We’ve all heard an exasperated “do your research!” from people who want to persuade us to accept their claim or point of view. The problem is it’s not likely to convince anyone.
Articles on Proof
Displaying all articles
What is proof? In both law and science, it’s basically a consensus of experts – but they work at very different speeds. That means juries may reach verdicts on an issue before the science is settled.
An Anglican priest teaching about climate change says people have a naïve view of how science really works.
A famous mathematician claims to have cracked a longstanding problem involving prime numbers. But his results still need to be verified.
If you’re committed to a belief, it’s hard to let go. Psychology and philosophy provide different ways to think about how skeptics respond to counterevidence.
Computers are increasingly used to prove mathematical theorems. So does that mean human mathematicians will become obselete?
A Japanese mathematician says he’s proved a famous unsolved conjecture. The problem is, nobody can understand the solution he’s put forth.
The more knowledge we gather in our search for answers to the unknown, the more uncertainty we uncover. But that’s not a bad thing.
UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH: What do we actually mean by research and how does it help inform our understanding of things? Understanding what’s being said in any new research can be challenging and there are…
UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH: What do we actually mean by research and how does it help inform our understanding of things? Those people looking for proof to come from any research in science will be sadly disappointed…
Top contributors
-
Professor of Astrophysics, University of Sydney
-
Professor of Mathematics, University of Florida
-
Adjunct Professor, Macquarie University
-
Visiting Postdoctoral Researcher in Philosophy, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
-
Laureate Professor of Mathematics, University of Newcastle
-
Associate Professor (hon) at the Centre for Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University
-
PhD; Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (retired) and Research Fellow, University of California, Davis
-
Professor of Mathematics, University of Richmond
-
Lecturer, Executive Director of ISCAST–Christians in Science, and Anglican minister, The University of Melbourne
-
Senior Lecturer, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University
-
Professor, School of Medicine, University of Connecticut
-
Researcher, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland