Alright, let's take a break from the SOPA/Internet censorship debacle, for something that isn't depressing and awful. The ESA's Herschel space observatory's revisit of the Eagle Nebula, or "Pillars of Creation" as it has been dubbed.

The rest of the text in this entry comes from the HSO website.

In 1995, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope took an iconic image of [...]

From The Godless Geek Blog
http://godlessgeekblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/herschels-revisit-of-pillars-of.html
1/21/2012 2:39:00 PM
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http://www.roozonline.com/english/news3/newsitem/archive/2010/november/22/article/hitlers-followers-...

From JREF Forum
http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=193717&goto=newpost
12/3/2010 5:40:43 PM
Search rank: 478

Five years after the National Academies released  Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a stark report showing America’s lagging capacity to innovate and compete, a sequel is out, and — no surprise —  the trends are still mostly in the wrong direction.

The update has the same name, but a new subtitle: “Rapidly Approaching Category 5.”

The report committee, led by Norman R. Augustine, the lead author of the original report and retired chairman of Lockheed Martin Corp., specifically notes, among many issues, that money for innovation initiatives from the economic stimulus package is a one-time blast when what is needed is sustained [...]

From RichardDawkins.net - All Aggregated News Content
http://richarddawkins.net/videos/525724-gathering-storm’-approaching-category-5
9/28/2010 1:14:50 AM
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Links for you. Science:

Believe it: man flu is real
Ignorance, Fake Turing Tests, and Bads
MiSeq Aims for Ion Torrent
Irradiating organic food would save lives

Other:

Deforming the Graduate Degree
Current Test-Based Incentive Programs Have Not Consistently Raised Student Achievement in U.S.; Improved Approaches Should Be Developed and Evaluated

From Mike the Mad Biologist
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/KsPC/~3/S13kn4kSxo4/links_62911.php
6/30/2011 7:30:28 AM
Search rank: 430

In looking through the comments of Chris Mooney's recent post on vaccination denialism, I found this comment, which inevitably shows up in one form or another (italics mine; errors original):

i grew up in the 1960s when less than a half dozen vaccines were required for infant protection spread out over the first few years of life. outside of a rubella outbreak, i recall no advrese effects on our infant populace, neither in mortality, serious disease contraction, nor mental disfunction.

today there are well over 2 dozem vaccines required, sometimes given 6-8 at one time, spread out over 18 months. and, factually, ther IS a documentable and unhealthy increase in childhood autism. many [...]

From Mike the Mad Biologist
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/KsPC/~3/Hp_E00VQRgA/well_ok_some_people_are_greate.php
5/1/2011 2:53:17 AM
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submitted by Ponerology
[link] [comment]

From Skeptic's Subreddit
http://www.reddit.com/r/skeptic/comments/ne7jz/irrationality_may_be_the_result_of_mental_noise/
12/16/2011 7:34:20 AM
Search rank: 419

The USA's National Academy of Sciences National Research Council (NRC) was ordered by Congress several years ago to offer “action-oriented advice” on how the nation should be reacting to the potential consequences of climate change. America's Climate Choices, the final in a series of four reports, was recently published.  The committee that authored the report included not only renowned scientists and engineers but also economists, business leaders, an ex-governor, a former congressman, and other policy experts.  The press release summarizes the report's basic scientific conclusions:

"The [...]

From Skeptical Science
http://www.skepticalscience.com/news.php?n=743
5/17/2011 5:23:01 PM
Search rank: 344

In 1666 Samuel Pepys watched  from “a little ale-house on the Bankside” as much of London burned to the ground. Pepys was no stranger to  nature and mankind colluding to produce drama, indeed his diary seems peppered with calamities. The year before London went up in smoke Pepys chronicled the Great Plague of 1665. On 20 May of 1663 the prolific diarist noted a combination of rain, wind and tide leaving important portions of the city navigable only by boat:

 “Then to Westminster, where by reason of rain and an easterly wind, the water was so high that there was boats rowed in King Street and all our yard was drowned, that one could not go to my house, so as no man has seen the like almost, most houses full of [...]

From Skeptical Science
http://www.skepticalscience.com/news.php?n=289
1/1/2001 12:00:00 AM
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