A Conversation with E.O. Wilson (1929–2021)
"I think I may have been the only scientist in modern times to be physically attacked for an idea."
Alice Dreger
· 29 min read
The Peculiar Economics of 3D Printing
Most new technologies, when they are launched, arrive with a lot of hype. While 3D printing fits the business model for customized products, it is not yet cost effective in a commercial manufacturing sector which requires mass production.
Randall Mayes
· 10 min read
The Schenker Controversy
History is complicated, people are complicated, and Schenker himself was a complex individual.
Timothy L. Jackson
· 21 min read
Academic Ideologues Are Corrupting STEM. The Silent Liberal Majority Must Fight Back
We need to break the spell of illiberal ideology, and come back to our collective senses—to stop self-censoring in fear of the mob and excusing nonsense in the name of political allyship, and to start defending the values of pluralism, humanism, and democracy.
Anna Krylov and Jay Tanzman
· 10 min read
Fund Science on the Basis of Scientists‘ Work, Not Their Identity
The available numbers don’t tell us if there was any evidence of systemic bias in the underlying grant criteria, or in the evaluation of applications against those criteria.
Lawrence M. Krauss
· 6 min read
The Universal Structure of Storytelling
Storytelling is then—in every era and every culture—a dramatization of the everlasting war between the princesses and the tigers.
Jonathan Gottschall
· 11 min read
History Lessons from the Toronto Mob Targeting a 19th-Century Gay Icon
Allan Stratton
· 15 min read
How D.B. Cooper and the Golden Age of Air Piracy Changed Aviation Fiction
Frank Sinatra's “Come Fly With Me” was the best-selling album in the United States for five weeks in 1958, but the irony of its popularity (or, perhaps, the source of its aspirational appeal) is that practically none of us could take up the offer to "glide, starry-eyed&
Kevin Mims
· 33 min read
Flying Cars: What, How, When, and Why?
Even though electric and self-driving cars have yet to saturate the market, dozens of companies are at various stages of launching flying cars in a variety of models.
Randall Mayes
· 10 min read
High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism—A Review
A review of High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism by David S. Wills. Beatdom Books, 555 pages. (November 2021) I. In High White Notes, his riveting new biography of Hunter S. Thompson, journalist David S. Wills describes Thompson as America’s first rock star reporter and
Kevin Mims
· 26 min read
An Astronomer Cancels His Own Research—Because the Results Weren’t Popular
Astronomy seems to be in trouble, as it is increasingly populated by researchers who seem more concerned with terrestrial politics than celestial objects, and who at times view the search for truths about nature as threatening. This became obvious in recent years, once the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project
Lawrence M. Krauss
· 10 min read
The Scout Mindset—A Review
A review of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t by Julia Galef. Portfolio, 288 pages (April, 2021) Julia Galef’s The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't is a brisk introduction to a particular way of
Razib Khan
· 7 min read
Deliberately Divided—A Review
A Review of Deliberately Divided: Inside the Controversial Study of Twins and Triplets Adopted Apart by Nancy L. Segal. Rowman & Littlefield, 520 pages (November, 2021) When I first heard about the Louise Wise Services-Child Development Center (LWS-CDC) twin study, I was shocked but also skeptical. A doctor had separated
Bo Winegard
· 8 min read
Machine Learning, Deep Fakes, and the Threat of an Artificially Intelligent Hate-Bot
Fake news isn’t new. More than a century ago, newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer helped stir up enthusiasm for war against Spain by hyping the dubious claim that Spanish agents had used explosives to sink the USS Maine in Havana Harbor. The cry of “Remember
James D. Miller
· 6 min read
A Perfect Storm: The Chocolate, Coffee, and Climate Crises
The major food staples are essential to human survival. Chocolate and coffee are not essential, but try to imagine a world without them. One of the numerous concerns with climate change is that many species will lose their habitats. Scientists are projecting that, in the coming decades, this could lead
Randall Mayes
· 10 min read