Covering Political Neuroscience in the Blogosphere

Rather than looking at political neuroscience as alienating and judgmental, try and look at it as giving you tips on how best to reach your target audience.

Science Communication: The Battle Has Turned, and We’re Winning It

For scientists, the importance of framing, outreach, avoiding jargon, and going to your local science communication trainings are increasingly taken as givens, and that may signal a sea change in the effort to educate the public.

SCIENCE EDUCATION

A New Champion in the Battle Against Global Warming Denial

Chris Mooney interviews Eugenie Scott, longtime head of the National Center for Science Education, about their new initiative to protect the accurate teaching of climate science in classrooms.

CLIMATE AND POLITICS

Does Geoengineering Activate Liberal Anti-Scientific Biases? And Does It Matter?

While studies have shown conservatives to have an anti-science bias, a recent study about liberal and conservative reactions to arguments for geoengineering show that perhaps liberals do too.

Conservatives Respond to the Science of Conservatism

Chris Mooney clears up misunderstandings about the findings of several scientific studies pointing to behavioral differences between liberals and conservatives.

Jumpstarting the Intersection With a New Focus—The Biology and Psychology of Politics

Chris Mooney introduces new Intersection bloggers and sets the stage for a deeper conversation about not just the politics of science, but the science of politics itself.

INTERVIEW

The Enlightenment Country: New Bloggingheads Episode with Jonathan Moreno

Chris Mooney interviews Jonathan Moreno about science and governance, the Obama administration’s Plan-B decision, The Body Politic, and more.

Conservative Moral Judgments and “Dark Triad” Personality Traits?

A recent moral intuition study found correlation between indicators of conservative morality and scores on the “Dark Triad” Personality Inventory – a measure of three related “socially destructive” personality traits: Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy.

PODCAST

What’s Bill Nye the Science Guy Up To These Days?

Ever wonder what Bill Nye the Science Guy has been up to since he left teaching science to children on his popular TV show? Chris Mooney of The Intersection had a chance to catch up with him and find out.

New Point of Inquiry: Jonathan Moreno on Our New Biopolitics

A new Point of Inquiry podcast is up. In it, Jonathan Moreno and Chris Mooney discuss human cloning, synthetic biology, mood altering drugs, and personalized medicine among other key issues in Dr. Moreno’s new book The Body Politic: The Battle Over Science in America.

PSYCHOLOGY

The World Won’t End on Friday–As Usual

A quick thought on the psychology of how delusions can persist despite repeated contradictory evidence.

‘Successful Science Communication’: A New Book from Cambridge University Press

A new book from Cambridge University Press is helping advance the science communication revolution. Science Progress Action’s Chris Mooney has a chapter in the book on “Dealings with the U.S. media.”

SCIENCE, CULTURED

Political Science Abuse: The Crucial Role of “Elites”

At least as important as public opinion in the raw is the behavior of political “elites”–elected representatives, TV commentators, think tank mavens, and so on. And left and right elites behave very differently with respect to the precautionary principle and to science.

SCIENCE AND SOCIETY

Are Millennials Leaving Their Churches Because Those Churches Are Anti-Science?

A new survey by the Barna Group suggests the that perception that many churches are “anti-science” is driving young people in the millennial generation to eschew formal religion altogether.

PSYCHOLOGY

The Threat of Motivated Reasoning In—and To—The Legal System

Recent studies about “identity protective cognition” could have important consequences for public policy. How do we preserve neutral courts or trust in the findings of the scientific community if judges and scientists can’t be trusted to remain neutral?

SOCIAL PSYCH & CLIMATE COMMUNICATION

Could Personality Differences Help Explain the Reality Gap on Climate Change?

A recent study found that climate scientists scores on certain aspects of the Myers-Briggs test differ from those of the general public. Chris Mooney looks at what that might mean for climate science communication.

Well, Hello

We are proud to announce the of relaunch Chris Mooney’s “The Intersection” blog here at Science Progress. “The Intersection” has for nearly a decade been the place where “science collides with life, slams into culture, crashes with politics, and gets totaled.” We’re thrilled to welcome Chris and his hard hitting analysis back into the fold.