Best ways to spot a liar

Also, the worst ways:

Study after study has found that attempts – even by trained police officers – to read lies from body language and facial expressions are more often little better than chance…

“There are no consistent signs that always arise alongside deception,” says Ormerod, who is based at the University of Sussex. “I giggle nervously, others become more serious, some make eye contact, some avoid it.”… The existing protocols are also prone to bias, he says – officers were more likely to find suspicious signs in certain ethnic groups, for instance. “The current method actually prevents deception detection,” he says.

Better:

Shift the focus away from the subtle mannerisms to the words people are actually saying, gently probing the right pressure points to make the liar’s front crumble.

Ormerod and his colleague Coral Dando at the University of Wolverhampton identified a series of conversational principles that should increase your chances of uncovering deceit:

Use open questions. This forces the liar to expand on their tale until they become entrapped in their own web of deceit.

Employ the element of surprise. Investigators should try to increase the liar’s “cognitive load” – such as by asking them unanticipated questions that might be slightly confusing, or asking them to report an event backwards in time – techniques that make it harder for them to maintain their façade.

Watch for small, verifiable details. If a passenger says they are at the University of Oxford, ask them to tell you about their journey to work.

Ironically, liars turn out to be better lie detectors. Geoffrey Bird at University College London and colleagues recently set up a game in which subjects had to reveal true or false statements about themselves. They were also asked to judge each other’s credibility. It turned out that people who were better at telling fibs could also detect others’ tall tales, perhaps because they recognised the tricks.

Observe changes in confidence. Watch carefully to see how a potential liar’s style changes when they are challenged: a liar may be just as verbose when they feel in charge of a conversation, but their comfort zone is limited and they may clam up if they feel like they are losing control.

The aim is a casual conversation rather than an intense interrogation. Under this gentle pressure, however, the liar will give themselves away by contradicting their own story, or by becoming obviously evasive or erratic in their responses.

About 1,700 words: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150906-the-best-and-worst-ways-to-spot-a-liar.

And good news from Fix the News:

New York’s six month old congestion pricing scheme has produced perhaps the fastest ever environmental improvement of any policy in US history… and it’s also making money.Congestion pricing revenue is on track to reach $500 million this year, “allowing upgrades to the subway, the purchase of several hundred new electric buses and improvements to regional rail.” Guardian

Stray cat becomes guide dog trainer

This unemployed stray cat had no idea he was about to land a full-time job as a dog trainer when he walked into a building looking for shelter… When Sylvester first walked into the Leamington Guide Dogs facility he didn’t even bring a resume… He specializes in “Cat distraction training,” a critical component of guide dog training.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Bm6kMsljmxE. One minute 20 seconds. If you want to use the timing slider to skip forward or backward, click this symbol

after starting the video to pop it into a separate video window, or this icon for full screen:

And good news from Fix the News:

Assam slashes child marriage by 81% in two years. Child marriage in the northeastern Indian state, home to over 30 million people, dropped by 81% between 2021 and 2024, following a statewide crackdown that included thousands of arrests, community outreach, and expanded education for girls. Authorities are now aiming for full elimination by 2026. The shift marks one of India’s sharpest ever reductions in child marriage, tackling a practice long considered socially entrenched. India Today

World’s richest 1% increased wealth by $33.9 trillion

…since 2015 (one decade). Yes, that’s “trillion” with a “T.” $33,900 billion. $33,900,000 millions.

That amount is “more than enough to eliminate annual poverty 22 times over” when calculating at the World Bank’s highest poverty line of $8.30 per day, the group said in a news release…
Billionaires alone — about 3,000 people worldwide, the overwhelming majority of whom are men — have gained $6.5 trillion since 2015.

I found this quote somewhere, and it’s sounding better and better:

No more billionaires. None. After you reach $999 million, every red cent goes to schools and healthcare. You get a trophy that says, “I won capitalism,” and we name a dog park after you. — Mikel Jollett

Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/26/billionaires-wealth-inequality-trillion-oxfam/ (700 words).

And good news from Fix the News:

Younger generations are less likely to have dementia. A huge study of over 150,000 people in Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States has found that people born in the mid-1940s are up to half as likely to have dementia as those born in the 1920s, with the biggest drop among women. Researchers think better schooling, cleaner air, and heart healthcare are pushing the disease back, which could ease the pressure on future nursing homes and carers. Guardian

Decriminalizing drugs: Portugal vs Oregon

It seems to me that decriminalizing many kinds of drug use reduces several problems (policing, health care, crimes to raise money for drugs) into fewer, better problems (treatment). Portugal is trying this: “Portugal saw a 75 percent drop in drug deaths since it adopted the same strategy in 2001 through 2022.”

