This weekend is the first episode in a three-part "Brain Games" series on the National Geographic channel. Since National Geographic does not have a show on the 'science' of ghost hunting, and since statistics show 97% of Internet readers never finish an article, if you are not a regular Science 2.0 reader I am okay endorsing this and telling you in the first paragraph you will enjoy it, so...
read moreIn the immortal Richard Donner classic "Scrooged", the following exchange takes place between Frank, the president of the network, and his boss, Preston:Preston: Do you know how many cats there are in this country?Frank: No, ummmm...I don't have...no.Preston: Twenty-seven million. Do you know how many dogs?Frank: ...in America?Preston: Forty-eight million. We spend four billion on pet food...
read moreIt's rare that you will find me arguing for gender quotas. Obviously I am not for discrimination but, at least in science, mandating representation - which is discrimination against the qualified in the interests of sex organs - does not lead to better science, it leads to equality at the expense of excellence.Economics, however, is not science and some mandated equality might help....
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