A day in the life: PCR
Dearest readers, welcome back to another instalment of scientific exploration! Last time, we left off finishing our experiments involving cell culture and drug response. Today,…
science
Philosophy of science: A very short history
If you’re going to talk about the philosophy of science, it’s important to have some historical background. To help trace a little bit of science’s…
The scientific process
Science produces so many useful technologies and lifts us by our bootstraps out from the domestic drudgeries generations of ancestors were meant to endure; to…
Oil and water: Are science and religion in conflict?
“Science respects the power of the human intellect; religion belittles it,” claims the former Oxford chemist Peter Atkins. Atkins adds, “Religion is armchair speculation well…
Point / Counterpoint – The motion: science will one day render philosphy obsolete (Pro)
Pro: If science has not rendered philosophy obsolete as a means for understanding the world, it will. Science as a discipline provides concrete knowledge by…
Point / Counterpoint – The motion: science will one day render philosophy obsolete (Con)
Con: Science cannot, and cannot be allowed to, render philosophy obsolete. One defence is that arguments for science as a reliable means for learning about…
New “Cold War” in Antarctica? Scientists argue over Vostok bacteria
Lake Vostok is situated almost 4,000 metres below the Antarctic ice. Russian scientists have been drilling there for over twenty years. The lake’s appeal is…
Further evidence for Higgs boson: New particle behaves as predicted, so far
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has tentatively confirmed that the new particle measured early last July is a Higgs boson. In a press…
A day in the life: Performing the experiment from beginning to end
Last time, we plated our cells and left them to grow enough for drug treatment. Today, we will finally perform the intended experiment, for which…
Survivor of Sierra Leone’s civil war visits the U of M
Mariatu Kamara, UNICEF special representative for children in armed conflict and author of the book The Bite of the Mango, was at the University of…