Posted inStatistics
Breast Cancer Screening Ruins Lives?
Today's title is from the Daily Mail: "The expert branded a woman hater for saying breast cancer screening ruins lives." What could be more sensible than having a mammogram? If…
Posted inStatistics
Brain Atrophy Responsible For Religious Belief?
Readers can help me choose the best metaphor. (1) A snowball which starts the size of a pea but gains in strength and speed as it rolls downhill, mindlessly consuming…
Posted inStatistics
Don’t Drive On Tax Day! You Might Die
This is it. The day to traipse to the post office and mail in your income tax papers. In farm lingo, this is the time swill the pigs. To feed…
Posted inCulture Statistics
Do Conservatives Distrust Science More Than Liberals?
Science versus Scientism That, anyway, is the latest question making the rounds in the science wars. The simplistic answer, the one de rigueur on campuses and newsrooms, is "Yes." Why,…
Posted inFun Statistics
Global Warming Feedback Confirmed!
Just some gentle teasing today. Every climate scientist knows that it's the feedback that counts, that the few squirts of carbon dioxide contributed to the atmosphere are powerless in isolation.…
Posted inFun Statistics
Enclothed Cognition—Wearing A Doctor’s Coat Makes You More Careful
I cannot do a better job than Northwestern's Hajo Adam and Adam Galinsky in describing their peer-reviewed paper "Enclothed cognition," which appeared in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. We…
Posted inFun Statistics
Women Spot Snakes Faster Before Their Periods
An Irish non-nun spots a snake. It is nearly St Patrick's day and so time to revisit the legend of how that holy man drove the snakes from Ireland. Little…
Posted inCulture Statistics
Low IQ & Liberal Beliefs Linked To Poor Research?
Watch out Sam Harris, Gordon Hodson and Michael A. Busseri of Brock University are giving you competition for the worst use of statistics in an original paper. Their "Bright Minds…