Consilience: Episode 3

Episode 3 of Consilience: An African Science Podcast is out... In this episode (mp3 / 22.7mb) we wish some cool people happy birthday, we discuss an idiotic (and expensive) planned ceremony to "bless" a South African road, and we interview Ed Yong, of Not Exactly Rocket Science fame. (Sorry about the dodgy sound quality. Owen and I spent a very long time cleaning it up. We will do better).

Anyway, check it out! The show is also embedded below...

Consilience: Episode 2

The second episode of Consilience: An African Science Podcast is out. In this episode (mp3 / 33.1mb / 1:01:47) we discuss (among many other things) BF Skinner and behaviorism, Angola's 1st dinosaur fossil, and out-group bias in monkeys. The show also includes Part II of our interview with Dr. Steven Novella of The Skeptics Guide to the Universe.

It's embedded below:

Consilience: Episode 1

So Angela Meadon, Owen Swart and I have started a weekly science and skepticism podcast called Consilience. In our first episode we discuss gadgets causing sleeplessness, the Square Kilometer Array, whether the "Supermoon" caused Japan's earthquake, claims of fossilized alien microbes, tiger feces, and we interview Dr. Steven Novella.

Episode 1 is embedded below and you can download the mp3 directly here (31.4mb). The show notes are here.

Video Aluminum cast of ant nest

One of the most enduringly popular post on this blog is "A cement cast of an entire ant colony", a video of an ant nest cast. Embedded below (direct link) is another video of a beautiful cast, this time made using metal.



(H/T: Mike Breytenbach).

Calling black South African skeptics

A severely under-discussed topic among South African skeptics is race. The problem is stark and obvious: nobody seems to know any black South Africans who are also skeptics. Now, obviously, there are (must be) black South African skeptics... but we don't know who they are. And this situation is clearly unacceptable.

So... if you are black, South African and a skeptic (or know of someone who is) please contact me! I will make it my mission to help make your voice heard.

The African science, rationalism and skepticism blogroll for February

This is the updated African science and skepticism blogroll for February 2011... If you know of blogs not listed here, please let me know. Also: add it to your blog! Tweet it! Do a post like this one! (Email me, and I'll send you the HTML).

Note: I generally remove blogs that have been inactive for more than 6 months, so if you're no longer on the list and have resumed blogging, please email me.

• 01 and the universe
• Acinonyx Scepticus
• Amanuensis
  
• ASSAf Blog
• Botswana Skeptic 
• Bomoko and other nonsense words
  
• Chris McEvoy
• Communicating Science, the African Way
  
• Defollyant's AntiBlog
  
• Deon Barnard 
• Digital Immigrant 
• Effortless Incitement
• Ewan’s Corner
• Expensive Beliefs
• Fluxosaurus's Blog
• Free Society Institute Blog **new**
• Freethought Kampala 
• Geekery
• Grumpy Old Man
• Hello Universe, This Is Nessie
• Ionian Enchantment
• Lenny Says 
• Legends From a Small Country
• Leo Igwe's Blog
• Limbic Nutrition
• McBrolloks
• Nathan Bond's TART Remarks
  
• Orion Spur
  
• Other Things Amanzi
• Pickled Bushman
• Psychohistorian
  
• Quackdown **new**
• Quitstorm
• Retroid Raving
• Roy Jobson
• Science Blog
• Scorched
• Somali Atheism
• Stop Danie Krügel
• Sumbandlila Mission Blog
  
• Synapses
• The Indelible Stamp (used to be Tauriq Moosa). 
• The Science Of Sport
• The Skeptic Black Sheep
• The Skeptic Detective
• Updendo Wa Asili 
• Waxing Apocalyptic
• White Whale Holy Grail