Articles written by David Warmflash

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About me - David Warmflash

I'm an astrobiologist and lead investigator for Phobos-LIFE, a Planetary Society-sponsored biology experiment which will be carried aboard the Russian Space Agency's upcoming Phobos-Grunt probe, exposing out biological samples to 34 months of the interplanetary

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Politics, News & Issues > Political Issues The benefits of NASA's space exploration programs justify the costs: 1 of 11

Currently, the focus of the NASA cost-benefit debate is Project Constellation. Consisting of the Orion spacecraft, Ares I and V booster rockets, and Altair lunar landing craft, Constellation is slated to replace the space shuttle program, known as the space transportation system (STS), as NASA's means of carrying astronauts ...
Health & Fitness > Heart Disease & Heart Attack Sex after a heart attack: 3 of 9

According to studies, the rate of myocardial infarction triggered by sexual activity is lower than 1%. Often, patients are anxious about having sex following the operation or myocardial incident, for months or years. And yet, anxiety of having another heart attack and the possibility of sudden death is the prime reason why s...
Religion & Spirituality > Bible Study Can information contained in the Bible be placed in the realm of absolute truth, or does it simply present us with fables and myths?: 10 of 24

As a source of "truth" the Bible is about as reliable as the Iliad. Comparing its writings with other data that are drawn from archaeology and other fields, employing linguistic analysis to date and comparing its various texts, we can get an image of life, society, and certain events of the time period of the writers. The Bi...
Religion & Spirituality > Bible Study Is the Bible outdated and irrelevant?: 6 of 13

Let's talk about what you need to believe, if you think the Bible is not outdated. Since it could take several long articles, I'll focus here on the opening lines of Genesis. Perhaps this will lead to subsequent discussions, perhaps not. First of all, the correct translation of the opening of Genesis is as follows: In the be...
Politics, News & Issues > Politics in the Middle & Near East Should Jerusalem be split between the Israelis and Palestinians?: 5 of 10

Although extremists on both the Jewish and Palestinian sides are extremely vocal, most people today seem to accept the fact that the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River is inhabited by two nations. The Fatah conference in Bethlehem is encouraging. Recently, Israeli Jews and some Hamas leaders even met for...
Religion & Spirituality > Comparative Religion The links between Judaism and Christianity: 10 of 19

For his pantheistic beliefs, the 17th century Spanish Jewish Philosopher, Baruch Spinoza, was excommunicated by Dutch rabbis, not because it conflicted with Jewish teachings. Rather, it was for the same reason that an earlier Spanish Jewish scholar, Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, warned those who "understood" to be silent. Ibn Ezra...
Sciences > Astronomy Space exploration in the future: 20 of 27

With the first flights NASA's new Orion spacecraft set to take place over the next several years, new human voyages beyond low Earth orbit are set to inspire a new generation of America's children. To celestial bodies beckon: the Moon and Mars. What is the rationale for making Mars a long-term target of human space explorati...
Religion & Spirituality > Judaism Who was King Solomon?: 5 of 6

For most of us, the very mention of King Solomon, son of Bathsheba, evokes images of a glamorous kingdom and a glamorous era, which the Hebrew Bible portrays as a golden age for ancient Israel, after which the kingdom broke up, leading to a sharp decline in social and economic conditions. We recount tales, like the visit of ...
Religion & Spirituality > Thoughts on God Why do the theories of creation and evolution have to be mutually exclusive: 11 of 13

The question itself is bias. Evolution is a theory, because it explains observations and can be tested. The belief in the existence of a creator or creators is not a theory, because it is not supported by any evidence and is not testable. It is a religious or philosophical belief and nothing more. The emergence and evolution...