Cabbage And Contrarians

An Unappetising Shrub

Alex Wakeman | Works In Progress | 9th March 2026

Wild cabbage is an “unassuming” weed that has been bred to yield a surprisingly diverse set of vegetables. Modern cabbage and kale were created by selecting for denser layers of leaves; cauliflower and broccoli by selecting for the inflorescence. By favouring large edible buds, 13C farmers in modern-day Belgium created Brussels sprouts. “This level of morphological diversity is unusual” (1,600 words)

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The Right Way To Be A Scientific Contrarian

Ethan Siegel | Big Think | 10th March 2026

“Are you accurately representing the consensus position? Are you reckoning with the full suite of evidence, or only with a selection of it? Is your alternative able to explain everything that the current consensus successfully explains? Is there a fair head-to-head test that can compare the mainstream idea with the alternative directly? Are you being honest about the successes and failures of your alternative?” (3,700 words)