Scaling, Terry Tao, and the NY Times

 Gödel's Lost Letter... comments on scaling, Terry Tao, and the NY Times:

https://rjlipton.wpcomstaging.com/2021/06/29/scaling-and-fame/

Correlation and Causation (...for Birdwatching Mathematicians)

 NPR recently offered this short piece on local bird deaths and brood X cicadas:

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/28/1011043752/correlation-not-causation-brood-x-cicadas-and-regional-bird-deaths

Pubpeer to the Rescue...

 The power of post-publication peer review:

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/06/25/this-awesome-pubpeer-thread-is-about-80-times-better-than-the-original-paper/

Ponder This.... (a Twitter thread puzzle)

 Recent non-intuitive puzzle on Twitter from Joel David Hamkins:

https://twitter.com/JDHamkins/status/1407605175154532353

Statements About Statements... About Statements

 In case you were hoping to blow your mind today Futility Closet can aid in the process:

https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/06/23/fermats-last-theorem/

No Surprise -- Worldwide Covid Herd Immunity Not In the Works

 Global world herd immunity for Covid-19 not even close to reachable... but did anyone ever seriously think it would be:

https://theconversation.com/global-herd-immunity-remains-out-of-reach-because-of-inequitable-vaccine-distribution-99-of-people-in-poor-countries-are-unvaccinated-162040

The Statistics Skirmishes Move Along...

 Finally, an official statement from the ASA task force on statistical significance and replicability:

https://errorstatistics.com/2021/06/20/at-long-last-the-asa-presidents-task-force-statement-on-statistical-significance-and-replicability/

Solving Serial Murders....

 Perhaps for the true-crime podcast addicts out there a new podcast, with at least some math involvement, about a law enforcement algorithm for tracking down serial murderers; not necessarily for the sensitive or faint-hearted, but if crime investigation is one of your things, this is (I think) the first of a 2-part episode:

https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-algorithm-83051915/

Can Research Integrity Ever Prevail in a Marketplace...?

 "Research integrity"... perhaps once assumed, is now threatened and very much in question given multiple pressures that abound:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08989621.2021.1937603

(H/T to Ivan Oransky)

"Routine bad science using routine bad methods…"

 Gelman tells us "Don’t hate the player, hate the game" (bad psychological science):

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/06/16/wow-just-wow-if-you-think-psychological-science-as-bad-in-the-2010-2015-era-you-cant-imagine-how-bad-it-was-back-in-1999/

More Jordan....

 In case you were wanting almost 3 more delicious hours of Jordan Ellenberg hitting on a range of topics (in conversation with Lex Fridman), you got it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tueAcSiiqYA

Markov Chains, from Free Will to Baby Names

 Jordan Ellenberg on English language and Markov chains:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-random-walk-through-the-english-language/

Quasicrystals In Atomic Debris

 "Mathematically perfect quasicrystals—a 'forbidden' kind of matter whose existence had long been contested" were born with the 1945 nuclear bomb test in New Mexico:

https://thebulletin.org/2021/06/what-are-atomic-bomb-quasicrystals-and-why-do-they-matter/

Modern Day Spy vs. Spy....

 

Hacking the hackers:

https://blog.wolfram.com/2021/06/09/darkside-update-the-fbi-hacks-the-hackers/

Quantum Computing Primer

 Who better than Scott Aaronson to explain a bit about quantum computing to you:

https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-quantum-computing-so-hard-to-explain-20210608/

Scholarly Pursuits Gone Awry

 A fun read from Andrew Gelman on questionable scholarly work and "the tipping point":

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2021/06/04/when-does-a-misunderstanding-reach-the-point-where-it-is-recognized-to-be-flat-out-ridiculous/

Friday ASMR

OK, for anyone wanting a li'l ASMR to begin the weekend, here's 3+ hours of finger-tapping for your delectation:

New Bio of Gödel

 A li'l beach reading  ;)   

A new biography of Kurt Gödel is out (h/t to Natalie Wolchover for pointing it out):

https://www.amazon.com/Journey-Edge-Reason-Life-Gödel/dp/1324005440/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=godel&qid=1622711647&s=books&sr=1-2

Collatz Conjecture... perhaps a new approach

 For any in the mood for some heavier reading here's "An Automated Approach To the Collatz Conjecture" newly out from Scott Aaronson et.al.:

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.14697.pdf