Where once scientists used to be solitary creatures, today science is a highly collaborative affair, and the latest research in ecology is no exception.
Articles on Scientific method
Displaying 61 - 80 of 94 articles
Scientists being wrong is not a bug or a glitch – it’s a feature of science and mistakes can actually lead to new, deeper discoveries.
Everyone loves a study that turns one of our favourite vices into a health benefit. Before you reach for a Mars bar or a Dairy Milk, let’s take a step back.
Peer review is not infallible, but it’s central to how science works. In this extract from Peter Doherty’s new book, The Knowledge Wars, he explains how it works in practice.
Sometimes pure curiosity driven research can yield wondrous knowledge and practical benefits, as was the case with the large blue butterfly.
If we want the best possible research, it’s not just the journal articles that ought to be openly available to all, but the data behind them as well.
Deep disagreements within science might seem to undermine its authority, but they only underscore how science really works.
Some activists use open records requests to bully researchers – distracting them from their actual work and silencing others who don’t want to draw attention.
The pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and woo spreading across the world wreaks havoc on those that buy into it.
Another retracted paper in the social sciences underscores the need for greater vigilance and reflection upon the causes of scientific fraud.
Academic papers are often cherry picked to support our prevailing views. We need to be careful to acknowledge the complexities of many issues explored by science.
Scientific discoveries have moulded modern society. But the reliability of scientific results have recently been called into question. How will scientists solve this problem?
Last March, the BICEP2 collaboration announced that they had used a microwave telescope at the South Pole to detect primordial gravitational waves. These tiny ripples in spacetime would be the first proof…
Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman gets called a lot of things. He calls himself the greatest cornerback in the NFL (and Seattle fans tend to agree). Sportswriters and some other players call…
Scientists should study pseudoscience – see what the pseudoscientists are up to and perhaps (for a laugh) try a few pseudostudies themselves. Critically, scientists must learn what really distinguishes…
“China is at the forefront of medicine and hi-tech and computing.” So said UK Chancellor George Osborne, who recently visited the country. Global tests for 15-year-olds show the youth of Shanghai are comfortably…
Bankers aim to maximise profits. Scientists aim to understand reality. But Mike Peacey of the University of Bristol suggests, based on a new model he has just published in Nature, that both professionals…
Over the past few years, there has been a growing awareness that many experimentally established “facts” don’t seem to hold up to repeated investigation. This was highlighted in a 2010 article in the New…
In the lead up to the release next month of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) Fifth Assessment Report we are exploring concepts of confidence and certainty in climate science. You…
In the lead up to the release next month of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC’s) Fifth Assessment Report we are exploring concepts of confidence and certainty in climate science. The…
Top contributors
-
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Education; Curriculum Director, UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland
-
ARC DECRA Fellow, UNSW
-
Associate Professor, ARC Centre of Excellence for Weather of the 21st Century, Monash University
-
Professor in Philosophy, Director of the University of Queensland Critical Thinking Project, The University of Queensland
-
Professor, School of Biosciences & School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne
-
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
-
Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise, Ross School of Business, School for Environment & Sustainability, University of Michigan
-
University Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Statistics, Texas A&M University
-
Professor, School of Psychology, University of Sydney
-
Chair, The Conversation Media Group
-
Associate Professor of Physics, Union College
-
Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University
-
Laureate Professor of Mathematics, University of Newcastle
-
Laureate Professor Emeritus, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
-
Lecturer in Mathematics, Flinders University