Monthly Archives: January 2016

Research, you’re doing it wrong: A look at Tenpenny’s “Vaccine Research Library”

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Fallacy Man

“I’ve done my research.” If you’ve ever debated someone who disagrees with a scientific  consensus, then you’ve probably encountered that sentence, especially if they were an anti-vaccer. It is the mantra of the anti-science movement, but it’s nearly always misused. … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science, Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

The genetic fallacy: When is it okay to criticize a source?

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Fallacy Man

Last week, I wrote a post on the hierarchy of scientific evidence which included the figure to the right. In that post, I explained why some types of scientific papers produced more robust results than others. Some people, however, took … Continue reading →

Posted in Rules of Logic | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

The hierarchy of evidence: Is the study’s design robust?

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Fallacy Man

People are extraordinarily prone to confirmation biases. We have a strong tendency to latch onto anything that supports our position and blindly ignore anything that doesn’t. This is especially true when it comes to scientific topics. People love to think … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Evolutionary mechanisms part 4: Natural selection

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Fallacy Man

Natural selection is probably the most well known of the evolutionary mechanisms, and it is the one that most people think of when someone says, “evolution.” It is, however, often misunderstood, and people frequently fail to appreciate its complexity. Therefore, … Continue reading →

Posted in Science of Evolution | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Evolutionary mechanisms part 4: Natural selection