Category Archives: Science

Misuse of Statistics in Government

Good Math, Bad Math pointed out some blatant misunderstanding and apathy regarding statistics in the sciences. Mark said basically everything that can really be said. If your sample is supposed to be representative of a particular source distribution it needs … Continue reading

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Blogs You Should Be Reading

Back when I created this blog and still had some aspiration of being an effective communicator and advocate of science I actually did have a relatively concrete idea of what I wanted to do. There is all manner of cool … Continue reading

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Herman Cain on Data Analysis

My political apathy has been incredibly inflamed lately. I feel like I’m being asked to choose between We will actively and with hostility not fund science! and We will sort of passively and indifferently not fund science! In any case, … Continue reading

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Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos

I know this has been done to death already, but this is something in the news I can actually comment on. Even if I’m really late to the party I have to say something! An experiment called OPERA reported seeing … Continue reading

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Doing Science with Old Junk

Once scientists find a solution to a problem they really like to stick with it. To do otherwise might be called “re-inventing the wheel”. If you’re an outside observer it might be called “resisting the tides of change”. In any … Continue reading

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Can we start descriminating againts people bad at statistics?

So it’s been a great year so far, full of exciting silence and lack of activity. The lack of any audible complaints is simultaneously reassuring and pressure-inducing. But today I bring you another example of someone making possibly the most … Continue reading

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See, this is what I’m talking about.

Number of cell phone towers over the average in counties in the UK strongly correlates to the number of live births with a p-value of “0.00003%.” That means it’s a real result, right? Well, no.  See the Guardian article for … Continue reading

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High Hopes for Old Dreams

One of my long term goals is to be old one day. One of those tingling distant fears I have is that being old will impair my ability to solve mental problems. I practically live off good feelings from problem … Continue reading

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Helium Crisis

I find it ironic that we are in serious risk of running out of the 2nd most abundant element in the universe. Read on. It’s a fairly realistic concern. Helium is very light, and is ultimately unbound to Earth gravitationally. … Continue reading

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Are ways of knowing gendered?

I never got far enough learning German to tell you if there are different genders for “intuition” and “logic”, but that’s not what this is about, anyhow. Alex at A Most Curious Planet asks, “Is Science Sexist?” Chad at Uncertain … Continue reading

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