»ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 2011 It’s Christmas (kind of). This is a science blog (kind of). And so, therefore, I am obliged to offer you… …A SCIENCE-OF-CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! Woo-hoo! As with all Christmas-related activities, blogging about the Science of Christmas is something of a fixed tradition. At this moment, Googling “Science […]
»ORIGINALLY POSTED DECEMBER 2011 [Note: Some years back I served a year as president of the Psychological Society of Ireland. As well as presiding over psychologists, I had the task of producing a monthly column for the Irish Psychologist, the Society’s house journal. The following is my column from the […]
Critics of science regularly suggest that applying empiricism to life serves to deny human beings their true dignity. Very frequently you hear complaints about sociologists, psychologists, and health scientists “treating people like numbers“. Because that’s what we do. We treat you like numbers. You number, you. Take this guy. I think […]
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 […]
The week in six bits: 1. What would it feel like to touch a human brain? We’re always told it’s jelly-like and yet, when I held it in my undergrad gross anatomy class, it felt like a cold cooked chicken (it was even wrapped in tin foil, I recall). Well, […]
This is a very cool publicity campaign, using — dare I say it — scientific literacy in an effort to raise awareness about some rare genetic disorders (full disclosure-time: my own family has one of them). Basically, next Friday’s date — 15/11/13 — neatly matches the chromosomal region (15q11-q13) affected by three overlapping disorders: […]
