A big weekend in science

There were just oodles of good science stories coming out over the weekend, and now that I'm done with both my weekend church-a-thon at St. Vincent Ferrer and my talk on Job for EPIC, I have some time to write about it. First, we have an article about how scientists continue to study the process of photosynthesis in order to develop an alternative energy source. But needless to say, most of the stories weren't as upbeat as this one. For instance, a recent study showed that electromagnetic fields caused rats to create a cloud of toxic ozone around them. Scientists believe that the fields are reacting with the water inside the rat's body to create the cloud. Speaking of clouds though, another story features a call to save the remaining 'cloud forests'. In case you were like me and have no idea what a cloud forest is, the article defines them as forests found in tropical mountains that because of their elevation are surrounded by clouds virtually every day. Scientists believe that they should be protected because of their ability to supply water by stripping it from the clouds and their unique genetic diversity. It's too bad that the Bush administration continues to ignore environmental concerns though. Their latest nominee to a permanent position in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has a very questionable environmental record, not to mention that he has never ever been a judge.

There is also a good article from National Geographic that explains some of the theories behind why dogs get along so well with humans. It's apparently not because we keep feeding them.

There were three articles from the New Scientist that caught my attention as well. The first talks about the Mars trip, where the rover has sent back pictures of the Martian soil that feature near perfect spheres. Although there are a couple of ways that these particles could have been formed, scientists are most excited by the idea that they could testify to the presence of water sometime in Mars' past. Scientists at the University of British Columbia have done some work that could partially explain why some people seem to have a 'sixth sense.' Calling the phenomina 'mindsight,' they found that about one third of people asked if a picture had changed said that they knew it was different without being able to tell why they thought that way. There is also an article outlining some of the ramificaitons of global warming, including an observation that the upper atmostphere is thinning.

However global warming has multiple effects as the Utne Reader points out. An potential increase in global temperatures could wreak havoc with ocean currents. Scientists speculate that it would even turn off the Gulf Stream, causing a massive plunge in temperatures in Europe.

I think it's pretty obvious that John Kerry is going to be the Democratic nominee for this year. Everyone else is battling it out for the VP position right now. I have mentioned before that I have no idea how this came about from a month ago when he seemed to be nowhere, but luckily the Christian Science Monitor has a good article explaining (somewhat) how he came to be in the frontrunner position that he's in now. I'm not overly disappointed though, as I think Dean basically has only himself to blame for blowing the lead that he once had. The New York Times believes that the Democrats will be a unified party by the time the convention rolls around, and I think that is definitely going to be the case. Whatever the minor differences between opinions that the different candidates have, they are nothing compared to the differences between any of them and George Bush.

With the real campaign about to kickoff now that the primaries are pretty much determined, George Bush took the time to give the press an interview -- a rare event from the president with the fewest number of press conferences in recent history. He went on to defend the war in Iraq and the new international relations paradigm that he introduced.

The New Republic had a field day with Bush's other pet project -- fitting God and religion into as many statements as possible. My favorite part is from a Globe and Mail article that they cite, where upon a meeting between the new Prime Minister Paul Martin and George Bush they reported the following:

Though it wasn't publicized at the time, Prime Minister Paul Martin got a sense of that sanctimony when he met with Mr. Bush in early January in Mexico. Mr. Bush let the Prime Minister know that he believed himself to be on the side of God and tending to God's mission. The Canadian side, while aware of the President's penchant for religiosity, had been expecting to talk more about softwood lumber than the Ten Commandments. The Canadians didn't expect the morality play. Nor did they expect that, almost in the same breath, Mr. Bush would be filling the air with the f-word and other saucy expletives of the type that would surely leave the Lord perturbed ... Mr. Martin was somewhat taken aback by what he heard. After the meeting, he was barely out the door before he was asking someone in his entourage what was to be made of all the God stuff. In meetings of presidents and prime ministers, religion has rarely been at the forefront. Business is conducted on the basis of knowledge and logic. With the Bush White House, the visitors must bear in mind that there is a third force.

In other news:
- The Supreme Court of Israel heard a challenge today from two Israeli human rights groups over the construction of the wall separating the West bank from Israel.
- The Guardian reports that Britain aided the United States in spying on other United Nations countries before the war in Iraq, in a deliberate disregard to the Vienna conventions on diplomatic relations, which strictly outlaw espionage at the UN headquarters.
- A troop of Chinese acrobats have defected to Canada, presumably due to religious and cultural oppression.
- The Toronto Star reports that a terror attack on Ottawa was thwarted in 1999.
- The Vatican reports that the health of the Pope has improved.
- In a symbol of how progressive Canada is on social issues compared to the US, the new Conservative Party in Canada has banned an MP from joining its caucus after he had made comments to the media the homosexuality should be outlawed and that there was a 'well-orchestrated conspiracy' to promote gay rights in Canada.

Finally, two articles about how gay rights are shaping the upcoming election. First an article illustrating how recent judicial rulings have spurned on conservative Christian groups who are actively campaigning for a constitutional amendment banning gay unions of any kind. Also an article about how despite a few high-profile cases in favor of their cause, most cases put before the courts by activists promoting gay rights are defeated. The article centers around the idea of whether laws should promote majority notions of morality at the risk of facing a classic tyranny of the majority situation, or whether laws must be more neutral and allow for greater freedom and liberty.