| Chief rabbi challenges Stephen Hawking in row over origins of universe Lord Sacks accuses astrophysicist of logical fallacy in book excluding possibility of supernatural creationThe chief rabbi, Lord Sacks, hit back at Stephen Hawking after the astrophysicist said God did not create the universe.In his new book, The Grand Design, published next week, Hawking concludes that science excludes the possibility of a deity and that it is unnecessary to "invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going".But his findings were described by Sacks as an "elementary fallacy" of logic.Writing in the Times, the chief rabbi said: "There is a difference between science and religion. Science is about explanation. Religion is about interpretation. The Bible simply isn't interested in how the universe came into being."Sacks also said the mutual hostility between religion and science was one of "the curses of our age" and warned it would be equally damaging to both."But there is more to wisdom than science. It cannot tell us why we are here or how we should live. Science masquerading as religion is as unseemly as religion masquerading as science."In an earlier book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking was apparently more open to the idea of God, suggesting that a scientific understanding of the universe was not incompatible with a creator. "If we discover a complete theory … it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason – for then we should know the mind of God," he wrote.Stephen HawkingPhysicsReligionRiazat Buttguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Podcast: What the brain can and can't do Professor Barry Smith, director of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of London explores what happens inside our heads when we recognise a friend or reach for a cup of coffee.Professor Smith has just made a series of programmes for the BBC World Service called The Mysteries of the Brain, which starts today. So that's what the brain can do. We also look at what it can't do ... We dial up Professor Russell Stannard, emeritus professor of physics at the Open University. He thinks humans are fast approaching the end of what it is possible for us to know and understand. Caspar Llewellyn-Smith asks him about some of the themes in his new book, The End of Discovery. Check out our shiny new science front page and meet our crack team of science bloggers:The Lay Scientist by Martin RobbinsLife and Physics by Jon ButterworthPunctuated Equilibrium by GrrlScientistPolitical Science by Evan Harris Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science. Email scienceweeklypodcast@gmail.com. Join our Facebook group. Listen back through our archive.Subscribe free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed).Caspar Llewellyn SmithAlok JhaAndy Duckworth guardian.co.uk |
Capital offenders: the case against uppercase | Mind your language New York City is right to change the style of its street signs. Good, clear typography DOES NOT NEED TO SHOUTIT'S OFFICIAL: CAPITAL LETTERS CAN BE DANGEROUS.At least, that's what the US federal highway administration believes. According to the New York Post:"Studies have shown that it is harder to read all-caps signs, and those extra milliseconds spent staring away from the road have been shown to increase the likelihood of accidents, particularly among older drivers."In New York City, this will mean replacing 250,900 street signs with signs that cap up only the initial letter. So BROADWAY will become Broadway. A new font, Clearview, has been developed for the purpose. Cost: $27.6m (although, to put that figure in perspective, 8,000 signs have to be replaced every year for $110 each through normal wear and tear).Officials argue that the changes will save lives and the city's transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan, also suggested that the new signs might reflect a kinder, gentler New York. "On the internet, writing in all caps means you are shouting," she said. "Our new signs can quiet down, as well."Despite hysterical Daily News coverage that said "several" New Yorkers were "outraged" by the change – it quoted three – the paper's own poll showed that two-thirds of the public is behind the switch from capital letters.It won't surprise regular Guardian readers that I agree with them. The Guardian style guide has long encouraged the gradual move away from capitals. So do other newspapers and websites, although some venerable style guides are still agonising over whether to lowercase internet and world wide web. (Be assured they will do so, perhaps in time for the 22nd century.)In part, the switch from capitals reflects a society that is less deferential than in the days when the Manchester Guardian would write something like this: "The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, Mr LLOYD GEORGE, presented the Naval Estimates to Ministers and Members of the House."Most readers seem comfortable with a less formal style. A grand total of two people complained about our coverage of the pope's, rather than the Pope's, recent visit to the UK. We did receive a letter last week complaining that calling David Cameron the prime minister, not the Prime Minister (a style we have been following for more than a decade) reflected a "lowering of standards", but such complaints are few.We need to be ever-vigilant, however, against the capital offenders. Politicians, civil servants and Estate Agents are three groups that remain intent on drowning us all in this alphabet soup. (Yesterday I was presented with a government statement that said: "On the Chancellor's recommendation the Prime Minister has appointed the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to the Public Expenditure Committee ... ")Capitals do have their uses, of course. As the Urban Dictionary puts it: "Capitalisation is the difference between 'I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse' and 'I had to help my uncle jack off a horse.'"To return to traffic signs. New York's commendable decision is an echo of one taken in the UK 50 years ago, when the brilliant designers Jock Kinneir and Margaret Calvert, given the task of updating the country's chaotic system of road signs, concluded that "a combination of upper and lowercase letters would be more legible than conventional uppercase lettering". They produced a new font, known as Transport, which they felt would be friendlier and more appealing to British drivers than the stark modernist style used in continental Europe. The classic British road signage that they designed is still in use.LanguageNew YorkUnited StatesDesignDavid Marshguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Mystery Bird: Sedge wren, Cistothorus platensis This small bird exemplifies the confusion that was created by giving the same common name to a number of unrelated bird speciesSedge wren, known in South America as the Grass Wren, and formerly known as the Short-billed Marsh Wren, Cistothorus platensis, photographed at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Chambers and Galveston counties, Texas, USA. Image: Joseph Kennedy, 9 October 2010 [with binoculars].Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400Question: This cute little North American bird has a common name that has been applied to a variety of unrelated avian taxa. Can you tell me more about this?Response: This is a Sedge wren, known in South America as the Grass Wren, Cistothorus platensis. There are about 80 species of true wrens in approximately 20 genera. Interestingly, only one species of Troglodytes wren occurs in the Old World, where it is known simply as the "wren." This species, which is known as the Winter Wren in North America, is where the name originated. However, the name "wren" has been confusingly applied to a wide variety of unrelated songbird families throughout the world. In Europe, species of Regulus are commonly known as "wrens" -- the Firecrest and Goldcrest are called the "fire-crested wren" and "golden-crested wren", respectively. The name, "wren," has also been given to species in the Australasian family Maluridae, in the New Zealand family Acanthisittidae, and permutations of that name are given to the antwrens (family Thamnophilidae) and the wren-babblers (family Timaliidae).If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and appreciate audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ground coffee helps robot get a grip A floppy robotic hand that stiffens when air is sucked out, much like a vacuum-packed brick of coffee, may form the basis of a new type of robotic gripping mechanism, US researchers say. abc.net.au |