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By Hemant Mehta For several years now, the Birdville Independent School District in Texas has been a place where Christianity is routinely promoted and those who challenge Christian supremacy are punished. That battle finally came to a head at a U.S. Court of Appeals yesterday, but before we get to those details, it’s important to …

By Steven Novella Despite our many political differences, here is one topic about which the United States and Russia should be able to completely agree – homeopathy is pure pseudoscience. In fact Russia may have just taken the lead on this topic. The Commission Against Pseudoscience and Falsification of Scientific Research of the Presidium of …

By Jesse Emspak For decades, astronomers have tracked black holes with masses millions of times that of the sun, as well as those with tens of solar masses. But black holes between those two extremes have proved elusive. Now, astronomers studying a globular cluster have found just such a black hole at its center, showing …

By Victoria Gill Scientists who spent years listening to the communication calls of one of our closest ape relatives say their eavesdropping has shed light on the origin of human language. Dr Adriano Reis e Lameira from Durham University recorded and analysed almost 5,000 orangutan “kiss squeaks”. He found that the animals combined these purse-lipped, …

By Hemant Mehta With the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, one church/state separation group is already talking about how it will oppose her plans to defund our public school system in order to support religious education. Americans United for Separation of Church and State says it will fight any attempt at a …

By Victoria Gill The death of more than 2,000 critically endangered Saiga antelope in Mongolia was caused by a disease that could now threaten the entire population. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists, who work in the affected grassland area of Western Mongolia, say the disease originated in livestock. It is a virus known as PPR …

By Leigh E. Schmidt Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama recently raised eyebrows during his confirmation hearing for attorney general when he expressed doubts that secular people respected the truth as much as did those with religious convictions. Even as he insisted that there should be no religious tests for holding public office, Sessions was queasy …

By Katie Thomas President Trump’s vow to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration could bring major changes in policy, including steps to accelerate the process of approving new prescription drugs, setting up a clash with critics who say his push for deregulation might put consumers at risk. Mr. Trump has been vetting candidates to run …

By Ruby Mellen & Emily Tamkin President Donald Trump has chosen 49-year-old Colorado Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch of the 10th court of appeals to fill the vacant U.S. Supreme Court seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. The pick is expected to appease traditional conservatives, as Gorsuch mostly fits Scalia’s mold in his education, opinion, and …

By Bruce Stokes In all countries except Japan, the survey asked respondents whether being Christian or Catholic (reflecting religious traditions in the countries polled) was important to national identity. Across the 13 countries where the question was asked, a median of just 15% say it is very important to be Christian in order to be …

By Sarah Posner A leaked copy of a draft executive order titled “Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom,” obtained by The Investigative Fund and The Nation, reveals sweeping plans by the Trump administration to legalize discrimination. This article was reported in partnership with the Investigative Fund at the Nation Institute. The four-page draft order, …

By Amy Harmon and Henry Fountain Michael Eisen, an evolutionary biologist, is among the elite of American scientists, with a tenured position at the University of California, Berkeley, and generous funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for his research on fruit flies. But late last month, dismayed over the Trump administration’s apparent disdain for evidence …