November 30, 2006
Category: Culture
You'll live longer. From the latest Nature: Regular, moderate consumption of red wine is linked to a reduced risk of coronary heart disease and to lower overall mortality1, but the relative contribution of wine's alcohol and polyphenol components to these...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 4:22 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture
So David Brooks is now a swing voter. He's grown so disenchanted with the Republican leadership that he has started giving them advice on how to woo him back. For the most part, I agree with his advice and support...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 11:18 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture
Until he became a global warming skeptic and an environmental advisor to the Bush White House, I'd always been a fan of Michael Crichton. His scientific dystopias always made for excellent pool-side reading and, when he was good, he could...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 10:51 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 29, 2006
Category: Culture
Maybe I'm just ignorant, but this sort of body-language interpretation, as featured in the NY Times today, struck me as about as scientific as palm reading and hand-writing analysis: Tonya Reiman and Maxine Lucille Fiel do not know much about...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 6:12 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture
It's ironic that scientific research on animals has ended up becoming an important source of evidence against animal research. After all, it's only because we sacrifice chimps that we understand the deep connections between the chimp brain and the human...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 12:48 PM • 32 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture
At last, an auto show that doesn't revolve around thirsty V-12 engines and gigantic SUV's. The L.A. Auto Show, which starts today, is notable for the debut of several environmentally friendly vehicles. And these aren't just futuristic fantasies. For the...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 11:56 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture
Obama is coming to town! Since I live in New Hampshire, that also means that Obama is going to run for President. (I suppose Obama might also just have a soft spot for Manchester. . .) So what am I...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 11:39 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 28, 2006
Category: Culture
Fun for the whole family. If Judith Rich Harris is correct, then kids should have the same accent as their peers, not their parents. According to this quiz, my childhood friends in Southern California were actually from the Midwest. (Or...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 11:59 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
There's a thorough article in the Times Magazine on the persistence of the "achievment gap" in public education. The conclusion of the article is rather simple: the "achievment gap" persists due to a series of entrenched inequalities, but very good...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 10:55 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Culture
This is a briliant idea: Youtube for test tubes. Instead of trying to translate the methodology of experiments into technical prose, why not just videotape the experiments? Most of the time, science is just a fancy form of manual labor,...
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Posted by Jonah Lehrer at 10:17 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks