How Social Norms Suddenly Take Hold

"'Consensus spontaneously emerged from nothing,' Centola said. 'At first it was chaos, everyone was saying different things and no one could coordinate, and then all of a sudden people who had never interacted with each other were all using the same words.'"

Why Near-Death Experiencers and Their Critics Keep Getting Science Wrong

"First, there’s a long and rich history of the very concept of objectivity and its evolution.  This is constantly ignored by skeptics like Harris in favor of pretending objectivity has a fixed definition without history or context.  Second, in the course of its conceptual development, we were warned against the dangers of our current form of objectivity (one that was supposed to be divorced from experience)."

How to Live with Mystery in a Culture Obsessed with Certainty and Definitive Answers

"Learning more about the world doesn’t lead to a point closer to a final destination — whose existence is nothing but a hopeful assumption anyway — but to more questions and mysteries. The more we know, the more exposed we are to our ignorance, and the more we know to ask."

Six Veterans of Stalingrad Write Open Letter to Angela Merkel

"Why do European leaders march in support of French caricaturists murdered by Islamic terrorists, but do not march against fascism in Ukraine? Why did the head of state, who ordered annihilation of part of his own population, participate in this march? Why do 12 French victims deserve attention, but thousands of Ukrainian and Russian victims do not?"

School Suspends 9-Year-Old For Pretending He Had Hobbit ‘Ring of Power’

"Aiden also got in trouble earlier this school year by bringing a copy of 'The Big Book of Knowledge' to school."

British Army May Use Internet 'Trolls' to Conduct Psychological War

"The Independent reports that members of the Internet 'trolling' unit will deal with non-lethal forms of psychological warfare using social media.

The Chief of the British Army, General Sir Nick Carter said that the new plan is to adapt to the 'asymmetric' battlefields of the 21st century, where 'tactics and strategies differ significantly between enemies, such as with the Islamic State group.'

Carter added that '77 Brigade is being created to draw together a host of existing and developing capabilities essential to meet the challenges of modern conflict and warfare.'"

Doctor Educating Public on Vaccines Receives Bomb Threats, Cancels Tour

"A study from the 1990s has come to light, proving that compared to unvaccinated children, vaccinated children were more likely to suffer from asthma, eczema, ear infections, hyperactivity and many other chronic conditions." 

"In fact, 20 years ago, scientists working at the CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases, funded by the WHO and the National Vaccine Program, discovered something truly disturbing about the MMR vaccine: it leads to detectable measles infection in the vast majority of those who receive it."

"Long-time expert and vaccine educator Dr. Sherri Tenpenny has publicly announced that she has cancelled speaking appearances scheduled for Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne and Gold Coast. The reason was due to pro-vaccine extremists repeatedly calling for bomb threats and violence against venue owners and their families in some cities originally scheduled for the healthy living seminars."