Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
When we started vaccinating for measles back in the 1960s it had the intended effect; the decline and obliteration of Measles. We might think of it as a harmless childhood illness, but its eradication is truly a big deal. The prognosis for measles is that complications such as bronchitis, sensorineural hearing loss, and panencephalitis (which is fatal), can occur, so eradicating it … Read more
If we proceed with a business-as-usual scenario and fail to take truly meaningful decisive action to address Climate Change then there is about a 50 percent possibility that global temperatures will rise by 4 degrees celsius. This is an actual existential threat for our species and would be quite deadly. Where are I getting this from? … Read more
Each and every year an end-of-the-world prediction will inevitably pop up. Perhaps the most recently well-known example of this was Harold Camping’s 21st May prediction back in 2011. That one is perhaps famous due to the $100 million that his group, Family Radio, spent promoting it via an advertising campaign that included billboards such as … Read more
Each September the #IgNobel awards, a parody of the Nobel Prize, gives out awards to the weirdest bit of real research that has taken place in the past year. While the award itself is satirical social criticism and not a real award, the research it highlights is quite real. It’s also not new, this has … Read more
Last February Mail journalist David Rose penned one of his Climate change denial articles for the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Mail. I blogged about it at the time and explained exactly why it was nonsense. The claims presented within his article entitled “Exposed: How world leaders were duped into investing billions over manipulated … Read more
I’m quite happy for people to believe whatever they wish to believe, and to practise that. If however such beliefs are promoted into the public square, and I am faced with demands that I should conform to these beliefs, then the gloves are off and I will happily mock the promoted silliness and encourage others … Read more
