The trap one often falls into is to focus on one of those to which the typical response of the [h-bd] convert is to eithera) completely ignore itb) dismiss it as an “outlier” or “an exception to the rule” which rather betrays complete ignorance of Popperian falsification. If you really don’t understand this point, imagine […]

Reuters reports that the high crime in South Africa combined with an inventive class has produced some revolutionary security-based technology. Some of these are impractical (like the flame throwing car) or just variation on a theme (computers that notify the owner and “squawk’ with a car-alarm like alert when stolen), but one could be very […]

Reuters reports that South Africa’s high crime rate has prompted the inventive class to produce some very interesting security-related technology. Some of these are impractical (like the flame thrower-equipped car) or just variations on an extant theme (computers that notify the owner and “squawk’ with a car-alarm like alert when stolen), but at least one […]

Heather Graham is on the EverCrack.I’d always wished I had the chance to play Dungeons & Dragons as a kid, but I never had friends who were into it. You know, Ms. Graham, I’m sure those kids who were into it would have extended a warm hand of welcome. Posted by jeet at 08:57 AM

Your task is simple – read these texts and connect the dots: “New Study Finds That Math Items on the Nation’s Benchmark Exam Are Too Easy, Don’t Adequately Assess Skills”Brookings Institution “Closing the racial learning gap”La Griffe du Lion So, what are you waiting for? Posted by dobeln at 05:19 AM

Little boys like to play with toy cars and girls with dolls. These sexually dimorphic toy preferences extend to non-human primates. Alexander & Hines (2002) gave 44 vervet monkeys of each sex six toys to play with; two male-typical (a toy car and ball), two female-typical (a doll and pot) and two sex-neutral (a book […]

There seems to be some evidence linking Spinal Muscular Atrophy to intelligence.  It is often found in very intelligent children, and according to Loveline’s Dr. Drew, patients often report feeling that their intelligence has increased during the course of the disease. Posted by Thrasymachus at 12:32 PM

Courtesy of Aziz. (lots of big images below) Posted by razib at 03:28 PM

Talking to Ingo Brigandt about his ethnic nepotism paper, he brought up an interesting concern about evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology postulates mental or behavioural modules based on alleged selective demands. Note that these modules are functionally defined and that the assumption is that for each important ecological and behavioural function there is a *distinct* mental […]

The creationists over at the Discovery Institute have a new blog devoted to, in their words, correcting the “misreporting of the evolution issue” in the newsmedia. Not surprisingly, there is no comments section. Posted by God Fearing Atheist at 02:21 PM

It is often said that the ancient Greeks were the first Europeans. Indeed, their culture feels remarkably modern. Usually this is put down to the Greek spirit of inquiry, its dedication to reason, or perhaps cosmopolitanism. But there is another characteristic of ancient Greece which unites it with the present, and distinguishes it from the […]

It is often said that the ancient Greeks were the first Europeans. Indeed, their culture feels remarkably modern. Usually this is put down to the Greek spirit of inquiry, its dedication to reason, or perhaps cosmopolitanism. But there is another characteristic of ancient Greece which unites it with the present, and distinguishes it from the […]

As my Christmas present to my friend Aziz Poonwalla, I point readers to The First Annual Brass Crescent Awards for the Islamic Blogsphere. Who says atheists can’t practice religious ecumenicalism? Update: And Merry Christmas to everyone! Posted by razib at 01:09 PM

I thought this was pretty cute. After explaining some recent behavior genetic research into female infidelity and telling their readers that “it certainly would not be a threat to a biblical worldview,” the creationists at Answers in Genesis go on to give their own explanation of heritability: In a fallen world, in which genes are […]

I hope that everyone enjoys their Christmas and because our readership so heavily skews to a science literate audience I thought most would enjoy a little sci-fi story written by James P. Hogan, celebrating the birth of Sir Isaac Newton, born on Christmas Day of 1642. Merry Gravmas “Is that you, Li?” Cheng Xiang called, […]

Many of the American readers may have participated in CTY. This article on the gifted students in the program will be of interest to most GNXP readers: The same egalitarian ardor has swept over schools across the country in recent years, slashing gifted classes and dismantling tracking systems. Programs for the gifted now receive less […]

Many of the American readers may have participated in CTY. This article on the gifted students in the program will be of interest to most GNXP readers: The same egalitarian ardor has swept over schools across the country in recent years, slashing gifted classes and dismantling tracking systems. Programs for the gifted now receive less […]

Sailer and Salter’s advocacy of kin selected ethnic nepotism using similarity data faces a major theoretical hurdle. Evolution by natural selection concerns the change of the frequency of a specific allele at a given locus. In this sense, an allele competes with other alleles at this locus. It does not matter whether the effects of […]

As GC notes, I am not going to be posting much (though 1-2 times a week seems likely) until the winter starts to thaw out a bit…but I do want GNXP readers to be aware of the excellent site Butterflies and Wheels. The name of the site is drawn from an acrimonious (and intellectually dishonest) […]

Dusting off my bookmark shelf and I found a link to a memorable 1999 Lingua Franca article about the Sociobiology Wars. The link was, of course, as dead as Lingua Franca, so I ran it through the always useful Wayback Machine: Oh My Darwin!: Who’s the Fittest Evolutionary Thinker of Them All?. There’s a nostalgia […]