Science - Quillette (Page 6)

What Would It Take to Run a 1:50 Marathon?

Hope had been expressed during the early part of this century that DNA testing might be used to identify individuals with exceptional athletic ability.

Michael Joyner

23 Nov 2019 · 6 min read

Climate Change—Assessing the Worst Case Scenario

The activist group Extinction Rebellion is telling us that climate change represents “an unprecedented global emergency” and is calling for radical measures to deal with it.

Dagfinn Reiersøl

7 Nov 2019 · 11 min read

What Is Autogynephilia? An Interview with Dr Ray Blanchard

Modern trans activists reframed transsexualism/transgenderism as a political problem rather than a clinical problem.

Louise Perry

6 Nov 2019 · 10 min read

The Danger Is Real: Why We’re All Wired for ‘Constructive Conspiracism’

In recent years, psychologists and political scientists have identified several factors that influence conspiratorial thinking, such as political orientation, race and power (or the lack thereof). These are proximate causes of conspiracism.

Michael Shermer

31 Oct 2019 · 10 min read

Science and Data: Notes on a Misconception

The theory that science is based on evidence derives from a philosophy known as empiricism.

Lucas Smalldon

10 Oct 2019 · 7 min read

In Celebration of Errors

Shouting someone down for speaking a thought in public effectively ends the critical discussion. There can be no further exploration of why the idea at issue is wrong, or what kernel of truth there may be therein.

Logan Chipkin

28 Aug 2019 · 6 min read

Socialization Isn't Responsible for Greater Male Violence

The evidence that men are more violent and more criminal than women is overwhelming, and yet it doesn’t imply that all men are violent, deserve to be incarcerated, or are undeserving of our sympathy or compassion if they are imprisoned.

Alex Mackiel

26 Aug 2019 · 7 min read

Rationalizing Modern Drug Prejudices

Value judgments seem inevitable in trying to establish the relative comparisons between drugs, and any attempt to compare apples and oranges will inevitably fall short of the scientist’s objective goals.

Matthew Blackwell

12 Aug 2019 · 14 min read

Empiricism and Dogma: Why Left and Right Can't Agree on Climate Change

Global warming is a tragedy of the commons, in which logical agents act in ways that run counter to the longterm interests of the group.

Patrick T. Brown

30 Jul 2019 · 6 min read

Why Is a Top Australian University Supporting Indigenous Creationism?

The message in Appropriate Terminology, Indigenous Australian People is that the UNSW now regards its core mission—the pursuit of truth—as negotiable if it conflicts with the postures associated with social justice.

Andrew Glover

23 Jul 2019 · 5 min read

Bad Data Analysis and Psychology's Replication Crisis

This isn’t the first time this has happened in video game research.

Christopher J. Ferguson

15 Jul 2019 · 7 min read

The Academic Quarrel over Determinism

Still, the universe is full of things that seem irrefutably evident and yet can’t be well explained or understood.

William Tomos Edwards

6 Jul 2019 · 8 min read

The Real Gender Gap in Heart Disease

Men have been dying at higher rates than women over time, and the gap appears to be constant.

Anish Koka

12 Jun 2019 · 9 min read

How ‘Limbic Capitalism’ Preys on Our Addicted Brains

The more rapid and intense the brain reward they imparted, the likelier they were to foster pathological learning and craving, particularly among socially and genetically vulnerable consumers.

David Courtwright

31 May 2019 · 11 min read

Origins and Exploration—An Interview with Dr. Lewis Dartnell

One of the big questions in evolutionary biology is: what drove our evolution from tree-swinging apes to bipedal, highly intelligent homonins that went on to build civilization and inherit the world?

Logan Chipkin

30 May 2019 · 14 min read