Category Archives: Nature of Science

Another terrible anti-vaccine study bites the dust

Posted on May 10, 2017 by

Lately, anti-vaccers have been touting a “new” vaccinated vs. unvaccinated study that purportedly shows that vaccines are associated with all manner of detrimental health conditions. I put the word “new” in quotes, because this study was actually accepted for publication … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science, Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Science matters because it works

Posted on April 23, 2017 by

Why should you support science? Because it works! It’s crazy to me that I even have to say that, but this is where we are as a society. Various forms and degrees of science denial are running rampant throughout our … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming, GMO, Nature of Science, Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Basic Statistics Part 6: Confounding Factors and Experimental Design

Posted on February 14, 2017 by

The topic of confounding factors is extremely important for understanding experimental design and evaluating published papers. Nevertheless, confounding factors are poorly understood among the general public, and even professional scientists often fail to appropriately account for them, which results in … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The image that took me two months to obtain: A window into what it is like to do research

Posted on January 30, 2017 by

Most people don’t really understand what scientists actually do or what is required to do scientific research. As a result, they don’t appreciate the amount of training and work that goes into being a scientists and conducting research. I personally … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged , | 3 Comments

No, homeopathic remedies can’t “detox” you from exposure to Roundup: Examining Séralini’s latest rat study

Posted on November 23, 2016 by

One of my main goals for this blog is to help people learn how to evaluate scientific studies. To that end, I have written several posts that dissect papers and explain either why they are robust or why they are … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments

Basic Statistics Part 5: Means vs Medians, Is the “Average” Reliable?

Posted on October 10, 2016 by

To many people, this may seem like the most boring topic in the world, but it is actually vitally important not only for understanding scientific results, but also for understanding much of the data that we are presented with on … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Who reviews scientific papers and how do reviews work?

Posted on August 29, 2016 by

I spent my afternoon reviewing a paper for a scientific journal and making a recommendation about whether or not the paper should be published. As a scientist, this is not an uncommon task for me, but it is a process … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science | Tagged | 10 Comments