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In a recent email, my mother commented how I should help dissuade my younger sister from debating religious ethics on Facebook with our cousin.  I didn't seek out the conversation, but we can vividly imagine the sorts of debates between an atheist an ...

Blog Post - Daid Kahl - Apr 19 2011 - 11:34am - 0 attachments

One of the key characteristics coming out of the anti-vaccine movement appears to be an inability to get the facts straight about much of anything relating to vaccines and vaccine-preventable illnesses. Another key characteristic is the downplaying of the ...

Blog Post - Kim Wombles - Jan 7 2011 - 4:39pm - 0 attachments

An article on Science 2.0  addresses a new study   on just how easy it is to create false memories. According to the article, researchers "show a unique pattern of brain activity when false memories are formed – one that hints at a surp ...

Article - Kim Wombles - Jul 1 2011 - 4:39pm - 0 attachments

... doubt that most people rely on authorities and various heuristics to ascertain the validity of claims rather than taking the time to ...

Blog Post - Kim Wombles - Jul 2 2011 - 8:42am - 0 attachments

... Confirmation and disconfirmation biases, availability heuristics, and a whole host of biases and heuristics make sure we see but through a glass darkly while thinking we have ...

Article - Kim Wombles - Apr 17 2011 - 6:31pm - 0 attachments

In 2010 there was an impressive increase in the number of Chartered Engineer registrations with the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, my own Institution, leading the way. The number of Chartered Engineers registered last year was 26% more than ...

Blog Post - Richard King - Feb 14 2011 - 6:44pm - 0 attachments

...  It seems so but that may be because your Value Heuristics around Valentine's Day are slightly out of whack .    I ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 14 2011 - 2:58pm - 0 attachments

I happened to be reading Howard Bloom's book The Genius of the Beast when I saw something odd happening in social media - there was a minor blow up on a science blogging site called Scienceblogs.com over a new column that would be written by peopl ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 11 2011 - 10:45am - 0 attachments

Metaphors are dangerous things. On the one hand, it seems pretty much impossible to avoid using them, especially in rather abstract fields like philosophy and science. On the other hand, they are well known to trick one’s mind into taking the metaphor t ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Dec 23 2008 - 2:48pm - 0 attachments

Fear blinds us, immobilizes us, and makes fools of us. Scary stories abound on the internet, through emails, and in conversations, and dangers lurk in the dusty corners waiting to pounce on us and tear our loved ones from our grasps. We know this. We feel ...

Article - Kim Wombles - Aug 24 2010 - 6:38pm - 0 attachments