Following an election that saw voters in three states -- Maine, Maryland, and Washington -- approve measures to legalize same-sex marriage, a new CBS News Poll finds 51 percent of Americans nationwide think same-sex marriage should be legal, while four in 10 do not.
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There is a generational divide on this issue. Young Americans (those ages 18-29) are some of the strongest proponents of allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. Seventy-two percent of them support it, as do a majority --albeit a smaller one-- of Americans ages 30-44. However, support for same-sex marriage drops to 44 percent among those who are age 45-64 and even further to just a third of Americans age 65 and over. In fact, 56 percent of seniors oppose permitting same-sex couples to marry.
MORE: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57556481/poll-51-percent-support-same-sex-marriage/
When the nine Supreme Court justices retreated behind closed doors today for their regularly scheduled conference, they considered the issue of gay marriage and were widely expected to decide whether to take up a case that could ultimately determine whether there is a fundamental right to same-sex marriage.
But the justices surprised court watchers when they took no action at all.
MORE: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/supreme-court-takes-action-gay-marriage/story?id=17815437
What Todd does in this heady hour and ten minute stew of ghostly tales and Grand Guignol revivalism is something totally ignored in main stream theater these days and an almost thankless task to sell to today's sophisticated audiences so used to overblown CGI effects and slasher gore. He manages to create genuine warmth subtly mixed with dark humor in the Hitchcockian mode. How I miss this brand of glorious entertainment!
MORE: http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/11/29/playing-dead/
Flat Earthers have, for as long as they've been a movement, been of two basic varieties. There are the Biblical literalists who interpret certain Bible passages to mean the Earth is flat, and consider science to the contrary to be blasphemous. The second type consists of alternate science conspiracy theorists, cranks who think they've overturned Newton's laws, and who point to the United Nations flag as a hint from the Illuminati as to the true shape of our world.
MORE: http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/11/29/the-flat-earth-and-pseudoskepticism/
ScienceDaily -- A new paradigm for understanding the earliest eras in the history of the universe has been developed by scientists at Penn State University. Using techniques from an area of modern physics called loop quantum cosmology, developed at Penn State, the scientists now have extended analyses that include quantum physics farther back in time than ever before -- all the way to the beginning. The new paradigm of loop quantum origins shows, for the first time, that the large-scale structures we now see in the universe evolved from fundamental fluctuations in the essential quantum nature of "space-time," which existed even at the very beginning of the universe over 14 billion years ago. The achievement also provides new opportunities for testing competing theories of modern cosmology against breakthrough observations expected from next-generation telescopes.
--snip--
In this bizarre quantum-mechanical environment -- where one can speak only of probabilities of events rather than certainties -- physical properties naturally would be vastly different from the way we experience them today. Among these differences, Ashtekar said, are the concept of "time," as well as the changing dynamics of various systems over time as they experience the fabric of quantum geometry itself.
--snip--
Earlier work with loop quantum cosmology in Ashtekar's group had updated the concept of the Big Bang with the intriguing concept of a Big Bounce, which allows the possibility that our universe emerged not from nothing but from a super-compressed mass of matter that previously may have had a history of its own.
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Nelson said. "We now have narrowed down the initial conditions that could exist at the Big Bounce, plus we find that the evolution of those initial conditions agrees with observations of the cosmic background radiation."
The team's results also identify a narrower range of parameters for which the new paradigm predicts novel effects, distinguishing it from standard inflation. Ashtekar said, "It is exciting that we soon may be able to test different predictions from these two theories against future discoveries with next-generation observational missions. Such experiments will help us to continue gaining a deeper understanding of the very, very early universe."
