William M. Briggs

Study Finds 9-Month-Old Babies Are Racist

MSNBC reports this: University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers placed sensors on the heads of 9-month-old babies...and measured brain activity when infants were shown pictures of white and black faces expressing…

Culture Philosophy Statistics

The Dire And Depressing Implications Of Science As Scientism: Two Introductions

A long introduction... Scientism is the fallacy that all that is known and all that can be known, can only be known through scientific methods: that which is testable is…

Culture Statistics

Why Republicans Deny Science—And Reality: Request For Help

Update The link to Sam Harris's abysmal study are now provided. That is the (modified) subtitle of the sanctimoniously self-satisfied Chris Mooney's new book, "The Republican Brain: The Science of…

Fun

Leon Panetta Unleashes U.S. Army To Battle Carbon Dioxide

"Sir!" The lieutenant, clearly agitated, rushed into the staff room and snapped to attention. "What is it, Mann? What's the word from the field?" asked the general. "We're surrounded, sir!"…

Statistics

Statistics Proves Same Drug Both Causes And Does Not Cause Same Cancer

No, the title of today's post is not a joke, even though it has often been used that way in the past. The title was inspired by yesterday's Wall Street…

Statistics

Atheists More Motivated By Compassion Than The Faithful?

Why? (Source) Today's title was swiped, word-for-word, from a Live Science press release. This is important because the point I wish to make has to do with how the press…

Statistics

Academic Pscyhologists Over-Rely On WEIRD People: Overconfidence Results

It was just over a month ago that tears of joy came to my eyes while reading an academic paper. This was Simmons et alia's "False-Positive Psychology : Undisclosed Flexibility…

Culture Statistics

The Times Weighs In On The Side Of Wayward Nuns

Nicholas D. Kristof is a good polemicist. In his 28 April 2011 piece "We Are All Nuns" he manages to hide and eventually evade the main argument against him via…

John M on The Great Effeminization of the AcademyMarch 18, 2026
Genesis 3:13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman…
Cary D Cotterman on The Great Effeminization of the AcademyMarch 18, 2026
I can't read the titles or the excerpts without laughing out loud. They are comedy gold.
Michael 2 on On Not ReadingMarch 18, 2026
"I do watch electronic repair videos and old movies on YouTube (and not on a phone). " Same here. Big…
Tars Tarkas on The Great Effeminization of the AcademyMarch 18, 2026
I miss Z-man's Xirl Science segments in the Z-Man power hour. He would highlight articles like the ones highlighted here.…
McChuck on The Great Effeminization of the AcademyMarch 18, 2026
The number of women who have earned doctoral degrees, as opposed to having been granted them, is probably in the…

William M. Briggs

The Great Effeminization of the Academy

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

Lancet Discovers Public Health Is Politics

Class 82: Be More Uncertain (About Models)

On Not Reading

The Great Smoothing: Another Reason Not To Fear (or trust) AI

A Synchronicity Or Coincidence? What Is Behind Curious Events?

Class 81: The Second Biggest Error In Time Series

The Paper Test Shows Why AGI Is Not Possible: And Why The Brain Is Different In Kind

Researcher Imagines Weather With No Human Influence: Concludes Climate Change Hurts Incomes

Faith Deposited: Why Godless Science Fails

Class 80: Granger Causality; Per Se & Accidental Time Series; Stationarity

Scientists Seeking To Escape Criticism Run To The Warmth & Comfort Of Bluesky

The Loss of Ephemera — Guest Post by The Blonde Bombshell

Class 79: Time Series Example

The Importance Of Not Making Decisions

Don’t Take The ‘Long-Covid’ Alzheimer’s Study Seriously

AI Is Driving Many Crazy: Our Latest Panic

Class 78: The Attempt To Turn Correlation Lead Into Causation Gold In Time Series

Desperate Need For Equality: AP Exam Performance

Some Sanity: Experts Sued For Creating Gender Delusions

The Great Effeminization of the Academy

The Only Metric That Matters: Or, Pinker’s Folly

Study Finds 9-Month-Old Babies Are Racist

The Dire And Depressing Implications Of Science As Scientism: Two Introductions

Why Republicans Deny Science—And Reality: Request For Help

Leon Panetta Unleashes U.S. Army To Battle Carbon Dioxide

Statistics Proves Same Drug Both Causes And Does Not Cause Same Cancer

Atheists More Motivated By Compassion Than The Faithful?

Academic Pscyhologists Over-Rely On WEIRD People: Overconfidence Results

The Times Weighs In On The Side Of Wayward Nuns

There Is No Culture Without Inequality: Stove 1

Impose Your Beliefs Before They Impose Theirs

Telekinesis: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification

The Physics Of Blessings: Ideas In Our Reenchantment & Rectification