Sleep BS and Have I mentioned That I Despise Infographics?

I really, really hate infographics. Really. They’re worse than memes. Well, I guess technically they are memes. They are notoriously inaccurate. They are usually agenda-driven and often spin facts to the point of wrongness. But mostly I just see them as click bait. I have less disdain for listicles, but they sometimes bug me, too. […]

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Does Dexter Like His Coffee Black?

A skeptical friend sent me an interesting link this week. The headline makes the bold claim that a study suggests that people who like black coffee are more likely to be psychopaths. I’m sure you can guess my initial reaction: skepticism. So let’s look at the research. First, the choice of singling out black coffee […]

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Resolving Conflicting Research Results: Vaccine Education is Tricky

Note: This post also appears on Insight, the official blog of the Skeptic Society. A few months ago I wrote about the psychology of vaccine denial. In the post I discussed two publications, one of which (

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Jesus Update: He Shops at Ikea. and Walmart.

Today the Huff Post Weird News section reports that a man in Glasgow, Scotland has seen the face of God (the savior, to be precise) in a bathroom door. Of an Ikea. My last report on sightings of Our Lord and Savior was about 7 months ago, so I thought it was time for an […]

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New Research Suggests The Internet Makes Us Overconfident

When I saw the Washington Post headline “Internet searches are convincing us we’re smarter than we really are” in my Facebook feed yesterday, I was only a little bit skeptical. Most readers are probably aware that I have been studying self-esteem and narcissism for some time, particularly the aspect of overconfidence. Over confidence prevents learning […]

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