Once we climb back out of the hole we have so furiously dug for ourselves, let’s start thinking more about ignoring the pack howls from “science.” After all, how many more of them can we afford?
Author: Denyse OLeary
Researchers: Many published psych studies lack validity
ScienceDaily: Chester and Lasko investigated 348 psychological manipulations included in peer-reviewed studies. They found that roughly 42% of the experiments were paired with no validity evidence, and that the remaining psychological manipulations were validated in ways that were extremely limited.
Smithsonian Magazine: Nearest black hole’s position can be seen without a telescope
If you are in the southern hemisphere, as were the ESO (European Southern Observatory) astronomers: The pair of stars in a system called HR 6819 is so close to us that on a clear night in the Southern Hemisphere, a person might be able to spot them without a telescope. What that stargazer wouldn’t see, Read More…
Chemist Marcos Eberlin on the molecules: They say “Design!”
Marcos Eberlin, the bad boy chemist from Brazil who says, yes, it’s design—but is too productive to just be fired—talks about why he thinks molecules demonstrate design: Biology, cosmology, physics, mathematics, computer engineering, chemistry… You could have an interesting argument among proponents of intelligent design about which field of science will ultimately clinch the argument Read More…
Business prof argues: Journals these days are obsessed by theory
Marinetto: The fetishisation of theory does have practical payoffs for editors. For one Swedish academic, Pär J. Ågerfalk, the charge of “insufficient theoretical contribution” can be employed as a neat rhetorical brush-off for submissions that editors do not like the look of but “cannot quite put their finger on why”.
Most people have heard about the whale series of evolution, often in school…
It’s not something we are supposed to ask questions about but some people have, in an animated short.
Astonishing! Astrophysicist determines that the odds are against a random origin of life
One might ask why he thinks that “science” must find a random origin for life. Who decided that life originated randomly? What if it did not? Is science still committed to finding a random origin?
Deplorable words?: DNA is NOT the blueprint for life?
Remember the guy who showed us a CD of his genome and said this is me? Naw, we didn’t think so at the time either, but read on…
So what really happened with COVID-19 in China?
Interest in COVID-19 is so high here, it makes sense to post a link/excerpt to a long, careful article by Heather Zeiger at Mind Matters News, trying to piece together what really happened (and yes, there is a big science hook):
Infinite patterns, beautifully expressed
Also, earlier:, a friend writes to say, this follows up Cristobal Vila’s 5-million-views classic from 2010, Nature By the Numbers: Sleep tight.
Puzzles in bat evolution
So we are looking for a bat that isn’t really a bat? Just wondering.
Larry Moran’s uphill battle convincing scientists that most of the genome is junk DNA
Moran: This is a good example of what we are up against when we try to convince scientists that most of our genome is junk.
Sociology of science prof: Philosophers have given up distingushing science, in principle, from other types of pursuits
From Daniel Sarewitz at the Weekly Standard, reflecting on Sabine Hossenfelder’s Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, … What, then, joins Hossenfelder’s field of theoretical physics to ecology, epidemiology, cultural anthropology, cognitive psychology, biochemistry, macroeconomics, computer science, and geology? Why do they all get to be called science? Certainly it is not similarity of Read More…
Why climate activist scientist won’t debate the science
From climate scientist Kate Marvel at Scientific American: Once you put established facts about the world up for argument, you’ve already lost In fact, as a general rule, I refuse to debate basic science in public. There are two reasons for this: first, I’m a terrible debater and would almost certainly lose. The skills necessary Read More…
William Lane Craig: Is there meaning to life?
William Lane Craig offers some thoughts at YouTube: More. Relevant article: Man, writes Loren Eiseley, is the Cosmic Orphan. He is the only creature in the universe who asks, “Why?” Other animals have instincts to guide them, but man has learned to ask questions. “Who am I?” man asks. “Why am I here? Where am Read More…