Science oops: Much bad science (and worse media coverage of it)
The problem isn't bad science but what happens next: disastrous media coverage of bad science studies, and a lack of skeptical inquiry by reporters.
Published in Nature: “Political endorsements can affect scientific credibility”
In 2020, Nature endorsed Joe Biden in the US presidential election. A survey finds that viewing the endorsement did not change people’s views of the candidates, but caused some to…
Science: Many researchers cannot reproduce their own or other’s experimental results
This seems like a bit of a problem: More than 70% of researchers have tried and failed to reproduce another scientist’s experiments, and more than half have failed to reproduce…
Science: Was Hurricane Ian caused by human induced climate change?
Many media stories and talking heads on TV say Hurricane Ian’s destruction is a symptom of human-induced climate change, and that hurricanes are getting worse. NOAA is considered an authoritative…
Health: Our brain “re-wires” after about age 40
“Older adults tend to show less flexible thinking, such as forming new concepts and abstract thinking, lower response inhibition, as well as lower verbal and numeric reasoning,” the reviewers noted.…
Junk Science, they had no control group: “Masked, Vaccinated Students Didn’t Catch Covid in Classrooms”
Vaccinated and masked college students had virtually no chance of catching Covid-19 in the classroom last fall, according to a sweeping study of 33,000 Boston University students that bolsters standard…
Follow up: Great Barrier Reef is dying due to climate change, until it sees greatest coral cover in 36 years
April 2019: Global warming has caused such extensive damage to the Great Barrier Reef that scientists say its coral may never recover. According to a study published Wednesday in the…
The Social Media Doc and Science Army ruined our trust
Watching the Twitter expert class during Covid ruined trust in science. Every day saw dueling experts saying inconsistent, contradictory, illogical and sometimes incoherent things about Covid. Many began name calling/bashing…
Dueling experts, Part 2
This is the state of modern scientific discourse – sliming anyone you disagree with and engage in name calling, rather than addressing the issues in contention. Those of us who…
“Credentialism” is an old argumentative form
Credentialism is a form of the Appeal to Authority argumentative form. This is considered one of the worst forms of argument – but it is used because it is effective.…