Jonah Lehrer, Scientists, and the Nature of Truth

Last week the journalism world was buzzing about — guess who? — Jonah Lehrer. Yes, again. We knew about the science writer’s self-plagiarism and Bob-Dylan-quote fabrication. Last week a New York Magazine exposé by Boris Kachka claimed that Lehrer also deliberately misrepresented other people’s ideas. Kachka’s piece led to some fascinating discussions about whether it’s possible to [...]

Lies about Astronomy

The coordinate grid was laid against the sky to fix the stars and for centuries it seemed to work as planned.  Recently, however, its framework has been found to be not inertial.  So slowly, almost asymptotically, the grid moves with respect to itself — abrading, degrading — and therefore deteriorates.  In fact, Declination -14 now [...]