Weekend Reads 12/10/16

We Asked 8,500 Internet Commenters Why They Do What They Do

Here again, I had a hypothesis: Maybe this commenting-without-reading phenomenon represents a variation of the backfire effect, in which a person who receives evidence that their belief is erroneous actually becomes more strongly convinced of the viewpoint they already held. In this case, the reader sees a headline that catches their interest and reminds them of something that they already know, which triggers them to think about their pre-existing knowledge or belief about the subject and then to blast it out to the world.

I Witnessed the Revolutionary Love of Jesus at Standing Rock

The water protectors here have been attacked by dogs, tear-gassed, hit with rubber bullets, and hosed down with water in below-freezing temperatures. The police have been brutal on the vigilant, nonviolent people protecting their sacred land and water. But they have shown us how people of faith can stand up to broken promises, and corporate greed, in the strength of nonviolent resistance.

What the Heck Is a Placebo Anyway?

Today, placebos are used by researchers to test whether drugs are actually effective in treating medical conditions—that is, whether patients who are taking an experimental medication see better results than patients who just think they are taking one. For some conditions—Parkinson's disease, for instance—placebos can actually be an effective treatment.

Oklahoma earthquakes should be on the decline

It’s hard to overstate just how quickly things changed. Injections gradually increased starting in 2002 and skyrocketed between 2012 and 2015. Before 2009, when things got weird, Oklahoma averaged about one earthquake of magnitude 3.0 or higher per year. In 2015, the state saw about 900.