Science
Something Funny Is Happening at the LHC
Isaac Asimov famously said that the most exciting phrase in science is not “Eureka!”, but “That’s funny…” What that means is that the biggest discoveries in science are as often not finding what you were looking for, but finding something completely unexpected. Consider the famous Michelson-Morley experiment. This was
What Are They Building in There?
As I’ve reported for The BFD, the ineluctable realities of demographics and geopolitics are against China’s superpower ambitions. Geopolitically, superpowerdom means a lot more than just military strength. A superpower has the sort of cultural clout that draws other nations into its sphere of influence by a kind
Nuclear Fission, Isotopes, Decay, Transmutation and All That
Marc Grey In two previous articles nuclear power adoption challenges, new designs and failure modes were discussed. The actual mechanics of nuclear fission and related ancillary concepts were not considered. In this article we will describe basic atomic and nuclear concepts, building up to a more detailed description of how
Scientific Racism Makes a Comeback? Woke ‘Nature’ Journal Looking to Hire an Intern – But Only If They’re Black
Graham Dockery rt.com Graham Dockery is an Irish journalist, commentator, and writer at RT. Previously based in Amsterdam, he wrote for DutchNews and a scatter of local and national newspapers. A prestigious science journal is seeking an intern, but only those of a certain race may apply. This isn’
Against the Wuhan Lab Theory
It’s fair to say that David Cole is a contrarian. He first came to attention as a “Jewish Holocaust denier”. Which is untrue, of course: Cole was a revisionist who questioned some claims about the Holocaust, but never denied that it took place. Whatever the merits of his revisionism
Antarctica Isn’t in a Hurry to Melt
Antarctica has been ice-bound for the last 34 million years. During the preceding Eocene epoch (56 to 33.9mya), Antarctica was quite a pleasant place: summer temperatures around 25°C, with palm, conifer and beech forests. But Antarctica’s fate was sealed with the final breakup of the remnants of
Not Quite the Generations of Mutants We Were Expecting
It’s been a stock trope of post-apocalyptic fiction since at least the late 1950s, when Walter M Miller published his classic A Canticle for Liebowitz. In Miller’s book, even a thousand years after a nuclear war, mutants like the two-headed Mrs Grales persist, like a nuclear Mark of
Supermoon! Red Blood Lunar Eclipse! It’s All Happening at Once, but What Does That Mean?
Shannon Schmoll Michigan State University Shannon Schmoll has a PhD in astronomy and science education. Her dissertation was titled “Toward a Framework for Integrating Planetarium and Classroom Learning” and was aimed at better understanding how planetarium field trips can effectively fit into formal astronomy curriculum. The first lunar eclipse of
How Old Is Britain’s Biggest Boner?
Australia has long had a fascination with “Big” tourist attractions: the Big Pineapple, the Big Banana, the Big Merino (possibly popular with Kiwi tourists), the Big Gumboot (and Big Ugg Boots), even a Big Bogan. Australia also has a, not just big, but colossal, naked warrior holding a stick. “Marree
Re-Examining the Shroud of Turin
Francis Phillips mercatornet.com A Catholic Scientist Champions the Shroud of Turin By Gerard Verschuuren, Sophia Institute Press, 2021, 240 pages People who read the title of this book will probably divide into two camps: those who already believe the piece of cloth known as the Holy Shroud and preserved
Fact Check: Does George Christensen’s Bill Force Medical Intervention When There’s No Chance of Survival?
Dave Pellowe goodsauce.news Secretary of the “Reason Party”, Emma Sinclair, has presented a poor-performing video claiming to debunk George Christensen’s Children Born Alive Protection Bill. For context, the “Reason Party” was formerly called the “Australian Sex Party”, and was established in 2009 by Fiona Patten, the then CEO
The Pillars of Transgender Medicine Are Shaking
Michael Cook mercatornet.com Michael Cook is the editor of MercatorNet Can you really be transgender at four years old? Matthew Stubbings, and wife Klara Jeynes, both 44, from the English city of Doncaster, believe so. Their “son” Stormy was born as a girl named Emerald. However, from 18 months
Fraud Claims Levelled at Reef Scientists
BFD readers should be familiar with the saga of Professor Peter Ridd. Ridd, you may recall, was sacked by Queensland’s James Cook University after he spoke out about the poor quality of research used to justify claims that the Great Barrier Reef is being “killed by climate change”. Ridd’
Making Monkeys Out of Us
David Albert Jones mercatornet.com Professor David Albert Jones is Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford; he was appointed in 2010. He is also a Research Fellow at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University and Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. A US-Chinese team of scientists have produced
Say It Again: Lockdowns Don’t Work
We at The BFD have been reporting it for over a year, now – and finally, the mainstream media are beginning, ever so slowly, to catch on. What I’m talking about is the now-undeniable evidence that lockdowns do not work. New Zealand’s ‘COVID Queen’ might like to boast that