Evolution

Covid-19 just part of Darwin’s dangerous idea…

Terry Maguire on May 9, 2020, 1:30 pm | Readers 3662

Some years back, the vagaries of cheap air travel and the capriciousness of meetings schedules conspired to place me in central London with a few hours to spare. So I took that rare opportunity to visit the Gothic cathedral that is the Natural History Museum (NHM) to see a Charles Darwin exhibition. In my youth, pathetic in the eyes of my peers, Darwin was my hero; his simple, powerful idea excited me sufficiently to make studying science a joy rather …

“…laughing at unionists is not the revenge that Booby Sands had hoped”.

Mick Fealty on February 11, 2016, 2:59 pm | Readers 4146

Today Newton Emerson gives the most plausible explanation as to why Unionism is finally out punching and out pacing political nationalism I’ve read since the start of Slugger O’Toole. It’s a real keeper. What follows is highlights. You really do need to read the whole thing… My Irish News colleague Fionnuala O Connor has asked why unionism seems comparatively “perked-up” beside “stale nationalism”. The answer may be something many unionists do not believe in – evolution. As an unpopular people …

“anthropomorphising the results from flies is difficult to suppress…”

Pete Baker on March 16, 2012, 5:32 pm | Readers 593

I’m sure there’s no significance at all in the timing of this story… As the somewhat excitable BBC science report’s headline has it – “Sex-starved fruit flies turn to drink” In an article in Science, researchers suggest that alcohol stimulates the flies’ brains as a “reward” in a similar way to sexual conquest. The work points to a brain chemical called neuropeptide F, which seems to be regulated by the flies’ behaviour. Human brains have a similar chemical, which may react …

Ireland, the UK, evolution, wealth and belief

Niall Fealty on July 15, 2011, 10:26 am | Readers 36

There was a good graph out this morning on belief in evolution versus GDP in various nations, interesting how the US is the biggest outlier in the data set by a significant margin. Also interesting is the UK compared with Ireland; the UK is pretty much bang on the trend line and Ireland shows a significantly higher degree of scepticism at about 10% lower in terms of evolutionary belief, now what does that tell you? Niall Fealty

Good heavens! You’re the science minister…

Pete Baker on September 19, 2010, 4:19 pm | Readers 8

At least Edwin Poots was only the culture minister… The Fianna Fáil junior minister “with special responsibility for science”, Conor Lenihan, may believe the party has been “very damaged”, but he’s also got reason to thank his lucky stars for the recent controversy about Brian Cowen’s under par interview. At the start of the week the Irish government’s Minister for Science had been due to officially launch an anti-evolution book, “The Origin of Specious Nonsense” [Link? – Ed] You can google it yourself. …