your science briefing for 01.28.2015
Windmill cancer and other conspiracy theories are holding back renewable adoption, the mindset of authoritarians young and old, data centers on the Moon, and more...
Windmill cancer quickly became a shorthand for “pathologically ridiculous statement” thanks to Trump’s utterly idiotic claim that wind-harnessing mills close enough to you can cause cancer. It would be ridiculous to believe that converting the kinetic energy of air into mechanical, then electrical power is part of some grand conspiracy, right? Unfortunately, no. Some people are simply too afraid of any and all change, no matter how objectively positive that change might be… (Nature)
Authoritarianism is all the rage right now. Why? Because it gives simple, and virtually always wrong answers to complicated problems. Its adult adherents tend to be very angry and argumentative, and also tend to be impulsive and short-sighted. But what about teenagers who show support for extremist movements? Unsurprisingly, a new study shows that they perform worse on cognitive tests and exhibit lower emotional intelligence and empathy… (PsyPost)
Both the far left and the far right lie and publish misleading agitprop. But thanks to a glitch in social media algorithms and strategic moves, far right disinformation easily outshouts the far left. Not only that, but flooding the zone with lies isn’t a side effect of right wing dominance in online narratives, it’s the official strategy. And that flood turns into a tsunami when mixed with populist sentiment… (ZME Science)
Scientists don’t always get it right and trying to reproduce their studies raises a lot of questions instead of yielding similar answers. But why are some fields seeing so many studies fail? The blame may lie with the constant pressure to constantly publish, even if the results are flimsy, or just plain wrong… (TN)
Data centers are somewhat controversial right now. They take up a lot of space, use a lot of power, and can waste a lot of water. Plus, we depend on them so much that any natural disaster or human attack hits one, it becomes a huge problem. So, a company called Lonestar Data Holdings wants to put a self-sustaining data center on the Moon for what it claims is safety and environmental friendliness. Which sounds pretty good on paper, but may be very problematic in practice… (Techspot)