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Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the National Center for Science Education. He is also a graduate student at the University of Kansas, completing a doctorate in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. When not modeling species distributions or battling creationists, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences.
The opinions expressed here are his own, do not reflect the official position of the NCSE. Indeed, older posts may no longer reflect his own official position.
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Brain and Behavior:
My high school buddy James Grimmelmann unleashes on Newsweek: Tony Dokoupil manages to write 1,200 words in Newsweek about professional psychics without once telling his readers the single most relevant fact: Psychic powers don’t exist. Would Newsweek run an interview with the Easter Bunny? Would it let Jane Bryant Quinn suggest investing in perpetual motion machine startups? Would it print travel tips for hitching a ride on a flying saucer to Neptune? But here it is, an article whose sum and substance is that hiring a psychic could do wonders for your business. This article is professional malpractice. No competent...
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Posted on June 26, 2008 5:01 PM • 6 Comments •
The Chinese Room is a thought experiment in artificial intelligence. John Searle proposed it as a way to falsify the claim that some computer algorithm could be written which could mimic the behavior of an intelligent human so precisely that we could call it an artificial intelligence. Searle proposed that we imagine a log cabin (though it has been observed that it must be an enormous log cabin, perhaps a log aircraft carrier), in which a person sits. Around that person lie reams of paper, full of rules in English, as well as a story written in Chinese (or any...
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Posted on June 27, 2007 12:48 PM • 12 Comments •
While writing an email lamenting that there aren't more hours in the day, or at least fewer smart people saying interesting things on the intarweb and the literature, I signed off "Oy." Then, as I was doing a last editing pass, I thought of changing it to "Argh." Or perhaps even "Arrrrrgh." Which got me thinking about the difference between "oy" and "argh." If you were translating a Woody Allen movie to a language where "oy" wouldn't work, could you substitute "argh"?...
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Posted on June 1, 2007 1:45 PM • 10 Comments •
Study finds regional differences in US serial killings: Did you know that people living in the Western region of the United States are more likely to become victims of a serial killer than people living in the Northeast?Ah, science. The study by University of Connecticut Emeritus Sociology Professor James DeFronzo examined male serial killers in the United States from 1970 to 1992. It is published in Homicide Studies. Yet another reason to fear those odd Westerners....
Posted on January 25, 2007 4:20 PM • 1 Comments •
Yes, I'm stealing Yakov Smirnoff jokes, but it's true. According to Improbable Research, Russian scientists have tested a theory: If a depressed individual receives a physical punishment, whipping that is, it will stir up endorphin receptors, activate the ‘production of happiness’ and eventually remove depressive feelings. Russian scientists recommend the following course of the whipping therapy: 30 sessions of 60 whips on the buttocks in every procedure. A group of drug addicts volunteered to test the new method of treatment: the results can be described as good and excellent.I wouldn't recommend trying this at home....
Posted on December 19, 2006 10:39 AM • 1 Comments •
The first bill filed for next year's state senate session would ban thimerosal in vaccines. Thimerosal is a preservative formerly used in many vaccines, now mostly found only in flu vaccines. Because it contains a form of mercury, people have tried to link its use in childhood vaccines with rising autism rates. As the Lawrence Journal-World's Scott Rothschild notes: Federal officials maintain there is no association between the disorders and thimerosal. Critics, however, say the studies are flawed and note that mercury is a known toxin.Unfortunately, he leaves out a lot of background. The form of mercury used in thimerosal...
Posted on December 11, 2006 10:27 AM • 2 Comments •
Frontal Cortex, reviewing An Elephant Crackup in the Times, writes about Elephants Gone Wild: This shouldn't be too surprising. The neurobiology of stress is an extremely well conserved biological pathway. Our brain experiences stress in much the same way as a chimp, or an elephant, or a rat. And since Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder is now a well documented phenomenon in humans - up to 40 percent of all soldiers coming home from Iraq experience some of PTSD - we should expect that other animals also display abberant behavior in response to chronic levels of elevated stress.What I find odd about the Times...
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Posted on October 10, 2006 10:17 AM • 3 Comments •
