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
Science / Tech
A collection of 337 posts
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
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
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
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
‘It works! It works! It works!’: Jonas Salk and the Vaccine that Conquered Polio
Americans turned on their radios, department stores set up loudspeakers, and judges suspended trials so that everyone in the courtroom could hear what Francis was about to say.
Paul A. Offit
· 8 min read
Vaccine Rejectionism and the Left
The coronavirus pandemic has caused massive backtracking and spin-doctoring among progressive parties over bioengineered vaccines.
Jon Entine, Patrick Whittle
· 17 min read
Autonomous Vehicles: Hype or Reality?
AVs are essentially robots with the same requirements as human-driven vehicles—driving and parking skills, the ability to communicate with other cars and the infrastructure, navigation skills, and access to a source of energy.
Randall Mayes
· 14 min read
The Exhibitionist Economy
Upcoming generations will not thank us for gifting them a world devoid of the concept of personal privacy.
Ari David Blaff
· 7 min read
Technology and the Golden Age of Taxonomy
After decades of experience, the sharpest naturalists in history may have been able to identify a few hundred species in the field.
Malcolm Cochran
· 6 min read
Vaccinology, Immunology, and COVID-19
Vaccine technology has sped ahead, serving the critical function to break the link between infection and poor outcomes.
Jesse Pelletier
· 6 min read