Posts by Agustínfuentes

When we hear about governments that censor science and literacy, we’re likely to presume said governments are totalitarian dictatorships or fundamentalist regimes. But such governmental censorship also occurs in countries with democratic processes like, say, the U.S. (D’oh!), which is beginning to look a lot like Turkey. Think that sounds far-fetched? Think again. The Turkish…

The new president and his cabinet are taking great strides to avoid discussions that include data and analyses from scientists worldwide. It is almost as if they fear data (and science). Why? Probably because copious amounts of scientific data contradict many of their key assertions. Data are the facts and statistics, the qualitative and qualitative…

Can we bridge the gap between Americans? If you randomly select 5 Americans and give them the statements (or tweets) of a certain conspicuous politician and ask them “is this truthful?” chances are you will get at least 2, if not 5, different responses. Why do some people believe what is an obvious lie to…

Our brains are powerful lie detectors, let’s use them. Knowledge matters now, maybe more than ever. We all have the capacity to see through lies, and protect ourselves from misinformation, but those capacities must be honed, exercised and fortified on a daily basis. The Internet abounds with fake news and misrepresentations. Here are some suggestions…

Humans are not “bad to the bone” Humans can be amazingly violent and cruel. A quick look at the daily headlines, and the world of politics, makes that abundantly clear. But we are more often caring and compassionate. It’s easy to overlook this latter aspect in our contemporary world. Every now and then we should stop…

Implicit bias makes a just society difficult to achieve The Harvard implicit bias test demonstrates that most Americans, regardless of their age, gender, educational background, economic level, and religion, are biased against Black Americans and in favor of White Americans (see here and here). This means that the way people subconsciously perceive reality is biased against millions of Americans. It…

Do we know the evolutionary limitations on gender equality in sports? A recent article entitled “Sex Differences in Sports Interest and Motivation: An Evolutionary Perspective” argues that men and women have evolved different motivations for sports. The authors suggest that these evolved differences have 2 important implications.  1) Boys and girls are naturally drawn to different kinds…