A recent post by thoughtful, charismatic, and talented friend Scicurious on how the “system” of science training failed her, but should have failed her sooner has gotten me thinking a lot about my role in the science “system.” Sci’s argument is that she had many early dreams of becoming a professor and scientist, but ultimately…
First, a few of my beliefs, to clarify the provocative title and scare quotes: Our society doesn’t react strongly enough to the subtle racism, sexism, and generic cruelty experienced by minorities in many communities. The reaction to the specific situation with Danielle Lee is appropriate and useful. We should all be thankful, whatever our gender…
This is my 100th blog post, and I thought it might be fun to return to a point near the beginning of my time in science writing and communication, the summer after my junior year in high school, when I went to what I now call “nerd camp.” At the end of this camp I…
Attention conservation notice: This post dives into some inside baseball stuff on social psychology, how the science of psychology is practiced, and how science is communicated online. It is kind of long, but I intend it as sort of a reference for this event, but also something to point to for my colleagues who either…
This chapter deals with an enduring theme in my own thoughts, and a tension between the practice of science and the limits of the human mind. Those pieces of evidence which we naturally find convincing do not do real work in science. To understand why, it is important to understand both what makes some types…
Ok, let me begin by saying how much I love the New York Review of Books. You should totally subscribe to it. It is generally great content, and they make a lot of it free online to free loaders like you (haven’t subscribed yet?). Tons of thought provoking stuff. Second, Freeman Dyson is a super…
The subtitle of this chapter is “But Doctor, what does it really mean?” What does gravity really mean? Not just measurements of how fast things fall, but what is gravity, really? Stanovich points out that often the lay public wants science to answer these kinds of questions, which he calls ultimate questions, or essentialist questions,…
I recently finished a fantastic little book, and I have to share it with you. It is called Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose, by Lee Alan Dugatkin (and @LeeDugaktin on twitter, a worthwhile follow). At first, it seems like a quirky little historical tale, where the history of science intertwines with the politics of…
