The Republican War on Science Returns
republican war.jpg As author of the 2005 book The Republican War on Science, I’ve watched recent developments in the presidential race with fascination. It is not exactly news that man...
science
Computers do not ruin physics…
… physicists ruin physics (bumper sticker — I doubt if it exists, but it should) The efficacy of a computer simulation (or of any other numerical computation) in predicting the…
Become What You Despise? Why "Beating" Conservative White Male Climate Deniers May Mean Joining Them
1112_no-nukes.jpg David Roberts of Grist has written a wonderful and psychologically deep portrait of why conservative white males deny climate change—and much else—and how this ...
Tomorrow’s Dinner: Homeopathic Chicken Stirfry
Save time and money and stick it to Big Agriculture and Mega Farms with Homeopathic Chicken Dinner!
The Attacks on Climate Science Education Are Picking Up Steam
Teacher-writing-on-blackb-007.jpg A few months back, those who care about accurate climate science and energy education in high school classes registered a minor victory. Under fire from outlets ...
Here Comes the Atlantic Hurricane Season
2011218gosst.png This has been a year of dramatic disasters and weather extremes. From tornadoes to droughts to heat waves, the U.S. has been battered. Unfortunately, the hurricane season that&rs...
The Bias Trap: Are We All Just A Bunch of Motivated Reasoners?
1112_no-nukes.jpg There were a ton of great responses to my last post about conservative white men and climate change denial. Perhaps most notably, some savvy respondents called into question whe...
What’s Up With Conservative White Men and Climate Change Denial?
Rush_Limbaugh.jpg They come at you at public events, wanting to argue. They light up the switchboards whenever there’s a radio show about climate change. They commandeer your blog comments ...
Religion’s Changing Domain of Knowledge
Religion has long claimed ultimate Truth in two differing domains of knowledge: what is, and what ought to be; descriptive and normative; knowledge about the nature of the universe and…
Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your midweek reading.- Not surprising: Canadians find Stephen Harper's constant politicization of everything - including awards for volunteers - to be improper. Even less surprising: Stephen Harper…
The Annual Arctic Sea Ice Drama Begins
N_daily_extent_hires.png In my last post, I discussed how the increasing risk of devastating heat waves—unlike the worsening of tornadoes—is definitely a phenomenon we can link to glo...
Another Canadian muzzled by Harper
Franke James, you are not alone. It's not just the arts that get the Harper thug treatment. Science, the other most hated discipline of Conservatives, is also subject to censorship…
Forget Tornadoes. Lets Talk–Unendingly–About Heat Waves and Global Warming
us-heat-wave.png Earlier this year, I grew uncomfortable with attempts to link the massive tornado destruction that we saw in the U.S. to climate change. As I explained then—based on an…
Happy birthday, High-Tc. I miss you.
Twenty-five years ago, the first so-called high temperature superconductor was discovered — unexpectedly, almost out of nowhere. Suddenly, the interest of physicists all over the world in the phenomenon of…
Light Bulb Madness: A New Case Study in Right Wing Misinformation
incandescent.png The examples of conservative misinformation—devoutly believed by followers, repeatedly asserted by ideological leaders and media outlets—are growing too numerous to c...
Say Brother, Can You Share My Logic? The Climate Debate and “Talking Past Each Other”
al_gore_i_an_inconv_100607o (1).jpg I’ve previously written about University of Michigan business professor Andrew Hoffman’s insightful work on the underlying motivations behind clima...
Take Time To Renew Your Spirit
There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when they are shown, those who do not see. ~ Leonardo da Vinci
Canadian airports x-ray homeopathy now
I got a message today from a friend who works in airport security that represents another skeptic win (that makes two this week): I thought you all might be interested…
Hookahs at SFU go up in smoke
The Pakistan Student Association at my school, Simon Fraser University, was planning a party/fundraiser to build municipal spirit in the aftermath of the Stanley Cup riots. As part of their…