Category Archives: Nature of Science

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

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 →

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Basic statistics part 4: understanding P values

If you’ve ever read a scientific paper, you’ve probably seen a statement like, “There was a significant difference between the groups (P = 0.002)” or “there was not a significant correlation between the variables (P = 0.1138),” but you may … Continue reading →

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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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