...and all that bebop.

Although even the Wikipedia entry for scientific theory includes definitions provided by the world’s most prestigious organizations of scientists, the bill’s sponsor Rick Brattin has seen fit to invent his own definition. And it’s a head-scratcher: “‘Scientific theory,’ an inferred explanation of incompletely understood phenomena about the physical universe based on limited knowledge, whose components are data, logic, and faith-based philosophy.” The faith or philosophy involved remain unspecified.

Brattin also mentions philosophy when he redefines “hypothesis” as “a scientific theory reflecting a minority of scientific opinion which may lack acceptance because it is a new idea, contains faulty logic, lacks supporting data, has significant amounts of conflicting data, or is philosophically unpopular.” The reason for that becomes obvious when he turns to intelligent design, which he defines as a hypothesis. Presumably, he thinks it’s only a hypothesis because it’s philosophically unpopular, since his bill would ensure it ends up in the classrooms.

A new pacemaker has been built inside a heart by converting beating muscle into cells which can organise the organ’s rhythm, US researchers report.

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They used a virus to infect heart muscle cells with a gene, called Tbx18, which is normally active when pacemaker cells are formed during normal development in an embryo.

When heart cells were infected with the virus they became smaller, thin and tapered as they acquired the “distinctive features of pacemaker cells”, the report said.

When the virus was injected into a region of the hearts of seven guinea pigs, five later had heartbeats which originated from their new pacemaker.

Researchers working on a foam designed to limit internal bleeding of soldiers injured on the battlefield have received $15.5m (£9.6m) from the US military to continue their work.

The discovery of microbes thriving in the salty, sub-zero conditions of an Antarctic lake could raise the prospects for life on the Solar System’s icy moons.

Researchers found a diverse community of bugs living in the lake’s dark environment, at temperatures of -13C.

Furthermore, they say the lake’s life forms have been sealed off from the outside world for some 2,800 years.

The remains of what is believed to be one of Scotland’s earliest homes have been uncovered during construction works for the new Forth crossing.

The site dates from the Mesolithic period, about 10,000 years ago.

Scott Routley, 39, was asked questions while having his brain activity scanned in an fMRI machine.

His doctor says the discovery means medical textbooks will need rewriting.

Vegetative patients emerge from a coma into a condition where they have periods awake, with their eyes open, but have no perception of themselves or the outside world.

Software that can translate spoken English into spoken Chinese almost instantly has been demonstrated by Microsoft.

It’s only a matter of time.