Category Archives: Science

A NEW JOURNAL ON THE REPRODUCIBILITY OF EXPERIMENTS.

A NEW JOURNAL ON THE REPRODUCIBILITY OF EXPERIMENTS. I have posted a number of times on the recent efforts to publish more replication studies. As I posted here seven years ago, my brother Elmer has been calling for journals of … Continue reading

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THE MISSING POST—“…IT IS DIFFERENT WHEN IT IS YOUR MOTHER.”

THE MISSING POST—“…IT IS DIFFERENT WHEN IT IS YOUR MOTHER.” I have discovered that I did not post on January 11. I try to post every day. After some digging, I found the following draft of what I had intended … Continue reading

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IT IS DIFFERENT WHEN IT IS YOUR WIFE.

IT IS DIFFERENT WHEN IT IS YOUR WIFE. I have argued in a number of posts that the FDA has given too much importance the “gold standard” of randomized controlled experiments and not enough importance to saving patients’ lives. The … Continue reading

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INVENTING SCIENCE BY INTRODUCING THE WORD “DISCOVERY”.

INVENTING SCIENCE BY INTRODUCING THE WORD “DISCOVERY”. In an essay with the headline “THE SECOND BIG BANG”, Robert Crease reviewed THE INVENTION OF SCIENCE by David Wooton in the Wall Street Journal (December 12-13). “The second big bang” refers to … Continue reading

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A SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE BIG BANG.

A SUMMARY DESCRIPTION OF THE BIG BANG. Annalisa and Nick called my attention to this summary by Terry Pratchett of current knowledge about the Big Bang: “In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded.” This is post #4001, which seems … Continue reading

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FOOD CAN AFFECT INDIVIDUALS VERY DIFFERENTLY.

FOOD CAN AFFECT INDIVIDUALS VERY DIFFERENTLY. Matthew Ainslie called attention on Facebook to this article on the Meta science news site about “a stunning paper providing startling new insight into the personal nature of nutrition.” The paper, by Eran Elinav … Continue reading

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DECIDING ABOUT A PAINTING AS QUICK AS A FLASH.

DECIDING ABOUT A PAINTING AS QUICK AS A FLASH. In this post from earlier this year, I took note that people are reported to take on average only 11 seconds to look at the Mona Lisa. I also said: “A … Continue reading

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THE EVOLUTION OF A SPECIES CAN HAPPEN QUICKLY.

THE EVOLUTION OF A SPECIES CAN HAPPEN QUICKLY. I have always thought of the evolution of species as a process taking a long time—on a scale of tens of thousands of years. The more recent Economist article gives an example … Continue reading

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TIME IMMEMORIAL.

TIME IMMEMORIAL. I worked through the statistics in yesterday’s post because I found it surprising that about 80% of plant species in Britain have been present “since time immemorial”. I had posted, for example, here, about how 75% of the … Continue reading

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THE FIGHT AGAINST INVASIVE SPECIES.

THE FIGHT AGAINST INVASIVE SPECIES. I posted here earlier this year about an article in the May 28, 2015 Economist which argued that invasive plant species are not a problem for other species, relying on a study which found that … Continue reading

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