republican war.jpg As readers know, I’m a regular monitor of polls capturing various aspects of the public’s views on science. These polls consistently show that for the most part, even if people don’t know a ton about it, they basically think science rocks. Americans know very well that science has
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Dead Wild Roses: Need Help? – Wear a tie. The Bystander Effect
We all think that we’ll help others in distress. Experimental evidence says otherwise… Filed under: Science, Social Science Tagged: Bystander Effect, Experimental Psychology, Science
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: You are not Perceptive – Change Blindness
And of course, neither am I. Our perception depends on where we are focusing our attention at the time. 75% of people did not notice that the person dealing with them changed. So…do you still think you are on the ball? Filed under: Science Tagged: Change-Blindness, Experimental Psychology, Science, You
Continue readingExponential Book: On the road again
A long and tiring term is coming to a close. Time to celebrate the holidays, then head out to Vancouver for a few days, to end 2011, and then it will be a new year and a new term. The Winter term of 2012 is also going to be very
Continue readingeaves.ca: The Future of Academic Research
Yesterday, Nature – one of the worlds premier scientific journals recognized University of British Columbia scientist Rosie Redfield as one of the top 10 science newsmakers of 2011. The reason? After posting a scathing attack on her blog about a paper that appeared in the journal Science, Redfield decided to
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Climate-Media Paradox: More Coverage, Stalled Progress
who speaks for the climate.jpg For those of us who care about global warming, 2006 and 2007 felt like pretty good years. Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for An Inconvenient Truth, sharing it with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Media attention to the issue soared, and it
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Can Fact Checking be Politically “Neutral,” When Facts Are Not Equally Distributed Across the Political Spectrum?
pinocchio.jpg Recently, I sat in on an off-the-record meeting about political fact-checking. I can’t report or quote from the event, but it spurred along some general thoughts that had already arisen in the context of writing The Republican Brain, which focuses a great deal on fact-checking—and thus, helped propel this post.
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Heads In the Sand, or Rolling?
I find it to be a very difficult day to be a proud Canadian. If you don’t agree with scientific fact that there is climate change from our pollution, you’ll probably be offended if you read this blog post. I hope you are offended, because I’m angry, and you should
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: A Democrat Undermines Science
planb_200x170.jpg In my debate a few months back with Kenneth Green about the left, the right, and science, my colleague really could have used some more strong examples of left wing science abuse. Now, he has one. There is no other way to spin it: The Obama administration’s decision to ignore the
Continue readingA Simple Statement Of (Rationalist/Atheist) Creed
It is high time to realize that it is not wise to continue indulging irrational, ideology-driven, religious-driven, science-rejecting, mendacious, folks by allowing them to spew their bullshit without being called upon it – for the lame sake of “civility”. Allow me to offer to you my argument why:For too long
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The DWR Sunday Disservice – Creationist Mouse meet Atheist Sledgehammer
Skepticon has proven to be a most valuable source of rational thought and interesting fodder for the Sunday disservice. In this episode, PZ Myers takes one creationist talking point and knocks it down, utterly and completely. Plus a small primer on molecular biology, all in under 50 minutes. Enjoy. Filed
Continue reading350 or bust: Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
On this post-COP 17 Sunday, with its indecisive outcome and the sad truth which that outcome reveals about the industrialized world’s myopia and its potentially lethal addiction to fossil fuels, let’s look to Albert Einstein for some wisdom. He said: We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if
Continue reading350 or bust: U.S. Navy: Climate Change Is A National Security Threat
Here are some more voices from Durban, as the UN climate negotiations continue to the end of the week: Rear Admiral David Titley, Oceanographer and Navigator of the US Navy, discusses climate change at the COP17 UN Climate Talks: **** Wondering what’s going on at the Durban talks? Here’s COP17
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Hope As A Gas
What if we could frack for natural gas without polluting the drinking water tables? I don’t think it’s as easy as this article suggests. Your only concern cannot be the material used to cause the fracturing, it has to be the fracturing itself. There are plenty of materials in our
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Standarize Electronics
Electronics work best when there are standards to follow. Without standards we wouldn’t have CDs that could be read in any nearly CD-ROM or DVD drive. We wouldn’t have radios that pick up signals from broadcasters. Standards make the WWW work wonderfully. I don’t know why it’s taken so long
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Periodic Table – Updated!
Those zany scientists, always finding out new shiny-bright science facts. The periodic table has just gotten a little more crowded say hi to as yet unnamed elements 114 and 116. “The elements were recognized by an international committee of chemists and physicists. They’re called elements 114 and 116 for
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: The Science of Debiasing: The New “Debunking Handbook” Is a Treasure Trove For Defenders of Reason
dbh_large.gif For quite some time here at DeSmogBlog, I’ve been writing about the growing science of irrationality—in other words, our ever-better scientific understanding of why people reject clearly correct information. I believe we can’t possibly get to a better place, in debates over issues like global warming, until we understand
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Why It’s Better to Know
If you wonder why it’s better to be smart, these smart people spell it out for you in an easy to watch hour and a half of jokes and scientific wonder. Colbert and Tyson banter about everything from Titanic the movie, to how the titanic universe moves.
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