So, I’ve concluded that we might as well give up on trying to spread the word about the correlation-causation fallacy. People just don’t seem to be getting it. I do appreciate that there are complexities (after all, causality causes, and is therefore correlated with, correlation, but correlation does not cause […]
Tag: science
Be careful where you put that paywall
So, lots of people (in the UK at any rate) are pleased at proposals to provide free access to the results of publicly funded research. Here’s George Monbiot’s tweet: This is great news: free access to British scientific research within two years http://t.co/RSZwkDAZ#academicpublishing #academicspring — George Monbiot (@GeorgeMonbiot) July 16, […]
Remember, there are no right answers…
For college students enrolled in science-based courses, ‘Research Methods’ classes can often be something of a mixed bag. The same is true for Research Methods textbooks. And I feel I should know. As I work professionally (so to speak) in this area, I get sent samples of such textbooks by […]
Headline-spectrum of the day: Dino-apocalypse by ‘wind’
So apparently, the dinosaurs are extinct. That’s not really news of course (time to let it go, Nessie fans). But what is making the news is some new research about how those terrible lizards ended up shuffling off this mortal coil en masse. There is quite good geological evidence that some kind […]
Once more, with feeling: ‘Weather’ is NOT ‘climate’
What is it with some media outlets and their tendency to gloss over the difference between ‘weather‘ and ‘climate‘? Let me give you the basics. Here’s the Wikipedia* explanation of the term ‘weather‘: …the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, […]
Euphemistic congress
Everybody knows that it is perfectly acceptable to say anything you like about religion. Anything. Go on, try it. Nobody will care one way or the other. After all, for as long as the history of human civilization has been recorded, it has been characterized by nothing other than back-to-back episodes […]