An open letter to the Texas State Board of Education

Hey there, Texas State Board of Eduction.  It’s come to my attention that you’re concerned about the textbooks that your children are being taught from; specifically, you’re concerned they might demonstrate favoritism towards the religion of Islam, while vilifying the Christian faith. In fact, I hear you’re so concerned, you’ve got a resolution awaiting consideration … Read more

Artificially intelligent robot scientist makes discovery

Wow, this is awesome.  Some folks in England invented a robot that does science — from hypothesis, to testing, to conclusion — and it actually generated new knowledge autonomously!  Outstanding. “The scientists at Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge designed Adam to carry out each stage of the scientific process automatically without the need … Read more

Humans associate difficult-to-pronounce words as risky and exciting

I suppose this result is unsuprising.  Novelty=risk=excitement, right? A group of students were given a list of made-up food additives and were asked to rate how harmful they were. The additives all contained twelve letters, with Magnalroxate being one of the easiest to pronounce and Hnegripitrom one of the hardest to pronounce. The students rated … Read more