Here is an interesting article from Discover Magazine, about some recent research into the association between intelligence and social attitudes. The study was conducted by some psychologists from Canada, and published in the prestigious journal Psychological Science. It represents a… Read More ›
Archive for May 2012
Forthcoming: On ‘The Written Word’
I’ve been invited to speak at this conference next week – The Written Word: Writing, Publishing, and Communication in Higher Education – organised by the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at NUI Galway. There’s quite an eclectic line-up of speakers with… Read More ›
Remember, there are no right answers…
For college students enrolled in science-based courses, ‘Research Methods’ classes can often be something of a mixed bag. The same is true for Research Methods textbooks. And I feel I should know. As I work professionally (so to speak) in… Read More ›
Working the crowd
As part of my day job, I’m involved in psychology research examining the effects of having other people around when you’re trying to cope with mental stress. Here’s the summary of our findings to date: it’s complicated. But not to… Read More ›
Galway nuked, radiation fireball blasts Athlone :(
The other day, a live World War II hand grenade was found in a garden just down the street from my house. Thirty families were evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night while the army bomb disposal… Read More ›
Headline-spectrum of the day: Dino-apocalypse by ‘wind’
So apparently, the dinosaurs are extinct. That’s not really news of course (time to let it go, Nessie fans). But what is making the news is some new research about how those terrible lizards ended up shuffling off this mortal coil en… Read More ›
Is there actually evidence for anti-ageing creams?
Here is a short piece I wrote for Tuesday’s Irish Independent. It was part of their ‘Science For Life’ supplement (not available online), in which scientists provide answers to “some of life’s big questions“. I was asked to respond to a… Read More ›
Once more, with feeling: ‘Weather’ is NOT ‘climate’
What is it with some media outlets and their tendency to gloss over the difference between ‘weather‘ and ‘climate‘? Let me give you the basics. Here’s the Wikipedia* explanation of the term ‘weather‘: …the state of the atmosphere, to the… Read More ›