… & another excellent blog for you to visit. I’ve just discovered OpenParachute. Its author writes a fair bit about the nature of science & I’d like to share one of these posts with you.
Continue readingTag: nature of science
you won’t get a 747 from a tornado in a junkyard
A recent letter-writer in our local paper presented this argument: Many people believe the evolutionary theory but none practice it. For example, how much is left to chance in the design and assembly of a 747 jet? Nothing is left to chance. Every component is tested to breaking point to find any weakness in design […]
Continue readingscience as a human endeavour
What follows is the text of a talk I gave to a teachers’ conference last weekend, on the ‘human side’ of science. In other words (lots of them!), it’s about the nature of science. Quite a long post (for me), but I hope you get something from it.
Continue readinghow evolutionary theory develops
I’ve just come across an excellent post by evolutionary biologist Massimo Pigliucci, talking about how evolutionary theory has developed since the ‘modern synthesis’ was set out. (And of course, the modern synthesis was an advance on Darwin’s orginal theory of natural selection as the agent of descent with modification – science changes as it accommodates […]
Continue readingare internet polls worthwhile?
Over the weekend the Dominion ran an internet poll, accompanying this article. It posed the question: Should schools be allowed to teach ‘intelligent design? The two options given were a) yes, all theories should be taught, & b) no, it doesn’t belong in science class. (I might be a bit off in the wording, as the […]
Continue readinganother title for the reading list
Thank a friend for this – she commented that she liked my reading list 🙂 Anyway, I’ve just started reading David Mindell’s book The Evolving World: evolution in everyday life. Still in the intro, actually, but it’s shaping up to be another worthwhile addition to my shelves.
Continue readingtheory, fact, hypothesis & law
I was just re-reading a paper (Gregory, 2008) that discusses the meanings of these terms, & thought I’d share it with you. As I’m sure you’re aware, they’re words that have quite specific meanings in science, and meanings that generally differ from everyday usage – ‘theory’ and ‘hypothesis’ are distinctly different terms, for example. Here’s what Ryan […]
Continue readingscientists are wrong (a lot)
I've been following a developing discussion about what characterises scientists (and what happens when some of them go to the 'dark side' of pseudoscience…) and I've just found a posting on Respectful Insolence that I want to share with you. (Follow this link to read the whole thing. And many thanks to Orac for writing it.) […]
Continue readingthe thylacine – back from the dead?
Not quite (although that's implied in some of the rather breathless reporting of an extraordinary paper that was published on-line this month). Nevertheless, the real story describes a striking achievement: the cloning of DNA from the extinct thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.
Continue readingleonardo’s life
Another in the occasional series of 'what I'm reading'. This time it's a modern biography of Leonardo da Vinci: The Science of Leonardo, by Fritjof Capra (2007). It's a beautiful book, from the cover, to the sepia-toned type, to the writing itself. And the author does a beautiful job of making 'the great genius of […]
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