Category Archives: Nature of Science

What movie theories teach us about science vs. pseudoscience

Movie theories are lots of fun. I thoroughly enjoy to contemplating and debating novel ideas like the notion that all Pixar movies are connected or that the Joker was actually the hero of Dark Knight, but in addition to being … Continue reading

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12 bad reasons for rejecting scientific studies

A few days ago, I posted what I thought was a fairly innocuous image (right) onto my blog’s Facebook page. I was, however, sadly mistaken. My page was quickly flooded with comments by people who arrogantly insisted that there was … Continue reading

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Ancient knowledge and the test of time

The notion of “ancient knowledge” is a common theme among anti-vaccers and alternative health practitioners. It generally takes one of two basic forms. Either they claim that something is right/effective/safe because our ancestors thought so and they were somehow privy … Continue reading

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Settled science part 2: Creating the illusion of a debate

In the previous post, I explained what we mean by “settled science” and why there often aren’t two legitimate sides to a story. Nevertheless, despite a massive scientific consensus on issues like climate change, there is still widespread disagreement among … Continue reading

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Settled science part 1: Is science ever actually settled?

We are constantly told that “everyone has a right to their opinion” and “there are two sides to every story.” Our entire news system is predicated on the notion that we need to give fair time to both sides of … Continue reading

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