Birmingham Skeptics Weekly roundup - Fortnight editon 1/4/11

A weekly round-up of things we liked that we think you'd like also.

The remit of this weekly roundup is people that have nothing better to do scour the web for interesting things for people with better things to do.  Last week, I joined the ranks of people that have something better to do which meant no weekly roundup.  Don’t worry, this doesn’t happen very often.  As compensation, we bring to you a bumper edition, the best of the fortnight, we do hope you enjoy.

• Blog post on the use of twitter in science debate, looking at examples of online debates including Ben Goldacre, James Dellingpole and Brian Cox.

• Birmingham Skeptics regular Tulpesh made a video that introduced Children to MRI scanning, you can see the video and a few words from him on his blog.

• When Anthony Holland, Professor of Rheumatology and Tissue Engineering at the University of Bristol, discovered “how to make people alive”, he snubbed academic journals and approached Blue Peter instead.  See this important letter here.

• The New Age of Discovery, a blog post and interview with astronomer Ray Jayawardhana about the search for new alien worlds.

• Last weekend saw Census Day on which we should all diligently fill in our Census forms. As Government spending may reflect the collated information, there is one question in particular which has raised concerns and according to the British Humanist Association it may be down to  how the question is asked.

• On a similar subject the BBC reports that Census data may predict that religions may become extinct, however The Twenty-First Floor are not convinced.

• In yet more religious news, Free Schools will not be allowed to teach creationism according to the Government. Applications will be submitted however from organisations who think otherwise. Watch this space.

• Following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the computer industry is looking at the possible effects on the development of technology.

• Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer looks at the exposure of radiation from Fukushima compared to common sources in everyday life. The full diagram can be found here, and In a follow-up to last week's post, George Monbiot now loves Nuclear Energy.

• While we are looking at all things nuclear, French scientists believe they have identified the oldest nuclear reactor in the world, from about two million years ago.

• For the astronomers amongst you here is a video peek at the Crawford Collection, a library that houses one of the finest collections of first-edition astronomical books in the world.

• There is also an initiative to record the amount of light pollution in the 6th worldwide GLOBE at Night 2011 campaign, a vital issue for stargazers.

• In the New Statesman we've found an astute statement from Richard Wilson (@dontgetfooled) on  the crucial difference between doubt and dogmatism, and Gia Milinovich (@giagia) discusses on her own blog whether people have the right to be listened to.

• Finally, if you feel the need to discuss any of the above with people of differing viewpoints, you may wish to view this amusing flowchart to determine whether you are having a rational discussion. It may help you, but don't bank on it.

• We had a very successful social at the Square Peg on Corporation Street in the city centre. Details of the next one on Wednesday 27th April will be announced shortly on our Socials Page and don’t forget our next meeting with Nick Pope on Wednesday 13th April.  See our events page for details of future events.

This was put together by Paul Bryant (@thebigyeti) and Chris Richardson (@christheneck).  Special thanks and apologies go to Chris from Paul for all his hard work last week that didn’t actually see the light of day until now.