Best content in All Things TOK

Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks | Video on TED.com - 0 views

www.ted.com/...the_world_needs_wikileaks.html

wikileaks assange TEDTalks journalism human science ethics

shared by anonymous on 26 Sep 10 - Cached

anonymous on 26 Sep 10

"The controversial website WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and video. Founder Julian Assange, who's reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED's Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished -- and what drives him. The interview includes graphic footage of a recent US airstrike in Baghdad."

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"The controversial website WikiLeaks collects and posts highly classified documents and video. Founder Julian Assange, who's reportedly being sought for questioning by US authorities, talks to TED's Chris Anderson about how the site operates, what it has accomplished -- and what drives him. The interview includes graphic footage of a recent US airstrike in Baghdad."</div>

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anonymous on 26 Sep 10

Is Wikileaks a force for good? Should some information remain classified or should everything be made available to everyone? Are secrets unethical?

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Is Wikileaks a force for good? Should some information remain classified or should everything be made available to everyone? Are secrets unethical?</div>

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The history of science: The rage of reason - Science, News - The Independent - 0 views

www.independent.co.uk/...he-rage-of-reason-2077449.html

history science feud pressure human

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 25 Sep 10

"World-changing theories and big breakthroughs are what every scientist yearns for. But the pressure to get results - and glory - means that feuds come thick and fast"

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"World-changing theories and big breakthroughs are what every scientist yearns for. But the pressure to get results - and glory - means that feuds come thick and fast"</div>

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BBC News - Pregnant nun ice cream advert banned for 'mockery' - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/uk-11300552

bbc pregnant news ethics nun

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 25 Sep 10

"An ice cream company banned from using an advert displaying a pregnant nun has vowed to position similar posters in London in time for the Pope's visit."

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"An ice cream company banned from using an advert displaying a pregnant nun has vowed to position similar posters in London in time for the Pope's visit."</div>

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BBC News - God² - how science and religion rub along - 1 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...magazine-11380916

god² bbc science religion

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 25 Sep 10

"Protests by atheists against last week's papal visit to the UK have highlighted the age old friction between religion and science. But for hundreds of years thinkers with a foot in both camps have sought to reconcile these two beliefs, says Dr Thomas Dixon."

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"Protests by atheists against last week's papal visit to the UK have highlighted the age old friction between religion and science. But for hundreds of years thinkers with a foot in both camps have sought to reconcile these two beliefs, says Dr Thomas Dixon."</div>

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BBC News - Is Teresa Lewis an unusual death row case? - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-us-canada-11386347

bbc justice ethics death penalty

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 25 Sep 10

"Virginia is due to execute a woman, the first in the US state since 1912 and the first anywhere in the country for five years. But why is the execution of a woman such a significant event?"

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"Virginia is due to execute a woman, the first in the US state since 1912 and the first anywhere in the country for five years. But why is the execution of a woman such a significant event?"</div>

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My bright idea: evolution and empathy | Science | The Observer - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...on-frans-de-waal-primatologist

science evolution emotion empathy

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

BBC News - It's good to think - but not too much, scientists say - 2 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...science-environment-11340881

brain bbc psychology depression human science

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 25 Sep 10

People who think more about whether they are right have more cells in an area of the brain known as the frontal lobes.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">People who think more about whether they are right have more cells in an area of the brain known as the frontal lobes.</div>

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Einstein's theory is proved - and it is bad news if you own a penthouse - Science, News... - 2 views

www.independent.co.uk/...u-own-a-penthouse-2088195.html

theory einstein science physics relativity

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

Op-Ed Columnist - Downhill With the G.O.P. - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...24krugman.html

politics math statistics economics

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 25 Sep 10

"For these days one of America's two great political parties routinely makes equally nonsensical promises. Never mind the war on terror, the party's main concern seems to be the war on arithmetic. On Thursday, House Republicans released their "Pledge to America," supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, "Deficits are a terrible thing. Let's make them much bigger." The document repeatedly condemns federal debt - 16 times, by my count. But the main substantive policy proposal is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which independent estimates say would add about $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade - about $700 billion more than the Obama administration's tax proposals. "

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"For these days one of America's two great political parties routinely makes equally nonsensical promises. Never mind the war on terror, the party's main concern seems to be the war on arithmetic. On Thursday, House Republicans released their "Pledge to America," supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, "Deficits are a terrible thing. Let's make them much bigger." The document repeatedly condemns federal debt - 16 times, by my count. But the main substantive policy proposal is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which independent estimates say would add about $3.7 trillion to the debt over the next decade - about $700 billion more than the Obama administration's tax proposals. "</div>

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Does the Digital Classroom Enfeeble the Mind? - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...19fob-essay-t.html

digital classroom mind human science

shared by anonymous on 25 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 25 Sep 10

"How do we use the technologies of computation, statistics and networking to shed light - without killing the magic? This is more than a practical question. It goes to the heart of what we are after as humans. "

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"How do we use the technologies of computation, statistics and networking to shed light - without killing the magic? This is more than a practical question. It goes to the heart of what we are after as humans. "</div>