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121129143452.htm
ScienceDaily -- An analysis of mineral grains from the bottom of the western Grand Canyon indicates it was largely carved out by about 70 million years ago -- a time when dinosaurs were around and may have even peeked over the rim, says a study led by the University of Colorado Boulder.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121129143301.htm
ScienceDaily -- Using genetic analyses, scientists have discovered that Northern European populations -- including British, Scandinavians, French, and some Eastern Europeans -- descend from a mixture of two very different ancestral populations, and one of these populations is related to Native Americans. This discovery helps fill gaps in scientific understanding of both Native American and Northern European ancestry, while providing an explanation for some genetic similarities among what would otherwise seem to be very divergent groups.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121130151606.htm
See also...
Human Genetic Variation Recent, Varies Among Populations
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121128132259.htm
To pinpoint how people recognize such images, Aviezer and his colleagues showed different versions of the pictures to three groups of participants: 1) the full picture with the face and body; 2) the body with the face removed; and 3) the face with the body removed. Remarkably, participants could easily tell apart the losers from winners when they rated the full picture or the body alone, but they were at chance level when rating the face alone.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121129143314.htm
See also...
Men and Women Explore the Visual World Differently
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121130222243.htm
Humanists are thankful to humanity and even the natural world for providing us the food and resources before us, the means to enjoy them, and the scientific advances and technology that help us better ourselves and our experience here on this planet. For humanists, it’s not a supernatural being that made their families, their communities, their countries, and this world a better place, but instead, it is generations of people in an unending pursuit of progress. Humanists are thankful for the great thinkers and courageous activists who risked their lives to bring us freedoms to think and believe and be who we are. And as we approach a season marked by giving and togetherness, humanists are thankful for the opportunity to learn, teach, and help others.
MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/thanks-to-humanity/2012/11/21/4d9b0316-340e-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_blog.html
See also...
Thanks Be to Humanists
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/roy-speckhardt/thanks-be-to-humanists_b_2170724.html
What Humanists Are Thankful For
http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2012-11-what-humanists-are-thankful-for
A Thanksgiving Grace for Humanists
http://www.americanhumanist.org/HNN/details/2012-11-a-thanksgiving-grace-for-humanists
ScienceDaily -- For the first time, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have defined key events that take place early in the process of cellular aging. Together the discoveries, made through a series of experiments in yeast, bring unprecedented clarity to the complex cascade of events that comprise the aging process and pave the way to understanding how genetics and environmental factors like diet interact to influence lifespan, aging and age-related diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121121145404.htm
See also...
Aging: Scientists Further Unravel Telomere Biology
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121121130933.htm
The "War on Christmas" has already begun.
At least, this seems to be true for "700 Club" host Pat Robertson, who recently warned his viewers that "the Grinch" is attempting to ruin the impending holiday.
As Right Wing Watch notes, Robertson used the iconic Seussian anti-holiday deviant as a metaphor for those "miserable atheists" who "want to steal [Christmas] away from you."
"Atheists don't like our happiness, they don't want you to be happy, they want you to be miserable," Robertson says in the video. "They're miserable so they want you to be miserable."
MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/19/pat-robertson-miserable-atheists-trying-to-steal-christmas_n_2159844.html?utm_hp_ref=religion
What is happening when a medium claims to be channeling or speaking to spirits? Believers claim that they are actually contacting non-physical entities, and that their channeled words and actions come from a place other than their brain. The skeptical interpretation is that the mediumship, of whatever flavor, is nothing more than a performance. The truth lies in the brain of the medium, and since we cannot read minds it seems there will always be room for interpretation.
This may be changing, however, as we develop the technology to peek directly at brain activity.
MORE: http://www.skepticblog.org/2012/11/19/studying-the-brains-of-mediums/
Jaeggi suggests we should take seriously this evidence of long-term reciprocity in animals. "It's really not qualitatively different from what people do," he said. "They establish these lasting relationships, and within them, services are exchanged without the participants keeping close track of who's doing what for whom."
