# education
In light of eye-opening reports about higher ed, Americans need to start asking themselves a fundamental question: how many people really need to go to college?
# oddities
Unsurprisingly, bin Ladens death immediately spawned a raft of conspiracy theories around what really happened in Abbottabad.
# astrobiology
The Pope's astronomer thinks we should be trying to convert aliens to Catholicism. The chances they'll respond kindly to proselytizing doesn't seem high...
# oddities
A conspiracy theory can't be debunked with something as irrelevant as facts or reality. To its followers, it has to be true, no matter what.
# science
A group of researchers armed with very strong opinions and flawed studies do not constitute a consensus on the effects of video game violence on children.
# astrobiology
We have trillions to bail out banks for gambling with our money, but a few million to figure out if we're alone in the universe? That we apparently can't afford...
# astrobiology
An old variant of the ancient alien theory says that Phobos isn't a moon, but an abandoned spaceship. It's a surprisingly possible, if unlikely, idea.
# tech
The age of cyber warfare in now upon us. But we can't just panic. We need a realistic survey of our vulnerabilities and a strategy to mitigate them.
# astrobiology
A new app that's supposed to teach aliens how to communicate with us seems to underestimate just how different aliens and their technology would be...
# science
Accommodationists are still trying to spread their message even though pretty much no one but other accommodationists is listening.
# education
A study of over 2,000 students found some very disturbing facts about the American college system.
# science
Bottled water, now marked up beyond any reason and sold with meaningless quantum technobabble.
# science
Egged on by cranks and quacks, the media seems obsessed with how nice someone is instead of whether what they're saying makes any sense.
# science
No, the new study about abiogenic hydrocarbons doesn't prove that oil comes from the mantle instead of organic matter decomposing for millions of years at high pressures.
# politics
Every tax season shows that not only are people ignorant about how their tax money is spent, they don't want to listen to the breakdowns. And that has serious implications for science and education.
