Monthly Archives: April 2015

Lotteries can be useful natural experiments; we can use them to test the accuracy of standard sociological theories, in which rich people buy their kids extra smarts, bigger brains, better health, etc. David Cesarini, who I met at that Chicago … Continue reading →

I understand that many college students are made to feel “unsafe” by certain speakers addressing particular subjects.  But although most people like crisp breakfast cereal, there are those that like it as soggy as possible. One would think that there … Continue reading →

Steven Pinker was saying that greatly extending the human lifespan is hard, maybe impossible: ” I suspect that death will never be conquered (though our lifespans will continue to increase, at least for a while). Any cost-free longevity gene or … Continue reading →

They get a selective advantage of 1.5% for the European lactose tolerance allele: “We estimated the selection coefficient on the derived allele to be 0.015 (95% confidence interval; CI=0.010-0.034) using a method that fits a hidden Markov model to the … Continue reading →

In the Atlantic Monthly , which no longer has any reason for existence, since there’s really no point in placing a computer screen on the bottom of a birdcage, Jason Silverstein  – a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Harvard –  … Continue reading →

Looking further at that  article about a transmissible cancer in clams, it appears that cell line infections are common in bivalves – oysters, cockles, mussels – without being recognized as such until now.  Could be true in other filter-feeders – … Continue reading →