Top all-time · #1549
The Last Word On Nothing
Personal blog · lastwordonnothing.comscienceculture
The Last Word On Nothing is a personal blog at lastwordonnothing.com about science and culture. Since 2011, 49 different Hacker News readers have linked it 51 times, most often “Better Learning Through Electrochemistry”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
"Science says the first word on everything, and the last word on nothing" - Victor Hugo
Most-linked posts?
- Better Learning Through Electrochemistry4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2012-02-20
- /2012/11/05/jonah-lehrer-nature-of-truth/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2013-07-23
- The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention (2014)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-01-01
What Hacker News says?
For those of you casually tossing that around: https://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2020/03/25/the-trolley-and...
Comment linking /2020/03/25/the-trolley-and-the-psychopath-2/
on “Lyme disease bacteria eradicated by new drug in early tests”Submitted Dumped by Google as a story · 271 points
HN discussion> If there's a serious story somewhere about results not getting replicated when they should in many fields of science, I'd like to hear about it. Actually, there is! It's been referred to as "the decline effect", and it's fascinating. The New Yorker published an article about it a few years ago ( http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/12/13/the-truth-wears... ). It has resurfaced in popularity a couple of times. It…
Comment linking /2012/11/05/jonah-lehrer-nature-of-truth/
on “The curious case of the cyclist’s unshaven legs”Submitted Dignity as a story · 174 points
HN discussionUnrelated: Openbenches, you don't have a single picture of the greatest benches in America? http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/...
Comment linking /wp-content/uploads/2011/03/IMG_0841.jpg
on “Twitter suspended our Open Data project's account and wiped all our followers”Submitted The Finkbeiner Test: A Tool for Writing About Women in their Professions as a story · 45 points
HN discussionA quote from the reporter's blog [0]: "When the nice neuroscientists put the electrodes on me, the thing that made the earth drop out from under my feet was that for the first time in my life, everything in my head finally shut the fuck up." I'll be honest, that is a pretty compelling testimonial for many folks. [0]: http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2012/02/09/better-living-th...
Comment linking /2012/02/09/better-living-through-electrochemistry/
on “Neuroscientists' Open Letter To DIY Brain Hackers”Submitted The Internet Is a Series of Lead Tubes as a story · 38 points
HN discussionReminds me of the search for Jim Gray. Story here: http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2011/03/17/searching-for-ji...
Comment linking /2011/03/17/searching-for-jim-gray/
on “Ask HN: Can we help the police sort through the photos of the Boston Marathon?”Submitted My Neighbor, Me, and a Grand Principle as a story · 27 points
HN discussionIt's fine to point out that a controversial piece was written by someone that might not be impartial or, in this case, has had some ethical issues. However, other people contacted the scientists interviewed by Lehrer and asked for their opinions on what he wrote, and they generally agreed that it was accurate: http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2012/11/05/jonah-lehrer-nat...
Comment linking /2012/11/05/jonah-lehrer-nature-of-truth/
on “The Truth Wears Off (2010)”Submitted A Post About Porcupines as a story · 24 points
HN discussionFor those that faintly recognize the author's name... this piece was written by Jonah Lehrer, whose writings were later discredited for a combination of plagiarism, inaccuracy, and methodological weakness. Interestingly, in the ensuing reassessment of Lehrer's writings, this article has survived basically unscathed, but I think this discussion (including some statements from the interviewed scientists) is very usefu…
Comment linking /2012/11/05/jonah-lehrer-nature-of-truth/
on “The decline effect and the scientific method (2010)”Submitted AI Is a Terrifying Purveyor of Bullshit. Next Up: Fake Science as a story · 13 points
HN discussionSubmitted Seeing Mammoths as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted Oh. I Thought You Were a Guy. as a story · 9 points
HN discussionSubmitted Loose Ends (2018) as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted Pro Tip: Don’t Fall in the Thames as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSubmitted Every Map Starts with a Lie as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Better Learning Through Electrochemistry as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Mrs Whitcher and the Renegade Numbers (2017) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Every decision my kids made me make in one day as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Bitcoin Dummy Has Questions as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Galápagos Monday: When Conservation Means Killing as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Oppenheimer Did All The Work On Black Holes But Wheeler Took All The Credit as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Taxonomy of Internet Demons(2025) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Descartes’ Robot Daughter as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention (2014) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Hidden in this picture: steganography as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Pocket Guide to Bullshit Prevention (2014) as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
