Commonsense and conventional wisdom

Challenging conventional and unconventional wisdom.

Cardiologists, epidemiologists, and molecular scientists at the 48th Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in New Orleans, La, ventured into new territory, questioning the accepted treatments for various populations of patients and promising ones that have been widely heralded as the next generation in heart disease therapy. Leading the challengers was David E. Wennber...

Conventional wisdom and climate history.

T he Younger Dryas interval, a cold snap that chilled many parts of the world for 1,500 years or so in the midst of the last deglaciation ( 13,000–11,500 years ago), is perhaps the best known and most studied paleoclimate event of the last 2 million years. Only a few years ago, it was well accepted that a change in the drainage routing of the huge proglacial lake that fronted the North American...

Challenging conventional wisdom.

Testing Conventional Wisdom

In my recent article, ‘Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?’, I presented evidence and arguments that called into doubt two widely shared assumptions: (1) that countries generally comply with their human rights treaty commitments and (2) that countries’ practices will be better if they have ratified treaties than they otherwise would be. In response, Professors Ryan Goodman and Derek Jin...

Challenging Conventional Wisdom & Gender Work