Rants, Raves, and Rhetoric v4

Category: Science

  • How To Tell When Your Boss Is Lying

    I found this article in The Economist reporting on a study regarding lies on conference calls interesting. David Larcker and Anastasia Zakolyukina of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business analysed the transcripts of nearly 30,000 conference calls by American chief executives and chief financial officers between 2003 and 2007. They noted each boss’s choice of words,…

  • TED Talk: When ideas have sex

    I don’t think I of myself as very intelligent. I think I’ve managed to have great conversations chock full of fantastic ideas with very intelligent people and discussed those ideas with others who refined them. It hadn’t occurred to me it was the exchange of objects leads to specialization which leads to improvement of both…

  • Science of Motivation Animated

    Last year I posted a TED video by Daniel Pink on the science of motivation. This is the same talk but animated. I’d love to see more of these!

  • TED Talk: The Danger of Science Denial

  • TED Talk: Every pollen grain has a story

    Given the local record pollen count level, I found this one interesting.

  • World Autism Awareness Day

    On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139… which declares April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) in perpetuity. News last month about oxytocin helping autism patients’ socialization was quite intriguing. I hope research continues and helps as many as possible. Something so basic as a naturally produced hormone makes me…

  • TED Talk: Epic Wins

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    While I like video games and found Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter an entertaining ride, I am skeptical when people describe video games in all glowing terms. Like everything, they improve specific skills. Also people are attracted to games in which they have specific skills.…

  • Dunbar on Facebook

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    You’ve read my previous posts on Dunbar‘s Number, right? Go on…. I’ll wait. Remember the one on Scoble and Facebook? Good. For a while, I fastidiously ensured my number of friends stayed below 150 because I took the idea of Dunbar’s number as a life strategy. Then I let it slip to 200 which I pared back down…

  • Ashley Merryman: On Parenting

    Cannot believe I have yet to read NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children! It looks to have all the things I love: scientific studies debunking common assumptions, policy, school programs, etc. At least it is already on the wishlist. Also, I follow NutureShock on Twitter. A list of articles on the topic. The first part on…