Posted inScience Matters The Homeopathy Myth

Beer Meets Esotericism

I came across this clever and funny observation from German physicist and cabaret artist Vince Ebert, who often explains science with humor and simple everyday examples. “If I suspect, for example, ‘There might be beer in the fridge,’ and I go check, then I’m basically already practicing an early form of science.Big difference compared to theology: there, assumptions usually aren’t tested.So if I just claim, ‘There’s beer in the fridge,’ I’m a theologian.If I actually look, I’m a scientist.And if I look, find nothing, and still insist there’s beer inside—then I’m an esoteric!” — Vince Ebert
Posted inCan We Talk About This Please? In the News The Homeopathy Myth

Dear parents, you’re being lied to

As a geek without kids (so far), I sometimes stumble across the phenomenon in my circle of friends that some parents refuse to vaccinate their children. Honestly, I’ve never understood why—and to be fair, I never really looked deeply into it. To my surprise, it seems to be far more common than I thought. I grew up in a family and environment where getting vaccinated was simply normal. Not long ago, diseases like mumps, measles, or rubella would flare up into epidemics and claim hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. Only through vaccination were we able to bring them under…
Posted inCan We Talk About This Please? In the News Online & Digital Politics & Opinion

The BND Espionage Affair: When “Friends” Spy on Each Other

As if Edward Snowden’s revelations about large-scale NSA surveillance in Europe and Germany, and the tapping of Angela Merkel’s mobile phone, had not already been enough, the U.S. spying scandal has entered its next chapter—despite all denials from the NSA and CIA. To summarize what happened: last week a BND employee was arrested. He is accused of having sold 218 confidential BND documents over the past two years to the CIA for a total of about €25,000. The man worked in the department “Areas of Operation/Foreign Relations” and was apparently responsible for archiving documents. In that role, of course, he had access…