It has been a year since I wrote a piece called “I Won’t Watch Bill Maher Again.” The tipping point was Maher’s continued anti-vaccination stance, which is dangerous. But a year later, I decided to give Maher another chance on Friday night, hoping to see some clever comments about the presidential election season and hoping […]
When I heard that astronomers might have found a new ninth planet out past Neptune, I called my friend Phil Plait for an explanation. Here he is, putting it in layman’s terms — just as he does in his Slate column — including how it’s possible for an object ten times the size of Earth […]
Here’s my conversation with David Pogue of Yahoo Tech, Scientific American, “Nova” on PBS, and “Sunday Morning” on CBS, about his new book, “Pogue’s Basics: Life — Essential Tips and Shortcuts For Simplifying Your Day.” Pogue says that life hacks have gotten a bad name on the internet because so many are absurd or just […]
Here’s my conversation with Dr. Art Caplan about gene editing, a process which allows doctors to fix errors in human embryos. The idea is to target inherited diseases like Crohn’s, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, etc. Of course, because embryos are involved, pro-lifers are all upset about it and are blocking federal funding of the […]
A town in North Carolina has banned solar farms — which convert the power of the sun into electricity — because its citizens are morons. In particular, let’s point out Bobby and Jane Mann. During public comments at a town council meeting, Bobby warned that solar farms would suck up all the energy from the […]
George Hrab, who has emceed the last few Amazing Meetings for the James Randi Educational Foundation, gave a TED Talk in which he explains skepticism and encourages you to become an evidence-based thinker: Previously on Harris Online… My speech on Why We Need More Skeptics (8/1912).