The Last Word

October 17-21, 2016 Craig opened the week with a brave personal and scientific exploration of sexual assault’s effects on the brain and the psyche. Revelations about Trump’s history with women warrants a revisit to Christie’s post on why harassment goes unreported. Michelle plays detective in the extinction of an Australasian rodent. She finds that sometimes […]

Guest Post: Fact-Checking: the Polar Bear Test

Everyone has an embarrassing moment on social media. For me, the most memorable started with an adorable photo of a baby polar bear. The bear had gleaming white fur, big brown eyes, and a sweet expression. It floated into my line of vision one morning two summers ago, as I consumed Twitter while consuming my […]

Conversation: James Gleick in the Fourth Dimension

May I introduce James Gleick?  He’s been on staff at the New York Times, and has written seven books, including Chaos and Genius (a biography of Richard Feynman), for which he’s won impressive prizes.  And he’s just published Time Travel, which Joyce Carol Oates called “another of [his] superb, unclassifiable books.”  It’s a compendium of […]

Who Killed the Bramble Cay Melomys?

This summer, the Bramble Cay melomys, a reddish-brown rodent that resembles a large mouse, made international news. In mid-June, the Guardian reported that the melomys, last seen in 2009, had been confirmed extinct in its only known habitat, a tiny, isolated coral outcrop in the narrow strait between Australia and New Guinea. “First mammal species wiped […]

How Sexual Harassers Get Away With It

  Donald and Billy on the bus and the sexual harassment and assault allegations against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, including at least 20 lawsuits accusing Trump of mistreating women, have left many people asking why more women don’t report sexual assault and harassment when it happens. I’ll tell you why: it’s a terrible burden to be forced into […]

Your Brain on Sexual Assault

This recent revelation about Donald Trump and crotch-grabbing has triggered an outpouring of stories and memories. I posted something on the matter on Facebook and people’s deeply sunken tales came out comment after comment. The same has happened on a national scale. People are stepping forward with their stories. A friend of mine, a touring […]

The Last Word

October 10 – 14, 2016 With the de-embargoing of Cuba, Cuban and American geologists can finally talk to each other.  That’s a good thing, says guest Alex Witze, because Cuba is a crunched-up (and gorgeous) mess between a rock and an ocean. Michelle reminded us of Lady Ada Lovelace, an inventor of computer programming, who died […]

Baby Science

There is a wealth of research on child rearing, some of which I’ve read. But my 14-month-old daughter recently pointed out that many of my so-called “evidence-based” views are hopelessly outdated. So I asked her to write a post in which she shares the very latest findings. This is cutting-edge baby science, dear readers. I […]