What is the best source for accurate information?

The TL;DR; (Too Long; Didn’t Read) answer for the question in the subject line is that Wikipedia is. When you have vast swathes of the human population interacting on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter then it tends to naturally devolve into bubbles. For example those that support Hillary will be sufficiently motivated … Read more

Insights into the Sandy Hook Hoax claims

Today I’m pointing you towards a very insightful article that is also a tough one to read. I do not mean intellectually tough, but rather emotionally because it involves the murder of very young children and also outlines how one parent had to cope with the subsequent claim that his young son had never actually … Read more

What are the top 5 best fact checking websites?

We are all perhaps overly familiar with the issue of weird or dubious statements and claims. Up pops one that triggers your BS alarm, and you then wonder how you can dig into it and find the truth. The rather obvious solution is of course to google it and see what turns up. While that might not always yield links to … Read more

Why do we believe stuff that is not true?

Rather a lot of beliefs do not lean on evidence, but instead are castles of confidence that are built upon something distinctly different. I’m not specifically talking about religion, so what am I getting at? OK, let’s work a few examples. Myth: Vaccines cause Autism I need not go into the history here, except to perhaps point … Read more

TIL @ #WSF16 – Elephants that go underground and mine salt

The title might suggest that this is a satire piece, but it is not and is instead the literal description. It comes via a talk given by Ian Redmond at the Winchester Science festival last Sunday, and so the acronym TIL within the title means “Today I Learned”, but to be a tad more accurate perhaps … Read more