One of the hallmarks of good science is reproducibility. We know that theories are correct in large part because the results they predict are not only observed once, but observed repeatedly under similar circumstances by different people.
This is why this recent article from the BBC is so interesting. It isn’t the first time [...]

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While listening to back episodes of the Scientific American podcast, I came across an episode which read Mark Twain’s essay “Was the World Made for Man?” The essay is brilliantly sarcastic, though upon trying to find out more about it, I discovered that aside from a few references made to it in other books, [...]

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This article was linked to on Digg recently, and there has been some misunderstanding of its content. It concerns a discovery of a new catalyst that could make it possible to use sunlight to directly split water into hydrogen and oxygen. This might turn out to be quite important in the future (if we start [...]

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Is it ethical to prescribe a placebo?
Glucosamine is a drug that is sometimes prescribed, and often recommended, to treat joint pain and arthritis. Extracted from the shells of shellfish, it isn’t toxic, and it’s relatively cheap to purchase. People who use it often notice a substantial decrease in their joint pain while they [...]

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As many may have noticed, activity recently here has been low.  No, we haven’t gone anywhere, but have instead been working on a fairly large website update.  Well, I’m now pleased to announce the introduction of our “Special Features” section, where you’ll find the usual slew of published articles as well as our newly-conceived Panel [...]

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Yesterday, to my stern disapproval, the normally science-friendly Discovery Channel hosted the documentary: Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012 - The End of Days, a title which could have been a lot shorter, but I suppose they really needed to nail down that end-of-the-world feeling to it.  Anyway, while I typically love what’s aired on Discovery, [...]

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I recently read this article on organic foods over at quackwatch.org. Following the article, the author had posted a reader protest complaining how it was unfair to lump organic farmers/foodies in with other “quacks”. The reader asks:
Honestly, is it so nutty to think we would be better off eating food that ISN’T full of [...]

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The CBC posted this article on naturopathic “medicine” by “Doctor” Lorne Swetlikoff, N.D. (not M.D.).
The article is a load of crap (the claims can be easily dismissed as nonsense), but what do you expect from a “doctor” of naturopathy? What surprises and disgusts me is that the CBC, a supposedly reputable news source, thought [...]

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Why do we drive like jerks, and behave like assholes on the internet?
Some of the more seemingly sophisticated arguments for God (or some type of higher power) revolve around the mysterious nature of human morality. Dismissing evolutionary explanations for morality, some people believe that we simply cannot explain traits like altruism through the evolution [...]

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In my recent article about Consumer Reports, I mentioned that there was no evidence to support the hypothesis that organically grown foods are any safer, tastier, or more nutritious than are their non-organically grown counterparts. Accepting this premise, you might say that it is still a legitimate choice to purchase organic food to support [...]

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