Andrew Sullivan doesn’t speak for research
During my blogging hiatus, Andrew Sullivan waded into the race and IQ debate yet again. While throwing his usual tantrum on the issue (ably refuted by here, her...
Category: Public Voice of Science
The case for modesty
The current issue of the Atlantic has a fantastic profile of Greek physician John Ioannidis, author of the most downloaded paper in the history of PLoS Medicin...
Scientists, pilots and doctors
ClimateScienceWatch has an interview with Steve Schneider, one of the authors on the PNAS paper we just discussed (h/t Joe Romm). I recommend the entire interv...
The myth of scientific exceptionalism
Over the past year or so the paleoconservative blogger Daniel Larison has taken aim at American exceptionalism, a term he finds sloppy and poorly defined (see h...
No evidence for scientific thinking
This Eugene Robinson column garnered some attention on my Facebook wall. Here’s the offending passage: We can all applaud Chu’s accomplishment. But here’...
Kitcher on global warming
Philosopher Philip Kitcher just reviewed several books on climate change in Science magazine. I meant to get to this earlier, but Ben Hale got there first and ...
A brief clarification
I realize now that my last post sloppily blends two distinct points. I noted first that insisting on “the” rightful place of science is analogous t...
The importance of watching game film
For the second time in a row I’ll simply restate what I’ve said in an earlier post. While some will take this as an impressive lack of originality,...
The vocabulary of public discourse, part II
Several months ago I suggested we need a new vocabulary to discuss science. From my post: We need an intellectual framework which articulates there are instanc...
Do scientists unintentially screw over black people (part II)?
On Wednesday I went to a panel on science education at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It was a fascinating exchange. To highlight ju...