archive

Your brain lies to you

From American Political Science Review,  James H. Fowler (UCSD), Laura A. Baker (USC) and Christopher T. Dawes (UCSD): Genetic Variation in Political Participation. Memo to Don Cherry and Margaret Atwood: Lack of patriotism is Canadian patriotism. Birthrates are falling at drastic and, to many, alarming rates; why are Europeans so hesitant to have children, and what does it mean for their future and for ours? Felipe Fernandez-Armesto considers why soccer will never score highly in the US. Reading The Onion Seriously: Combining irreverent humor and acerbic critique, a handful of new media outlets are transforming American politics and culture. From The Chronicle, an article on America's Most Overrated Product: the Bachelor's Degree (and more). The new economics and the pursuit of happiness: Alan Wolfe reviews Happiness: A Revolution in Economics by Bruno S. Frey and Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely. From Baghdad to London: Lessons from one thousand years of urbanisation in Europe and the Arab world. From Smithsonian, an essay on The Great Human Migration: Why humans left their African homeland 80,000 years ago to colonize the world. Your brain lies to you: We tend to remember news that accords with our worldview, and discount statements that contradict it. Erwin Chemerinsky and EJ Dionne on judicial activism by conservatives.