Nov 23 Column: What is behind the turkey pardoning ritual? By Tobin Miller Shearer, The Conversation The presidential pardoning of turkeys invites the question: What is the significance of such a public rite of forgiveness?… Continue reading
Nov 17 Column: How colors get their names By Claire Bowern, The Conversation A Yale linguist explains how many colors exist in your language’s rainbow. Continue reading
Nov 10 Column: The demise of political polling has been greatly exaggerated By Ole J. Forsberg, The Conversation From a media standpoint, the Election 2016 polls provided a great narrative, mathematician Ole J. Forsberg writes, but they had a margin of error, and journalists didn’t seem to understand what those words meant. Continue reading
Nov 07 Column: What Westworld gets wrong (and right) about human nature By Alan Jern, The Conversation Research by psychologists provides some insight into how most humans would actually act in HBO's Westworld. Continue reading
Oct 31 Column: Why we'll always fear monsters By Leo Braudy, The Conversation Why are we still so afraid?… Continue reading
Oct 17 Column: Why science issues seem to divide us along party lines By Lauren Griffin, The Conversation Much has been made of the partisan split between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on issues of science and public policy. But can their American supporters really be that far apart in terms of science?… Continue reading
Sep 29 Column: The psychology behind why clowns creep us out By Frank T. McAndrew, The Conversation For the past several months, creepy clowns have been terrorizing America, with sightings of actual clowns in at least 10 different states. These fiendish clowns have reportedly tried to lure women and children into the woods, chased… Continue reading