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BBC News - 'Survival of fittest' is disputed - 1 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...science-environment-11063939

evolution science survival of the fittest theory

shared by anonymous on 24 Aug 10 - Cached

- anonymous on 24 Aug 10
  
  Scientific theories are always subject to future questioning.
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Scientific theories are always subject to future questioning.</div>
  
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The new study proposes that really big evolutionary changes happen when animals move into empty areas of living space, not occupied by other animals.
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This concept challenges the idea that intense competition for resources in overcrowded habitats is the major driving force of evolution. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote What is the impetus to occupy new portions of ecological space if not to avoid competition?” End Quote Professor Stephen Stearns Yale University Professor Mike Benton, a co-author on the study, explained that "competition did not play a big role in the overall pattern of evolution".
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...3 more annotations...
However, Professor Stephen Stearns, an evolutionary biologist at Yale University, US, told BBC News he "found the patterns interesting, but the interpretation problematic".
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It proposes that Charles Darwin may have been wrong when he argued that competition was the major driving force of evolution.
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But new research identifies the availability of "living space", rather than competition, as being of key importance for evolution.
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Max Cheng on 24 Aug 10

Isn't this kind of like the reading we had...with the Uncertainty of Knowledge assignment? It talks about how science theories can be true because we believe them to be true, but because time changes and everything is different all the time, they are always easy to be proven wrong, and subject to change. That is like what you said about scientific theories being subject to future questioning. What we perceive to be an atom may not be what Socrates perceived as an atom, or some scientist from year 3000 perceives it. Science is always changing and therefore I agree that the laws that are made are always "refinable".

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Isn't this kind of like the reading we had...with the Uncertainty of Knowledge assignment? It talks about how science theories can be true because we believe them to be true, but because time changes and everything is different all the time, they are always easy to be proven wrong, and subject to change. That is like what you said about scientific theories being subject to future questioning. What we perceive to be an atom may not be what Socrates perceived as an atom, or some scientist from year 3000 perceives it. Science is always changing and therefore I agree that the laws that are made are always "refinable".</div>

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Mind - Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...07mind.html

TOK habits mind theory paradigm shift

shared by anonymous on 09 Sep 10 - No Cached

- anonymous on 09 Sep 10
  
  Wow!!!! If true, this is fascinating!!! Your brain is linking the Marshall Plan or Endocrine Systems to the shades of light in your bedroom or the smell of your couch.
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Wow!!!! If true, this is fascinating!!! Your brain is linking the Marshall Plan or Endocrine Systems to the shades of light in your bedroom or the smell of your couch.</div>
  
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- Max Cheng on 09 Sep 10
  
  It is interesting how you came across this article and liked it. My orchestra teacher Ms. Pipkin also showed the orchestra about this article and I liked it a lot and decided to do it for my blogging assignment. Ivan coincidentally also has the same article. I believe that this article is very TOK in form because it discusses the flaws of study habits, something we perceive as always right. Many believe that studying in a quiet place for a long time and focusing on subject by subject are the keys to success and getting the most out of each study period. However, through cognitive science studies, it is interesting how many scientists argue that a person should be in a room where the outside world can be sen (to have some distraction but not too much) and that a person should expose him or herself with many areas during one study sitting. So the whole argument boils down to "what is the right way to study?" and whether or not studying really helps. -max
  
  <div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">It is interesting how you came across this article and liked it. My orchestra teacher Ms. Pipkin also showed the orchestra about this article and I liked it a lot and decided to do it for my blogging assignment. Ivan coincidentally also has the same article. I believe that this article is very TOK in form because it discusses the flaws of study habits, something we perceive as always right. Many believe that studying in a quiet place for a long time and focusing on subject by subject are the keys to success and getting the most out of each study period. However, through cognitive science studies, it is interesting how many scientists argue that a person should be in a room where the outside world can be sen (to have some distraction but not too much) and that a person should expose him or herself with many areas during one study sitting. So the whole argument boils down to "what is the right way to study?" and whether or not studying really helps. -max</div>
  
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“What we think is happening here is that, when the outside context is varied, the information is enriched, and this slows down forgetting,” said Dr. Bjork, the senior author of the two-room experiment.
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Such theories have developed in part because of sketchy education research that doesn’t offer clear guidance. Student traits and teaching styles surely interact; so do personalities and at-home rules. The trouble is, no one can predict how.
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...6 more annotations...
they directly contradict much of the common wisdom about good study habits, and they have not caught on.
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“Instead, we walk around with all sorts of unexamined beliefs about what works that are mistaken.”
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“The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing,” the researchers concluded.
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“We have yet to identify the common threads between teachers who create a constructive learning atmosphere,”
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psychologists have discovered that some of the most hallowed advice on study habits is flat wrong. For instance, many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds just the opposite. In one classic 1978 experiment, psychologists found that college students who studied a list of 40 vocabulary words in two different rooms — one windowless and cluttered, the other modern, with a view on a courtyard — did far better on a test than students who studied the words twice, in the same room. Later studies have confirmed the finding, for a variety of topics.
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The brain makes subtle associations between what it is studying and the background sensations it has at the time, the authors say, regardless of whether those perceptions are conscious. It colors the terms of the Versailles Treaty with the wasted fluorescent glow of the dorm study room, say; or the elements of the Marshall Plan with the jade-curtain shade of the willow tree in the backyard. Forcing the brain to make multiple associations with the same material may, in effect, give that information more neural scaffolding.
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Dogs Smell Cancer in Patients' Breath, Study Shows - 0 views

