Natural History & Bones

A big story to me this week is the recent news about The American Museum of Natural History in New York. The exhibit in question is about Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution via natural selection. The museum was unable to find corporate sponsorship. Apparently the corporations are afraid to take sides with so many rampaging creationists around. They did fortunately get funding from private donors. But the news of companies being somehow afraid of aligning themselves with the greatest biological theory ... ever, gives me pause. Hopefully they are just being safe by staying apathetic about the whole thing, and this is simply a case of cowardice, not real disapproval of science. The next time I make it to New York, I'll be sure to visit this museum to see this exhibit myself.

I found a page at Discovery Channel Canada with a couple good video clips. I recommend The man behind the magic and A nail-bending suggestion. I like Richard Wiseman's approach of trying to identify the psychology before the actual trick. I recently watched his presentation on the TAM 3 DVDs. I still don't understand, in some cases, how he guesses peoples words when they pick them from books.

Bone Wars sounds like a fun game...

"Out in the field, fossil hunters must survive natural disasters and attempts by other players to steal and destroy dinosaur bones. Back at the museum, the conflict continues when the scientists carry their battle to the newspapers and scientific journals as they race to achieve scientific immortality!"

I'm going to try and post three times this week, so see you Wednesday.