Category Archives: Philosophy

Biochemistry, Medicine, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Technology, Weird

Pentagon Researches Ways to Boost Learning in Soldiers

Leave a comment

Eight U.S. Department of Defense brain studies, one at Arizona State University, are investigating ways to help soldiers learn more efficiently.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) hopes not just to make better sharpshooters, but also to shorten training periods for translators, analysts and cryptographers — and, perhaps, to improve outcomes for soldiers with brain injury and memory loss.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
U.S. Department Of Defense Brain Study Seeks To Boost Learning In Soldiers

Auto, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Climatology and Meteorology, Computing, Consumer, Culture, Engineering, Gadgets, Genetics, Geoscience, Green, Health, Internet, Materials, Medicine, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Science, Technology

Is Progress Outpacing Precaution? Experts Weigh In

Leave a comment
Illustration by An Arres.

No one expects the machinery of progress to roll backwards, but sometimes it seems that no one is watching the speedometer (or manning the brakes, assuming any exist).  Is this a fair assessment? If so, should we be worried — and what can we do about it?

In this feature, experts on technology, risk, science, policy and neuroscience discuss risk, innovation and how our values affect our conceptions of both.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
ASU Experts Weigh the Risks of Innovation

Astronomy, Biochemistry, Computing, Culture, Engineering, Gadgets, Health, History, Mathematics, Medicine, Music, Philosophy, Science, Technology, Top 10, Weird

Eureka! I Have Lost It!

Leave a comment
The original keyboard cats.

Left to our own devices and allowed to live without constant fear of death by hunger or violence, we devise some pretty startling stuff.

Sure, some of our better efforts don’t outlast our calamities, or go obsolete before their time or simply never get their chance to shine because no one yet recognizes the need for them. But you can’t keep a good idea down forever, as I explore in this list of …

10 Times Humanity Found the Answer (and Then Forgot)

Astronomy, Biochemistry, Culture, Electromagnetism, Health, History, Mathematics, Medicine, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Science, Top 10, Weird

There was Madness to Their Method: The Western World Before the Scientific Method

Leave a comment
Cartoon of Mary Toft's doctors.
“My money’s on a lop-eared doe, or perhaps a Britannia Petite.”

One of the many things I enjoy about teaching my university class, Science, Feuds, Scandals and Hoaxes, is the opportunity to explore some of the most outrageous ideas ever to gain traction in the public mind. It’s easy to make fun today, but some of these ideas were grounded in reasoning that, though flawed, eventually gave rise to the right answer. Then again, there’s really no defending those doctors who thought that woman was giving birth to rabbit parts.

10 Things We Thought Were True Before the Scientific Method

Anthropology, Culture, Health, History, Mathematics, Medicine, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, Sports, Top 10, Weird

The Causation-Correlation Conflation

Leave a comment

Not equal signThe question of cause  has haunted science and philosophy from their earliest days, in part because humans are wired for pattern-matching and confirmation bias. For all our supposed rationality, we confuse coincidence with correlation and correlation with causality.

Consequently, scientists must carefully design and control their experiments to remove bias, circular reasoning, self-fulfilling prophecies and hidden variables. They must respect the requirements and limitations of their methods, draw from representative samples and not overstate their results. Sometimes, however, that’s easier said than done. Read on to hear about…

10 Correlations that are Not Causations