Global fertility is plummeting, as are sperm counts. The populations of Spain and Japan are set to halve; nearly every country will begin to shrink. Researchers say we will have to totally reorganise society if we are to maintain order through this transition. This is not the introduction to the dystopian thriller ‘Children of Men’; Read More
A rope is tied round the neck and feet of a statue standing on a plinth. Six men standing below heave and pull it to the ground, where it shatters as a riotous crowd smashes windows. Half a century after academics began to publish treatises on the need for deep and lasting change, anger and Read More
The debate about the appropriate way to handle the 19th century compensation of slave-owners is likely to rumble on for a while, so I thought it would be useful to put together a quick post pulling together the main facts in the debate: how much was paid to end slavery, when it was paid, who Read More
Over on Twitter, the excellent Tom Chivers (find his book here) is curious about how the human brain works: “Is there a specific name for the cognitive bias that makes us remember weather forecasts the few times they’re wrong… but not all the times when it’s right?” Good question, and one I embarrassingly can’t think Read More
We should always evaluate the risks and benefits of efforts to control the virus. In this moment the public health risks of not protesting to demand an end to systemic racism greatly exceed the harms of the virus. — Jennifer Nuzzo If I could offer one piece of advice to a profession fighting its greatest Read More
It is unconscionable that @StarWars has not yet tweeted the words #BlackLivesMatter — Chris Taylor A Bugman is your typical big left leaning city dweller… Everything about his personality and life is not defined by who he is, but by what he buys and his consumerist tendencies — Urban Dictionary Businesses don’t make money by Read More
I appreciate this isn’t what the three regular readers of this site have come to expect, but I am going to briefly halt the flow of half-thought-out musings to direct your attention to some of my academic work, and one new paper in particular. The study is on the effect people’s beliefs about COVID-19 have Read More
4,400 years ago Urukagina, ruler of the Mesopotamian city-state of Lagash, set down the first known code of law. The full text is lost to history, but cuneiform script on a clay cone tells us that, among other provisions, it made clear that the powerful could not force others to sell them their possessions. From Read More