Rael ‘once claimed that he travelled by flying saucer in 1975 to share lunch with Jesus, Buddha and Confucius’ and now claims to have cloned a human.… 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Inevitably links go out of date.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.
The Great Age of the Big Notion 
Dec 29th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Lonely Crowd was one of a crowd of Big Idea books that were long on speculation but short on evidence.… Read the rest
A Skeptical Look at ‘Diversity Liberalism’
Dec 29th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A New Democrat thinks the US doesn’t pander to religion enough.… Read the rest
Meet Me at the Volcano
Dec 28th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A sportswriter and race car driver discovers aliens speak French, starts new religion.… Read the rest
Separation of Politics and Science
Dec 28th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Daniel Smith reviews Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate in The Boston Globe.… Read the rest
Raelian Bishop Announces Cloned Human
Dec 27th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Clonaid, connected to Raelian sect who say aliens created all life on Earth through genetic engineering, claims it has followed suit.… Read the rest
Do We Define Ourselves By Way of our Tastes?
Dec 26th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Red wine or white? Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter? (Hang on, where is ‘neither’?)… Read the rest
Catholics Here, Protestants There, Please
Dec 24th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Plan being considered to split Scottish school into two, one Protestant one Catholic, has local people worried.… Read the rest
Is Religion Adaptive?
Dec 24th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Perhaps, or perhaps it’s a spandrel or a virus, instead, says biologist David Sloan Wilson.… Read the rest
Gossip Displaces Ideas
Dec 24th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Shallow misunderstandings of Arendt, Heidegger, Foucault and others by writers more interested in laundry-inspection than analysis of thought.… Read the rest
Competing Goods
Dec 23rd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Should conservation trump treaty rights, or the other way around?… Read the rest
Simon Hoggart is Not Amused
Dec 22nd, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What is the Observer doing running an astrology column, even though it is semi-jokey?… Read the rest
Economists Beginning to Learn: Humans Not Rational
Dec 21st, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The invisible hand is invisible, at least in part, because it is not there, says a winner of last year’s Nobel Prize in economics.… Read the rest
Don Boffin’s Cod Twin Study
Dec 20th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Statistics, nature v. nurture, ethical considerations, Luce Irigaray: it’s all there.… Read the rest
Pseudo-investigation
Dec 18th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A show of journalistic digging without the reality lets the powerful off the hook.… Read the rest
Abductees Go to Harvard
Dec 18th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Do we construct memories of sexual abuse the same way we construct memories of alien abductions? Harvard researcher finds the question is highly political.… Read the rest
Scientists Against Boycott
Dec 17th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The universality of science is too important to give up lightly, four Oxford professors say.… Read the rest
Unprized
Dec 16th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Historian de-prized after panel concludes he did “unprofessional and misleading work.”… Read the rest
What Do You Mean, You Don’t Want Your Bones Back?
Dec 15th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s not the indigenous peoples themselves who want their ancestors’ remains back, it’s caring academics who insist on returning them.… Read the rest
Manipulation
Dec 15th, 2002 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The therapeutic and market world-views converge, when “personal well-being” is our only goal.… Read the rest
