Five simple tips for readers of science journalism

Submitted by Lennart Kiil on Tue, 03/13/2007 - 15:35

1. Make sure results and conclusions presented to you have already been published in serious scientific peer reviewed journals.

Beware. In recent years it has become popular for public relations departments to send out press releases before publication has taken place in the journals.

2. Remember correlation does not necessarily imply causation.

This one is obvious, but there are still plenty of examples in science journalism showing that even some professional writers are not keenly enough aware of this.

3. Be aware of evaluative and normative language where such cannot be defended.

Science, on definition, cannot talk about how things ought to be. When you see expressions like 'too much' or 'too little' and so on, your are basically just looking at the prejudices of the author.

4. Sensational results or provocative angling?

Check sources and sponsors. There is a lot of sponsored research of high quality, but it never hurts to know who is behind.

Harvard's new President is living in the past

Submitted by Lennart Kiil on Wed, 02/14/2007 - 19:17

No. I am not talking about the fact that she is a professor in history (or is it herstory in this case?)

I am talking about her views on gender.

Asked whether her appointment signified the end of gender inequality at Harvard, Prof Faust said: "Of course not. There is a lot of work still to be done, especially in the sciences."

So only the areas still dominated by male students, however slightly, are interesting from a gender perspective?

What about other areas more heavily dominated by women than sciences are by men?

Her background as a women's studies professor does not deny itself.

Intelligent Design is not Science

Submitted by Lennart Kiil on Sun, 09/03/2006 - 17:49

Today's criticism aimed at Charles Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection' is mostly religiously motivated.

So called Intelligent Design is not by any stretch of the imagination Science. Intelligent Design is the heir to Creationism sometimes, oxymoronically, referred to as Scientific Creationism.

Intelligent Design proposes that Science is not able to sufficiently explain the organisms we find in the Natural World using the data available under materialism and naturalism.

Science Underpins Democracy

Submitted by Lennart Kiil on Tue, 06/07/2005 - 01:53

Science itself is not democratic. The idea that the earth is the centre of the universe, is not identical in value, to the idea that the earth revolves around the sun. Some descriptions of what reality consists of, and how it works, are more precise and adequate than other descriptions. Carefully collected and examined evidence from the world can often guide scientists in making proper conclusions, when deciding which descriptions are more precise representations of reality. The effect of this is that, in the long run at least, we move towards a more detailed and complete description and understanding of reality.

Relativism, Resignation and Arrogance

Submitted by Lennart Kiil on Tue, 06/07/2005 - 01:52

Today relativism is a highly popular doctrine in many circles. In the following essay I shall argue that relativism is a doctrine that is too often adopted because of resignation in the face of an extremely complicated reality. To many relativism offers a handy escape, albeit a dangerous one, as it allows its believers to turn their back on both natural and cultural problems. It gives the opportunity to deny the relevance of evidence and not to take opponents seriously in a dialogue. Hence relativism becomes arrogant. In the following I will focus on the fact that relativism is more at odds with universality and objectivity than it is with absolutism.

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