World citation and collaboration networks: uncovering the role of geography in science : Scientific Reports : Nature Publishing Group

World citation and collaboration networks: uncovering the role of geography in science : Scientific Reports : Nature Publishing Group.

The Marketplace in Your Brain – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education

“In 2003, amid the coastal greenery of the Winnetu Oceanside Resort, on Martha’s Vineyard, a group of about 20 scholars gathered to kick-start a new discipline. They fell, broadly, into two groups: neuroscientists and economists. What they came to talk about was a collaboration between the two fields, which a few researchers had started to call “neuroeconomics.” Insights about brain anatomy, combined with economic models of neurons in action, could produce new insights into how people make decisions about money and life.”

via The Marketplace in Your Brain – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Why Would an Argument Presented in a Visually Challenging Way Cause Us to Think Harder Rather Than Give Up? – Science and Religion Today

“In our research, we found that people will become less biased after reading arguments presented in a difficult-to-read (i.e. disfluent) format. We propose that this reduction in bias is because people are forced to slow down their thinking as they try to perceive what the text is actually saying, and will rely less on shortcuts in reasoning—like the confirmation bias (which occurs when people process a message too quickly). Therefore, making a message more difficult to read places a limit on how quickly people can think through it, allowing them to think more critically.”

via Why Would an Argument Presented in a Visually Challenging Way Cause Us to Think Harder Rather Than Give Up? – Science and Religion Today.

What Cities Can Learn From The Country About Land Management

What Cities Can Learn From The Country About Land Management.

NINA – The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research

NINA – The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.

The value of valuing ecosystem services | International Institute for Environment and Development

The value of valuing ecosystem services | International Institute for Environment and Development.

The Earth Institute – Columbia University

The Earth Institute – Columbia University.

False positives: fraud and misconduct are threatening scientific research | Science | The Guardian

False positives: fraud and misconduct are threatening scientific research | Science | The Guardian.

International Institute for Environment and Development | Shaping decisions for development

International Institute for Environment and Development | Shaping decisions for development.

Our research: striving towards excellence | International Institute for Environment and Development

Our research: striving towards excellence | International Institute for Environment and Development.

Opening Access to Research | Open Society Foundations

“Today most universities, libraries, and research funding agencies are providing OA, experimenting with it, or considering it. Its only opponents have been academic publishers. But today most academic publishers are also providing OA, experimenting with it, or considering it. Even the ones continuing to lobby against it are hedging their bets by taking steps toward adaptation. This is what deep institutional change looks like.”

via Opening Access to Research | Open Society Foundations.

Homepage : SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research : University of Sussex

Homepage : SPRU – Science and Technology Policy Research : University of Sussex.

Posts – Research Blogging

Posts – Research Blogging.

Crowd-funding science? « through the looking glass

Crowd-funding science? « through the looking glass.

Cost of scientific research – and political naivete | Secular News Daily

Cost of scientific research – and political naivete | Secular News Daily.

Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit | David Graeber | The Baffler

Of Flying Cars and the Declining Rate of Profit | David Graeber | The Baffler.

Open access to research is inevitable, says Nature editor-in-chief | Science | guardian.co.uk

Open access to research is inevitable, says Nature editor-in-chief | Science | guardian.co.uk.

Does Brain Scanning Show Just the Tip of the Iceberg? | The Crux | Discover Magazine

Does Brain Scanning Show Just the Tip of the Iceberg? | The Crux | Discover Magazine.

5 Ways to Turn a Liberal Into a Conservative (At Least Until the Hangover Sets In) | The Crux | Discover Magazine

5 Ways to Turn a Liberal Into a Conservative (At Least Until the Hangover Sets In) | The Crux | Discover Magazine.

Response to Greta Christina

http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2012/04/19/why-atheism-demands-social-justice/#comment-66259

A limb it is Greta, a limb it is!

Of course your right, “Atheism, technically, means only the conclusion that there are no gods.” So I fail to understand why you would argue that the atheists conclusion, that an interventionist gud does not exist, cannot stand in a vacuum like a conclusion that ‘the sky is blue’ for example?

Political numbers and the associated influence upon the definition of ‘justice’ may well make the world safer for atheists. Equally, political numbers currently serve to make the world less safe for atheists.

True, it makes sense that atheists, from the Macavellian perspective, should join the fray, leverage their numbers and attempt to secure their future…but, it does not, by extension validate a semantic redefinition of atheism.

For an evangelical, justice is served by reminding the sinner of their sins perhaps contributing to everlasting salvation…what could be more just than that?

It would seem, regardless of belief and, based upon limited data, that atheists coalese around an autonomous social core compass http://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blogs/political-atheism. Universally it would seem.
Isn’t it better, rather than the philosophical minefield of redefining atheism for political purposes, to understand the reasons this is the case?