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Neural Buddhism & the psychology of religion permlink
Many people are talking about David Brooks' new column, The Neural Buddhists. First, I think much respect should be given to Brooks for introducing science into his column; too much punditry today is informed by seat of the pants introspection...Posted on May 14, 2008 10:35 PM • 5 Comments
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World permlink
When I was a child in Bangladesh one of my "charming" activities would be to give the local banana seller some unsolicited advice. As he walked down the street carrying his banana-bunch I would shout down from the balcony and...Posted on May 14, 2008 3:48 AM • 11 Comments
Religion in China permlink
Pew has an excellent survey up about the state of religion and religiosity in China. There isn't a lot of good data out of China on this topic for obvious reasons. One of the phenomenon of recent years in the...Posted on May 12, 2008 12:45 AM • 12 Comments
One explanation to rule them all permlink
I've commented on height genetics now & then. It seems that the quantitative genetic supposition that variation on this trait was due to the cummulative effect of numerous loci of small effect is correct. Recent research has pinpointed about ~5%...Posted on May 10, 2008 1:05 PM • 7 Comments
Margaret Sanger: anti-abortionist? permlink
Over @ Stranger Fruit John Lynch points a section from a paper which recounts the Christian assocation with eugenics: On the whole the evangelical mainstream in the decades following the turn of the century appeared apathetic, acquiescent, or at times...Posted on April 28, 2008 7:57 AM • 6 Comments
Americans are good at murder? permlink
Some debate below about the various parameters which shape social pathologies. One of facts which we are well aware of is that the United States has a lot of homicide compared to other developed countries. But another fact which is...Posted on April 18, 2008 1:36 PM • 34 Comments
Have faith in the church, not god permlink
Religiousness and Infidelity: Attendance, but not Faith and Prayer, Predict Marital Fidelity: High religiousness has been consistently linked with a decreased likelihood of past infidelity but has been solely defined by religious service attendance, a limited assessment of a complex...Posted on April 17, 2008 5:24 PM • 6 Comments
Asian doctors are white permlink
About 10 years ago Eugene Volokh wrote How the Asians Became White. I think it's aged rather well. Volokh starts: Don't believe me? A recent MSNBC news headline announced a "Plunge in Minority University Enrollment" at the University of California,...Posted on April 12, 2008 2:44 AM • 9 Comments
Why scientists should do drugs (if they choose) permlink
The reports about the widespread use of drugs, cognitive enhancers, among scientists is making the rounds. I tend to think that it might be a positive thing, even if there are side effects. The fact is that if you go...Posted on April 10, 2008 9:15 PM • 34 Comments
Why Burma will beat Bangaldesh: human capital matters permlink
When I was a little kid I would check out countries whose vital economic and social statistics were not as good as Bangladesh's. I basically was curious as to what could have happened, how can you be more miserable than...Posted on April 10, 2008 3:01 PM • 9 Comments
Philosophy = lower salary permlink
There was a recent article in The New York Times about the boomlet in philosophy majors. Seemed like a classic "journalism by the numbers" (like a coloring book). But via Tyler Cowen via Kids Prefer Cheese comes the graphic to...Posted on April 9, 2008 5:18 PM • 18 Comments
Nose jobs in Iran permlink
A new piece in TNR, Iranian Chic, highlights the fact that nose jobs are all the rage in the Islamic Republic. A more detailed article notes: One prominent Tehran plastic surgeon says his patients include the daughters of senior Islamic...Posted on April 5, 2008 6:12 PM • 8 Comments
SWM seeking SWF? permlink
Many people are noting Rich Florida's singles map. Half Sigma has decided to dig deeper into the data. He breaks it down by state, region and metropolitan area. I'm assuming there's more where that came from.......Posted on April 4, 2008 5:01 PM • 0 Comments
What to do about fear of the black man permlink
A few months ago a paper came out, The Threat of Appearing Prejudiced and Race-based Attentional Biase, which got a lot of press. Here's the important part: The research took place over six years at Stanford and Penn State under...Posted on April 3, 2008 4:38 PM • 22 Comments
Europeans don't like diversity? permlink
Danny Pinkus points me to this post which points to a new paper examing public attitudes in Europe and the United States. They find that though overall attitudes toward immigration don't vary much on either side of the Atlantic, Europeans...Posted on April 3, 2008 2:03 PM • 11 Comments
Jhumpa Lahiri as cultural commentary; quality vs. quantity permlink
TNR has a new piece titled The Assimilation Artist, which has the subheading "Jhumpa Lahiri's books are more about the coastal elite experience than they are about the Indian-American one." Well, that's because the Indian American experience is in large...Posted on April 2, 2008 3:51 PM • 14 Comments
