While standing outside a party the other night, basking in the eerie glow of a moon halo, a good friend of mine who has a penchant for skepticism of science turned to me and said, “You realize that science works on an honour system, right? If a scientist makes some stuff up, more often than not, no one’s ever going to find out.” Usually comments like this from him are my cue to stand up and be the champion to [read on...]
This week, as part of my an attempt to balance the likes and wants of a 16-year old raver and a 46-year old accountant, which live uneasily side-by-side within me, I’ve been taking some time out from my typical internet radio and listening to the archives of Radio 4′s In our Time. Normally, when I listen to In Our Time I get a lovely, calm intellectual equivalent of comfort food. But, one program this week got me a ragin’ and [read on...]
[fb-like] Drugs are bad… m’kay.” – Mr. Mackey, South Park But are they? When I was a young lad in Canada there was this terrible after school ad with a jingle that went, “Drugs, drugs, drugs… which are good, which are bad? Drugs, drugs, drugs… ask your mom or ask your dad!” Of course, the problem for most people is that their parents don’t know f**k all about drugs, and will either give them something like Mr. Mackey’s stock phrase, [read on...]
[fb-like] No, I’m not actually referring to bug porn cosplay with that title. This post is about what happens when scientists try to understand human sexuality. Sexuality is a huge part of human psychology, and as such, it’s natural that we want to understand it better using the tools of the scientific method. However, I’m afraid that quite often the science of human sexuality gets a bit unscientific. Science and culture Before I explain some of the problems in the [read on...]
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