Shouting match over genes versus parents ruffles calm of Radio 3.… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
It’s not the parents 
Sep 25th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Steven Pinker says parents have less influence than they think, while peers have more.… Read the rest
It’s the parents
Sep 25th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Oliver James says emphasis on genes to explain human nature is a way to escape guilt.… Read the rest
Truth-skeptics make truth-claims
Sep 24th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bernard Williams points out that Nietzsche did not settle for ironic chat or a smug nod at deconstruction-work, and nor should we.… Read the rest
Deconstructing cant
Sep 23rd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Twist and turn, avoid details, oversimplify: such postmodern tricks tarnish the integrity of the left.… Read the rest
But what is the evidence?
Sep 22nd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Difference feminism as separate education for schoolgirls relies on few and narrow studies, Margaret Talbot says.… Read the rest
Brakes off or on?
Sep 22nd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Simon Blackburn on the meaninglessness of exhortations to tolerate all points of view.… Read the rest
Trickster deity preferred to Darwin
Sep 21st, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Philip Gosse explained the fossil evidence as God’s little joke.… Read the rest
Is there no justice?
Sep 19th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Outraged father wonders who decided that parents should help children with homework. Surely that’s someone else’s duty.… Read the rest
Grade deflation not a good idea either
Sep 18th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Exams board chief intervened to mark down bright students by way of making A level scores strike a ‘balance’.… Read the rest
Gas on inner men and their dilemmas
Sep 17th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Geneticist Steve Jones predicts redundancy for men, and is aghast at popularity of ‘masculinity industry’ in American universities.… Read the rest
Only an interventionist designer will do
Sep 17th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Another entry for the Intelligent Design shelf. No Free Lunch claims that complexity requires intelligence, but reviewer is not persuaded.… Read the rest
Three cheers for Balkanization
Sep 16th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Home secretary David Blunkett is under attack for saying English is a useful language in the UK.… Read the rest
Politics and science must be disentangled
Sep 16th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Steven Pinker chides critics of Wilson and Dawkins for ’25 years of pointless attacks’… Read the rest
Time to sweep up Angela’s ashes
Sep 15th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Oxford historian Roy Foster takes on tearful or nostalgic myths of Ireland’s past.… Read the rest
Astronaut thumps moon landing doubter
Sep 14th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Would faking a moon landing be more difficult than actually doing one? Probably, but the myth lives on.… Read the rest
‘I prefer unification to reduction’
Sep 14th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Steven Pinker talks to the New York Times about worries over equality and free will that influence our views of the mind.… Read the rest
Disturbances in the field
Sep 13th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In a frivolous-Friday mood, The Guardian offers links to both credulous and skeptical material on crop circles.… Read the rest
Suspicion fills the gap
Sep 12th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The new president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science says the gap between scientists and the public leads to a widespread distrust of rational inquiry.… Read the rest
Education does not rule out credulity
Sep 12th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Michael Shermer in Scientific American says the siren song of pseudoscience can be too alluring to resist.… Read the rest
