Guest Thinkers — May 2, 2010

The Cult of DNA

The supposed infallibility of DNA test results, due to individuals’ unique gene sequences, creates a cult of unaccountability that can lead to false convictions.

bigthinkeditor

The supposed infallibility of DNA test results, due to individuals’ unique gene sequences, creates a cult of unaccountability that can lead to false convictions. “Outside scientific circles, this perilous distortion of DNA evidence has gotten little attention. This is partly because the underlying mathematics can be difficult to grasp for those with no training in science or statistics.”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

Courting Aristocracy

The preservation of “fundamental rights” by a nation’s judiciary is an old habit of tempering democracy with aristocracy, writes James Grant of the U of Cambridge.