If you’re old enough to remember the 1970s, Lynda Carter playing the title character in the TV show Wonder Woman (shown above) from 1975 to 1979 remains what you think […]
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And what are the odds that it’s out there? “Since stars appear to be suns, and suns, according to the common opinion, are bodies that serve to enlighten, warm, and sustain […]
You’ll frequently hear people say “the science is settled.” Scientifically speaking, can it ever be? “All the problems of the world could be settled easily if men were only willing to […]
Prejudiced and non-prejudiced people are equally likely to fall victim to the other-race effect.
No snark, no sarcasm, no judgement, just the genuine, honest answers to 22 creationist messages. “In science it often happens that scientists say, ‘You know that’s a really good argument; […]
So now that he’s been named Time‘s man of the year and all, it might be safe to say something good about Pope Francis on BIG THINK. Liberals like the […]
The Universe has always been ready for us. Are we finally ready for it? “Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson In only a […]
One of the most interesting ways to get into the minds of scientists is to look at their tattoos.
Why are prisoners so religious?
For the reader, art connoisseur, music fan, or student, this is a “money for nothing and your chicks for free” kind of world (Google the lyrics if you’re too young […]
Memes are biological entities that perpetuate themselves through history by replicating and by competing in a Darwinian fashion.
As we learn about things more deeply and more deeply, we will discover that in fact, there’s all kinds of peripheral work to be done that we couldn’t have even imagined looking forward.
Very few countries allow direct-to-consumer advertising by drug companies, but in those that do (New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S.), the medicine-buying public has been brainwashed to believe that mental […]
Welcome to the brave new world of cyber warfare.
Is denial of climate change a fringe belief, like thinking the moon landing was fake? Or is it just one current of thought in our society, which deserves respectful engagement, […]
Swamped this week. Here’s a post originally published on my personal blog to fill the void. Like many features of the human condition, the first psychological account of disgust comes […]
Here’s the abstract of a study that conservatives such as Charles Murray and magazines such as The Atlantic are having fun with: Previous research suggests that benevolent sexism is an ideology […]
If we wish to honor our 21st century gods (technology, capitalism), we might do well to hold a competition that celebrates the achievements of the human mind, not the body.
The successful decoding of the human genome was a phenomenal scientific achievement. For the first time in the world’s history, the entire genetic code of the human species was fully available to […]
The past few years have been tough on economics and economists. In a searing indictment written one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Paul Krugman concluded that the central […]
Our power was out all weekend, along with that of millions of other electricity refugees. Our city’s patience and civility were fraying. Cannibalism loomed just around the corner, so my […]
Most of us, especially if we follow the principles of critical thinking, go through life slowly building up a patina of evidence supporting the beliefs that matter to us. Under […]
Can the human mind be explained as a solely material thing? Can a machine ever be conscious?
By Peadar Coyle It is said that education is something people have strong opinions about. A growing literature has emerged around randomized evaluations of interventions, most notably Esther Duflo’s work on […]
Some Darwinians, such as Francis Fukuyama, Larry Arnhart, Jonathan Haidt and the late James Q. Wilson, openly and proudly acknowledge that the results of their research point in a moderately […]
One of Earth Platinum’s 31 copies could be yours for a mere $100,000
This essay was previously published on AlterNet. The death of Christopher Hitchens in December sparked an outpouring of tributes. Most of them praised his best qualities: his ferocious courage, his […]
Scandinavia is ground zero for heavy metal, but the genre crops up in less obvious places as well…
In this excerpt from his lecture for The Floating University, Dr. Kaku explains that time machines do not violate Einstein’s laws of physics, and that future humans would be wise to build one and slip through a wormhole before the cooling universe extinguishes all known life.
Would you choose the state of equality and justice envisioned by John Rawls or the state of radical individual liberty envisioned by Robert Nozick? This question is posed by Yale professor Tamar Gendler in this week’s Floating University lecture.