Weekend Reads 11/14/15

Science Isn't Broken

Which political party is best for the economy seems like a pretty straightforward question. But as you saw, it’s much easier to get a result than it is to get an answer. The variables in the data sets you used to test your hypothesis had 1,800 possible combinations. Of these, 1,078 yielded a publishable p-value, but that doesn’t mean they showed that which party was in office had a strong effect on the economy. Most of them didn’t.

The Evolutionary Significance of the Daoxian Teeth Discovery

While these new data from China may seem to completely overturn what we thought we knew about early modern human migration patterns, this is not the case. Using genetics and the human fossil record, we have known for some time that the earliest moderns can be securely placed in East Africa and that they migrated to other parts of the world from there. We have also known that modern humans had become established in East Asia at 60 kya. What this new find does is extend that appearance back in time.

Forget The War On Christmas, The War On Advent Is Worse

Advent is for preparation. Christmas is for partying. So that means Christmas parties should take place during Christmas. Christmas parties should not take place during Advent. You get 12 full days when hardly anyone is working to party all you want.

California Is Finally Getting Rain. Now if It Could Just Hold on to It

Scientists expect climate change to make dry spells longer, and wet years warmer, resulting in less snowpack atop the mountains. Without it, Californians start pumping their aquifers. Now, after years of drought, those groundwater reserves are starting to dry up.