An intelligent approach?
Feedback always falls on deaf ears when I see publications with self-aggrandizing titles. So we noticed one social media post with interest. rebecca shearDemographers at Brunel University in London, publisher Elsevier, said: “The new editor was chosen by intelligence”.
intelligenceAs you know, this isconsiderable contribution It leads to an understanding of the nature and function of intelligence. ” Feedback cannot confirm that the editor has changed.About” page was not updated, but it has been updated. advertise There have been reports that most of the editorial board has resigned in protest against the appointment of a new editor-in-chief, but since the report was published on a far-right website, the feedback is unwilling to be believed without further evidence.
Wait a minute, you might be thinking that. How did a scientific journal change editors and transition into a far-right website?The question is, especially in the eugenics movement of the early 20th century, intelligence research justified claims of racial superiority. It is said that it was sometimes exploited for this purpose. and intelligence You published a study that your racist uncle might cite favorably.
Looks like someone at Elsevier has noticed. guardian Reported Publisher I was considering a paper by the late Richard Linn who claimed to have discovered differences in IQ between countries. Including papers on intelligence.
Now that things are getting a little dark, let's move on to another issue quickly. intelligence: Defining characteristics are clearly missing. Shear highlighted a paper with an innocuous-looking title.Temperature and evolutionary novelty as forces supporting the evolution of general intelligence”.
The driving force is when homo sapiens The first people to migrate outside Africa encountered all sorts of new conditions, including different climates. This allowed them to evolve higher levels of intelligence. What this means for the people of Africa is left to the reader's guess.
If this all sounds like something from the good old days of Victorian science, Feedback regrets to inform you that this paper was actually first published online in 2007. But when you swallow your nausea and take a closer look, the real joy appears.
The first problem is that the authors are calculating the distance that the population has traveled “as if by flying.” Even as a first approximation to the history of great human migrations, straight-line distances cannot be used. The history of the Great Human Migration involves people traveling to the far northeast of Asia, into North America, and on to the southern tip of South America.
But it gets better. In the same sentence, the paper's authors say they calculated the distance “using the Pythagorean theorem.” The reader will be reminded that the Pythagorean theorem only applies to planes and not to curved surfaces. Yes, this study of the racial origins of intelligence is built on the premise that the Earth is flat.
While there are many restrictions placed on academics, 2009 rebuttal He suggested the study may be “questionable.” Other psychologists also brought this issue to the attention of the magazine, only to be told that their criticisms were as follows:completely negative and noisy”.Paper remains alive.
Therefore, feedback would like to recommend the journal intelligence Winner of the 2025 Reverse Nomination Determinism Award.
40 eyelashes
new scientist Reporter Carmela Padavich Callahan emphasizes that: paper They describe the reason for their curly eyelashes as “ridiculous enough to warrant feedback.” Excuse me: This is a very serious column about serious things.
The research is mainly about the physics of eyelashes, explaining how they move water away from our eyes and allow us to see even when it's raining. The process relies on “hydrophobic curved flexible fiber arrays with surface microratchets and macrocurvature.” Much has been written about the importance of eyelash curvature for adhesion and water drainage.
Then proceed to the discussion section. There, as Carmela coolly notes, “authors delve into aesthetic advice.” Modern beauty standards encourage women to use mascara “to lengthen and condition eyelashes,” which “compromises the eyelash's protective function.” But don't worry. The solution is just around the corner. “As a hint, for those with sparse eyelashes, hydrophobic curved false eyelashes may be a practical solution to enhance your appearance while maintaining eye protection.” Probably patent pending Shall we?
Feedback wonders if the author has any advice for middle-aged writers whose eyebrows grow so long that they end up looking like macaroni penguins if they aren't trimmed regularly. For a friend.
Worst reading material ever
Some form of feedback has reached the mailing list of Spines, a technology company aiming to revolutionize the publishing industry through the power of artificial intelligence.
by Utilizing AI To do editing and other work done previously by a skilled and paid person, thorn aims to publish 8000 books in 2025. The feedback says “Yes, please.” When we look at the publishing industry's structural problems, such as its abysmal fact-checking standards for non-fiction works, we conclude that what we really need is an even larger volume of even lower-quality books. There is nothing else.
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