Science

Through online presentations, in-person and virtual workshops, and a trove of free resources, the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) gives teachers the tools they need to effectively teach evolution and answer its critics. TIES is kicking off 2021 with its first new webinar of the year tomorrow night. On Thursday, January 7, at 8 p.m. ET, …

As an ideology that seeks political and cultural dominance for a particularly conservative brand of Christianity, Christian nationalism is an obvious threat to secularism, true religious equality, and the rights of the nonreligious. But it’s also a threat to public health and science in general. A new study by sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry …

The danger of science-denial has been on full display in 2020, and much of that denial came from the White House. At Skeptical Inquirer, William London (also a new Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) surveys the damage done to the scientific landscape as we’ve endured four years of assaults on truth itself—during a pandemic, no …

The Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science (TIES) is a program of the Richard Dawkins Foundation that gives middle school teachers the tools they need to effectively teach evolution and answer its critics. Having put on free in-person workshops in all fifty states before the pandemic, TIES has fully embraced its new role as an online source …

For Seth Andrews, host of The Thinking Atheist podcast and author of the upcoming book Confessions of a Former Fox News Christian, atheism is just one step in a longer journey of discovery. “The Thinking Atheist is not me; it’s an idea,” he tells Rob Palmer in a special interview for CFI, where he discusses his skeptical coverage …

In the latest Skeptical Inquirer Presents online event, Sean B. Carroll wowed over 700 real-time viewers with a fascinating look at how random chance has shaped the universe we live in at every level, from the macrocosmic to the microscopic. Not only was it revelatory to think of the odds against each of us being …

A few months ago, 5G wireless technology was in the news because of absurd conspiracy theories claiming that 5G towers were spreading the coronavirus. This nonsensical myth is still propagating, even as tech giants such as Apple are singing the praises of 5G. Meanwhile, many people still harbor fears that cell phone signals cause cancer. …

Last month, the Supreme Court showed that it is willing to privilege religion even at the expense of public health during a pandemic with its decision to overturn New York’s restrictions on indoor worship services. Ron Brownstein at The Atlantic explores how the Court’s new religious-conservative supermajority is in cultural conflict with the country’s secularizing …

By Tom Metcalfe In research published Wednesday in the journal Nature, scientists reported that they’ve made the first detection of almost-ethereal particles called neutrinos that can be traced to carbon-nitrogen-oxygen fusion, known as the CNO cycle, inside the sun. It’s a landmark finding that confirms theoretical predictions from the 1930s, and it’s being hailed as one of …

By Jon Cohen and John Travis A third COVID-19 vaccine candidate has convincing evidence that it works, and it may be easier to distribute and cheaper than the two other vaccines already shown to protect people. Developed by the company AstraZeneca in partnership with the University of Oxford, the vaccine had an average efficacy of …

By Dennis Overbye Once upon a time, Albert Einstein described scientific theories as “free inventions of the human mind.” But in 1980, Stephen Hawking, the renowned Cambridge University cosmologist, had another thought. In a lecture that year, he argued that the so-called Theory of Everything might be achievable, but that the final touches on it …

When John Kerry served as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state, he helped steer the negotiation of the Paris Agreement on climate change, locking down commitments from nearly 200 nations — including his own — to begin to reverse the dangerous warming of the planet. Now his diplomatic task may be even tougher. On Monday, …