The Studies Show

In this “fun”, festive episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart discuss two ways—one man-made, one natural—that our species might be wiped off the planet.The first is “mirror life”, a science-fiction-sounding threat that hardly anyone had heard of until last week, when a group of concerned scientists wrote an open letter arguing that this is a technology that should never be developed. The second is the eruption of a supervolcano, which has a scarily high likelihood of happening in the next century… and for which scientists say we’re “woefully underprepared”. Have a cheery Christmas!Here’s your chance to do some clear, measurable good this Christmas. We’re pleased to say that we’re being sponsored by GiveWell, the non-profit organisation who use evidence to work out which charities are the most impactful and effective. The really good news is that they’ll match any donation up to $100 for first-time donors who tell them at the checkout that they heard about GiveWell on a podcast, and then choose THE STUDIES SHOW. Go to GiveWell.org and click “donate” to get started.Show notes* Mirror life:* The 300-page full Stanford report* Science perspective piece on the risks of mirror life* Asimov Press explainer article* Supervolcanoes:* I HATE ICELAND!* Nature piece from 2022 about our “woeful” level of preparation for a massive volcanic eruption* 1816, the “year without a summer”* Evidence against the idea that Mt. Tambora nearly drove humans to extinction* 2024 paper that’s sceptical of global cooling beyond 1.5 degrees C* 2023 paper with a much more pessimistic scenario* Two useful discussions (first, second) of the effects of supervolcanoes on the Effective Altruism forum* 2018 article on what interventions might prevent or mitigate supervolcanic eruptionsCreditsThe Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.comRather unexpectedly, the idea of separate sports for males and females has become massively controversial—a major flashpoint in the culture wars, and even in the recent US election.So what does the evidence say? Is it fair if trans women (who are biologically male) compete with females in sports like swimming, or even boxing? How much sporting performance does a lifetime of testosterone grant you? In this paid-only episode of The Studies Show, Tom and (confirmed sport-hater) Stuart look at the evidence on male vs. female sport performance—and discuss whether the argument is really more about ethics and politics than scientific evidence.

Patrick Bateman. Hannibal Lecter. Ted Bundy. The guy who used to live downstairs from me. Psychopaths, every one. Except defining psychopathy, let alone measuring it, turns out to be surprisingly controversial among psychologists and forensic scientists.In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart look at the latest attempts to define and model psychopathy, the evidence on the questionnaires used to measure it, and whether The Sopranos was right in saying that therapy only makes psychopaths worse.Our sponsor for the next month is GiveWell. They’re the org that helps you work out the most effective, life-saving ways to donate to charity. The great news is that, if you haven’t donated with GiveWell before, they’ve offered to match your charitable donations up to $100. That is, if you donate $100 to an effective charity, it’ll instantly be doubled. What are you waiting for? All you have to do is go to GiveWell.org, click “Donate”, and when you’re at the checkout choose PODCAST and enter THE STUDIES SHOW.Show notes* The Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy strongly criticise Jon Ronson’s book The Psychopath Test* 2021 Nature Reviews Disease Primers article on psychopathy* Critical discussion of whether the psychopath label should be applied to children* Christopher Patrick’s review of psychopathy research and discussion of his “triarchic” model of psychopathy* 2020 review-of-reviews on whether psychopathy checklist scores predict violence, therapy outcomes, or remorse* The 2020 letter from “concerned experts” about PCL-R scores and institutional violence* Review on psychopathy scores and “dangerousness” from 2022* The controversial 1992 study on iatrogenic effects on psychopaths in therapy* “Are psychopathy assessments ethical?” CreditsThe Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe

Among patients hospitalized for COVID, smokers had better outcomes. Among people with cardiovascular disease, those with obesity live longer. Among NBA basketballers, taller players don’t do any better. These are all facts. But the interpretation you might immediately draw is completely wrong.It turns out that these findings (and many more) might be due to the weird and under-discussed phenomenon of “collider bias”. Everyone who’s interested in scientific methods knows what a confounder is—but do they know what a collider is? In this episode of The Studies Show, Tom and Stuart attempt to explain.We’re delighted to announce our sponsor for the next month: GiveWell. They’re the organisation who use rigorous evidence to point you towards the highest-impact charities. Want to make sure your donation goes as far as possible, maximising the lives that you’ll save and improve? GiveWell.org is the place to go. And here’s a fantastic opportunity: if you’re a new donor, GiveWell will match up to $100 of your charitable donation if you go to GiveWell.org, then choose “PODCAST” and enter “The Studies Show” at checkout.Show notes* French study on COVID and smoking rates* French doctors handing out nicotine patches during the pandemic* Review of 13 studies in China showing lower smoking rates in those hospitalised for COVID* Among heart attack sufferers, smokers have better subsequent health* Obesity linked to improved survival among patients with a wide range of diseases* Within the NBA, tall basketball players do no better than short ones* Standardized testing doesn’t predict how well graduate physics students do* The same but for biology* The same but for STEM in general* Do neurotic people actually live longer, once you correct for self-rated health?* Julia Rohrer’s blog article on collider bias, using the conscientiousness/IQ relation* The “collider scope” paper - one of the best explanations of the phenomenon* Article on “the obsesity paradox”* Follow-up arguing that it might not be a paradox at allCreditsThe Studies Show is produced by Julian Mayers at Yada Yada Productions. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thestudiesshowpod.com/subscribe