Ofsted reveals “serious risk” to students’ physical and educational welfare in faith schools

By National Secular Society

A series of Ofsted investigations have exposed serious failings in six Islamic schools. The head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned the Education Secretary that pupils “may be vulnerable to extremist influences and radicalisation.”

According to Sir Michael Wilshaw: “All schools focused intensively on developing Islamic knowledge and understanding at the expense of other important areas of the curriculum.” Ofsted found that “pupils’ physical and educational welfare is at serious risk.”

At Mazahirul Uloom School inspectors found pupils were unable to tell the difference between sharia law and English law.

The six independent Muslim Schools, all in Tower Hamlets, are failing to provide pupils with “an appropriately broad and balanced curriculum.” In one school the curriculum was focused “entirely on Islamic themes.”

Commenting on the findings, Stephen Evans, National Secular Society campaigns manager, said: “For too long the rights of young people have been neglected by the willingness to allow religious communities to use schools to impose their own values and traditions on children.

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Were Neanderthals a sub-species of modern humans? New research says no

By Phys Org

In an extensive, multi-institution study led by SUNY Downstate Medical Center, researchers have identified new evidence supporting the growing belief that Neanderthals were a distinct species separate from modern humans (Homo sapiens), and not a subspecies of modern humans.

The study looked at the entire nasal complex of Neanderthals and involved researchers with diverse academic backgrounds. Supported by funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, the research also indicates that the Neanderthal nasal complex was not adaptively inferior to that ofmodern humans, and that the Neanderthals’ extinction was likely due to competition from modern humans and not an inability of the Neanderthal nose to process a colder and drier climate.

Samuel Márquez, PhD, associate professor and co-discipline director of gross anatomy in SUNY Downstate’s Department of Cell Biology, and his team of specialists published their findings on the Neanderthal nasal complex in the November issue ofThe Anatomical Record, which is part of a special issue on The Vertebrate Nose: Evolution, Structure, and Function (now online).

They argue that studies of the Neanderthal nose, which have spanned over a century and a half, have been approaching this anatomical enigma from the wrong perspective. Previous work has compared Neanderthal nasal dimensions to modern human populations such as the Inuit and modern Europeans, whose nasal complexes are adapted to cold and temperate climates.

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IBM’s Watson Will Give You Health Advice Based On Your DNA

Image credit: Richard Wheeler via Wikimedia Commons

By Francie Diep

Maybe you have a fitness tracker. Maybe you’ve gotten your genome sequenced before. Probably your medical records are kept in electronic, instead of paper, form. Now some companies are seeking to combine all those things and more into a talking, personalized, health-advice app. Not sure when to give yourself your next insulin shot after having a croissant for breakfast? You can ask the app. How much exercise should someone with your genetic makeup be getting? The app will give you suggestions.

At least, that’s the goal of the app-makers, who include developers from IBM and a startup called Pathway Genomics. If the app, called Pathway Panorama, works as expected, it will be one of the most detailed and personalized health-advice apps we’ve ever heard of. It will bring an unprecedented amount of information to bear on the advice it gives you.

Pathway Genomics can sequence your DNA and provide an analysis as to what what those jumbled letters mean. Meanwhile, IBM’s artificial intelligence engine, Watson, will make it possible for the app to understand what users are asking it. Watson also is able to read and understand information online, so it will be able to do things like “read” published medical literature to help answer users’ questions. After all, that’s how Watson won Jeopardy, when IBM first introduced it.

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Egypt’s Muslim, Christian authorities unite against atheism

By World Bulletin

Senior Muslim and Christian authorities are cooperating to draft a “scholarly response” to what they say is a growing trend of atheism, especially among Egyptian youth.

Christian churches in Egypt say they are joining forces with Egypt’s Al-Azhar, a prominent center of Sunni Muslim learning, to fight the spread of atheism in the country.

“The Church and the Al-Azhar are drafting a constructive mechanism to address atheism,” Poules Halim, a spokesman for Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, told Anadolu Agency.

His statements came following a two-day conference, organized jointly between the Al-Azhar and the church, aimed at forging a “scholarly response” to atheism, which, Halim said, had been “spreading increasingly” in Egypt over the past three years.

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One More Poliovirus Strain Now Eradicated

Image credit: RIBI Image Library

By Bahar Gholipour

One strain of the virus that causes polio has likely been eradicated worldwide, according to a new report.

For two years now, there have been no new reports of polio caused by this strain, called poliovirus type 3, according to researchers from World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The possible eradication of the poliovirus type 3 would be a “historic milestone” for global polio eradication efforts, the researchers said in their report released today (Nov. 13).

The world is not yet rid of polio. There are three strains of the virus, and type 1 is still actively being transmitted in three countries: Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Transmission of poliovirus type 2 has been stopped since 1999.

