Michael Shermer discusses this with a twist in Scientific American, where he says a recent brain study suggests that we might need to apply more skepticism and peer review in every walk of life.
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My buddy John Atkinson likes to say that what makes science work is not simply the measurement of observed phenomena, but the scientist's refusal to believe those measurements. I once asked him if he'd teach me to do audio measurements and he said no, "because you'd believe the measurements—a good scientist knows the measurements are trying to lie to him."
While we're thinking about thinking, think about this: Recent research confirms that animals have language, experience complex emotions, and can apply abstract reasoning—including the assimilation of previously acquired information—to problem solving. So why do we think we're so special?
So that's why my apartment is always a mess when I get home!
Via Jeff Wong.
I grew up in Charlottesville, VA, in the shadow of Monticello and a few blocks from UVA, Mr.Jefferson's university, so I always felt a tad proprietary about the Fourth of July. Schoolchildren in Charlottesville were pretty much taught that the Revolution was Thomas Jefferson and some other guys against King George.
The thing is, every time I read the Declaration of Independence, I still marvel at Jefferson's command of rhetoric.
Read the Declaration and all about it at USHistory.org's DOI page.
What's the Fourth without beer? Here's a gallery of microphotographs of the world's most famous beers. I think they're beeyootiful.
Yeah, yeah, we all know that you grill burgers'n'brats on the Fourth, but that only takes a few minutes and then yo have all those coals going great. What to do with that lovely fire? Here's a non-intuitive dish that will excite absolutely no one—until they taste it! Then you won't have made enough.
Pa amb tomaquet (literally, bread with tomato)
Ingredients:
one loaf of crusty bread (I love a good sourdough), cut into 1" thick slices
ripe, juicy tomatoes, halved
olive oil
minced garlic cloves to taste
salt, pepper
Instructions
Combine…
Or is that, my car the cop? Glenn Harlan Reynolds asks, "When did our machines get so bossy?"