news.nationalgeographic.com/...0112_060112_dog_cancer.html

sense perception dogs cancer

shared by anonymous on 24 Sep 10 - Cached

Dogs can identify chemical traces in the range of parts per trillion. Previous studies have confirmed the ability of trained dogs to detect skin-cancer melanomas by sniffing skin lesions.
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Confusing the Map for the Territory - 0 views

nobeliefs.com/MapandTerritory.htm

map is not the territory TOK knowledge

shared by anonymous on 24 Sep 10 - Cached

One of the most tragic outcomes of faithful belief comes out of its defense. Since a believer cannot defend a belief by testing it outside one's mind, the only defense comes out of language and emotion. While a scientist or an engineer can confirm or deny the reality of a theory by experimenting against matter and energy, a faithful believer must resort to experimenting with words and their meanings and the feelings they get from them. Unfortunately the symbols of language can collect various meanings for the same set of symbols that can lead to arguments about the
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Everything Really Is Relative - Science News - 2 views

www.sciencenews.org/...Everything_really_is_relative

science Physics relativity Einstein

shared by anonymous on 24 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 24 Sep 10

Physicists demonstrate time-warping principle in the realm of the ordinary

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Physicists demonstrate time-warping principle in the realm of the ordinary</div>

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A Claim of Pro-Islam Bias in Textbooks in Texas - NYTimes.com - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...23texas.html

History language religion Islam textbooks

shared by anonymous on 23 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 23 Sep 10

Some Texas Board of Education members want to prohibit what they see as an anti-Christian treatment of history.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Some Texas Board of Education members want to prohibit what they see as an anti-Christian treatment of history.</div>

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From Planets to Plutoids | The New York Academy of Sciences - 1 views

www.nyas.org/...PodcastDetail.aspx

science debate language pluto planet podcast

shared by anonymous on 22 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 22 Sep 10

"Six leading planetary scientists debate whether Pluto is a planet in a broadcast of the Hayden Planetarium's 2009 Isaac Asimov lecture. "

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"Six leading planetary scientists debate whether Pluto is a planet in a broadcast of the Hayden Planetarium's 2009 Isaac Asimov lecture. "</div>

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Moon, Mars, and Beyond | The New York Academy of Sciences - 1 views

www.nyas.org/...PodcastDetail.aspx

science moon ethics debate mars

shared by anonymous on 22 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 22 Sep 10

"Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts the 2010 Isaac Asimov debate at the Hayden Planetarium. He and five panelists debate whether NASA should bother going back to the moon, or just focus on Mars instead. "

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">"Neil deGrasse Tyson hosts the 2010 Isaac Asimov debate at the Hayden Planetarium. He and five panelists debate whether NASA should bother going back to the moon, or just focus on Mars instead. "</div>

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What the Nose Knows | The New York Academy of Sciences - 0 views

www.nyas.org/...PodcastDetail.aspx

Sense Perception smell scent nose podcast

shared by anonymous on 22 Sep 10 -

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anonymous on 22 Sep 10

The science of smelling and scent.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">The science of smelling and scent.</div>

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On Language - The Meaning of 'Man Up' - NYTimes.com - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...05FOB-onlanguage-t.html

language meaning connotation slang

shared by anonymous on 22 Sep 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 22 Sep 10

Behind a simple imperative lurks a complex web of masculinity.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Behind a simple imperative lurks a complex web of masculinity.</div>

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All Things TOK

Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks | Video on TED.com - 0 views

The history of science: The rage of reason - Science, News - The Independent - 0 views

BBC News - Pregnant nun ice cream advert banned for 'mockery' - 0 views

BBC News - God² - how science and religion rub along - 1 views

BBC News - Is Teresa Lewis an unusual death row case? - 0 views

My bright idea: evolution and empathy | Science | The Observer - 0 views

BBC News - It's good to think - but not too much, scientists say - 2 views

Einstein's theory is proved - and it is bad news if you own a penthouse - Science, News... - 2 views

Op-Ed Columnist - Downhill With the G.O.P. - NYTimes.com - 0 views

Does the Digital Classroom Enfeeble the Mind? - NYTimes.com - 0 views

BBC News - 'Survival of fittest' is disputed - 1 views

Mind - Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - NYTimes.com - 1 views

Dogs Smell Cancer in Patients' Breath, Study Shows - 0 views

Confusing the Map for the Territory - 0 views

Everything Really Is Relative - Science News - 2 views

A Claim of Pro-Islam Bias in Textbooks in Texas - NYTimes.com - 2 views

From Planets to Plutoids | The New York Academy of Sciences - 1 views

Moon, Mars, and Beyond | The New York Academy of Sciences - 1 views

What the Nose Knows | The New York Academy of Sciences - 0 views

On Language - The Meaning of 'Man Up' - NYTimes.com - 2 views

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