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Secularists call for an inclusive national ceremony of remembrance

By The National Secular Society

The commemoration of Remembrance Day should be rethought and re-designed to make it a truly inclusive national event, and not one that is dominated by a single Christian denomination, say secularists.

The National Secular Society (NSS) has written to the Government asking it to review the dominant role of the Church of England at the national ceremony of remembrance, which it argues should be equally inclusive of all citizens, regardless of religion and belief.

In a letter to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid, the NSS says it is important that we commemorate important dates such as Remembrance “as a nation” and points out that many people feel alienated by religious services.

The letter urges the Government to bring forward proposals for a more secular and inclusive Ceremony of Remembrance, pointing out that ceremonies in other countries, such as France, are led by civic and national dignitaries without any religious element.

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Half Of Brits Say Religion Does More Harm Than Good, And Atheists Can Be Just As Moral

By Jessica Elgot

More than half of Britons believe that religion does more harm than good, with less than a quarter believing faith is a force for good, the Huffington Post UK can reveal today.

Even 20% of British people who described themselves as being ‘very religious’ said religion was harmful to society, and a quarter of said atheists were more likely to be moral individuals than religious people.

The exclusive poll for the HuffPost UK reveals that just 8% of Britons describe themselves as very religious, with more than 60% saying they were not religious at all.

The eye-opening survey, that will reopen debate over the role and worth of religion to British society, found of the ‘non-religious’ people polled, more than 60% said they thought religion caused more problems than it solved.

The poll shows that more people believe being an atheist is more likely to make you a good person than being religious. In fact, one in eight Britons said atheists tend to be more moral, compared to just 6% who say atheists are less moral, challenging widely held beliefs that religion is one of the last remaining bastions of British morality.

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Gulf Oil Spill Left Rhode Island-Sized Oily ‘Bathtub Ring’ On Seafloor, Study Finds

Photo: AP

By Seth Borenstein

The BP oil spill left an oily “bathub ring” on the sea floor that’s about the size of Rhode Island, new research shows.

The study by David Valentine, the chief scientist on the federal damage assessment research ships, estimates that about 10 million gallons of oil coagulated on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico around the damaged Deepwater Horizons oil rig.

Valentine, a geochemistry professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, said the spill from the Macondo well left other splotches containing even more oil. He said it is obvious where the oil is from, even though there were no chemical signature tests because over time the oil has degraded.

“There’s this sort of ring where you see around the Macondo well where the concentrations are elevated,” Valentine said. The study, published in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, calls it a “bathtub ring.”

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NASA Seeks Proposals to Develop Capabilities for Deep Space Exploration, Journey to Mars

By NASA

NASA is soliciting proposals for concept studies or technology development projects that will be necessary to enable human pioneers to go to deep space destinations such as an asteroid and Mars.

Through a Broad Area Announcement (BAA) NASA released today, the agency seeks to use public-private partnerships to share funding to develop advanced propulsion, habitation and small satellite capabilities that will enable the pioneering of space. Public-private partnerships of this type help NASA stimulate the U.S. space industry while working to expand the frontiers of knowledge, capabilities and opportunities in space.

NASA intends to engage partners to help develop and build a set of sustainable, evolvable, multi-use space capabilities that will enable human pioneers to go to deep space destinations. Developing capabilities in three key areas – advanced propulsion, habitation, and small satellites deployed from the Space Launch System – is critical to enabling the next step for human spaceflight. This work will use the proving ground of space around the moon to develop technologies and advance knowledge to expand human exploration into the solar system.

State-of-the-art solar electric propulsion technology currently employed by NASA generates less than five kilowatts. The Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) BAA selected proposals for concepts developing systems in the 40-kilowatt range. NASA now is seeking to advance the technology to 50- to 300-kilowatt systems to meet the needs of a variety of mission concepts.

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NSS calls on Welsh Government to review compulsory collective worship

By The National Secular Society

The National Secular Society has called on the Welsh government to review the legal requirement on schools to provide worship after parents expressed concern about prayers being imposed on children in non-denominational schools.

A number of parents from Wales have contacted the National Secular Society (NSS) complaining of “excessive worship”, with reports of children being made to pray up to four times a day – without parents being informed.

Stephen Evans, NSS campaigns manager, said the imposition of worship in schools is causing a “moral dilemma” for many parents who don’t want a Christian upbringing for their child, but at the same time don’t find withdrawal an acceptable solution due to the emotional upset this causes for very young children.

Mr Evans said: “We are increasingly hearing from parents concerned about proselytising within their children’s schools, often in the form or excessive worship or assemblies being led by priests or evangelical groups. The obligation on all schools to provide a daily act of ‘broadly Christian’ worship is clearly providing a foot in the door for individuals and organisations with evangelistic intentions.

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