Music and Language, Cultural Identity and Fame
Tracking the evolution of music over recent centuries.
Geoffrey Lehmann
· 20 min read
Taking the Wonder Out of Science Education
A couple of years ago, the London Science Museum produced its own travelling act for children called “The Energy Show”.
Emma C Williams
· 7 min read
The Unbearable Asymmetry of Bullshit
There will always be things that we haven’t figured out yet, and even some that we get wrong.” But science is not just about conclusions, he argues, which are occasionally (or even frequently) incorrect.
Brian D Earp
· 8 min read
Tutors and Examiners of the Mind: German Media and the Migrant Crisis
In the wake of the Cologne crisis (as we can now rightly call it — again, without exaggeration) many worrying trends in German society came to light.
Phillip Mark McGough
· 6 min read
Breaking Up with Libertarianism
After discovering the work of Dr Williams, I parked myself under his learning tree and began to soak up as much information as I could.
William Blake
· 12 min read
Good News on Rain Forests: They Bounce Back Strong
This was the vision of tropical deforestation held in the popular imagination for many years, but the reality is more complex – and more hopeful.
Susan Letcher
· 6 min read
Evolving Our Way to Artificial Intelligence
If the AI that controls other players evolved, it may go through the same steps that made our brain work.
Arend Hintze
· 5 min read
A Memoir from Mesopotamia
The book documents the years she spent in the country, working closely with the American military.
James Snell
· 4 min read
Traitors to the Human Mind
As an aggressive activist strategy, the “pinkwashing” charge is shameless and shrewd. As moral reasoning, it is inane.
Jamie Palmer
· 10 min read
Conspicuous Consumption Is Not What You Think
In the 20th century, this behavior gained popularity amongst the middle class. It became “Keeping up with the Joneses.”
Ryan H Murphy
· 4 min read
The Disinviting of Dawkins
When the moment arose, everyone was appalled by what he had to say and, as I recall, he quit his degree shortly after.
Emma C Williams
· 5 min read
Alice in Blunder Land
“Begin at the beginning,’ the King said, very gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”
Robert King
· 9 min read
Unscrambling the Second Law of Thermodynamics
All these specific conditions (loud volume, correct support, a vowel that works) must be met in order to sing a high note.
Brendon Brewer
· 15 min read
Gossip Is a Social Skill—Not a Character Flaw
Gossip can actually be thought of not as a character flaw, but as a highly evolved social skill.
Frank T McAndrew
· 6 min read
The Thought Police Aren’t Administrators—They’re Us College Kids
Students at residential colleges live in an oppressively tight bubble of conformity.
Mazelit Airaksinen
· 4 min read