Big Science Trying to Wipe Egg Off Its Face
March 18, 2018
Science scandals and crises are reminding observers that scientific reliability is no more reliable than the people who make a living in science.
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Dinosaur Evolutionary Tree Is All Wrong
April 23, 2017
Oops… The dinosaur evolutionary tree is all wrong! A new study has revolutionized the dinosaur evolutionary tree, producing “the biggest change to dinosaur tree in 130 years” (New Scientist. March 25, 2017, p. 9). The old theory classified dinosaurs into two significantly distinct dinosaur families, those with bird-like hips that point downwards and towards the […]
Finding Dinosaurs Is Not the Same as Explaining Them
October 19, 2016
What's turning up in dinosaur digs around the world? Bones, footprints and speculations.
Welcome to the Anthropocene
September 5, 2016
Geologists are adding a new era to the geologic column: the Anthropocene, when humans began man-handling the planet.
Body Diversity Threatens to Undermine Paleoanthropology
March 30, 2015
People don't all look the same today; body types vary tremendously. Why should we assume differently about the past?
Schizophrenia: Diagnosis or Delusion?
November 30, 2014
Much as psychiatrists would like to help the afflicted, it doesn't help to affix an empty label to an imprecise condition.
Dinosaur Variety was Extreme
November 8, 2014
Here are news stories about dinosaurs, from dwarfs to giants that lived in all kinds of habitats.
How Explanatory Is Evolutionary Theory?
October 18, 2014
Darwinians make big boasts about their theory as the central organizing principle in biology, but what does it actually explain?
Psychology Struggling to Regain Scientific Image
May 22, 2014
In the wake of scandals and replication failures, psychiatry and social psychology are enduring scrutiny some practitioners call an "inquisition" or "bullying".
Divining Darwin's Tree Is a Never-Ending Task
February 15, 2013
Some scientific papers brag that Darwin's universal tree of life is coming into sharper focus, but as the data increase, so do the problems.
Paleoanthropologist Exposes Shoddiness of "Early Man" Research
February 6, 2013
Many paleoanthropologists are bent on self-promotion, and the field lacks ability to regulate itself, a veteran researcher complains.
Darwin Tree Visualization Tool Obscures More Than It Educates
October 24, 2012
A new website helps visualize evolution. But does it confirm or obfuscate the real world?
Science Grab Bag
January 13, 2012
Here's a random assortment of things floating around in the science news media – some fascinating, some informative, some disgusting. We’ll let the readers decide which is which. Since it’s Friday the 13th, a day to enjoy like any other day, we’ll give you a baker’s dozen to sample.
8.7 Million Species Is Not a Scientific Fact
August 24, 2011
Human beings love to classify things. We pigeonhole items into bins of our own making, for whatever the reason, to give us a feeling of having things organized and understood. Do our pigeonholes reflect categories that are “out there” in nature, or are they constructs of our own minds? Science reporters are announcing in bold print that there are “8.7 million species on Earth,” but a look at the fine print shows the error bars to be so enormous, there is more error than data. What does this imply about the scientific validity of human classification schemes?