The week in six bits:
1. Self-tickling is impossible even if you think someone else is doing it. Allowing me to break new ground by posting a picture of a cat on the internet.
2. Evolution Doesn’t Look Like You Think It Does. This has always annoyed me too. This, and allegations that giraffes got long necks from reaching up to high branches.
3. Exploding Whale Video. As in this week’s exploding whale video. Not to be confused with this, older, exploding whale video. Or this one. Or, for that matter, this one.
4. Hydrogen Peroxide Mixed With Potassium Iodide. As in this:
5. Deepak Chopra Gets Upset, Tries The Harvard Gambit. Steven Salzberg explains how Deepak Chopra gets offended by Jerry Coyne, and so mounts the following terrific counter-argument: “I frequently speak at Harvard, therefore I am right“.
6. Why Do People Hate The Word ‘Chemicals’? Because people are fools, BBC. That’s why.
Brian Hughes is an academic psychologist and university professor in Galway, Ireland, specialising in stress, health, and the application of psychology to social issues. He writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, medicine, and politics.