Oregon tried this too, but is backing down since they didn’t see rapid results:

Portugal’s success, they point out, wasn’t achieved overnight or even in three years.

Oregon’s experiment “was not given the time that it needed,” said Tera Hurst, the executive director of Oregon’s Health Justice Recovery Alliance.”…

Hurst and other decriminalization advocates said the law didn’t succeed because of problems with implementation: a failure to fund new treatment services for 18 months after the law passed, a failure to train police on their new role in addressing addiction, and a failure to direct drug users to treatment.

Approx 2,000 words: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/28/oregon-drug-criminalization-portugal-00148872.

And good news from Fix the News:

British authorities are using hospital data, youth outreach, and city planning to prevent violence, with incredible results. To take one example, the number of men seeking treatment after Saturday night fights has dropped by 55% over the past decade, with 65% of the decline driven by fewer 18- to 30-year-olds getting into fights. A rise in teetotal 16- to 24-year-olds – from 18% to 28% – suggests changing drinking habits could be behind the shift, alongside preventative policing. The Economist 🗄️

FYI: abbreviating texts

People don’t like abbreviations in texts (and I won’t try to be funny by putting abbrevs here).

Abbreviations in text messages register as insincere to recipients, who then send shorter and fewer responses (if they bother to reply at all). “I was surprised at how significant the negative results were,” David Fang, a doctoral student in behavioral marketing at Stanford University, says. “Abbreviations are quite subtle—they’re not really a blatant transgression. But people can see you’re taking a shortcut and putting less effort into typing, and that triggers a negative perception.”

People described messages with abbreviations as being less sincere than those without any, and indicated that they weren’t inclined to reply.

Interestingly, the effects held true among different age groups—from savvy Gen-Z texters to those who probably didn’t know what half of the abbreviations meant. Though some might think of abbreviations as youthful or hip, young people don’t actually like them. “Younger people dislike abbreviations just as much as older people,” Fang says. “It’s equally negative.”

Link (1,100 words): https://time.com/7176277/text-abbreviations-insincere-texting/.

And good news from Fix the News:

Crime in the United States has plummeted. So why don’t Americans feel safe? In city after city, violent crime has declined so much that the murder rate in the United States in 2025 may drop to the lowest level since records began in 1960. If those were the good ol’ days, then so are these. NYT

Everyone’s obviously obsessing about Los Angeles right now, but for what it’s worth, here are this year’s murder rates in big US cities as of May 2025:

AI videos getting better

“I don’t believe anything I see online, unless it’s on Ars Technica.”

Full eight-second video: Click on the pic or here: https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/A_candid_interview_202505261604-1.mp4.

The above video was in fact generated by an AI video program. Can you see anything that clearly shows it to be computer-generated? This article (3,300 words) shows several AI-generated videos that are very good and would need careful examination to find flaws (also several videos that still have serious flaws).

This has serious implications for political or criminal misuse… maybe generate a video “Show current president declaring war on Australia”…

But there’s still good news from Fix the News:

Global suicide rates have declined by 29% since 2000, marking a major but often overlooked public health success. Narrative violation alert: the drop has been most pronounced in high-income countries, with more gradual progress in others. The trend reflects expanding access to mental health care, public awareness efforts, and means restriction—but further gains will require deeper investment and cultural shifts, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. WHO

Experts on preventing cancer

Despite the fact that one in two people will get cancer, many of us are ill informed about what we can do to prevent it. How do oncologists live their lives based on what they know? Doctors share the secrets of living healthily and the risks worth taking – or not.

Roughly 40% of cancers are preventable. Topics (each with more detail):

1. Don’t smoke
2. Try to maintain a healthy weight
3. Reduce your meat intake
4. Avoid ultra-processed foods
5. Drink less alcohol
6. If you notice anything you are worried about, see a doctor
7. Keep up to date with screenings
8. Get physical
9. Wear sunscreen
10. Manage stress
11. Look into genetic risk
12. When faced with a diagnosis, knowledge is power
13. Don’t fear treatment
14. Talk about it
15. Live life to the full

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/jul/11/the-experts-oncologists-on-the-simple-doable-everyday-things-they-do-to-try-to-prevent-cancer: 2,300 words.

And good news from Fix the News:

CRISPR treatments are ready for prime time: The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has created the first custom CRISPR therapy to save an infant named KJ with a rare metabolic disease, while in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a biotech startup has used a flexible form of CRISPR editing called prime editing to restore the immune functions of an immunocompromised teenager suffering from chronic granulomatous disease.

