The challenge: You know the drill. Waldo appears in different places in different scenes. There are 68 locations, therefore 68 places. The simulation: Let’s pretend Waldo is not a guy in a crowd but a dot on a page. The problem: There are 68 dots representing possible Waldo locations. You must find the […]
Science
Forthcoming: “The Point of Psychology (and How it Gets Missed)”
The Psychological Society of Ireland’s Early Graduate Group have asked me to deliver a keynote at their forthcoming annual conference. I’m guessing it is because they are “Early” Graduates that my keynote is scheduled for an eye-blearying timeslot of 9:30 AM on a Saturday morning. I’ll have to get up at dawn just […]
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 a few days’ frantic emailing. After the New Year energy […]
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 use. That is all. Well, whoopy do. On that basis, […]
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 influence your future? Scientists say maybe or maybe not. By which they mean: […]
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 was coined at our university by the then Professor of […]