WELCOME TO MATT RIDLEY'S BLOG

Only possible in a market economy Don Boudreaux has a lovely essay in the Christian Science Monitor (interest declaration: he mentions my book) in which he makes the point people often miss about markets, that they encourage diversity rather than one-size-fits-all solutions: Contrast the multitude of different market-generated and voluntarily adopted ideas with the ideas of […]

Three fellows of the Royal Society concede my arguments There is a hilarious letter in today’s Times from three FRS professors about my recent artilce on ocean acidification. Despite conceding the factual truth of my article in detail, they tell me to brush up on chemistry then give no examples of me getting anything wrong. […]

Are Arctic ice and the PETM really the best arguments for dangerous climate change? UPDATE: David MacKay’s letter is now up in a separate post here   Some weeks ago I wrote an article for The Times about why I no longer find persuasive the IPCC’s arguments that today’s climate change is unprecedented, fast and dangerous. […]

Some greens have seen the light on nuclear power and GM food. It’s a start. Update: I’d like to add one thing to the story below. Stewart Brand, who I know and admire, played a prominent part in the Channel 4 film. He’s not a `convert’ to these views. He has always been strongly pro-GM […]

Learning lessons from the 1980s I have an article in The Times today (behind a paywall) on ocean acidification. Here’s the gist: Today in Beijing an alliance of scientists called Oceans United will present the United Nations with a request for $5 billion a year to be spent on monitoring the oceans. High among their concerns […]

Here (a bit late) is my latest Wall Street Journal column, on epigenetic inheritance In the debate over whether our fates as individuals are ruled by nature or nurture-that is, by innate qualities or personal experience-one of the most baffling features is the way the nurture advocates manage to cast themselves as the great foes of […]

Greens who like to make unsubstantiated claims then demand the prosecution of others for the same offence I have just sent this letter to the Guardian: In response to Donald Brown’s call for climate scepticism to be classified as a crime against humanity (1st November), in which he said `We may not have a word for this […]

Stephen Budiansky diagnoses a logical flaw Over at LIberal Curmudgeon, Steve Budiansky has a good insight into a subject he knows well, ever since writing the book Nature’s Keepers: claims about species extinction. The whole science behind the extinction crisis is riddled with circular reasoning, but this is an especially fine example. No new research was involved, […]

An acrostic challenge Here is Sunday’s New York Times variety puzzle whose solution was a nice surprise for me (hat tip Steve Budiansky).

Another environmental cost of wind turbines Tim Worstall has an enlightening essay on his specialist subject, rare earths. Rare-earth minerals are the 15 elements in that funny box at the bottom of the periodic table — known as lanthanides — plus two others. About 95 percent of global production takes place in China, largely at one […]