U.S. Records Reveal Bias against Muslim and Black Citizenship Applicants

The U.S. associates two statues with the cornerstones of its republic. The two figures are the Statue of Liberty, her torch lighting the way for immigrants, and Lady Justice, blindfolded to avoid bias from the eyes in the court. The reality is that people, not statues, make decisions about immigration. And in the courts and … Read more

The Mysterious ‘Pareidolia’ Phenomenon Turns Out to Have a Surprising Bias

It’s fun sometimes when your eyes play tricks on you, and you see a face that isn’t really there, staring back at you from a power plug or a potato. This phenomenon is called face pareidolia, and it’s something that humans, and even chimps, naturally do.   But it looks like facial features aren’t the … Read more

Just Two Words on a Cookie Label Can Mess Up How It Tastes, Study Finds

Human taste buds are easily manipulated. With just a few simple words, researchers have found the same chocolate chip cookie can go from tasting scrumptiously sweet and moist to unpleasantly bitter and stale.   It all depends on what the label tells us. When 58 adults from Ohio State University were given three cookies to … Read more

The Weight Game: How Body-Size Bias Can Hold Back Health Science

In December 1994 then former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop launched a national weight-loss campaign at a White House press conference, stating that obesity had become the country’s second-largest cause of death, “resulting in about 300,000 lives lost each year.” This marked the beginning of a long, influential life for the statistic. Pundits and … Read more