William M. Briggs

I stole most of the headline from The Times, which ran a subtler version: "Laws banning FGM are harmful and ‘stigmatising’, say academics". The practice of slicing off a women's…

My Dear Friends and Despised Enemies, Once Again, Happy New Year. As has been our tradition these many years, it’s time to register our predictions for the coming year. We…

My Dearest Supporters, Loyal Readers & Despised Enemies, The Lord seeing fit to leave me to roam free another annum, I once again bid you the happiest of New Years.…

On Monday, 5 January, we'll register new predictions. Don't put them here. I bring glad prognosticative tidings and am pleased to report we did slightly better this year than last.…

Most of us have seen the Drake equation, in one its many forms, which purports to put a number on how many alien civilizations have iPhones. There has been much…

"See that guy over there, Mugsy?" "Yeah, boss." "He needs to be provisioned." "You got it, boss." I have a small collection of euphemisms for killings, curious deaths and murder.…

An older version of this post originally ran 12 November 2016. All scientific successes in morals and ethics since then have been added here. Here are the various ways to…