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Public Understanding Science
Just because a paper passes peer review doesn't mean that what's written, or what the author asserts, is true. Here's why it still matters.
In the Embers series, historian M.G. Sheftall shares the stories of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s last survivors and reveals why their testimony must endure.
Will "Sausage Party" survive the test of time?
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“Most of us aren't sure what to think about everything, but we don't really see that modeled anywhere, right? You're supposed to know for sure, and there's very little intellectual humility on social media or on TV.”
The true story of the shot that "reverberated through England" when science collided head-on with religion.
The majority of people in every country support action on climate, but the public consistently underestimates this share.
A rift in thinking about who should control powerful new technologies sent the brothers on diverging paths. For one, the story ended with a mission to bring science to the public.
Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb claimed to track down and find alien spherules on the ocean bottom. Here's the sober truth.
A new study shows that political partisans are more likely to remember things that didn't happen — as long as it fits their narrative.
Most people have a distorted view of what being a scientist is like. Scientists need to make a greater effort to challenge stereotypes.
Science is a method of inquiry about nature, while scientism is philosophy. And scientism is no longer up to the challenge of meeting the most pressing issues of our day.
“To be ignorant of causes is to be frustrated in action.” So wrote Francis Bacon, counsel to Queen Elizabeth I of England and key architect of the scientific method. In […]
Without these two elements, we’re doomed to fail. In this day and age, it’s virtually impossible to have sufficient expertise to figure out what the complete, comprehensive, scientifically validated truth surrounding […]
Metal really does sometimes stick to some people’s skin. Here’s the science of why. Every once in a while, a claim comes along that wildly challenges the mainstream scientific narrative. These […]
Find out the truth for yourself. If this past year has shown us anything, it’s how thoroughly we rely on high-quality expertise. As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe, it […]
It’s not a gambit. It’s not fraud. It’s not an opinion. And it’s not biased like you think it is. Most of us, when we think about what science is, default […]
There’s a flowchart if you aren’t sure. It’s a situation that comes up all too frequently: an expert in their field publicly states a conclusion that is thoroughly accepted by the […]
How to stay safe and prepare yourself for the show of a lifetime! “Nations, like stars, are entitled to eclipse. All is well, provided the light returns and the eclipse […]
It may be the only way to save the USA — and the world — from alternative facts. “If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.” –Ernest Rutherford There […]
Using incomplete facts to spin a false narrative and mislead the public is the modus operandi of a political liar. “I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual; I’m too […]