Sunspots 625

Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else:

Christianity: An article on the National Association of Evangelical's web site, indicating that almost 90% of "evangelical leaders" don't believe that pastors should endorse politicians from the pulpit. This survey was taken before President Trump's executive order of last week on (more or less) this subject. Christianity Today discusses the executive order, and says, among other things, that only a small minority of churchgoers believe that pastors should endorse politicians from the pulpit.


Computing: (or something) Elon Musk wants to attach our brains to the internet. We're a long way from being able to do this, but, if we could, there are all kinds of issues. "Could I be hacked?," for example.

Benjamin L. Corey asks "How many people in your local community does your church provide comprehensive medical care for?"

Finance: Listverse reports on the hidden costs of shopping at dollar stores.

Humor: (Not exactly) Listverse describes how people survived 10 different bear attacks. (In most or all cases, the bear was surprised. Normally, they don't go around looking for people to attack.)

(Also not exactly) Scientific American reports that all the TVs in the US Food and Drug Administration have been set to show only the Fox News channel.


Politics: NPR reports that President Trump doesn't like compromising, and claims that he hasn't done so.

NPR also informs us that, as of May 6, there are 129 people officially in the race for President of the USA in 2020. Plus some more who may end up running.

Science: Scientific American reports that, contrary to dogma, nerve cells in a single organism do not have identical DNA.

FiveThirtyEight reports on how many insects there are in the world. The answer? A lot, but not as many as there used to be.

Scientific American has a historical essay on our obsession with lawns.

Listverse reports on 10 strange objects in space, including an asteroid, planets, and galaxies.

Sports: (and finance) National Public Radio reports on the shockingly low pay of minor league baseball players.


Image source (public domain)

"What Have You Changed Your Mind About?" pt. 3

I continue comments on Edge's "World Question" issue, which question is the same as my title. See the first part of this series, which gives some explanation, and the second part.

The first essay on this page of the issue is by Rodney Brooks, who questions the use of computational metaphors to explain the nervous system.

On the same page, Robert Trivers asks:
"And consider one of the great mysteries of mental biology. The human brain consumes about 20% of resting metabolic rate come rain or shine, whether depressed or happy, asleep or awake. Why? And why is the brain so quick to die when deprived of this energy?"
He doesn't know, of course.

Ken Ford used to think that science was practically free of unethical behavior, but has changed his mind, based, he says, on the evidence. He writes:
We do need to teach ethics as essential to the conduct of science, and we need to teach the simple lesson that in science crime doesn't pay. But above all, we need to demonstrate by example that the highest ethical standards should, and often do, come naturally.
Indeed!

I have found this publication to be fertile ground for thought, and expect to continue with this series.

Thanks for reading.