However, humans also have the capacity for more contingent reciprocity, which raises questions about its purpose, and how it developed. "Maybe that's something that's more culturally learned," said Jaeggi.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121120132908.htm
ScienceDaily -- Humans are much more inclined to cooperate than are their closest evolutionary relatives. The prevailing wisdom about why this is true has long been focused on the idea of altruism: we go out of our way to do nice things for other people, sometimes even sacrificing personal success for the good of others. Modern theories of cooperative behavior suggest that acting selflessly in the moment provides a selective advantage to the altruist in the form of some kind of return benefit.
A new study published by Current Anthropology offers another explanation for our unusual aptitude for collaboration. The authors of the study argue that humans developed cooperative skills because it was in their mutual interest to work well with others -- indeed ecological circumstances forced them to cooperate with others to obtain food. In other words, altruism isn't the reason we cooperate; we must cooperate in order to survive, and we are altruistic to others because we need them.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121119094629.htm
"In the end, it's made a lot of people think about the bigger issue of the commercialization of Mecca where historic sites have been demolished to make way for modern malls and international brands.
"There's no particular reason to be outraged about Paris Hilton when we already have Gucci and Christian Dior. But for many it's further evidence of how the character of Mecca is being lost."
He added: "It's the combination of the location of the store, who Paris Hilton is and what she stands for."
MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/20/world/meast/paris-hilton-store-mecca/index.html
While violence between Israel and the Gaza Strip has escalated in recent days, tensions between the Jewish State and the Palestinian territories have long existed. The Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that over 830 rockets launched into southern Israel from Jan. 2011 - Nov. 2012. According to the Israeli human rights organization B'tselem, 319 Palestinians were killed between January 2009 (the conclusion of Israel's last major operation, "Cast Lead") and October 2012. Fifteen Israeli civilians and 5 security forces were killed by Palestinians in the same time period, the organization reports.
MORE: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57552203/timeline-of-recent-israel-gaza-violence/
The Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a letter to President Obama asking him to reject the way this country politicizes religion. The Constitution, which prescribes the oath in Art. 2, Sect. 1, does not contain the “so help me God” language or require use of a bible. As FFRF has always done before presidential inaugurations, we are asking President Obama to honor the Constitution on Jan. 21 by omitting that religious verbiage from the Oath of Office.
MORE: http://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/16074-ffrf-asks-obama-to-drop-religion-in-presidential-oath
The appointment that Superman would drop everything to attend is with astrophysicist and science educator Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson is currently the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. As it turns out, he is also the only man on Earth who can help Superman find the location where his home planet of Krypton was located.
MORE: http://www.examiner.com/article/superman-gets-help-from-neil-degrasse-tyson
ScienceDaily -- Scientists believe that prior to the advent of DNA as Earth's primary genetic material, early forms of life used RNA to encode genetic instructions. What sort of genetic molecules did life rely on before RNA?
The answer may be AEG, a small molecule that when linked into chains forms a hypothetical backbone for peptide nucleic acids, which have been hypothesized as the first genetic molecules. Synthetic AEG has been studied by the pharmaceutical industry as a possible gene silencer to stop or slow certain genetic diseases. The only problem with the theory is that up to now, AEG has been unknown in nature.
A team of scientists from the United States and Sweden announced that they have discovered AEG within cyanobacteria which are believed to be some of the most primitive organisms on Earth. Cyanobacteria sometimes appear as mats or scums on the surface of reservoirs and lakes during hot summer months. Their tolerance for extreme habitats is remarkable, ranging from the hot springs of Yellowstone to the tundra of the Arctic.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121110093550.htm
LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) -- A summit of African leaders approved a proposal Sunday to send 3,300 troops to Mali to help evict Islamist radicals who have taken control of that country's northern territory. But a spokesman for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says more steps are needed before any troops are deployed.
MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/11/world/africa/mali-international-troops/index.html
The attackers, believed to be connected to the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, fired a rocket into the police station near the state capital, said police Commissioner Patrick Egbuniwe. One of the officers was killed by the blast, the other came under fire while responding to the attack.
MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/04/world/africa/nigeria-violence/index.html
