...and people who like sausages, should not ask how they are made.

As a member of two large scientific collaborations (CDF and CMS), I enjoy the benefit of seeing lots of scientific publications that carry my name as an author being produced at weekly rates. This is however also a burden, since I at the very least must try to ensure that I like the way the results are produced. I.e., that I agree with the details of how these scientific measurements are made.

Tom Chivers, Telegraph's assistant comment editor, may think he is being all edgy and cool by claiming Republicans - 50% of America - are anti-science. In reality, he is like an Emo-haircut wearing kid dressed in black insisting he is an outsider while he dresses like all the rest of them.

As discussed in Part 1, analyzing “precognition” discredits everything but the in the eyes of pseudo-skeptic scientism worst: The influence of belief on the quantum probability of finding oneself inside a future world. Pseudo-skeptics warn that the mere mentioning of such lends support to all kinds of nonsense like prayer healing. Well, if you want to ensure that nobody can misquote you in support of nonsense, have fun never saying anything anymore ever. I hold that we should not leave some issues entirely to the kooks.

 

2) Belief and Experimenter Effect

The Genius Of Georg Ohm

Much of the genius of Georg Ohm is forgotten.  He is remembered mostly as the scientist who defined the relationship between electrical resistance, electric force and electric current.  Not only do writers generally ignore Georg Ohm's many other contributions to physics: they give an all-too-brief outline of Ohm's law and then move on.   Thus they miss the opportunity to explain the simplicity of the physical reality and the elegance of the mathematics behind Ohm's Law.

Is the entire country of Mexico anti-science?

TED talks declined from ‘must-see-every-single-one’ to less interesting than liveleak.com, even from a science and technology perspective - seen a chicken plugger? Superfast slot cars? Bubble Vortices anybody? So it is worthwhile to point out interesting TED talks whenever one happens to still come along.

A previously unnamed species of horse fly has been named in honor of American pop singer Beyoncé Knowles. Beyoncé just had a baby but this horse fly business is probably the best gift of all. 

Well, maybe not, the baby might be more important to her, since she and husband Jay-Z had bulletproof glass and bodyguards put in place at the Upper East Side Lenox Hill hospital where the delivery occurred and I bet the fly doesn't have any bodyguards at all.  

On January 10, 2012, President Obama announced appointments to the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

[Their] monopolistic practices make Walmart look like a corner shop and Rupert Murdoch a socialist - George Monbiot

Want to know where a huge amount of taxpayers' money invested into science goes?

Straight into the pockets of publishing companies' shareholders.

It's often the case that when something claims to cure everything, a little skepticism is warranted.  We have dozens of articles here on Resveratrol but over time the titles began to reflect growing disbelief it could be that perfect.  By the time it received gushing endorsements from Dr. Oz. and the other Four Horsemen of the Alternative (Gupta, etc.) we were crafting titles like Resveratrol - 2009's Miracle Compound Du Jour.