Blogs about Science

I posted a link last week to a dialogue written by a former colleague of mine, Sylvain Ribault. Sylvain’s dialogue is a summary of different perspectives on academic publishing. Unlike certain more famous dialogues written …

I've curated a stunning collection of 100 Google Earth images from the illustrious book Overview for your viewing pleasure!

Forty seven years ago, in the town of Dover just south of Boston, an "alien like" creature with glowing eyes was encountered repeatedly over the course of two days. Nicknamed by Loren Coleman the Dover …

It has been extremely busy in the ten months or so since I last wrote something here. It’s perhaps the longest break I’ve taken from blogging for 20 years (gosh!) but I think it was …

Last time I presented a class of agent-based models where agents hop around a graph in a stochastic way. Each vertex of the graph is some ‘state’ agents can be in, and each edge is …

Open Academic Publication Posted 10/28/2023 I’m currently at a workshop on open practices across disciplines, and one topic of discussion is how to change the academic publishing process to be more accessible to both authors …

The dream of soaring in the sky like a bird has captivated the human mind for ages. Although many failed, some eventually succeeded in achieving that goal. These days we take air transportation for granted, …

In a Tablet Magazine article titled “How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers” posted on March 6, 2024, Professor of Statistics and Data Science Abraham Wyner from the Wharton School at the University …

Pre-registration is the best and possibly only solution to p-hacking. Ten years ago, pre-registrations were virtually unheard of in psychology, but they have become increasingly common since then. I was curious just how common they …

It’s now Round 5 of “benzene in your products is giving you cancer” – over the last three years, this “known human carcinogen” been found in hand sanitiser, sunscreen, deodorant, dry shampoo, and now benzoyl …

The effect varies for different people. Take a moment and look at this. Some people don’t see anything special: just a blue iris in a red eye. Image: CC-BY Tom Stafford 2022 For me though, …

Transmission of innovative taste?

In defense of Academia The Breslow saga Interview with Scott Alexander On Lockheed Martin's Skunkworks An interview with the founder of Cyclarity, a company working on reversing atherosclerosis On East Asian drinking culture The ultimate …

The semester here is coming to a close. I’m way behind writing up notes for the lectures I’ve been giving, which are ending with covering the details of the Standard Model. This summer I’ll try …

Every organism visible to the naked eye is a mass of genetically identical cells. Each of these multicellular creatures started as a single cell that divided countless times to produce its body. And while each …

In the years following the publication of De Magnete in 1600 and the death of William Gilbert in 1603 a dispute developed between two leading English magnetists, William Barlow (1544 – 1625) and Dr Mark …

Would you consider a donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? The week at Retraction Watch featured: A study of C-section scars – in women who hadn’t undergone the surgery Cureus retracts paper …

The flat earther community seems to be growing, and it's beginning to worry me. It's not just a question of lacking science education, there is more going on here.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – From the university campuses of Assyria to the thoroughfares of Ur to the palaces of the Hittite Empire, students across the Fertile Crescent have formed human chains, camel caravans, and even …

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Sam Altman Says Helpful Agents Are Poised to Become AI’s Killer Function James O’Donnell | MIT Technology Review “Altman, who was visiting Cambridge for a series of events hosted by Harvard and the …