The "Strange Doctrines" Undercroft

The Manchurian Orthopterate

This article in the N.Y. Times describes this wild case of insectival brainwashing:

[The] hairworm[] lives and breeds in fresh water. But it spends the early part of its life cycle eating away the innards of the grasshoppers and crickets it infects.

When it is fully grown, it faces a difficult problem, that of returning to water. So it has evolved a clever way of influencing its host to deliver just one further service - the stricken grasshopper looks for water and dives in [after which the hairworm makes its escape].

Visit the article for pics (they're a little gruesome, but then such is nature).

Scientific Imbecile or Craven Panderer?

Or both? We report, you decide.

UPDATE: More at Pharyngula, who includes a politically ecumenical list of those in the anti-antiscience cohort.

Physics and Reductionism

Keay Davidson reviews Robert Laughlin's new book A Different Universe for the New York Times.

"It's the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man"

Eugene Volokh responds to Michael Shermer's blog item about evolution and "intelligent design" at the Huffington Post. In particular, Volokh argues:

[H]ow exactly do scientists come to the conclusion that “God had no part in this process [i.e., evolution]”? What’s their proof? That’s the sort of thing that can’t really be proved, it seems to me -- which makes it sound as if scientists, despite their protestations of requiring proof rather than faith, make assertions about God that they can’t prove.

Well, imagine the following exchange:

CHILD: Did the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Man play a part in evolution?
BIOLOGIST: Er, no.

Would Volokh criticize our biologist for his answer in such a case? I suspect (and hope) not. But if not, then why does the question of God's hand deserve greater deference?

UPDATE: Pharyngula has more. (Via Brian Leiter.)

Ganz Kuhl!

I guess Hubble photographed a star as it exploded. The article's in German (I haven't seen it in the English news aggregator yet), but it's got a cool pic.

The star was about 50 solar masses (before it went nova, that is) and about 160,000 light years away from us.

(Via Candi.)

UPDATE: Corrected the "about a light year away...," which appeared in the original. (What's five orders of magnitude between friends?)

Science: It's All Just Theories

Be sure to visit the reDiscovery Institute, whose mission is to "Teach the Controversies [in science], all of them, each and every one."

Finally, a site that points up the theory-laden nature of all science and the importance of challenging glib scientific claims--debunking the supposed "facts" of chemical "periodicity," "germ" theory and the "solar" system (essays on the latter are "coming soon").

Good stuff, particularly the chemical periodicity material.

NOTE: The site is parody (in case you didn't realize it).

Give Me Prozac or Give Me Death

I have suffered major depression more than once in my life, and periodically have to fend off its recalcitrant attempts to recrudesce. So far, so good.

Because of my experience, though, I am chagrined when I see the disease identified (as it often is in this or that popular periodical, book or movie) as a font of creativity. Cf. Van Gogh, we are urged; if he had had access to SSRIs, why, we'd have been denied Starry Night!

Well, rest assured, dear readers--we really don't have to ask human beings to forfeit their minds to insanity so that we can look at pretty pictures. Did SSRIs actually inhibit Van Gogh's creativity, we'd still have Mona Lisa (inter caetera) to gander at, and Vincent's life wouldn't have been an existential nightmare besides.

In any case, as Peter Kramer's new book Against Depression shows, the whole premise underlying the above-criticized line of reason is completely misbegotten. As this New York Times review puts it:

Forget the persistent myth of depression as a source of artistry, soulfulness and rebellion. Depression doesn't fan creative flames. It is photophobic and anhedonic and would rather just drool in the dark.

In other words, if Van Gogh had had Prozac or some other suitable medication, we'd have had more than just Starry Night, and (what's more) Van Gogh's life would have been filled with meaning for him and not just for us.

Men are from Mars, Women are Stupid

Harvard psychology professors Steven Pinker and Elizabeth Spelke discuss why women are as scarce as hens' teeth in science and mathematics faculties at elite institutions. Very nice.

Side note: The title to this post is at approximately 180° variance from the possible answers actually adduced. (Pinker's answer: it's a blend of socializing factors, institutional bias, and innate aptitude and motivation. Spelke's answer: it's primarily socializing factors and bias, possibly with a dash of innate motivation.) But it made you look.

(Via Arts & Letters Daily.)

New Bots, Same as the Old Bots

Interesting story at NPR on current work in robotic autoreplication. Make sure to watch the RealPlayer clips (JavaScript links).

(Via Candi.)

Einstein and Gödel

Interesting article in the New Yorker about the relationship between Einstein and Gödel. Included are some early insights Gödel drew from Einstein's work.

Other speculation about their unrecorded musings may be true, but unprovable.