A Blog: TierneyLab
With your help, John Tierney will use TierneyLab to check out new research and rethink conventional wisdom about science and society
Recent columns and multimedia by John Tierney of The New York Times.
FINDINGS; Do You Have Free Will? Yes, It's the Only Choice
Suppose that Mark and Bill live in a deterministic universe. Everything that happens this morning -- like Mark's decision to wear a blue shirt, or Bill's latest attempt to comb over his bald spot -- is completely caused by whatever happened before it. If you recreated this universe starting with the Big Bang and let all events proceed exactly the same way until this same morning, then the blue shirt is as inevitable as the comb-over.
March 22, 2011 Science NewsUrge to Own That Clapton Guitar Is Contagious, Scientists Find
Why would someone pay $959,500 for a used guitar? That was a difficult enough question in 2004 when Eric Clapton sold his beloved Fender Stratocaster named Blackie. But now, as collectors around the world prepare to bid Wednesday at another charity auction of Mr. Clapton's guitars, the questions are even tougher.
March 9, 2011 U.S. NewsFINDINGS; When Energy Efficiency Sullies the Environment
For the sake of a cleaner planet, should Americans wear dirtier clothes? This is not a simple question, but then, nothing about dirty laundry is simple anymore. We've come far since the carefree days of 1996, when Consumer Reports tested some midpriced top-loaders and reported that ''any washing machine will get clothes clean.''
March 8, 2011 Science News
FINDINGS; The Threatening Scent of Fertile Women
Men in a relationship, unlike the unattached, tell themselves that a fertile woman isn’t really that attractive, researchers say.
February 22, 2011 Science NewsFINDINGS; Social Scientist Sees Bias Within
SAN ANTONIO -- Some of the world's pre-eminent experts on bias discovered an unexpected form of it at their annual meeting. Discrimination is always high on the agenda at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology's conference, where psychologists discuss their research on racial prejudice, homophobia, sexism, stereotype threat and unconscious bias against minorities. But the most talked-about speech at this year's meeting, which ended Jan. 30, involved a new ''outgroup.''
February 8, 2011 Science News
FINDINGS; Heavy Doses of DNA Data, With Few Side Effects
Most people say they’ll pay for genetic tests even if the predictions are sometimes wrong, and most people don’t seem to be traumatized even when they receive bad news.
January 18, 2011 Science News
FINDINGS; Economic Optimism? Yes, I'll Take That Bet
Lessons learned from a wager made five years ago on energy supplies.
December 28, 2010 Technology News
FINDINGS; Real Evidence for Diets That Are Just Imaginary
When people imagined themselves eating M & M’s or pieces of cheese, they became less likely to gorge themselves on the real thing, research shows.
December 14, 2010 Technology News
FINDINGS; On a Hunt for What Makes Gamers Keep Gaming
Video game designers hope to harness some of the thousands of hours spent playing for tackling scientific problems and a host of other tasks.
December 7, 2010 Technology News
FINDINGS; Murder! Intrigue! Astronomers?
The story of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe has box-office potential.
November 30, 2010 Technology News
FINDINGS; When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays
Researchers said they found that in most activities, a mind that wandered could diminish one’s happiness.
November 16, 2010 Technology News
FINDINGS; Discovering the Virtues Of a Wandering Mind
Researchers have been analyzing daydreaming, and they’ve found those stray thoughts to be remarkably common — and often quite useful.
June 29, 2010 Technology News
A Record-Smashing Sea Journey, and Not Because of Its Speed
When Reid Stowe sails his 70-foot schooner, the Anne, into Manhattan, he will have completed a journey of 1,152 days.
June 17, 2010 Travel NewsFINDINGS; Legislation Won't Close Gender Gap in Sciences
How representative was the Swedish study of 114 applicants that has become the fundamental text of the gender-bias movement?
June 15, 2010 Technology News
FINDINGS; Daring to Discuss Women in Science
A bill passed by the House recalls a hypothesis about differences in the sexes’ aptitude for math and science.
June 8, 2010 Technology NewsFINDINGS; Doomsayers Beware, A Bright Future Beckons
While schools of despair await the end of modern civilization, the writer Matt Ridley expects less poverty and disease, and greater freedom and happiness.
May 18, 2010 Technology NewsFINDINGS; When It Comes to Sex, Chimps Need Help, Too
Chimpanzees have robust tool kits that help them in daily life, including for subsistence, self-maintenance and sex.
May 4, 2010 Technology NewsFINDINGS; For Earth Day, 7 New Rules to Live By
Is the middle-aged green movement ready to be revived by a new breed of environmentalist combining traditional green with blue-sky open-minded thinking?
April 20, 2010 Technology NewsFinal Report from the Lab
After three years of experiments, TierneyLab is shutting down.
April 20, 2010 BlogFinal Report from the Lab
After three years of experiments, TierneyLab is shutting down.
April 20, 2010 Science BlogFINDINGS; NASA, We've Got a Problem. But It Can Be Fixed.
Even though NASA’s budget, adjusted for inflation, is the same as it was in the 1960s, its cost are higher, unlike other technologies.
April 13, 2010 Technology NewsHallucinogens Have Scientists Tuning In Again
Scientists are studying the drugs’ potential for treating mental problems and illuminating consciousness.
April 12, 2010 Front Page NewsDoes Obama Have the Right Stuff for Space?
Where humans be going in space, and how should we get there?
April 12, 2010 Science BlogFINDINGS; Moral Lessons, Down Aisle 9
In experiments testing fairness toward strangers, shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Missouri scored the highest.
March 23, 2010 Science NewsAre Shoppers Fairer?
Do markets and morality -- as we like to definite fairness in modern societies -- reinforce one another?
March 22, 2010 Science BlogWhy Make the Longest Jump?
Is becoming the first human to break the speed of sound in free fall enough reason to step off that balloon? Is making the longest jump in history worthwhile just for its own sake?
March 16, 2010 BlogFINDINGS; A Supersonic Jump, From 23 Miles in the Air
From a helium balloon, Felix Baumgartner, no stranger to high jumps, intends to break the speed of sound in free fall.
March 16, 2010 Science NewsWhy Make the Longest Jump?
Is becoming the first human to break the speed of sound in free fall enough reason to step off that balloon? Is making the longest jump in history worthwhile just for its own sake?
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