A previous thread led to a discussion of just what the word “race” means—whether it refers to something fixed and physical, or whether it’s one of those “socially constructed” ideas. “Race” is a convenient way to refer to human variation. … Continue reading →
An alert reader send me a link to this article debunking the study described in this previous post of mine. Donald Green, the Columbia political science professor who was the senior author on the study, which was published in Science … Continue reading →
Just in case you didn’t have enough to worry about, there’s Yellowstone: A new University of Utah study reports discovery of a huge magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone’s previously known magma chamber. …The new report fills in a missing link of … Continue reading →
What’s the Gompertz Law?: What do you think are the odds that you will die during the next year? Try to put a number to it ”” 1 in 100? 1 in 10,000? Whatever it is, it will be twice … Continue reading →
Sometimes I toy with the idea of dropping politics entirely from the blog or at least having some politics-free days more often. I don’t really foresee doing the former, and I doubt I’ll be doing the latter either. I seem … Continue reading →
The right is having a field day with Marie Harf’s latest pronouncement on the way to fight ISIS (see this, for example). Here’s Harf (speaking to Chris Matthews): MATTHEWS: How do we stop this? I don’t see it…If i were … Continue reading →
Wow. Just wow: What is causing the illusion? Something as marvelous as the face itself: In this case, the cosmic “face” is actually caused by a neat galactic phenomenon as well: gravitational lensing. Large galaxy clusters sometimes produce such a … Continue reading →
Christopher Booker wrote a piece in the Telegraph that claims that climate scientists have fiddled with temperature data, and calls it “the biggest science scandal ever.” Here’s a quote: Two weeks ago, under the headline “How we are being tricked … Continue reading →
Want to be virtually preserved? These guys are trying to turn it into a business. But that’s nothing compared to this: What if, rather than simply picking and choosing what we want to capture in digital form, it was possible … Continue reading →
It is ironic that the success of modern vaccination programs against ancient scourges such as measles has been part of the reason parents today are so ignorant about what these diseases can do. A recent outbreak in California has demonstrated … Continue reading →
The bad news just keeps coming, so here’s an antidote—a shoulder-level double amputee has been fit with robotic arms whose movement is controlled by his mind. This process has involved a series of training steps: In order to prepare his … Continue reading →
This link at Drudge caught my eye: “Scientists discover ‘off-switch’ for pain.” That would certainly be something to be thankful for. But then I thought, “Well, I bet it doesn’t apply to neuropathic pain.” I have a special interest in … Continue reading →