Category Archives: Uncategorized

It used to be thought that studying certain subjects ( like Latin)  made you better at learning others, or smarter generally – “They supple the mind, sir; they render it pliant and receptive.” This doesn’t appear to be the case, certainly … Continue reading →

If we had operated on that motto at the end of WWII, we would have executed a whole lot more Germans and Japanese than we did.    

Genes have genealogies, just as populations do. Usually, a gene’s  genealogy is the same as that of its species.  For example, turtles have their own versions of hemoglobin, and the common ancestor of those turtle hemoglobin genes is some ur-turtle  … Continue reading →

A recent paper discussed the results of a GWAS study of same -sex behavior, based on data from the UK Biobank. The data wasn’t ideal – it was based on self-reporting, and asked whether the respondent had ever had a … Continue reading →

If the replication crisis ever rears its head in the courtroom, there will be hell to pay.  Many kinds of routinely used evidence and  testimony are utter trash.

I noticed some idiot claiming that, in 1700, China and India were ” more  sophisticated scientifically than europe”.  Nonsense, of course. Hellenistic science was more advanced than that of India and China in 1700 ! Although it makes me wonder … Continue reading →

Been a bad few days: apparently I’m in trouble with the IRS, the Feds are suspending my Social Security #, and there’s something wrong with my Microsoft account. Speaking of, why is this phenom never addressed by Presidential candidates?