Tag: pseudoscience
-
The snake-oil salesmen of “earthquake prediction”
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Earthquake weather Earthquake predictions are going viral online — and spreading dangerous conspiracies along the way. For Inverse: In 1990, an eccentric Texan named Iben Browning appeared on the […]
-
“Peanuts”, vaccination, and the limits of persuasion
In my new comic with Maki Naro, we go meta: using a comic to talk about a comic! Specifically, we comics’ed about one of the most beloved comic strips of all time, Charles M. Schulz’ “Peanuts”. While the strip mostly steered clear of the issues of the day, occasionally Schulz did include topical material. One […]
-
When physicists go bad
My latest comic with Maki Naro addresses the instances where certain physicists abandon scientific ethics to promote dubious causes: eugenics, climate change denial, and so forth. Since this issue is a bit fraught, I’ve included notes and references at the end of this post. Journalism, y’know? [ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most […]
-
Why falsifiability is a false guide to what is and isn’t science
I had a liberal arts education, which means that I mostly use what I learned to post nonsense on Twitter. However, thanks to my advisor, I got a solid grounding in the philosophy of science. While I’m certainly no philosopher myself, I also (hopefully) have a less simplistic view of how science works and doesn’t […]
-
The band has stopped playing, but we keep dancing
The band has stopped playing, but we keep dancing The world keeps turning, the world keeps turning. –Tom Waits A lot of nonsense has been written over the years about various “prophecies” predicting the end of the world, including stuff by people who should know better. What you see in newspapers, magazines, and TV shows […]
-
The bald(ing) truth about laser hair-restoration treatments
I admit, I love flipping through SkyMall when I’m on airplanes. However, the catalog is chock-full of pseudoscience, as with today’s entry in “As Seen on TV!”, my occasional feature over at Double X Science. (Warning: contains my balding scalp.) Ah, lasers. They may not have the mystique of magnets or the nous of “natural”, […]
Bowler Hat Science 