Morning dip: reading, writing, merit pay, musical spouses, swine flu, and fire towers : Neuron Culture

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I write on science, medicine, nature, culture and other matters for the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Slate, National Geographic, Scientific American Mind, and other publications. (Find clips here.) Right now I'm writing my fourth book, The Orchid and the Dandelion, which explores the hypothesis that the genetic roots some of our worst problems and traits — depresison, hyperaggression, violence, antisocial behavior — can also give rise to resilience, cooperation, empathy, and contentment. The book expands on my December 2009 Atlantic article exploring these ideas. I've also written three books, including Reef Madness: Charles Darwin, Alexander Agassiz, and the Meaning of Coral, which traces the strangest but most forgotten controversy in Darwin's career — an elemental dispute running some 75 years.

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Morning dip: reading, writing, merit pay, musical spouses, swine flu, and fire towers

Posted on: September 4, 2009 10:06 AM, by David Dobbs

photo: U.S. Forest Service

Notables of the day:

John Hawks ponders the (bad) art of citing papers you've never read.

Clive Thompson ponders the new literacy spawned of engagement with many keyboards.

A poll on public education shows how much opinion depends on framing, context -- and who else thinks an idea is good. In this case, people liked the idea of merit pay more if told Obama likes it.

Mind Hacks works the placebo circuit.

And Effect Measure weighs in on the weird contrasts and (limited) parallels between swine flu and avian flu.

And for fun, fire lookout towers, from BLDGBLOG. You can climb one. You can adopt one.

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