duties include research, management of departmental imaging facility, teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as graduate student supervision.
Applicants should send their curriculum vitae, the names of three references and an outline (one to two pages) of their proposed research program, by electronic means if possible, to: D.R. Rose, Chair, Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1 Canada, or via email to givan@sciborg.uwaterloo.ca.
The closing date for applications is May 15, 2009 with a start date no later than September 1, 2009.
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however Canadian and permanent residents will be given priority. The University of Waterloo encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including women, members of visible minorities, native peoples, and persons with disabilities. This appointment is subject to availability of funds. Additional information on the Department is available at http://www.biology.uwaterloo.ca/.
Jim Turk is Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT). He is a staunch defender of university research, especially curiosity motivated research.Our federal government has acknowledged that politicians should not try to pick winners and losers in the economic marketplace, but persists in trying to do so in the marketplace of ideas. In the 2007 and 2008 budgets, the federal government dictated where new money for granting councils could be spent - ruling out the vast majority of researchers' work. In the 2009 budget, it restricted new social science humanities graduate scholarships to students "focused on business-related degrees."
That research funding has become politicized was also evident when the presidents of the three granting councils - the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research - failed to object when their budgets were cut, and when Genome Canada's president expressed concerns, then quickly retracted them. Canada's research funding agencies should be made arms' length from government.
[Hat Tip: T. Ryan Gregory: Genomicron]
