I’ve concluded that they’re right. Mobile phones DO addle the brain. They DO interfere with competent cognition. They DO cause people to become rambling, incoherent, and negligent thinkers, and to talk ever-more-ridiculous garbage. But their effects are quite subtle. They cause this result in some people simply by existing: all these folks […]
Year: 2014
Telling parents how vaccines are safe makes them *less* likely to vaccinate their kids
Here’s a classic science communication fiasco. Many of us believe empiricism enables the resolution of uncertainty with data, and that more information is better than less. That’s why we do science. One of the moral imperatives that drive us is that carefully scrutinized, systematically replicable, and objectively verifiable information trumps […]
“Should we ditch the meal and go out with these boys?”
Stephen Hawking encounters a stag-do in Cambridge: From The Telegraph: Chris Hallam, 29, and ten friends…turned a corner and bumped into Stephen Hawking getting out of his car. And they were stunned when the Brief History of Time author agreed to pose with them for a souvenir photo. Mr Hallam, […]
Just a few (i.e. 120) “gibberish” research papers redacted
It’s akin to the Sokal hoax of our digital age, with a touch of Frankenstein in there too, and possibly some monkeys with typewriters. Two major publishers, Springer and IEEE, have identified over 120 papers that made it through their peer-review process but which were actually generated using a software package designed to […]
New Zambia soccer jersey features spermatozoa design, presumably not on purpose
From footballshirtculture.com: This the new Zambia Home football shirt to be worn throughout 2014, by Nike. The 2012 African Cup of Nations champions’ green shirt is embellished with a complex patterned sublimated watermark, with the stitched crest and the Swoosh logo – in white – on the chest. Yes, that […]
‘Science Diet.’ You know, for geeks
Well, for geek pet owners at any rate… Although it must be pointed out that said Science Diet does not appear to be up to much: