Should big PR firms that represent drug companies also run scientific societies’ media operations?… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
Ben Goldacre on why cigarette packs matter 
Mar 12th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Cigarette packaging has been used for many decades to sell the crucial lie that cigarettes which are “light”, “mild”, “silver”, and the rest, are somehow “safer”.… Read the rest
Tudge reviews Flannery on Darwin
Mar 12th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And recycles every dreary cliché there is.… Read the rest
HRW report
Mar 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
On Islamic dress code for women in Chechnya.… Read the rest
Rosenhouse reviews Collins and Giberson
Mar 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Their book is not a good defense of theistic evolution.… Read the rest
A more hopeful view of women and Egypt
Mar 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But she wrote just before going to Tahrir Square for the March 8 Million Woman March…… Read the rest
Why are atheists so angry?
Mar 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because theists keep asking why they’re so angry.… Read the rest
Daily Mail: did “supermoon” cause earthquake?
Mar 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Ben Goldacre finds this question tasteless. Extremely fucking tasteless, actually.… Read the rest
Chechnya: women bullied into dressing “modestly”
Mar 11th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Chechen authorities are enforcing a compulsory Islamic dress code for women and condoning violent attacks on women deemed to dress immodestly.… Read the rest
Rahila Gupta on feminism and secularism
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Some on the left have developed an anti-racist politics that gives succour to religious extremism rather than challenging it.… Read the rest
A memo from Fred Halliday to LSE
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Halliday wrote this memo to LSE’s governing body in October 2009 to try to convince them not to accept a grant from the Qaddafi Foundation.… Read the rest
Philadelphia: 21 priests suspended
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A grand jury last month indicted three priests and one lay teacher on charges of rape, assault and other felonies related to minors, mainly in the late 1990s.… Read the rest
Newt Gingrich considers secularism “elitist”
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“In America, religious belief is being challenged by a cultural elite trying to create a secularized America, in which God is driven out of public life.”… Read the rest
Governor of Illinois repeals death penalty
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
“We cannot have a death penalty system in our state that kills innocent people.”… Read the rest
A scary theocrat
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But can the tension between religion and state always and at any time be resolved with a bias in favour of the law?… Read the rest
Sean Carroll on modal logic and the ontological proof
Mar 10th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The OP is perfectly logical — that is, the conclusions follow inevitably from the premises. It’s the premises that are a bit loopy.… Read the rest
CFI’s Living Without Religion campaign
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Too many people think atheists are miserable or savage or both.… Read the rest
Theocrats come to Harvard
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The April 1-2 Social Transformation Conference ostensibly aims to employ “faith-based principles to better our society.”… Read the rest
Cairo: women’s rights marchers report attacks
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A mob of angry men beat and sexually assaulted women marching for political and social equality, witnesses said.… Read the rest
Sally Feldman on shiny new anti-feminism
Mar 9th, 2011 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Catherine Hakim of LSE recently caused a furore with her “Feminist Myths and Magic Medicine,” in which she condemns moves towards gender equality.… Read the rest
