TOP 100 SCIENCE SITES
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| Researchers: Thick coat of oil on Gulf sea floor By 2010-09-13T16:10:34ZNEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Researchers say they've found patches of oil believed to be from the BP leak on the Gulf of Mexico sea floor. Some of these are two inches thick.... hosted.ap.org |
In praise of … Moses Why replace a miracle that has captured Christian, Muslim and Rastafarian imaginations with a tale of fluid dynamics?In his novel reworking the gospel, Philip Pullman had the good grace to emblazon the back with the words, in block capitals, "THIS IS A STORY." In that spirit, the unravelling of biblical mysteries through the device of two twins, Christ and Jesus, provides food for thought for atheists and thinking believers alike. The US National Centre for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado have not shown the same tact in breaking Moses's spell. Perhaps they were trying to help out the law-giver of the Jews when they devised wizardly models to prove that a 63mph wind could have combined with local topography to allow him to part the Red Sea. But why replace a miracle that has captured Christian, Muslim and Rastafarian imaginations with a tale of fluid dynamics? If the aim is to put the whole Moses tale on a scientific footing, it is a doomed enterprise – unless, that is, you can also explain manna from heaven, plagues summoned to order, and instant messaging with the Almighty himself. He was brutal with the golden calf worshippers, and we may take it as read he would take a hard line with the intellectual imperialism of those who pray at the altar of scientific reductionism. Having beaten the odds to survive in the first Moses basket, he spent the next 120 years (of course, people lived much longer in those days) being righteously ruthless with foes and with friends who went awry. Would-be buddies who picked every nit in his many and marvellous stories could expect very tough treatment indeed.• This article was amended on 23 September 2010. The original referred to "the alter" of scientific reductionism. This has been corrected.ReligionMeteorologyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Undocumented language found hidden in India By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID 2010-10-06T11:31:40ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- A "hidden" language spoken by only about 1,000 people has been discovered in the remote northeast corner of India by researchers who at first thought they were documenting a dialect of the Aka culture, a tribal community in the foothills of the Himalayas.... hosted.ap.org |
Dr. Georges Mathé, Transplant Pioneer, Dies at 88 An experiment of Dr. Mathé‘s was called the first successful bone marrow transplant not performed on identical twins. feeds.nytimes.com |
[news] BAS ranked in top ten British institutions in environment and ecology British Antarctic Survey ranked 9th in a survey of 303 British institutions which have produced the most influential papers of the last ten years in the category of environmental sciences and ecology, according to a survey published by Times Higher Education in July.The survey calculated the average number of times research papers were cited in articles by other scientists during the period from... antarctica.ac.uk |