Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
When faced with wacky ideas or beliefs that are quite frankly silly, it may at times become very emotionally frustrating and that it turn might tempt us to simply yell at the proponents. However, there is a better way to respond and at the same time to get the key point across – deploy satire … Read more
Observations that have been made of a nearby star at infrared wavelengths have apparently detected the ongoing birth of a planet. Detail have been published in in the journal Astrophysical Letters Within the above are two views of the gas and dust around star HD 100546, via PopSci. Left: a visible-light image from the Hubble Space Telescope. Right: … Read more
A new study has discovered that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that beer causes weight gain … or has it? The UK papers talk about “Nutritionist Dr Kathryn O’Sullivan, who carried out the review of the scientific review” … and also refer to a report entitled “Beer & calories; a scientific review”. Sounds … Read more
There is a rather interesting article in Edge that has been written by Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University, and also Deena Skolnick Weisberg, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Yale University. The paper is entitled “WHY DO SOME PEOPLE RESIST SCIENCE?”, and is in fact a modified version of a paper published in Science entitled … Read more
The BBC reports today that there has been a sharp fall in the number of children admitted to hospital with severe asthma since the introduction of smoke-free legislation in England. The actual study that reports this add to the rising evidence that the legislation was a really good health move. If I recall correctly, one of the … Read more
The archaic Victorian concept of publishing papers in peer-review journals that are locked behind paywalls is rapidly changing, and rightly so. Many balk at the concept of having to pay for access to the results of publicly funded research. Nature News reports on the latest community that is attempting to embark down the path of open-access … Mathematicians plan to launch a … Read more