White and Nerdy

A song by Weird Al Yankovic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw. 2 minutes 51 seconds. Lyrics and detailed explanation: https://genius.com/Weird-al-yankovic-white-and-nerdy-lyrics.

I’m just too white and nerdy
Really, really white and nerdy

It’s a parody of Charmillionaire’s Ridin’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtwJvgPJ9xw):

They see me rollin’, they hatin’
Patrollin’ and tryna catch me ridin’ dirty…

I particularly like at 24 seconds, where Key and Peele lock the car door… of an open convertible. Also Donny Osmond’s dancing is excellent:

And the fake Trivial Pursuit card at 1:10 (for about 1 second):

And good news from Fix the News:

“The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” Bill Gates has announced plans to give away nearly $200 billion between now and 2045, after which the Gates Foundation will permanently close its doors. In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times (gift link), he explains why this is the time to go all in given Trump’s assault on global health, the promise of more lifesaving innovations in the near future, and the potential impact of AI.

The Philosophy of Liberty

This is a long (10,000 words) and excellent review of how we have (mostly?) moved from governments that are simply the tool of a king to governments that are tools of, by, and for the people. Fascinating from a historical and political perspective! Read the entire thing…

What I mean when I say liberalism is its original (and broadly international) meaning: the political philosophy which first emerged fully in the early modern period and which places individual freedoms – liberty – as its central, defining value. This is the ideology of the Declaration of Independence and the political theory upon which – however imperfectly – the United States was predicated….

And it is that distinction that brings us usefully to the particular kind of freedom: liberalism is a political philosophy which recognizes, indeed which chiefly values, individual freedom from communal constraints.

We are often so used to liberal societies – or illiberal ones that use liberalism’s language as a mask – that we miss the radicalism of that vision. As Patricia Crone notes, traditional pre-modern societies, by and large, have little space for the individual…

It is, I think, all too easy once again to miss the radicalism of this moment. In 1776 there were no governments founded on liberal ideas. ((The Declaration of Independence)) was, among other things, a radical enough document to have its publication suppressed by various European monarchies for decades; the text of the thing was banned in Russia for eight decades and in Spain for nine. In asserting the fundamental equality of mankind, in denying the divine right of kings – who only, in the document, derive their just authority from the consent of the governed – the Declaration presented an explosive set of ideas. Indeed, a set of ideas that would explode in France not too many years later.

Link: https://acoup.blog/2024/07/05/collections-the-philosophy-of-liberty-on-liberalism/.

And good news from Fix the News:

The Paris region has cut air pollution by over 50% in two decades, saving thousands of lives. Fine particulate and nitrogen dioxide levels have fallen 55% and 50% respectively since 2005, reducing pollution-related premature deaths by one-third over a decade; Europe’s strict 2030 air quality standards are now being met across most of the region. Air Parif

COVID versus cancer (in mice)

During the pandemic, some doctors anecdotally began noticing that some people with cancer who got very sick with COVID-19 saw their tumors shrink or grow more slowly…

Typically, monocytes, as part of the immune system, cruise the bloodstream and alert other immune cells to the presence of foreign cells or pathogens; some monocytes can attract cancer-killing immune cells to tumors, but others aren’t as effective in doing so. That’s because in some cases, cancer cells can co-opt monocytes —“like a demon summoning forces” —and form an immune wall protecting the tumor from being discovered and attacked by additional immune defenses.

But during a COVID-19 infection, SARS-CoV-2 attaches itself to these monocytes, and by doing so reverts them back to doing their original job: defending the body against cancer…

By analyzing the receptor on the monocytes that the COVID-19 virus attached to, Bharat found a compound that currently isn’t used to treat any disease but is a close mimic of the COVID-19 virus in the way that it binds to the monocyte to induce the cell’s transformation into a cancer-fighting cell…. In animal tests, the compound—called muramyl dipeptide (MDP)—reduced tumors by 60% to 70% in mice with human cancers including breast, colon, lung, and melanoma.

Full article: https://time.com/7176558/covid-19-virus-cancer-monocytes/ (approx 763 words).

And good news from Fix the News:

The EU is in the midst of finalizing a plan to completely end imports of Russian fossil fuels; the European Commission first pledged to quit Russian fossil fuels in 2022 as a response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The imports won’t completely end until 2027, but in the meantime, Czechia has achieved full independence from Russian oil for the first time in its history; the country now receives no supplies through Russia’s Druzhba pipeline, ending a 60-year dependency. This is significant because Czechia previously received half its oil from Russia and had an EU exemption from the 2022 Russian oil ban.