Because of my new gig and then my two-week sojourn at Cornell I am way behind in acknowledging all the emails and blog tips I have received. Nearly all stories…

This picture decreases rape rates Some people who really ought to know better---but don't---reported on the peer-reviewed paper "Divergent Effects of Beliefs in Heaven and Hell on National Crime Rates"…

Since the subject has come up so often, today a note on the words correlated and correlation. They have technical definitions and plain English meanings. The two definitions overlap but…

Vengeance Is Mine The actual title of the Live Science press release was "Believers Leave Punishment to Powerful God," a story which opens with the memorable words: Believing in an…

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…

This is an edited and expanded re-post from last September; it makes a natural and needed companion to last week's series on how to statistically handle temperature time series, particularly…

Epidemiology is nothing if not a productive field. All that is needed for success is a database (larger the better), a disease (any will do), and some minor facility with…