More Indications Earth Is Unique
February 25, 2016
The late Carl Sagan might be stunned to see today's astronomers questioning Earth's "humdrum" status.
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Using Finagle's Rules in Cosmology
April 10, 2013
Fudging and finagling often underlie the confident-sounding claims of cosmologists.
Rare Moments of Glory: Planetary Scientists Admit Seeing "Lucky" Circumstances
February 2, 2013
Why are we seeing young phenomena in the planets if they are billions of years old? Some scientists are abandoning uniformitarian assumptions and admitting we are lucky to be witnessing them in "rare moments of glory."
Objectivity of Science Undermined
October 24, 2011
Science has no boast if not objective. It is objectivity that supposedly sets science apart from all other modes of inquiry: following a “scientific method” that guarantees objective truth about the natural world. Results are reported in peer-reviewed journals that weed out mistaken ideas. After publication, other scientists can replicate any published results, making science a self-correcting process that refines its objectivity over time. Most insiders and philosophers know that the picture is highly flawed, but the vision persists that science is objective. Recent articles raise awareness of some of the problems with the portrayal of scientific objectivity.
Trouble in Cosmologyland
September 18, 2011
Underneath the veneer of certainty portrayed by TV documentaries about the universe are deep questions and controversies. Some of these briefly appear on publicly-available news stories, only to be covered by new coats of certainty. Are the new veneers fixing the problems or, instead, whitewashing serious weaknesses in current cosmological understanding? Here are some quick looks under the veneer.