Biology in the News Explained

Cancer patients will soon get help from parasitic wasps

Researchers in London are working on a new flexible needle technology modeled on the ovipositors of woodwasps.

“Number sense” and math ability: what assumptions drive the science?

Media reporting of new paper wrongly implies that it shows that mathematical ability is based on how good our inborn "number sense" is.

Brain development and ADHD

A new study supports others that implicate the right caudate nucleus in the development of ADHD.

When will sociologists learn some sociobiology?

Why would any biological scientist possibly be surprised that a one-year-old baby understands some of the rules governing society?

More PowerPoint means less brain power

It's always been easy to ridicule the use of PowerPoint in academia, but the current implications of its ubiquitous use could turn out to be serious.

Sociobiology shows us why racial integration is so hard, and so important

We need to keep making an effort to interact with people not like us, because if we do not, our social brains easily fall into the trap of demonizing them. School integration is still an obvious way to do this.

The irrational roots of resistance to change

Resistance to change is a standard human response, and thus ubiquitous for organizations, but is usually based on irrational reasoning. (Continued from Part 1.)

Why fear mongering is so successful

There's a reason fear-mongering works as a political strategy: the irrational part of our brain is much easier for other people to manipulate than the rational part.

Rational decision making

It would be great to live in a world in which we make decisions as consumers (and as governments) based on a rational cost-benefit analysis, rather than knee-jerk ideology.

Adapt public education to individuals, not demographics

Those obsessed with imagined (and completely unsubstantiated) gender differences in learning are threatening our educational system by integrating blatant sexism into it.

Predator-avoidance behavior in smoke alarms

On invasive coqui frogs and beeping smoke alarms.

Politics and Biology, Part 1

Are political affiliations caused by differences in how a brain works?