Social controversies are frequently seized upon by bigots. In Britain, for example, the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum saw a sharp increase in racist incidents, with reports of people being harassed […]
On ‘celebratory racism’
I guess some core competencies are just more core than others
From the letters page of The Economist: A bridge too far Bartleby has an unerring ability to detect the nonsense emanating from HR (July 13th). At my job operating a drawbridge I am expected […]
Brexit contingency-planning latest: Don’t ask me, ask God, minister testifies
From The Guardian‘s live blog just now: In the Brexit committee Michael Gove has just finished answering a series of questions about how Dover would cope with lorry arrivals in the event […]
New book “The Psychology of Brexit” now available to pre-order
To be released in October 2019. Just when you thought it would be safe to get back into the water… Details here.
‘Psychology of Christmas’ media round-up
So this is Christmas; and what have you done? Well, this is what I’ve done: a whole lot of media, surrounding my public lecture on ‘The Psychology of Christmas‘ just the other […]
‘Psychology in Crisis’ is now available
About the Author Imprint: 2018 Psychology in Crisis Author: Brian M. Hughes Publisher: Palgrave, London ISBN-10: 1352003007 ISBN-13: 978-1352003000 Click here to view on Palgrave Macmillan Click here to view on Amazon.co.uk Click here […]
Stephen Hawking RIP
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 […]
No, no, no, no, no
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 […]
“Are psychics the new psychologists?”
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 […]
Political science
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 […]
On alcohol guidelines and social desirability
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 […]
Who let the dogmas out?
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 […]
Why ‘Inside Out’ is kind of interesting
Metaphors are powerful tools. Similes are like tools. And tools are — well, tools are just tools. Now, of the three statements just made, only the last (‘tools are tools’) is truly […]
What’s the deal with that Swiss government homeopathy report?
A letter in today’s Irish Times bemoans a recent column on homeopathy. The column had drawn attention to a report by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council that was dismissive of […]
Some pieces and bits
It’s early January. That time when other people’s New Year’s resolutions mean that you get lots of emails. About really important stuff that you simply must deal with, like, immediately. These folks […]
Forthcoming: “Adventures in Science Communication”
Interested in adventure? Well, then this public lecture is for you. It’s me again, this time at the invitation of Maynooth University as part of their celebration of Science Week 2014. Here […]
What ‘Science By Press Conference’ looks like
Exhibit A: 1989 and Pons and Fleischmann announce cold fusion — an “inexhaustible source of energy” — at a press briefing in Utah, before they had applied for patents or published their technology. […]
Pareidolia special: “Farmer denies wrongdoing as goat born with human face” (Spoiler: Not really human face)
Ah, the good old Sunday Wurdled…. I should warn you that the picture included in the article is a little graphic, but I still have to ask: does it really look like a human face […]
I’m not saying Greenfield’s a pseudoscientist. I point to her pseudoscientific reasoning. That is all
Like a good sharknado, Susan Greenfield is (a) ridiculous and (b) back for more. We all remember this defence of her claim that internet use causes autism, don’t we? I point to the […]
That story on sex differences in the brain, line by line
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 […]
‘Miracle’ cure removes cancer, HIV, autism. By killing you
Hat tip to c*nty_mc_sh*tb*lls over on Reddit for this one. Irish patients warned ‘miracle cure’ from US church is bleach A CONTROVERSIAL American Church which is coming to Ireland this weekend is […]
Bandwagon latest: ‘Science news’ with tenuous World Cup relevance doing the rounds right now
1. Analyzing John Brooks’ Dream About Scoring the Winning Goal Source: Time.com, ‘HEALTH’ section (17 June) One-line summary: A US soccer player scored a goal and then says he previously had a dream about doing […]
Neanderthal man is 150 years old today, and Irish (kind of)
My university has a number of interesting claims to fame. And one of the coolest, certainly, is this. Neanderthal Man, remember him? Well, he’s basically an alumnus. Well, to be slightly more accurate, […]
Breaking: UFO not flying, not unidentified, still an object
I guess this was a fast-moving story. After all, by the time the sub-editor had finished writing that headline, it emerged that this particular UFO was neither U nor F. Apparently, it […]
Results being “due to” causes somehow doesn’t imply causality
So, last week I had the pleasure of enjoying this delicious meal while exploring some backstreet neighbourhoods in Muscat, Oman. See can you guess what the green stuff is… Here’s a closer […]
