Neuroskeptic
neuroskeptic.blogspot.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2009
Neuroskeptic is an anonymous neuroscience blogger who critiques research on the brain, placebo effects, statistics, and the reliability of science.
What HN saysHN commenters link it as a skeptical, well-informed response to news stories on brain science, placebos, caffeine, and claims that humans are getting dumber.
18HN people shared it
6linked it in comments
40stories submitted
204story points
6 years agolast shared
2009people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1On the placebo effect and decaffeinated coffee2 people · 3 points · first shared 2009 · discussion on HN
- 2The Real Story On That "Antidepressant Surge"1 people · 53 points · first shared 2012 · 23 comments on HN
- 3How statistically significant correlations are not always significant1 people · 21 points · first shared 2010 · 3 comments on HN
- 4Placebos Have Side Effects Too1 people · 19 points · first shared 2009 · 9 comments on HN
- 5Why Do We Sleep?1 people · 18 points · first shared 2009 · 6 comments on HN
- 6You Are Not "Your Brain"1 people · 16 points · first shared 2012 · 15 comments on HN
- 7Fixing Science - Systems and Politics1 people · 15 points · first shared 2012 · 7 comments on HN
- 8If you're not weird, you're really weird1 people · 5 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 9My Breakfast With "Scientism"1 people · 4 points · first shared 2012 · 1 comments on HN
- 10Autism: What A Big Prefrontal Cortex You Have1 people · 4 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 11DSM-V may end up being a failure1 people · 4 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 12Gay people are smarter according to study1 people · 3 points · first shared 2012 · 2 comments on HN
- 13Waffle: Why Most Books Are Too Long1 people · 3 points · first shared 2012 · 1 comments on HN
- 14Is Sleep Brain Defragmentation?1 people · 2 points · first shared 2011 · discussion on HN
- 15How A Stroke Changed Katherine Sherwood's Art1 people · 2 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
staticman2 · 2020-11-03
Unfortunately the Discover archives don't seem to be working but you should educate yourself on the limits of brain science and show more intellectual humility.
This post might be a good place to start:
http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/02/ethics-of-junk-science.html
The author, a neuroscientst writes "More generally, the controversy over human sex differences is a vast one, with a huge amount of evidence to consider, and it isn't going to be settled by one neuroimaging study, or even a hundred."
You seem like the type of person who makes up their mind after one study, as long as it fits your biases regarding gender. You would be well service by talking less and realizing much of the world is beyond your understanding as a human with limited information and (likely) a limited understanding of brain science.
Kronopath · 2014-04-29
The link in the article about the neural network developing schizophrenia is broken, leading to the UTexas homepage instead. I've tracked the linked article down to here: https://www.utexas.edu/news/2011/05/05/schizophrenia_discern/
More info: http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.ca/2011/04/schizophrenic-computer.html
Publication abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21397213
And the full scholarly article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3105006/
betelnut · 2012-11-17
Neuroskeptic has a good response to these articles at http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/11/were-probably-not-getting-dum… essentially arguing against Crabtree's thesis for being too speculative.
pella · 2011-09-20
Real vs Placebo Coffee
"Caffeine expectancies influence the subjective and behavioral effects of caffeine."
http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/11/real-vs-placebo-coffee.html
Kutta · 2011-02-20
pchivers · 2009-05-07
I think this blog post (linked from the original article) is more interesting than the article itself:
Antidepressants, Placebos and the Failure of Psychiatry
http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/03/antidepressants-placebos-and-…