Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
IAN SAMPLE, Science Correspondent - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: For those of us who live in a world created several billion years ago -- as opposed to that universe created 6,000 years ago when men and dinosaurs were dropped from the sky by God -- this new insight into the nature of early human life will be fascinating.
Early humans cooked up their first hot meals more than 1.9m years ago, long before our ancient ancestors left Africa to colonise the world, scientists claim.
Researchers at Harvard University traced the origins of cooking back through the human family tree after studying tooth sizes and the feeding behaviour of monkeys, apes and modern humans.
They concluded that cooking was commonplace among Homo erectus, our flat-faced, thick-browed forebears, and probably originated early in that species’ reign, if not before in more primitive humans. ‘This is part of an emerging body of science that shows cooking itself is important for our biology; that is, we are biologically adapted for cooking food,’ said Chris Organ, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard.
The advent of cooking was one of the most crucial episodes in the human story, allowing our ancestors to broaden their diet and extract more calories from their food. Because it softened food, it also spelled an end to the days of endless chewing. There has been disagreement among experts on the issue. Some of the most convincing evidence for human use of fire is more recent, dating to around 400,000 years ago, though older claims exist, including the remnants of a campfire in Israel […]
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Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
, - International Business Times
Stephan: Here is a new development in our understanding of how the currents of the world ocean work. And once again it supports the reality of climate change.
An international team of researchers has confirmed the presence of a newly discovered deep-ocean circulation system off Iceland that could significantly influence the ocean’s response to climate change.
The North Icelandic Jet contributes to a key component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, also known as the ‘great ocean conveyor belt,
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Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
Stephan: This is a significant social trend in Asia, and has to be seen, at least in China and India, in the context of gender selection -- creating a shortage of girls -- and China's One Child Policy.
Twenty years ago a debate erupted about whether there were specific ‘Asian values
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Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
MICHELLE GOLDBERG, - The Daily Beast
Stephan: I consider the rise of premillennial dispensationalist Darbyism -- what we mean today when we say 'Christian' to be one of the most alarming trends in our culture today. It would appall the Founders, and is certainly not any Christianity Jesus would recognize. Wherever it prevails culturally and politically people live degraded lives in very easily measured and objectively verifiable ways.
With Tim Pawlenty out of the presidential race, it is now fairly clear that the GOP candidate will either be Mitt Romney or someone who makes George W. Bush look like Tom Paine. Of the three most plausible candidates for the Republican nomination, two are deeply associated with a theocratic strain of Christian fundamentalism known as Dominionism. If you want to understand Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, understanding Dominionism isn’t optional.
Put simply, Dominionism means that Christians have a God-given right to rule all earthly institutions. Originating among some of America’s most radical theocrats, it’s long had an influence on religious-right education and political organizing. But because it seems so outré, getting ordinary people to take it seriously can be difficult. Most writers, myself included, who explore it have been called paranoid. In a contemptuous 2006 First Things review of several books, including Kevin Phillips’ American Theocracy, and my own Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, conservative columnist Ross Douthat wrote, ‘the fear of theocracy has become a defining panic of the Bush era.
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Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
LAWRENCE WRIGHT, - The New Yorker
Stephan: At this point on the political trail I think Rick Perry is the most likely candidate to get the Republican nomination, and I think he is as far right a politician as Michelle Bachmann. These people are willfully ignorant and corrupt theologues, and should they ever come to power we will look back on the current situation in America as the good times.
Lawrence Wright is a deeply insightful and thoughtful writer and I think this is an excellent portrait of a very charismatic but scary politician.
In December, 2000, shortly after the Supreme Court finally ruled on the disputed Presidential election, the mood at the Christmas party in the Texas Governor’s Mansion, in Austin, was a mixture of elation and disbelief. President-elect George W. Bush, a little sweaty as he came off the dance floor, greeted an old acquaintance from his Harvard Business School days and exclaimed, ‘Can you believe this? I’m the President of the whole fucking United States!
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