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 ChangeâAssessing the Worst Case Scenario The activist group Extinction Rebellion is telling us that climate change represents âan unprecedented global emergencyâ 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 Weâre All Wired for âConstructive Conspiracismâ 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 doesnât 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 scientistâs 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 missionâthe pursuit of truthâas 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 isnât 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 canât 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 âLimbic Capitalismâ 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 ExplorationâAn 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