Originally posted on Not the Science Bit:
Guess what. Vaccines are not part of the Christian creator’s divine plan for the universe. We know this because they are not mentioned — anywhere — in the Christian Bible. So says this lady, as…
Alright, there really is no humble way of putting this. My new book [*blush*], having been trailed as “imminent” for several months, is now officially available. In all good booksellers, as they say (and they actually do say this). I’ll be… Read More ›
Originally posted on Not the Science Bit:
Nathan Robinson has written about the obscurantism of Jordan Peterson, and I’m not even the first to blog about it. Pankaj Mishra has been deconstructing Peterson’s mysticism here, while Kelefa Sanneh’s critique is here.…
The Starbucks I go to is now selling magic beans. Well, matcha tea lattes actually, which are like magic beans in the sense that they possess special powers: Detox the body High in antioxidants Helps the immune system Burns calories… Read More ›
Stephen Hawking is dead. Far be it from the likes of me to write him an obituary. You can see several of these elsewhere, many of them heartfelt and insightful. Two thoughts come to mind at this time. Firstly, Hawking… Read More ›
It’s been seven years since I started this blog. That’s quite a chunk of my life. And, as the context changes, so does my perspective. Not everything fits neatly into The Science Bit. In recent years I have written a… Read More ›
I don’t want to be, well, argumentative. But this research does not show what the headline says it does. The headline implies that argumentative children do better in maths and science, according to a study. It implies this by being… Read More ›
The Sunday Independent ran a short piece on psychics the other week, in which I was quoted as referring to “unreliable forces” when I had actually said “unreliable sources.” My bad, I’m sure. The writer had interviewed me for this piece many months… Read More ›
Originally posted on Cork Skeptics:
About the Talk: Attempts to explain the workings of the human mind have persisted as a popular cultural fascination for centuries. This has led to the emergence of scientific psychology, a modern empirical enterprise that…
An announcement from the Irish Skeptics Society, just circulated: Dear all, On Wednesday next, May 11th, we are very happy to welcome back Professor Brian Hughes, School of Psychology, NUIG, who will speak on the topic of his recently published radical and challenging book ‘Rethinking… Read More ›
Witness newly elected Irish parliamentarian, one Danny Healy Rae, and his speech to the house on climate change. My guess is that climate change is not a major concern of his constituents. Non-Irish readers may wish to note that the… Read More ›
Originally posted on The Science Bit:
So, let’s take it from the top: Men’s and women’s brains really are different. No they’re not. This study did not look at anybody’s brains, nor did it compare the brains of one sex to those of…
Originally posted on The Science Bit:
So, as you may have heard, Mr Akin, the Republican Party Senate candidate in Missouri (hi, Missouri!) has some weird views on rape, conception, and abortion. Basically, this is what the Todd Akin t-shirts…
We all know that the world is complex, and that science is increasingly so. Gone are the days when one person could successfully grasp the entirety of what science could teach. Not only that, but the way in which scientific research… Read More ›
I have another post up over at Psychology Today, which has been included in a special feature on ‘The Science Behind Politics.’ This time I’m talking about negative political campaigning: …The US Presidential Primaries have been widely maligned as a parade… Read More ›
I’ve posted a piece at Psychology Today on the methodological problems surrounding Britain’s new alcohol consumption guidelines: The UK government has published new guidelines on healthy alcohol consumption and, yes, as might be predicted, they are controversial. According to the new advice, adults —… Read More ›
Have you ever noticed how irrationalities (a) tend to cluster, (b) tend to offer hope to the desperate, and (c) tend to appeal to folks with strongly held dogmatic beliefs? No? Well here’s an interesting example of the genre: Get… Read More ›
