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Author Archives: brainfisch
The unethical side of the ethics committee
If you ever were involved in research on human subjects or animals, you know about the giant hurdle you have to jump. While funding, performing the experiments, evaluating the data and publication might be difficult and time consuming, the greatest … Continue reading
Posted in general science, ideas, politics
Tagged Ethics board, Michael Brooks, what i've been reading, What's the harm
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Why college might not be the best idea – at least not for everyone
Recently this video appeared in the iTunes feed of TED talks, and everybody seems to be impressed by the novel approach of studio schooling. The idea, that you can improve schooling with a hands-on approach and much more practical training … Continue reading
Riot Clean Up – an emergent phenomenon
It is only a small step from order to chaos in an unstable society, and I will not comment on the proximate causes of the UK riots (even if I have some thoughts on the ultimate cause) as the difference … Continue reading
Geek nation
Angela Saini is an excellent writer, a charming talk show guest (listen to her here and here) and the author of the new book “Geek nation”. I will not delve deep into the content – just go and get it … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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An optimist talks about the future
Mark Stevenson is a clever and funny man, so he became a comedian. But he is also a curious man with an open mind and a positive attitude towards new things, and so he toured the world and wrote a … Continue reading
Adam Curtis and Ayn Rand
The simultaneous appearance on Derren Brown’s Svengali blog and in the new little atoms podcast raised my interest in the new documentary series by Adam Curtis on BBC 2 „All watched over by machines of loving grace, love and power“. … Continue reading
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MMR scare – what’s the harm?
Today’s NZZ (New Zurich Newspaper) had another report on the increase of measles in Switzerland. Since December 445 Cases of measles were reported in Switzerland, mainly in the regions of Geneva (173 cases), Vaud (93 cases) and Basle (62 cases). … Continue reading
“Sum” and “Other people”
Several weeks ago Neil Denny did an interview for little atoms with David Eagleman. And as usual with little atoms, my reading list increased, with even more books on the stack around my room. Although they mainly discussed his book … Continue reading
Posted in ideas, just awesome
Tagged David Eagleman, just some musings, little atoms, Neil Denny, Neil Gaiman
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Selfish reasons to have more kids
Last week I finished reading Bryan Caplan‘s new book “selfish reasons to have more kids” right in time before Russ Roberts discussed the book in this week’s econtalk. Caplan takes a skeptical look at the tendency of today’s parents to … Continue reading
Posted in economics, ideas, Skeptic
Tagged Austrian Economics, Bryan Caplan, econtalk, Russ Roberts, Skeptic, what i've been reading
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A thread for the future – not only for fashion aficionados
I just watched this TED talk by Fiorenzo Omenetto about the amazing qualities of silk: Especially the section where he talked about timed degradation of the material made me think. If this works out as presented (and basic research always … Continue reading
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