Fact checking the fact checkers

fact checkers

There are various well-established and well-known fact checkers that many rely upon, for example PolitiFact, FactCheck.org, or the Washington Post’s Fact Checker. However, one has to wonder if anybody independently fact-checks the fact checkers. I was curious about this and so looked into it to see if anybody had seriously researched it. To be honest, I would … Read more

Unto Us a Child is Born: Exactly when were the Gospels written?

Gospels

Given the date, it is perhaps appropriate and traditional to mull over some seasonal aspect. For this year, I’d like to ask a question regarding the timing of the authorship of the Gospels. These are the alpha sources for much of our cultural inheritance. I’m not going to simply quote some dates at you, nor … Read more

How do you persuade an Anti-Vaxer to change their mind?

vaccines

From last August there is a great Canadian article that lays out a good way to effectively communicate to people who have serious doubts about vaccines. It is worth reading in full, but since they have proposed seven steps, I’d like to chime on and comment on each myself. There was and still is a … Read more

Exploring Science Denial – New study published

science denial

A new paper has been published within the Personality and Social Psychology bulletin entitled  … Not All Skepticism Is Equal: Exploring the Ideological Antecedents of Science Acceptance and Rejection We report three studies—including an analysis of large-scale survey data—in which we systematically investigate the ideological antecedents of general faith in science and willingness to support … Read more

Drinking the Alt-Right Cool aid: Climate Science Daily Caller article

daily caller

Recently a right-wing Facebook “friend” shared an article from the Daily Caller that claimed that Satellite data showed no acceleration in warming for the past 23 years. Apart from the rather obvious “How did this guy get on my FB friends list?” question, I do actually find it fascinating to observe how such “truth” is … Read more

Polar Bears and Sea Ice – Science vs Fiction

climate change denial

A new scientific study published a few days ago within a reputable peer-reviewed journal by some leading Climate Science scientists has generated rather a lot of heat within the climate denial community. Entitled “Internet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy” and published within BioScience, it examines the reporting of Arctic Sea Ice and … Read more