Tag Archives: evaluating evidence

Global warming isn’t natural, and here’s how we know

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Fallacy Man

The cornerstone argument of climate change deniers is that our current warming is just a natural cycle, and this claim is usually accompanied by the statement, “the planet has warmed naturally before.” This line of reasoning is, however, seriously flawed … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Warming | Tagged , , , , , , , | 37 Comments

When is it reasonable to demand more studies?

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Fallacy Man

I recently wrote a post in which I reviewed the scientific literature on vaccines and autism, and the responses from the anti-vaccine crowd were predictable. The most common of these responses followed the basic format of, “but it could be … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Most scientific studies are wrong, but that doesn’t mean what you think it means

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Fallacy Man

When faced with scientific studies that disagree with them, many people are prone to claim that they don’t have to accept those studies because most scientific studies are actually wrong. They generally try to support this claim by either citing … Continue reading →

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

Vaccines and autism: A thorough review of the evidence

Posted on April 28, 2016 by Fallacy Man

UPDATE March 2019: Since writing this post, anti-vaccer’s lists have grown and several new studies have been published. Therefore, I wrote an updated version of this article which you can read here. The evidence that vaccines don’t cause autism has … Continue reading →

Posted in Vaccines/Alternative Medicine | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 125 Comments

Science doesn’t prove anything, and that’s a good thing

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Fallacy Man

It is often the case that the most fundamental concepts in science are the ones that are the most misunderstood, and that is certainly true with the concept of “proof.” Many people accept the misconception that science is capable of … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature of Science, Rules of Logic | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments