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 ›
Newspapers & Magazines
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 to a study. It implies this by being… Read More ›
“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 had interviewed me for this piece many months… Read More ›
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 Primaries have been widely maligned as a parade… Read More ›
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 controversial. According to the new advice, adults —… Read More ›
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 here’s an interesting example of the genre: Get… Read More ›
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 indisputable. And yet for many people it will… Read More ›
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 homeopathic treatments. But according to our letter-writer The report… Read More ›
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 need a reply because they only have stamina for… Read More ›
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 is the abstract…
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. Too bad they were just plain wrong. I… Read More ›
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 to you? You’ll have to decide for yourself…. Read More ›
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 increase in autism and I point to internet… Read More ›
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 those of the other. The study recorded responses… Read More ›
‘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 promising a “miracle” cure for patients – but… Read More ›
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 so. So then, can your dreams predict or… Read More ›
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, the term ‘Homo neanderthalensis‘ is the alumnus. It… Read More ›
