Scott Alexander examines recent studies on the Fraternal Birth Order Effect, finding evidence for a broader sibling birth order effect on homosexuality, though its exact nature and mechanism remain debated. Longer summary

Scott Alexander reviews recent studies on the Fraternal Birth Order Effect (FBOE), which suggests that men with more older brothers are more likely to be gay. He discusses three key studies: Frisch and Hviid's large-scale Danish study that found no clear FBOE, Vilsmeier et al.'s meta-analysis that questioned the statistical validity of previous FBOE claims, and Ablaza et al.'s extensive Dutch study that found a significant effect of older siblings (both brothers and sisters) on homosexuality. Scott concludes that while the FBOE hypothesis has been forced to evolve, the core idea that more older siblings increases the likelihood of homosexuality seems to stand, though the biological mechanism remains uncertain. Shorter summary

A collection of interesting links covering medical research, sociology, politics, and technology, with brief commentary on each item. Longer summary

This is a links post collecting various interesting articles, studies and news items. Topics range from medical research (drug expiration dates, depression treatments) to sociology (class in China, runner demographics) to politics (neoliberalism, Israel boycott laws) to technology (AI language models, genetic engineering). The post maintains a somewhat informal tone while discussing academic papers and news items, often adding brief commentary or context to help understand the significance of each link. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander critiques a study claiming gender bias in GitHub, pointing out methodological flaws and media misrepresentation of its non-peer-reviewed findings. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques a study about gender bias in GitHub pull request acceptance rates. He points out several issues with the study's methodology and interpretation, including the lack of peer review, ambiguous statistical significance, and potential confounding factors. He also criticizes media outlets for misrepresenting the study's findings, exaggerating its conclusions, and failing to mention its non-peer-reviewed status. Scott emphasizes that the study actually shows women's pull requests are accepted more often overall, and that the observed bias against women in one subgroup is small and possibly not statistically significant. He expresses concern about how such studies are used to promote a narrative of widespread sexism in tech. Shorter summary

Scott Alexander critiques a study claiming to have found biomarkers for suicide risk, arguing that the results are overstated and such a test would have limited clinical utility even if accurate. Longer summary

Scott Alexander critiques a study claiming to have found biomarkers predicting suicide risk with 92% accuracy. He points out that most of the predictive power likely comes from clinical instruments rather than biomarkers, and that the biomarkers alone were insignificant in 7 out of 8 tests. Even if the 92% accuracy claim were true, Scott argues it wouldn't be very useful in practice due to the low base rate of suicide attempts. He concludes that while research on biological factors in suicide is valuable, a blood test for suicide is unlikely to ever be clinically useful due to the complex nature of suicide involving both biological and environmental factors. Shorter summary

Scott shares a collection of interesting links covering topics like folklore, scientific papers, geopolitics, and cultural curiosities. Longer summary

A collection of interesting links covering diverse topics, from folklore and scientific papers to geopolitics and popular culture. The post starts with a Scottish folklore creature and its likely scientific explanation, discusses scientific papers about p-hacking and NSA's effect on searches, covers some interesting historical and cultural facts about ancient civilizations, and ends with various curiosities including tech companies' headquarters and Google's robots files. Shorter summary