Why conspiracy theories persist in the face of the facts.

Droughts in 810, 860, 910 C.E. may be what ended the Mayan civilization, evidence suggests.

John Ogbu’s study suggests some painful reasons for the black-white gap in education. Critics say he downplays social factors.

Carlin Romano reviews Daniel Dennett’s Freedom Evolves.

Seconds from becoming gefilte fish, a carp shouts warnings in Hebrew. According to two witnesses. David Hume, anyone?

A doctor on the ever-moving target of medical knowledge.

New research indicates GM crops may be beneficial for environment in some ways.

How do people manage to generate ‘theory wars’ out of teaching a basic skill that should be learned before university?

Would an aptitude test like the ones used in the US help recruit working class students to university in the UK?

Janet Malcolm interviewed on journalists as vampires, psychoanalysis as literary technique, lawsuits and more.

Women’s colleges are ‘all full of lesbians now,’ is one rumour. ‘And what if they are?’ asks Joan Bakewell.

Targets or no targets? How does one increase university admissions for excluded groups without discriminating against currently-included groups?

Spot on. John Sutherland on student evaluations: ‘the one criticism which is never made is: “This professor is just an entertainer”.’

In The Great War we had liberty cabbage, now it’s…Freedom Toast? What planet is this again?

St. Hilda’s college votes not to admit men.

‘Women benefit from a single-sex education, whereas men benefit from a mixed one,’ a former student at St. Hilda’s says.

So if one in four has something, and one in four has a different something, and the number of somethings is large and growing…

Historian Jackson Lears suggests ‘providence’ might not be all that predictable.

Is political correctness to blame for a lack of awareness about honour crimes?

An Iranian woman writes for the Institute for the Secularization of Islamic Society on the murder of insubordinate women.