Has the US National Park Service gone rogue?

by

The short TL;DR; answer is probably not, and officially they continue to maintain a politically neutral position. So what inspired the question? The National Mall, the bit of land between the US Capital and the Lincoln Memorial, is officially managed by the US National Park Service. As you are no doubt aware, when Mr T … Read more

Is a Fake News Vaccine really possible?

by

The BBC reports on a recently published study as follows … A University of Cambridge study devised psychological tools to target fact distortion. Researchers suggest “pre-emptively exposing” readers to a small “dose” of the misinformation can help organisations cancel out bogus claims. Stories on the US election and Syria are among those to have caused … Read more

What does “Alternative fact” actually mean?

by

As you are most probably aware by now, the new buzzword of the moment is “Alternative Fact”. It arose when Kellyanne Conway, a Trump adviser, was challenged on “Meet the Press” last Sunday about an official White House statement issued the previous day. #SpicerFacts Monday saw the first official White House press briefing, but last Saturday the new White House press secretary, … Read more

Why is the reemergence Andrew Wakefield dangerous? – #vaccines

by

For some, just the name “Andrew Wakefield” is guaranteed to provoke a reaction, and so his attendance at one of the Trump inaugural balls did just that. He is often billed as a vaccine skeptic, but I would seriously argue that this is an abuse of the term skeptic because there is clear decisive irrefutable proof … Read more

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s dialog with an anti-science journalist

by

Science writer Ryan Mandelbaum, who was also a researcher at CERN at one point, has published a fascinating exchange that took place between himself, Neil deGrasse Tyson , others, and anti-science journalist Anthony Liversidge. It was not a formal debate, but instead was a friendly backstage spontaneous conversation that Ryan has published in detail because it gives insight into much of … Read more

It’s official, 2016 was the warmest year – #Climate

by

Data coming in from distinctly different sources such as NASA, NOAA and also the UK’s Met Office all now confirm that the previous warmest year ever recorded, 2015, is now in second place and that 2016 is now the warmest year ever recorded. Quite rightly this is being picked up and reported by major news … Read more