the fascinating psychology behind conspiracy theories
I've just read (via the NZ Skeptics page on FB) a fascinating article on Slate about the psychology of conspiracy theorists. In it, Will Saletan describes a series of studies from the past 20 years,...
View Articlewhat constitutes pseudoscience? the TEDx take on this question
I do quite a bit of reading around the topic of pseudoscience (& in fact I’ve just got hold of a copy of Michael Gordin’s book, “The Pseudoscience Wars“). So I was interested, & pleased to see...
View Articlenon-science nonsense & quaking whales
Over the last couple of weeks the NZ Herald ran some excellent articles on new scientific discoveries and their significance for our lives. It was great! So it was rather sad to see this rather...
View Articlewas newton an astrologer?
From time to time I've heard it suggested that Isaac Newton was an astrologer (most recently in the comments section here), usually by way of implying that, if Newton thought astrology was OK, then it...
View Articlefluoride-cancer claims exaggerated? it looks that way
My friend & blog-buddy Grant drew my attention to a story about osteosarcoma at stuff.co.nz – and to the comments section, where one commenter raised the issue of a claimed link between this rare...
View Articlefluoridation in the news
I didn’t intend to write another post on this subject so soon after the last one, but a story on yahoo.com’s news feed has really annoyed me. I know journalists these days are seriously under pressure,...
View Articlenot science as i know it
By accident, I came across the curriculum document for Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) which provides teaching & learning materials to parents who are homeschooling their children. New...
View Articlethoughts from a conference: scientists and science communication
I spent much of today at an international symposium on “Transforming Public Engagement on Controversial Science & Technology”. It’s been fascinating & I’m looking forward to day 2, having...
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helicobacter pylori and the complexity of the human microbiome
In their first-year microbiology lectures. our students hear about Helicobacter pylori, the bacterium associated with the development of gastric ulcers (a discovery that eventually saw Barry Marshall...
View Articlewidening the definition of scientific outputs
This was first posted over on TalkingTeaching. This blog post at SkepticalScalpel really struck a chord. Entitled “Should social media accomplishments be recognised by academia”, it compares the number...
View Articlecsiro should fund dowsing? are you serious???
I came across this story on Science’s ‘science sifter’ page: The next CEO of Australia’s leading research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is in hot...
View Articlezombies & lego – great combination!
Actually, that's a bit of a fib as the zombies & the lego don't actually meet in these videos :) But both have a science focus. Lego is the focus of a clip called 'Building Curiosity', which is...
View Articlecredulous reporting around cancer
This is a really difficult post to write. The word 'cancer' evokes any number of fears & unpleasant images, and I can't imagine something worse than discovering that a child has cancer. (Nor can I...
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weapons-grade foolishness from the ‘food babe’
Today, we move on to just plain, flaming, weapons-grade foolishness. Foolishness that is, unfortunately, spread to a rather wide audience. Vani Hari is the self-described ‘Food Babe’, on a mission to...
View Articlefood matters aotearoa – an opportunity for real debate? or muddying the waters?
One of the big stories on my Facebook feed at the moment alerted me to Food Matters Aortearoa and its upcoming Wellington conference. The program for this conference has certainly generated a lot of...
View Article10 mistakes we all make when interpreting research
Will Grant & Rod Lambert, from the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, listed these 10 common mistakes in an article published in The Conversation. And as they say, if...
View Articletips for effective on-line science outreach
As you'll have gathered, I'm finding Facebook – and now Twitter – great sources of information, whether it's for teaching, sharing with my students (& others!), or blogging about. And today, this...
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